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Lawmakers To Examine Claims Of Financial Mismanagement By House Democrat Leader
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Lawmakers To Examine Claims Of Financial Mismanagement By House Democrat Leader

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics A legislative ethics panel in Colorado is scheduled to meet Wednesday to review a complaint alleging that Aurora Democrat Rep. Mandy Lindsay misused House Democratic caucus funds. Rep. Bob Marshall, D‑Highlands Ranch, filed the complaint on Jan. 26. Marshall’s complaint outlines the structure of caucus funds and details the responsibilities Lindsay has in managing them. Lindsay told Colorado Politics on Tuesday, “I respect the ethics committee, trust in the work they will do, and I look forward to the process.” Lindsay has served as one of the two House Democratic caucus co‑chairs — alongside Rep. Junie Joseph of Boulder — since November 2022. The caucus chair is responsible for managing the group’s fund, including...
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The Bell Colorado Voters Refuse to Hear
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The Bell Colorado Voters Refuse to Hear

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is not experiencing a surprise budget crisis, it is experiencing the predictable result of a decade of voter signals. As a recent exile, I can speak with new objectivity. Your legislature responds to incentives. Always. If you reward expansion of government, it expands. If you tolerate fiscal opacity, it deepens. If you ignore constitutional guardrails, elected officials learn they can ignore them too. The current 1.2 billion dollar budget shortfall did not appear overnight. It is the logical outcome of a political training program voters themselves created. Yes. Created. When voters repeatedly elect candidates who promise new programs without demanding sustainable funding, the legislature learns something ...
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One Board, One Council, One Legislator at a Time
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

One Board, One Council, One Legislator at a Time

By Michael J Badagliacco, “MJB” | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice While attending the Colorado Republican Assembly in April 2026, I reflected on how Colorado fell to the radical far left. A conversation with a friend came to mind. It described the precise mechanism the left uses to convert our Constitutional Republic into a social democracy, contrary to the vision of the founders. The U.S. was founded as a Constitutional Republic with power rooted in local government, built from the bottom up rather than imposed from the top down. Although we look to the president for national leadership, the true foundation lies in town councils, school boards, and state legislatures.  Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution guarantees to every state in the Union a...
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Insurance relief or government growth: Colorado bills reveal two competing paths
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Insurance relief or government growth: Colorado bills reveal two competing paths

Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The two bills linked at bottom (SB26-049 and SB26-155 respectively) present an interesting contrast in policy intended to lower homeowners insurance premiums. I thought a comparison of the two might be illuminating. It’s not going to be entirely black and white, these aren’t polar opposites, but in looking at the bills together I think you can get a sense of the “legislative style” of those involved. The fiscal notes of both provide a pretty apt summary, so let’s start there. Screenshots 1a and 1b show the summary for SB26-049. Screenshots 2a and 2b show the summary for SB26-155. In the former you increase the people who qualify for grants from an existing enterpr...
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Colorado Senate Advances Bill to Ease Landfill Regulation Burden
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Senate Advances Bill to Ease Landfill Regulation Burden

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – A bipartisan bill to backfill county governments for an unfunded methane emissions mandate is counting on money from existing state grant programs, which, according to Sen. Byron Pelton, is necessary to ensure Colorado counties don’t go bankrupt from the environmental rules put in place by unelected boards appointed by Gov. Jared Polis. Senate Bill 26-101, Local Government Landfill Methane Emission Reduction Regulations, will allow counties to use money from the community impact cash fund, air quality enterprise cash fund, and local government mineral impact fund “for the purpose of complying with landfill methane emission reduction requirements adopted by the air quality control commission, a division of the department of public h...
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Lawmakers Push Back On Taxpayer Funding For Colorado Wolf Program
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Lawmakers Push Back On Taxpayer Funding For Colorado Wolf Program

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Sen. Dylan Roberts and Rep. Meghan Lukens led the charge to keep Colorado Parks and Wildlife from using general fund money to bring more wolves to Colorado. The General Assembly sent a strong message over the last few days to Gov. Jared Polis in footnotes to the proposed state budget: Stop using general fund money to reintroduce wolves to Colorado. Footnotes to the budget, also known as the long bill, aren’t legally binding. And the spending plan still has a few steps to go before it can be signed into law by Polis. But if approved, Colorado Parks and Wildlife would be on notice not to use taxpayer money to reintroduce wolves. Instead, lawmakers want the program authorized by voters in 2020 to rely on gifts, grants an...
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Democrat Infighting Derails Transparency Push At State Capitol
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KUNC, Approved, State

Democrat Infighting Derails Transparency Push At State Capitol

By Jesse Paul, Taylor Dolven | KUNC Radio This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com. An effort to bridge the divide between more liberal and more moderate Democrats in the state legislature has fallen apart. The two sides were working on a bill to increase transparency around legislative caucuses in response to the Colorado Opportunity Caucus’ retreat at a hotel in Vail in October. The caucus is made up of moderate Democrats at the Capitol and doesn’t disclose all of its donors, though at least one of their funders is a nonprofit that has targeted liberal Democrats in primaries. But now the two sides are no longer talking about their transparency effort and the more libera...
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Supreme Court Takes Up Colorado Preschool Case Testing Religious Freedom
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Supreme Court Takes Up Colorado Preschool Case Testing Religious Freedom

By Lindsay Whitehurst | The Denver Gazette WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear from Catholic preschools that say Colorado violated their religious rights by excluding them from a state-funded “universal” pre-kindergarten program over their admission policies. The court agreed on Monday to take up the appeal from St. Mary Catholic Parish in its challenge against a state program. That challenge is supported by the Trump administration. Joined by the Archdiocese of Denver, two Catholic institutions, St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood, filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado, alleging their preschools cannot participate in the publicly funded program because the church’s religious views on sexual o...
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Xcel Energy Prepares Shutoffs In Drought Stricken Regions In Western And Southern Colorado
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Xcel Energy Prepares Shutoffs In Drought Stricken Regions In Western And Southern Colorado

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado Xcel Energy announced that customers in parts of western Colorado and the San Luis Valley should prepare for possible power shutoffs on Wednesday. Strong winds, combined with dry conditions and low humidity, will result in high wildfire risk. "To reduce the risk of wildfire and support public safety, we are planning for a possible Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) beginning on Wednesday, April 22, around 9 a.m. MT for some customers in Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties, and around 11 a.m. MT for some customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande and Saguache counties," the company said. Many of these areas are already experiencing extreme or exceptional drought, and the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag...
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Colorado murder bill advances: Sentencing cuts collide with voter mandate
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado murder bill advances: Sentencing cuts collide with voter mandate

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado voters approved Proposition 128 in November 2024 with 62 percent support, requiring those convicted of second-degree murder and several other violent felonies to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Seventeen months later, House Bill 26-1281 is headed to the House floor. While much of the debate has focused on how the bill treats completed murders, most of its effect may come from how it changes penalties for attempted cases — incidents far more common in Colorado. The bill would reclassify some first-degree murder convictions as second-degree and also reduces penalties for attempted cases—crimes that occur far more often than completed homicides, including drive-by ...
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