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High Court Weighs Limits On Mail Ballots As Election Debate Intensifies
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Colorado Politics, Approved, National

High Court Weighs Limits On Mail Ballots As Election Debate Intensifies

By: Mark Sherman | Colorado Politics WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court ‘s conservative majority on Monday sounded skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots. The court heard arguments in a case from Mississippi that also could affect voters in 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which have grace periods for ballots cast by mail. An additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters also could be impacted. Colorado already requires mail ballots to be received at county clerks’ offices by the time polling locations close on Election Day, although Colorado and the majority of states allow certain military and overseas ballots to be acce...
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Colorado Energy Fight Intensifies With New Ballot Measures Targeting Oil And Gas
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Energy Fight Intensifies With New Ballot Measures Targeting Oil And Gas

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A group has introduced four ballot measures it says are meant to counter an initiative that aims to enshrine Colorado businesses and consumers’ right to purchase and sell natural gas in the state’s constitution. Filed with the Secretary of State’s Office today, Conservation Colorado’s measures would do the following: Establishing statutory liability for oil and gas companies operating in Colorado found to have damaged the state’s air, water, land or communities Establishing joint and several liability for current and past oil and gas operators and producers if found responsible for damage to the environment or a community Prohibiting oil and gas distributors from requiring customers to pay for pipeline extensions or decom...
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Polis Administration Faces Lawsuit Over Keeping Minors In Custody After Judges Ordered Release
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Administration Faces Lawsuit Over Keeping Minors In Custody After Judges Ordered Release

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado officials are facing a lawsuit alleging the state kept minors in juvenile detention for days or months after judges ordered them released, largely because appropriate foster or community placements were not available. Two minors facing juvenile delinquency charges sued Gov. Jared Polis and the director of the state’s Department of Human Services, alleging the state is incarcerating children despite judges’ orders to release them to the community. The state refused to comment on the litigation, though a spokesperson said the safety of children under its care is a top priority. The lawsuit, filed by a coalition of civil and disability rights advocates on behalf of defendants known only as Isaac N. and Tony S., alle...
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Report Ties Colorado’s Fentanyl Death Surge To Weaker Drug Laws
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Report Ties Colorado’s Fentanyl Death Surge To Weaker Drug Laws

By Jacob Mauk | Colorado Politics Overdose deaths from opioids rose in Colorado, diverging from the national trend, which has been decreasing, according to a new study from a think tank. In its new report, the Common Sense Institute said synthetic opioid overdose deaths in Colorado have grown by 17% since November 2024, the third-fastest growth rate in the country. The only states with higher spike rates are Arizona and New Mexico, according to the report. If Colorado had followed the national trend, some 1,600 lives could have been saved, the study said, adding the opioid deaths represented a cost of roughly $18.3 billion. “While this number does not encompass the entire value of human life, it does indicate that lives lost due to fentanyl and other opioids red...
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Colorado Wolf Program Faces Scrutiny As Survival Rate Falls To 44 Percent
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Wolf Program Faces Scrutiny As Survival Rate Falls To 44 Percent

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The female wolf of the mating pair for the King Mountain pack has died, bringing total fatalities to 14 out of the 25 animals reintroduced in Colorado. The wolf, identified as No. 2310, was among the 10 wolves brought to Colorado from Oregon in December 2023. The male of the King Mountain pack mating pair had died in January in Routt County following a botched collaring operation conducted by a Colorado Parks and Wildllife contractor. That operation drew criticism from wolf advocates at the March 5 parks and wildlife commission meeting. Advocates claimed the effort was reckless and that the contractor hired was a “bargain basement contractor who had a history of deaths” in similar efforts. State wildlife authori...
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Interim Committees On The Chopping Block As Colorado Faces Lean Budget Year
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Interim Committees On The Chopping Block As Colorado Faces Lean Budget Year

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics In a tight-budget year, the work of interim committees — those off-session groups that look at transportation, agriculture, water, healthcare, wildfires, pensions, and anything else lawmakers want to look at — is on the chopping block. And this year, no committee is considered sacrosanct. A bill introduced Thursday by the legislative leadership from both parties and both chambers wipes out just about all interim committees this year, including some year-round groups. It’s expected to save about $396,000 in the 2026-27 budget, according to legislative council staff. It would prohibit meetings, field trips, and legislative recommendations and reports from the year-round Capital Development Committee, which play...
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Colorado Republican Party Chair Brita Horn Plans April Exit After Year Of Party Infighting
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Republican Party Chair Brita Horn Plans April Exit After Year Of Party Infighting

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Colorado Republican Party Chair Brita Horn said Thursday that she will resign her position next month following the GOP’s state assembly, citing what she described as an “enduring divide” within the party “marked by vitriol and hostility.” Horn’s announcement came just over a week after the Republicans’ state central committee voted overwhelmingly to approve a measure expressing “no-confidence” in her leadership. An earlier central committee meeting organized by Horn’s critics approved an identical “no-confidence” resolution and demanded her resignation. The meeting, which Horn dismissed as “illegal” and lacking authority, also sought to restrict her spending authority and require that the party end litigation involvi...
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State Audit Finds Billion Dollar Accounting Errors In Colorado Unemployment Program
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

State Audit Finds Billion Dollar Accounting Errors In Colorado Unemployment Program

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado’s state auditors found serious issues with the accounting practices of the unemployment insurance division of the Department of Labor and Employment, concluding the agency underestimated and overestimated figures to the tune of billions of dollars. The auditors labeled the problems with its most serious concern — a “material weakness,” an indication of a significant flaw in financial reporting. That could create the possibility of a “material misstatement in the financial statements — one that auditors, regulators, and management can’t overlook.” The auditors found errors that required accounting adjustments, such as an overestimate in payments owed to claimants to the tune of $1.5 billion, when it should have been only...
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Critics Warn Democrat Plan Would Eliminate TABOR Refunds For A Decade
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Critics Warn Democrat Plan Would Eliminate TABOR Refunds For A Decade

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado voters could decide this fall whether billions of dollars that would otherwise be returned as refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights should instead go to public schools under a ballot measure unveiled Thursday by Democrats. Supporters say the proposal would address chronic underfunding in K-12 education, while critics argue it takes money away from taxpayers and amounts to sidestepping the state’s constitutional spending limits. Supporters have insisted that schools are underfunded to the tune of billions of dollars, while one study says revenue and spending by schools have significantly grown in the last few years, with a noticeable shift toward non-instructional spending. Under the proposed ballot measure, the am...
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Democrats Push Plan to Eliminate TABOR Refunds For The Next 10 Years
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Democrats Push Plan to Eliminate TABOR Refunds For The Next 10 Years

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado voters could decide this fall whether billions of dollars that would otherwise be returned as refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights should instead go to public schools under a ballot measure unveiled Thursday by Democrats. Supporters say the proposal would address chronic underfunding in K-12 education, while critics argue it takes money away from taxpayers and amounts to sidestepping the state’s constitutional spending limits. Supporters have insisted that schools are underfunded to the tune of billions of dollars, while one study says revenue and spending by schools have significantly grown in the last few years, with a noticeable shift toward non-instructional spending. Under the proposed ballot measure, the am...
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