Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

State

HB 1133, prohibiting the sale of ammunition to those under age 21, passes committee
No Comments
The Center Square, Approved, State

HB 1133, prohibiting the sale of ammunition to those under age 21, passes committee

By Elyse Apel | The Center Square Legislation further restricting firearm ammunitions sales in Colorado successfully passed committee Thursday. House Bill 25-1133, “Requirements for Sale of Firearms Ammunition,” was referred by the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee to the House for a vote following a lengthy debate by witnesses for both sides. The bill passed only narrowly by a vote of 7-6, with Democratic Rep. Bob Marshall joining Republicans in opposing the legislation. Amended to go into effect July 1, 2026, the bill would prohibit the retail sale of ammunition to a person who is younger than 21. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE CENTER SQUARE
Read More
In letter to Mayor Mike Johnston, Denver restaurants say they’re now watching downtown ‘fall completely apart’
No Comments
Approved, denvergazette.com, State

In letter to Mayor Mike Johnston, Denver restaurants say they’re now watching downtown ‘fall completely apart’

By Bernadette Berdychowski | The Denver Gazette Several Denver restaurants said they are at a boiling point with the state of downtown. In a letter to Mayor Mike Johnston and city leaders sent last week, Dave Query, owner of Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar, expressed frustrations with the mayor, noting he had promised on the campaign trial to turn downtown around. Several other major restaurateurs in downtown Denver signed on to Query's letter, including owners from Illegal Pete’s, ChoLon Restaurant Concepts and Union Station’s restaurant operators. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Read More
Bipartisan bill would let Colorado counties triple lodging taxes to pay for more than affordable housing
No Comments
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Bipartisan bill would let Colorado counties triple lodging taxes to pay for more than affordable housing

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Colorado lawmakers Thursday dropped bipartisan legislation that would allow local voters to raise their county lodging tax rate to 6% from the existing 2%.   The potential tripling of local lodging taxes — which mountain town voters have recently embraced as a way to fund affordable housing — would also come with an expansion in the types of projects that could be funded with lodging tax revenue.  House Bill 1247 would allow increased lodging tax revenue to fund infrastructure, preserve historical sites, land and wildlife habitat, promote sustainable tourism practices, and employ more police and emergency workers.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
Read More
Poll shows Coloradans prioritize gun theft prosecution over passing new laws
No Comments
Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Poll shows Coloradans prioritize gun theft prosecution over passing new laws

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics As the Colorado Senate readies for debate on a measure to ban semi-automatic weapons with detachable magazines, a new poll shows residents prefer to see more of focus on prosecuting crime, including gun thefts, rather than enacting stricter gun laws. Indeed, respondents said lawmakers should prioritize improving the economy, addressing illegal immigration, confronting "climate issues" and fixing homelessness. Changing gun law hovered in the low single digits in the respondents' priority list.      The poll, which was released this week was conducted by Arc Insights and sampled 603 registered Colorado voters between Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.99 points. It used a combination of live calls and t...
Read More
Sponsors offer some concessions, but SB 3 still ‘infringement,’ Republicans argue
No Comments
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Sponsors offer some concessions, but SB 3 still ‘infringement,’ Republicans argue

'Shall not be infringed means shall not be infringed' — Sen. Lisa Frizell By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice Debate over Senate Bill 25-003, which began in the late afternoon Thursday and continued into the wee hours of Friday morning, ended with Democrats giving initial support to one of the country's most extreme gun laws in a mostly party line voice vote in the Colorado Senate. At issue is whether, in the interest of stemming mass shootings in the state, if Coloradans should sacrifice constitutionally-provided gun ownership rights. Bill co-sponsor, Democrat Sen. Tom Sullivan, relayed the story of his son's death in the Aurora theatre shooting more than a decade ago, which inspired his writing of the bill. "This is primarily working to enforce the [high-capacity magazi...
Read More
For the first time, Colorado legislators push forward a bill to boost nuclear energy
No Comments
Approved, State, The Sum & Substance

