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Polis threatens to withhold $280M from cities defying housing laws in new executive order
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Polis threatens to withhold $280M from cities defying housing laws in new executive order

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 In a new executive order, Gov. Jared Polis identified more than 30 funding sources the state could withhold from cities. DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is turning up the heat on cities that aren’t following new state housing laws. He issued a new executive order on Wednesday that identifies $280 million in funding that could be withheld from them. It’s the latest development in a dispute between the governor and leaders of several cities over state housing laws, including laws to increase housing density near transit and another to ban certain cities from enacting or enforcing minimum parking requirements. “I hope that communities across the state do more on housing, but there's got to be some state minimum that you can't actively be part of ...
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New numbers show Colorado’s gun culture remains strong
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Cool 107.9 FM, Approved, State

New numbers show Colorado’s gun culture remains strong

By Nate Wilde | COOL 107.9 FM How Many of Colorado's Residents Are Gun Owners? Despite all of the factors that contribute to the aforementioned 45.1% of Colorado households being home to guns, every one of the states that border the Centennial State has reported higher rates of gun ownership. Nebraska barely leads Colorado in gun ownership, with a rate of 45.2%, while New Mexico reports a gun ownership rate of 46.2%, Arizona reports a gun ownership rate of 46.3%, and Utah reports another comparable gun ownership rate of 46.8% The percentage of households that claim to be gun owners rises when we get to Kansas, a state that reports a 48.9% gun ownership rate, but two of Colorado's neighboring states rank much higher than the rest. These states are Oklahoma and ...
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Gaines: Colorado’s add-back taxes are a backdoor tax on overtime
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Colorado’s add-back taxes are a backdoor tax on overtime

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The Great Colorado Add Back? My state senator (B Pelton) alerted me to something you'll almost certainly see in the coming state special session: add back taxes. I thought it would be good to give some resources on that so you'll better understand it and (I hope) be a better advocate on the issue. This is something I will follow up on as the special session gets going; Sen Pelton is running a bill to make such taxes conform to TABOR limits. I have asked for a copy of that bill and will share if and when I get it. There are many different kinds of tax add backs, but I'll stick to the topic of state income tax add backs because I can use the link below as a reference. The State of Colorado weblink at bottom gives ...
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Families Declare Colorado Court Competency Laws Broken
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Families Declare Colorado Court Competency Laws Broken

By Jared Dean | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Joel Lang was in court, accused of hitting, dragging and eventually killing Kirsty Kerst at a Monument McDonald’s drive-through in 2024. Lang, who turned himself in after police sent out a bulletin with his vehicle in the image, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. His charges were dropped after he was found incompetent to stand trial earlier this month. “This really has changed our entire lives. There is no going back to normal for us. This is our normal. We’re standing up to fight against injustice, and that’s not a small thing,” Kerst’s daughter Britany Visage said. The Kerst family is now part of an advocacy group asking for a change in Colorado’s competency laws. “I don’t want this to keep happening to other peo...
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Big Beautiful Bill Sparks Heated Debate Among Colorado Lawmakers
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State, Approved, KUNC

Big Beautiful Bill Sparks Heated Debate Among Colorado Lawmakers

By Lucas Brady Woods | KUNC All eight of the state’s U.S. House members shared a stage Tuesday at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce’s congressional luncheon in Denver, where they touted bipartisanship but remained divided over issues like health care and energy. The panel discussion spanned tariffs, the budget deficit, workforce challenges, the environment and energy policy, with much of it centered on the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” a sweeping federal spending measure passed earlier this year and signed into law by President Donald Trump, and how it will impact Colorado. Republican members praised the measure while Democrats criticized various parts of it, underscoring the partisan divides despite repeated calls for bipartisanship.The most significant partisan disagreements at ...
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Six cities sue Colorado over zoning and parking laws as state stays silent
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State, Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Six cities sue Colorado over zoning and parking laws as state stays silent

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “As of this writing we have not heard back from the State.” That’s how Greenwood Village Mayor George Lantz summed up the status of a lawsuit the six Front Range cities filed in May against the state of Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis, the Department of Local Affairs and its executive director, Maria De Cambra. The case targets two 2024 laws—HB 24-1313 and HB 24-1304—that, according to the cities, trample Colorado’s constitutional guarantee of Home Rule. The mayors say the fight is about constitutional rights, not political turf wars. “Contrary to some criticisms, the current fight is not based on party politics… Our residents deserve to have a voice about land use in their own communities and neighborhoods,” they wrote in a joint open July 14 let...
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Colorado Filed a Pre-Big Bill Application that Could Save Provider Payments
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Filed a Pre-Big Bill Application that Could Save Provider Payments

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing submitted an application for a state directed payments program seven days before the bill became law. Colorado is hoping a just-under-the-wire application to the federal government will help soften the blow of Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the recently signed tax and spending measure. The application is to create what is known as a state directed payments program. Such programs pull down extra federal Medicaid funding that can then be paid to health care providers with the goal of expanding access to care and improving the quality of the care. Colorado submitted its application to federal health care authorities June 27. Seven days later, President Donald Trump signed t...
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Garbo: The Dangerous Hubris of Deputizing Non-Citizens to Police Americans
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Garbo: The Dangerous Hubris of Deputizing Non-Citizens to Police Americans

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Why Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and Trust Demand Citizenship in Law Enforcement Since 2016, various jurisdictions in Colorado began allowing non-citizens - specifically lawful permanent residents and in some cases, DACA recipients - to serve as police officers.  This is not a progressive step forward, but rather, it is a profound public policy misstep. It is the height of hubris to assume that someone who is not a full citizen of this country should be vested with the authority to police those who are. Law enforcement is not merely a career track or a staffing challenge. It is a solemn extension of state power, a delegation of the people's sovereignty. In the American system of self-governance, that sovereignty lies exclusi...
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Colorado Faces $800 Million Budget Gap With No Deal In Sight
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State, Approved, denvergazette.com

Colorado Faces $800 Million Budget Gap With No Deal In Sight

By: Luige Del Puerto | The Denver Gazette Colorado legislators will convene at the state Capitol in about two weeks without first having secured a deal — with the governor or among themselves — outlining how to plug an $800 million budget deficit, which means the upcoming special session could be more open-ended and the fiscal prescriptions, whatever they may be, less defined. An agreement might materialize between now and the special session later this month, as policymakers scramble to line up ideas on how or where to cut the state budget. Gov. Jared Polis said his proclamation a few days ago set the parameters of what the legislators will discuss — but it will be up to the latter to decide the details of the fiscal remedy. "The legislators decide what bills to pass...
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