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Democrat Backed Redistricting Plan Could Flip Three Colorado GOP House Seats
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Democrat Backed Redistricting Plan Could Flip Three Colorado GOP House Seats

By Michael Braithwaite | Colorado Politics A Democrat-backed proposal to redraw Colorado’s congressional map for the 2028 election could flip three Republican districts. The proposal, introduced by a group called Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, is yet another development in a national redistricting debate after President Donald Trump called to redraw U.S. House districts. An analysis of the proposal in Colorado shows that the redrawn map could lead to flipping three Republican house seats to the Democrats’ column in the 2028 election, including in District 5, which has never voted for a Democratic representative in its long history, according to composite election data. Colorado’s 2021 congressional district map (left) compared to Coloradans for a Leve...
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Colorado Lawmakers Move To Rein In Utility Eminent Domain After Xcel Land Dispute
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Move To Rein In Utility Eminent Domain After Xcel Land Dispute

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics After months of backlash over Xcel Energy’s use of eminent domain in eastern Colorado, lawmakers representing Elbert and El Paso counties are advancing legislation that would bar utilities from initiating property takings until they’ve secured state approval and all required local permits — a move supporters say will restore fairness and prevent landowners from being forced into legal limbo. House Bill 1278, sponsored by Rep. Chris Richardson, R-Elizabeth, and Sens. Marc Snyder, D-Colorado Springs, and Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, would require utilities to receive a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Public Utilities Commission, as well as all necessary local land use approvals and permits, before initiating em...
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Colorado Lawmakers Split on Iran
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Split on Iran

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Colorado’s congressional delegation split sharply along party lines Saturday after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, triggering a fresh debate in America over presidential war powers. Trump announced early Saturday morning that U.S and Israeli forces had begun “Operation Epic Fury” after multiple explosions were reported around Iran. Later in the day, the president said that Iran’s leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed. Iranian state media also confirmed Khamenei’s death. Both sides of the political aisle agree that Iran — one official called the country a “terrorist state” — should never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. But Democrats and Republicans clashed over the latest operations, just ...
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Rural Lawmakers Reject Polis Backed Pesticide Restrictions
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Rural Lawmakers Reject Polis Backed Pesticide Restrictions

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics A proposal to limit the use of neonicotinoid-coated crop seeds collapsed in the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee last week, as rural lawmakers, including two Democrats, joined Republicans to reject what they called an expensive, impractical mandate on farmers. Senate Bill 65 would have required farmers to obtain permission from third-party evaluators before using crop seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics. But the committee’s rural lawmakers, including two Democrats, weren’t persuaded that the program sponsored by Democratic Sens. Katie Wallace of Longmont and Cathy Kipp of Fort Collins was the right step, killing the bill in a 2-5 vote last week. Wallace claimed farmers are p...
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Bill Targeting Government Purchase of Personal Data Faces Law Enforcement Opposition
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Bill Targeting Government Purchase of Personal Data Faces Law Enforcement Opposition

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A bipartisan coalition of Colorado lawmakers is advancing a bill that would prohibit police from purchasing personal consumer data without a warrant, setting up a clash with prosecutors who warn the measure could hamper criminal investigations. House Bill 1037, sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Evergreen, would prohibit law enforcement and government entities from purchasing “certain personal data” from third parties without a warrant, except in emergencies. The bill, which sponsors are calling the “Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act,” aims to prohibit personal data purchased from a third party from being used as evidence in court. “Fundamentally, w...
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Colorado Federal Judges Hold Line On Immigration Detention Limits Despite Fifth Circuit Ruling
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Colorado Federal Judges Hold Line On Immigration Detention Limits Despite Fifth Circuit Ruling

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Colorado’s federal judges are maintaining their view that the government’s assertion of broad immigration detention authority is unlawful, casting aside a recent appellate decision to the contrary as “unpersuasive” and out of step with the predominant interpretation by the judiciary. However, several judges are speaking out forcefully about the behavior from the government, including missed deadlines, violations of orders, and potential constitutional problems. Beginning last year, a wave of “habeas corpus” cases flooded Colorado’s U.S. District Court, pushing annual civil filings to more than 4,000 for seemingly the first time. Largely, the petitions challenging immigration detention stem from the federal government’s interpr...
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Bennet Signals Support for Suspending Colorado Wolf Reintroduction Program
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Bennet Signals Support for Suspending Colorado Wolf Reintroduction Program

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who is running for governor, told a newspaper this month that he favors suspending Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program, though he sounded less certain in another interview a few days later. “I think it’s right to suspend it for now and to try to see whether there’s any way to get back to a place where we’re implementing the original plan with fidelity,” he told the Durango Herald’s editorial board on Feb. 13. “But if we’re not able to implement with fidelity, then we shouldn’t continue.” Just three days later, Bennet appeared a little less certain in an interview with the Steamboat Pilot. “Asked about the reintroduction of wolves — one of the most contentious issues in Northwest C...
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Colorado Lawmakers Face Tough Choices As Medicaid Drives Increased Spending
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Face Tough Choices As Medicaid Drives Increased Spending

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics This week, the state Senate is reviewing revisions to the 2025–26 state budget, which has been reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars in each round of cuts. But the bottom line is that, because of Medicaid costs, the state will spend more in 2025-26 than lawmakers approved in the 2025 session. Last week, the 29 bills in the supplemental package were approved by the House, with most passing with broad support. That didn’t mean all of them did: bills changing the budgets for the departments of state, treasury, health care policy and financing, personnel, public health and environment and higher ed all passed largely along party lines. A supplemental for the Department of Corrections, which increased its budget by $29...
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Polis Names Northern Colorado Judge Susan Blanco To Supreme Court
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Names Northern Colorado Judge Susan Blanco To Supreme Court

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Chief Judge Susan Blanco of Larimer and Jackson counties is the newest member of the Colorado Supreme Court, Gov. Jared Polis announced on Tuesday. “A few words come to mind: Innovation. Excellence. Creativity. Hard work. These are values we need across society,” said Polis during a news conference announcing Blanco’s appointment. Blanco, 48, became a district judge in January 2017. She will join four other former trial judges, including two other former chief judges, on the seven-member Supreme Court. “I’ve conducted home visits, jail visits, and appeared in dozens of Colorado courtrooms witnessing firsthand the extraordinary diversity of our communities and the very vast barriers that many face in accessing justice,” Blanc...
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Historic Drought And Political Divide Stall Colorado River Agreement
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Historic Drought And Political Divide Stall Colorado River Agreement

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics With the Feb. 14 deadline looming, the seven states in the Colorado River Basin failed to reach an agreement on how to manage the river after the 2026 operating guidelines expire later this year. John Entsminger, Nevada’s chief negotiator, said there is no deal in place. “The seven Colorado River Basin states have failed to reach an agreement to collectively protect our respective communities and economies in the face of almost certain reductions to our use of the river,” Entsminger said. “As I talk with people throughout Southern Nevada, I hear their frustrations that years of negotiations have yielded almost no headway in finding a path through these turbulent waters.” Entsminger added, “As someone who has spent countle...
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