For the first time, Colorado legislators push forward a bill to boost nuclear energy

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance After years of dismissing the idea of promoting nuclear-energy development in Colorado, some legislative Democrats are coming around on it — and late Thursday, they joined with Republicans for the first time to advance a bill that would incentivize the energy source. House Bill 1040 would redefine nuclear energy as a clean energy, which in turn would make nuclear projects eligible for special clean-energy project financing and would allow utilities to include them in their minimum mandatory clean-energy portfolio. It passed the House Energy & Environment Committee by an 8-5 vote after a lengthy hearing and goes next to the full House for debate. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE SUM & SUBSTANCE
Read More
Sen. Kirkmeyer decries two-faced SB 3, permitting filmmakers to use guns that Coloradans couldn’t purchase
No Comments
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Sen. Kirkmeyer decries two-faced SB 3, permitting filmmakers to use guns that Coloradans couldn’t purchase

'All of those films with people shooting each other might have led to mass shooting violence' — Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice The same guns which Senate Bill 25-003, the semi-auto firearm ban, would make unlawful for Coloradans to sell, purchase or transfer ownership of, would be allowed for filmmakers in the state to use as props. And it isn't setting well with Senate Republicans, especially Brighton Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer. "As long as you're firing blanks and you're from Hollywood, it's OK for you to put that prop in a film and glamourize it," she described an amendment to SB 3 reading. "All of those films with people shooting each other might have led to mass shooting violence." The stemming of mass shootings in Colorado, as she notes, is suppose...
Read More
Press, protesters, and politicians thwart ICE raids in Colorado. Homan promises to come back harder
No Comments
Approved, National, National Review, State

Press, protesters, and politicians thwart ICE raids in Colorado. Homan promises to come back harder

By Tracy Wolfer Osborne | National Review ICE raids in Colorado were thwarted last week by media leaks. A massive raid targeting over 100 Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members last week ended with only 30 arrests, and of those only one was TdA, as reported on X by Fox News' Bill Melugin, who was embedded in a pre-dawn raid at the now-infamous Edge Apartments in Lowry, Colo. A local news source, Denverite, documented the raid from inside the apartment complex where they stayed the night. It’s unclear how the media organization knew of the raids beforehand. READ THE FULL STORY AT NATIONAL REVIEW
Read More
Sen. Rod Pelton asks Colorado lawmakers to ‘crack down on crime in this state’
No Comments
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Sen. Rod Pelton asks Colorado lawmakers to ‘crack down on crime in this state’

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice The odds might not be ever in your favor in Colorado that if you operate a motor vehicle here, it won't be stolen at some point. A case made Friday by Cheyenne Wells Sen. Rod Pelton is a family from Wray on the distant Eastern Plains, near the state line shared with Nebraska. The family, from Cory Gardner Country in Yuma County, had traveled to Denver on Thursday, but had difficulty returning home. "They were up here enjoying a good time at state wrestling and their car was stolen," he said. Wray is a town of about 2,400 with a crime rate nearly four times lower than the average. Extrapolating FBI data from 2019-2023, Newsweek reports auto theft per capita is highest in Colorado among all states. That FBI data also details auto theft ha...
Read More
Three-term Republican state Rep. Rod Bockenfeld has died
No Comments
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Three-term Republican state Rep. Rod Bockenfeld has died

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice Rod Bockenfeld, who served Colorado's House District 56 for three terms, has died, Sen. Rod Pelton announced Thursday to the Colorado Senate. "He was my representative for two years," Pelton said. "We sat next to each other in the House chamber, and we became really close. He was a great man." Bockenfeld moved to Colorado in 1978 and began a career as a financial crimes investigator. He earned a bachelor's in law enforcement administration and a graduate degree in banking. In 2004, Bockenfeld was elected as an Arapahoe County commissioner, a position in which he served for 12 years. In 2018, he was elected to serve in the Colorado House and was sworn into office in 2019. He represented Adams, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, El Paso, Elbert, Kit Carson...
Read More