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Colorado Lawmakers Face Tough Choices As Medicaid Drives Increased Spending
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Face Tough Choices As Medicaid Drives Increased Spending

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics This week, the state Senate is reviewing revisions to the 2025–26 state budget, which has been reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars in each round of cuts. But the bottom line is that, because of Medicaid costs, the state will spend more in 2025-26 than lawmakers approved in the 2025 session. Last week, the 29 bills in the supplemental package were approved by the House, with most passing with broad support. That didn’t mean all of them did: bills changing the budgets for the departments of state, treasury, health care policy and financing, personnel, public health and environment and higher ed all passed largely along party lines. A supplemental for the Department of Corrections, which increased its budget by $29...
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Colorado Bill To Decriminalize Prostitution Sparks Sharp Debate At Capitol
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Colorado Bill To Decriminalize Prostitution Sparks Sharp Debate At Capitol

By Anna Coon | KDVR DENVER (KDVR) — A bill that would decriminalize prostitution in Colorado is drawing sharply divided reactions from lawmakers and advocacy groups. Supporters argue the measure would improve safety, while opponents warn of broader social consequences. The proposal, introduced by four Democratic lawmakers, would remove criminal penalties for adults who buy or sell consensual commercial sex. It would also prohibit local governments from banning consensual commercial sexual activity. The policy is also backed by the ACLU, and if passed, Colorado would become the first state to fully decriminalize prostitution. Supporters say the legislation would reduce violence against sex workers, curb human trafficking and slow the spread of disease by allowing...
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Colorado Ballot Push Aims To Redraw Maps And Diminish GOP Representation
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, State

Colorado Ballot Push Aims To Redraw Maps And Diminish GOP Representation

By Caitlyn Kim | CPR News The group Coloradans for a Level Playing Field wants to put an initiative on the 2026 ballot that would allow the state to draw new Congressional maps for 2028 and 2030. If voters approve, the state would join the redistricting tit-for-tat going on across the country after President Donald Trump urged Texas to redraw its congressional map to help Republicans retain control of the House in 2026. Several other Red and Blue states have followed or plan on following suit, such as Missouri, North Carolina, California and Virginia. “No one wanted to have to take this action,” said Curtis Hubbard, spokesperson for Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, adding independent commissions that make such decisions are ideal. “But with Donald Trump and his MA...
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Colorado firm Zynex forfeits nearly $100M as former executives face federal charges
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado firm Zynex forfeits nearly $100M as former executives face federal charges

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice An Englewood medical device company has agreed to pay millions and walk away from nearly 100 million dollars in unpaid claims after a federal investigation into its TRICARE billing practices. This week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Zynex, Inc. entered into a criminal Non-Prosecution Agreement. Prosecutors said the company submitted claims for medical supplies “in quantities that exceeded physician orders” and, in some instances, were “not medically necessary.” At the same time, a federal grand jury indictment charging former CEO Thomas Sandgaard and former Chief Operating Officer Anna Lucsok was unsealed. The company secured a deal. Its former executives now face criminal charges ...
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Electric school buses and winter limits: What physics has to say
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Electric school buses and winter limits: What physics has to say

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project So, about those electric school busses… It's been so mild here in Colorado, I wonder if this has been noticed, but I saw the NY Post article below and thought I'd share.It details some parental complaints out of New York about the mandated electric busses. Quoting the lede:"Parents in Western New York are raising alarms over cold rides and breakdowns after officials mandated that all school bus purchases must be electric by 2027."The problem's not hard to figure out. It's so fundamental that it goes all the way down to energy conservation (and something I've touched on more than once in the past -- see "Related" below).For an internal combustion engine, the heat in the compartment is either waste heat from t...
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Polis Names Northern Colorado Judge Susan Blanco To Supreme Court
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Names Northern Colorado Judge Susan Blanco To Supreme Court

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Chief Judge Susan Blanco of Larimer and Jackson counties is the newest member of the Colorado Supreme Court, Gov. Jared Polis announced on Tuesday. “A few words come to mind: Innovation. Excellence. Creativity. Hard work. These are values we need across society,” said Polis during a news conference announcing Blanco’s appointment. Blanco, 48, became a district judge in January 2017. She will join four other former trial judges, including two other former chief judges, on the seven-member Supreme Court. “I’ve conducted home visits, jail visits, and appeared in dozens of Colorado courtrooms witnessing firsthand the extraordinary diversity of our communities and the very vast barriers that many face in accessing justice,” Blanc...
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Gov. Polis Seeks Answers As Colorado’s Largest Publicly Traded Company Leaves for Florida
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Seeks Answers As Colorado’s Largest Publicly Traded Company Leaves for Florida

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun Valued at $300B, Palantir was the largest publicly traded company in Colorado. CEO Alex Karp recently bought a monastery in Old Snowmass. Palantir Technologies, a government contractor known for mass surveillance technology aided by artificial intelligence, has moved its headquarters out of Denver in favor of the Miami area, the company said Tuesday in a post on X.com.  The company left Palo Alto, California, in 2020 to move to Denver. Founded by billionaire Peter Thiel and its CEO Alex Karp, Palantir was in the news this month after activists behind the “Purge Palantir” database publicized the company’s donations to two of Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora and Sen. John Hickenlooper ...
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Speech or statute? Appeals court weighs bond denial in Tina Peters case
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Speech or statute? Appeals court weighs bond denial in Tina Peters case

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Court of Appeals is being asked to decide whether Tina Peters was denied bond because of her speech—or whether the issue is already foreclosed by appellate rules. Was her bond denied because of her speech? The Attorney General’s office argues the court does not need to answer that question. In its view, Peters’ petition is untimely, successive and barred under Colorado’s appellate rules. The dispute now before the court centers on bond pending appeal. The defense says a district judge treated Peters’ public criticism of Mesa County’s voting system as a public danger. The state says the bond statute independently supports denial and that the petition should be dismissed on procedural grounds. 2026-01-30 A...
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CORA changes would extend deadlines and expand government discretion
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

CORA changes would extend deadlines and expand government discretion

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Kipp is back with another stab at CORA. I had heard from my state senator (B Pelton) that Senator Kipp would be back this year with another run at modifying the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).Her bill recently came out and I link to it first below. The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition (CFOIC) article on the bill is linked second below as an additional resource if you want it.I will be advocating against this bill both here and, hopefully, by testifying against it in committee (as of this writing there is no date set).To her credit, Kipp is not oblivious to past criticism (or strident enough to not care a la Senator Sullivan) about her previous attempts at modifying CORA; having been following her ...
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Colorado Democrats’ Gun Control Agenda Has Failed. HB26-1021 Is the Reset We Need
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Democrats’ Gun Control Agenda Has Failed. HB26-1021 Is the Reset We Need

By Reps. Brandi Bradley and Max Brooks | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s update: House Bill 26-1021 will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, upon adjournment in HCR 0107. The committee is scheduled between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Readers may listen live here: https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00327/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20260217/29/17994#info_ For more than a decade, Colorado Democrats have treated gun control as a political obsession. Not because it works. Not because it reduces crime. But because it expands government control and satisfies national activist donors. Meanwhile, crime has increased, communities feel less safe, and the only people consistently punished are those who follow the law. Hous...
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