State

Colorado falls in business rankings as Denver Chamber of Commerce faults heavy regulation

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As Colorado continues to trend downward on the national economic scale, the Denver Chamber of Commerce is critical of the direction the state’s Democratic-led legislature took in 2025 and in recent years.

The main message at Tuesday’s annual post-legislative State of the State event, hosted by the chamber, was that the anti-business, pro-regulation approach is failing the business community.

Chamber members discussed Colorado’s economic challenges and legislative impacts. In giving a rundown of bills affecting the business community after the 2025 session, chamber members Rachel Beck and Carly West pointed to CNBC’s annual top states for business rankings. Once a perennial top 10, Colorado was ranked 11th last year and dropped to 16th this year.

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The COvid Chronicles May 1–7, 2020: Seven days that set the stage for open rebellion

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories / / , , , , , ,

May began just like April ended – edicts from above, fear from the press and politicians telling Coloradans to stay home, shut up and stay six feet apart. But by the first week of the month, cracks were showing. 

From Castle Rock to Colorado Springs, citizens, sheriffs and small-business owners weren’t waiting for permission. They had bills to pay, kids to raise and a Constitution they weren’t willing to quarantine.

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Enos: Colorado’s 2025 session pushed the most woke agenda we’ve ever seen

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“Woke” does not begin to describe the ideological beliefs of the majority in the Colorado legislature. They have become bold in their desire to reorder our lives in accordance with two basic ideological beliefs. First, there is no intrinsic value to human life. It is a commodity to be disposed of at will, and the destruction of pre-born life is a required service in every emergency room. Second, there is no such thing as a person’s sex; it is merely a “gender identity” seen through “gender expression.”

Ryan Anderson explains that the origins of “trans” thinking come from cultural breakdown and fear, among other things. “Too many people were afraid to say that the emperor has no clothes,” he reasons. The transgender religion has taken Colorado by storm. These beliefs were the basis of the last two weeks and final days of the 2025 Colorado Legislative Session.

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Polis open to signing bill restricting local ICE cooperation as Colorado sanctuary debate heats up

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Gov. Jared Polis said that while he had “major problems” with an earlier proposal that sought to inoculate immigrants from federal policies, the bill now includes “workable language,” thereby signaling his intent to sign it.

The governor reiterated he is still reviewing the proposal, which underwent several changes before its final passage during the 2025 legislative session.

At its core, Senate Bill 276 reemphasized existing state law that precludes local law enforcers from detaining an individual based on an “immigration detainer.” An immigration “detainer” is a notice issued to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies informing the latter that agents intend to assume custody of an individual no longer subject to the former’s detention.

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Polis signs sweeping election bill modeled on federal law—GOP calls it unnecessary

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Gov. Jared Polis signed a trio of election-related bills into law on Monday, including a measure sponsors say will “safeguard voting rights in Colorado amid federal uncertainty.”

Senate Bill 001, sponsored by Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, and Reps. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Junie Joseph, D-Boulder, implements a state-level version of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned certain discriminatory voting practices.

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Hancock: The future of Colorado hangs between boom and blackout

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There’s a difference between dreaming big and hallucinating. Colorado’s progressive legislators have yet to figure that out.

Once a beacon of frontier grit and entrepreneurial promise, Colorado is drifting into a twilight of self-imposed stagnation. This isn’t the result of some unforeseeable external shock. No. The decline is being engineered — brick by legislative brick — by a political class more interested in social signaling than in fostering economic vitality.

The question isn’t whether Colorado faces a reckoning. The question is whether we will admit the cause before we hit the wall.

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Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023

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Wolves are roaming, ranchers are riding – but the rulebook hasn’t changed. Wolves are traveling farther, forming dens and producing pups. Many have turned up dead—especially in Wyoming, where wolves that prey on livestock can be killed on sight under state law. 

Yet not one federal or state land-use plan in Colorado has been updated since gray wolf reintroduction began in December 2023.

That’s the backdrop for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s May 13 press release announcing that its Range Rider Program is fully operational and patrolling western Colorado. 

Eleven contracted riders hired by CPW have joined two staff from the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) to monitor livestock, haze predators and report signs of wolf-livestock conflict across nine counties.

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Condo reform bill becomes law–after years of lawsuits, delays and rising insurance costs

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Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed the first major bill of his administration that sponsors hope would unclog the state’s longstanding logjam regarding the construction of affordable, middle-market multi-family housing, specifically condos and townhomes, and, thereby directly promote home ownership.

Past efforts by the governor had mostly focused on rental housing and zoning. 

This year, House Bill 1272 aims to jumpstart the affordable condo market, which backers say has died off in Colorado due to “construction defects” litigation.

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