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Colorado Energy Fight Intensifies With New Ballot Measures Targeting Oil And Gas
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Energy Fight Intensifies With New Ballot Measures Targeting Oil And Gas

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A group has introduced four ballot measures it says are meant to counter an initiative that aims to enshrine Colorado businesses and consumers’ right to purchase and sell natural gas in the state’s constitution. Filed with the Secretary of State’s Office today, Conservation Colorado’s measures would do the following: Establishing statutory liability for oil and gas companies operating in Colorado found to have damaged the state’s air, water, land or communities Establishing joint and several liability for current and past oil and gas operators and producers if found responsible for damage to the environment or a community Prohibiting oil and gas distributors from requiring customers to pay for pipeline extensions or decom...
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Polis Administration Faces Lawsuit Over Keeping Minors In Custody After Judges Ordered Release
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Administration Faces Lawsuit Over Keeping Minors In Custody After Judges Ordered Release

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado officials are facing a lawsuit alleging the state kept minors in juvenile detention for days or months after judges ordered them released, largely because appropriate foster or community placements were not available. Two minors facing juvenile delinquency charges sued Gov. Jared Polis and the director of the state’s Department of Human Services, alleging the state is incarcerating children despite judges’ orders to release them to the community. The state refused to comment on the litigation, though a spokesperson said the safety of children under its care is a top priority. The lawsuit, filed by a coalition of civil and disability rights advocates on behalf of defendants known only as Isaac N. and Tony S., alle...
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Colorado Budget Gap Swells To $1.5 Billion As Lawmakers Brace For Cuts
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Gap Swells To $1.5 Billion As Lawmakers Brace For Cuts

By Nick Coltrain | Denver7 New forecasts set the stage for the final push on the state budget. DENVER — The fiscal picture for Colorado’s state government has somehow gotten even murkier — and potentially much worse. Lawmakers walked into Thursday’s key economic forecasts pessimistic about what the reports would tell them about the state budget. They walked out of it with one forecast warning they now needed to close a $1.5 billion deficit in the next week or so, an increase over the $1 billion prediction from just a few days earlier. That does not account for some cuts the committee has proposed but not yet finalized. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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Colorado’s School Funding TABOR Measure Hides a Long-Term Legislative Slush Fund
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s School Funding TABOR Measure Hides a Long-Term Legislative Slush Fund

Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The CPR article below details how SB26-135 (linked second below), the bill that, among other things, will put a question on the ballot allowing people to decide whether or not to let the state keep tax revenues above the TABOR cap, passed out of its first committee last week. I want to tee up an important thing to note about this bill by using a quote from one of the bill's sponsors Senator Kipp. “The Colorado Constitution requires voter approval to make any adjustments to TABOR, which is why lawmakers have to go to the ballot to advance the plan, according to Democratic Sen. Cathy Kipp, another main sponsor. ‘This bill does exactly what TABOR tells us to do,’ Kipp said. ‘We are going to the people of Colorado and saying, “...
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Trump re-endorses Hurd in CD3: Says Scheppelman will exit race
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Trump re-endorses Hurd in CD3: Says Scheppelman will exit race

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional reporting, including comments from Colorado Republican Party Secretary Russ Andrews and a statement from Hope Scheppelman confirming she has suspended her campaign. President Donald Trump on Friday morning reversed course in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, re-endorsing Rep. Jeff Hurd and announcing that former challenger Hope Scheppelman would step out of the race to join his administration—a move she later confirmed in a campaign statement. In a Truth Social post, Trump said Scheppelman and her husband Steven—both Navy veterans—will leave the campaign trail “to join my Administration, in a capacity to be determined,” calling them “wonderful and patriotic” supporters of the...
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Colorado Ballot Measure Seeks To Lock Transportation Taxes Into Road Funding
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Ballot Measure Seeks To Lock Transportation Taxes Into Road Funding

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – Colorado voters are one step closer to ensuring revenue intended for building and maintaining Colorado’s highways actually goes to fixing the roads.  A proposed ballot measure seeks to reinstate a prior funding mechanism, repealed by the legislature decades ago after the lawmaker it was named for retired. This time, however, the method would be enshrined in the state’s constitution, if passed. The secretary of state’s office has okayed Initiative 175 for signature gathering, and if it makes it onto the November ballot, Colorado’s roads and highways may finally begin to see the much-needed repairs that, according to critics, have been pushed aside to satisfy progressive leaders’ desire for things such as mass transit....
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Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Prison Spending As State Budget Tightens
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Prison Spending As State Budget Tightens

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette The Polis administration is asking for hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the state’s prison system, just as Colorado’s legislators are bracing for a worsening fiscal outlook. The request sets up a clash over priorities at a time when the state faces a nearly $1.5 billion shortfall. The administration is seeking to add prison beds amid overcrowding, though advocates on both sides of the spectrum disagree over its cause. Some advocates have argued that the crisis is partly the result of a backlog of inmates awaiting parole placement. Others maintained that the “crisis” resulted from Democrats’ policies that ultimately seek to release offenders back into communities. On Wednesday, the governor asked budget writers f...
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Colorado Health Initiative For Immigrants Exceeds Fiscal Projections By Over 600%
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The Daily Caller, Approved, State

Colorado Health Initiative For Immigrants Exceeds Fiscal Projections By Over 600%

By Harold Hutchison | The Daily Caller A program to provide health care for pregnant illegal immigrants in Colorado is costing the state over seven times its budget projections since it was enacted, the Colorado Sun reported. The Covering All Coloradans program, which was enacted in 2022, gave health care benefits to illegal immigrants who would otherwise have qualified for Medicaid, according to the Sun. The program was expected to cost the state $14.7 million dollars but its cost has instead ballooned to over $104 million. The program’s launch was secured in 2025 when money was appropriated by the state legislature. The state is now facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, primarily due to programs like Covering All Coloradans, the Sun...
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Colorado Budget Gap Nears $1.5B As Revenue Forecast Slides
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Gap Nears $1.5B As Revenue Forecast Slides

By: Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette The latest revenue forecasts from economists in both the governor’s office and the Colorado legislature show that the state’s budget predicament has worsened — by hundreds of millions of dollars more. That, in turn, means cuts programs and services in next year’s fiscal budget will go much deeper. The state’s fiscal predicament also means no refunds for Colorado residents. Economists with the Legislative Council downgraded the forecast for the 2026-27 fiscal year by another $643 million, bringing the total shortfall to nearly $1.5 billion. What’s driving the downgrade? General fund revenues — dollars that come from tax collections for individual and corporate income tax, and sales and use taxes — came in lower for fi...
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Colorado’s EMS savings promise: Too soon to celebrate
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s EMS savings promise: Too soon to celebrate

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I thought the headline of the KUNC article below was quite provocative. The title is, in full, "Ambulance services would get funding boost while saving Colorado millions under new bill." Bit too certain, I thought. Not so much the first part, but the latter bit: "...while saving Colorado millions." First, to the bill. The KUNC article is linked first below, with the bill underneath it. Screenshots 1a and 1b are the summary of what the bill does from its fiscal note. Skipping a lot of detail the bill allows EMS workers to do more treatments "in place", where and when they are called out or encounter someone needing medical attention in lieu of scooping everyone up and taking them to the ...
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