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After a father’s warning, lawmakers block porn age-check measure
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After a father’s warning, lawmakers block porn age-check measure

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A Mesa County father didn’t show up to talk policy. He showed up to talk about kids. “My heart breaks for this generation and the technology that they face today,” Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis told lawmakers, describing a world where explicit material is “one click away” and often discovered long before children understand what they’re seeing. He talked about foster children, smartphones, and the quiet moments when exposure happens before parents even know it. “Right now, a 10-year-old boy is quietly absorbing scenes that teach him that women are objects,” Davis said. “Right now, a 12-year-old girl is comparing her natural developing body to the… performer she sees.” No one in the hearing questioned the problem. Kids are runn...
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Another spring, another Democrat lawmaker push for “extreme temperature” workplace rules
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Another spring, another Democrat lawmaker push for “extreme temperature” workplace rules

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project For the last couple (I think--don't quote me on it being two) legislative sessions, some of the more progressive Democrats in the state legislature have been trying, and failing, to run a bill to offer "protection" to workers who do their job in extreme temperatures.Such a bill is running again this year. It's HB26-1272 which I link to first below.Past efforts died due to (legitimate) concerns by businesses and industry over the effect rules about breaks, heating, and cooling would have on their ability to operate.This year's effort is at least passing its first initial hurdles, albeit in an altered form. Quoting from the Sum and Substance article about the bill linked second below (with link intact):"House Bill 12...
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Colorado Lawmakers Push Major Expansion Of Public Utilities Commission Authority
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Uncategorized, Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Colorado Lawmakers Push Major Expansion Of Public Utilities Commission Authority

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – Colorado lawmakers are trying to introduce major changes to how the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) operates. The PUC, consisting of three members appointed by the governor, oversees numerous industries serving the public, from setting rates for your monthly electric bill to regulating Ubers. New legislation not only extends the PUC for another 11 years, but also introduces an onslaught of changes claiming to protect Coloradans.  However, according to critics, it adds additional burdens to an already over-regulated industry, takes transparency away from consumers and gives an already powerful board of unelected bureaucrats, even more power in other areas. Rideshare companies targeted House Bill 26-1326, Sunset ...
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Partisan Divide Sharpens Over Colorado Spending Plan As $46.8B Budget Moves to Senate
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Partisan Divide Sharpens Over Colorado Spending Plan As $46.8B Budget Moves to Senate

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette The battle over Colorado’s proposed $46.8 billion spending plan for next year shifted to the state Senate, which must decide whether to acquiesce to changes made by the House. The senators could also decide to adopt their own changes, which would force the two bodies to reconcile their differences. The state constitution requires a balanced budget, although that rarely stays balanced for long, and this year, lawmakers must plug a deficit of more than $1 billion. The proposed budget is actually bigger than the current year’s spending plan, driven by Medicaid costs. In the Senate, the budget is sponsored by Joint Budget Committee members Sens. Jeff Bridges, D‑Greenwood Village, Barbara Kirkmeyer, R‑Brighton, and Judy Amabi...
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Colorado Economy Takes A Hit As Revised Data Shows 11,000 Jobs Lost Over The Last Year
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Economy Takes A Hit As Revised Data Shows 11,000 Jobs Lost Over The Last Year

By Shannon Ogden | Denver7 Colorado says the state's unemployment rate increased to 3.9 percent in January, while the labor force participation rate dropped to its lowest level since 2020. DENVER — Colorado lost 11,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last year, according to a grim revised jobs report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Brian Lewandowski, executive director Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder, said it is unusual for Colorado to lose jobs outside of recessionary periods. Since 2000, Colorado has only recorded job losses in 2002 and 2003 during the tech burst, 2009 and 2010 during the financial crisis, and in 2020 because of COVID, Lewandowski said. The revised data shows the state lost jobs inst...
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Election Integrity and Cybersecurity Failures at the Colorado GOP Convention
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Election Integrity and Cybersecurity Failures at the Colorado GOP Convention

By Maria Orms | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I attended this past weekend’s Colorado Republican State Convention in Pueblo as a gubernatorial candidate seeking ballot access. I was there not only as a candidate, but as a cybersecurity professional. What I witnessed—and what was reported by multiple credible participants—was not simply disorganization. It was a series of failures that demand a full, independent investigation. Confidence in any election process—whether internal to a party or statewide—depends on security, transparency, and adherence to procedure. In Pueblo, those standards were not met. Start with the delegate database. Multiple individuals reported that the system had been corrupted or compromised just days before the convention. That alone should hav...
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How many lawmakers benefit from taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Colorado?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

How many lawmakers benefit from taxpayer-funded nonprofits in Colorado?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I saw a CPR article (see the first link below) about how much Colorado legislators are paid recently. It was one of their "Colorado Wonders" series. This is a series where CPR writes articles based on reader questions. If you want more on that series, see the second link below. I read the article on how much Colorado legislators are paid. If that's something you've wondered, give it a look. The answer is "not much", but if you look at the daily rate for what has always been and ought to continue to be a part-time job, it's respectable. Noting that it was completely missing from the CPR piece on legislator pay, I had a little Colorado Wonders of my own. I actually took the time to submit it to CPR last week immedi...
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HB26-1276 faces hearing today as Rep. Slaugh warns sanctuary policies could cut federal jail funding
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

HB26-1276 faces hearing today as Rep. Slaugh warns sanctuary policies could cut federal jail funding

By Rep. Scott Slaugh | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s update: HB26-1276 is scheduled to be heard today at 1:30 p.m. in the House Finance Committee (HCR 0112). Readers can listen to the hearing live here or sign up to testify here. Since the year 2000, by Act of Congress the federal Department of Justice’s has annually reimbursed state prisons and thousands of local county jails across the nation for the documented costs of incarcerating convicted criminal aliens –persons not lawfully present in the United States and convicted of a felony crime or two misdemeanors under a state’s criminal code. That decades-old federal program is called the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or simply, “SCAAP.”   From its inception the federal SCAAP program ...
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Colorado House Pushes Through $46.8 Billion Budget After Contentious Debate
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado House Pushes Through $46.8 Billion Budget After Contentious Debate

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The House on Saturday, after four days of work – it usually takes two – finished up their work and voted on the $46.8 billion 2026-27 state budget, as contained in House Bill 1410 and 64 accompanying measures designed to help balance the budget. The delay in getting to the finish line was caused by Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Roxborough Park, who asked for the 661-page budget bill to be read at length, a computer-operated process expected to take up to 15 hours. That was on Wednesday, the first day the full House worked on the budget. The reading was laid over until late Thursday by House Majority Leader Rep. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge. The reading didn’t start until after 6:30 p.m., to allow the House to finish wor...
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Local Farmers Battle Dry Conditions and Higher Costs Ahead of Market Openings
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Local Farmers Battle Dry Conditions and Higher Costs Ahead of Market Openings

By Ethan Carlson | Denver7 Unseasonably warm weather and expensive water are forcing local farmers to adapt. LONGMONT, Colo. — Farmers markets are set to open across Colorado in the coming weeks, but local growers are facing a tough season marked by drought, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, and warm weather. The City Park Farmers Market starts Saturday, May 2, and the Lafayette Farmers Market opens Sunday, May 3. Shoppers may see a different selection of goods than usual for this time of year. Peter Wanberg, co-owner of the City Park and Lafayette Farmers Markets, noted that the weather has affected what crops are going to be available. “Normally, there’s a lot of greens and there’s not a huge amount of those really big harvest mid-seaso...
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