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Colorado Lawmakers Lean on Fees to Sidestep TABOR Tax Limits
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Lean on Fees to Sidestep TABOR Tax Limits

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics More than 30 years after Colorado voters approved the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, a growing share of state spending now falls outside the voter-approved limits intended to restrain government growth. A new report shows that fee-funded “enterprises” — state-owned businesses exempt from TABOR’s revenue cap — have expanded dramatically, raising worries that lawmakers are increasingly relying on fees, rather than taxes, to fund government programs. At its core, TABOR limits the government’s ability to raise revenue. Political subdivisions must obtain voter approval for any tax increase, and it requires dollars above the TABOR limit to be refunded to residents. Numerous efforts have been made to repeal TABOR since its enactment. As r...
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Red Flag Law Expansion Clears First Senate Committee On Party-Line Vote
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Red Flag Law Expansion Clears First Senate Committee On Party-Line Vote

By: Colette Bordelon | Denver7 Lawmakers voted along party lines after roughly four hours of passionate testimony from supporters and opponents. DENVER — On Tuesday evening, with a 3-2 vote along party lines, Colorado lawmakers advanced the first bill of the session that wrestles with the debate over gun violence prevention and the right to bear arms. The Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee heard roughly four hours of emotional — and at times, furious — testimony regarding Senate Bill 26-004 (SB26-004), which was introduced by State Senator Tom Sullivan, D — District 27. "My son, Alex, and 11 others were murdered in the Aurora theater massacre on July 20, 2012," Sullivan said. Sullivan's goal has been to ensure gun vi...
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A closet, a camera and a setup: Tina Peters assaulted in prison then thrown into solitary
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

A closet, a camera and a setup: Tina Peters assaulted in prison then thrown into solitary

By A.L. Goodwin | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice On the evening of January 18, just after 9:00 p.m., Tina Peters was assaulted inside the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, Colorado—not in a yard or a common area, but in a narrow janitor’s closet, out of view of surveillance cameras. Peters had been filling a portable swamp cooler, a task other inmates routinely refuse to do, even as the prison overheats in the dead of winter due to a failing HVAC system. To access the water tank, she pulled the unit into the cramped closet, positioning her head and upper body between the door and the cooler—leaving her physically pinned in a space barely wider than the machine itself. As Peters maneuvered the unit, another inmate approached in an agitated state. The wom...
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Medicaid Cuts For Disabled Coloradans Advance Without Board Approval
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Medicaid Cuts For Disabled Coloradans Advance Without Board Approval

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun State Medicaid officials said they have authority to continue with the plan through an executive order from Gov. Jared Polis and that they will ask again for board approval. When it came time for any of the Colorado Medical Services Board members to make a motion, there was only dead silence.  For two hours, the 11-member board that governs the state Medicaid program heard pleas from parents who provide round-the-clock care of their adult children with severe disabilities. And when the testimony was over, no one on the board would make a motion that would result in cuts to the parents’ monthly pay. The request from Medicaid officials for an emergency rule change that means a 10% pay cut for families of Colorado’s most vul...
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Democrats Revive Gender Identity Language in Colorado Child Custody Law
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Democrats Revive Gender Identity Language in Colorado Child Custody Law

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Democratic lawmakers eye reviving a provision related to gender identity in child custody cases that was stripped from a bill signed into law last year. Last session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1312, which dealt with legal protections for transgender individuals. The law included new provisions dealing with name changes on marriage certificates, sex designations on driver’s licenses, and school dress codes. Specifically, the bill requires county clerks and recorders to issue name changes on marriage certificates when requested but leave no indication or mark that the certificate has been modified. It allows an individual to change the sex designation on a driver’s license up to three times, instead of just once, before bei...
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Rising Inmate Numbers Put Pressure On Colorado To Expand Prison System
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Rising Inmate Numbers Put Pressure On Colorado To Expand Prison System

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' budget director, Mark Ferrandino, is sounding an alarm. He says the Colorado Department of Corrections is limiting new admissions as it reaches capacity, and the state needs to open a new facility to house a growing number of inmates. Ferrandino urged Colorado's Joint Budget Committee to approve funding for more beds in the short-term.  "We are going to get to a place, unless the forecasts significantly change, where we are going to need additional capacity," Ferrandino told the committee.  Ferrandino said the state has closed seven prisons over the last 15 years, as Colorado's prison population has dropped by nearly 6,000 inmates. But he says the population is now growing rapidly, and the state...
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When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Volker Housing, Part 1 During one of my public notice crawls for Logan County/Sterling, there was a notice about a developer applying for a grant from the state to turn an empty parcel of land into an affordable housing development. That notice in full can be found in the first link below, but the pertinent bit is quoted here: “Volker Housing Partners, LLC will submit an application to the Colorado Division of Housing (DOH). The purpose of this application is to request up to $2,000,000 in funding to develop 54 rental homes at 777 N 4th Street in Sterling, CO. “ A reader sent me an email and suggested that I look in on this company a little, and I agreed. If they’re pulling down $2 million, wha...
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Eric Coomer’s court admissions reignite unresolved questions in Colorado’s Mesa County election case
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Eric Coomer’s court admissions reignite unresolved questions in Colorado’s Mesa County election case

By A.L. Goodwin | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Recent court filings in Coomer v. Byrne et al., Case No. 8:24-cv-00008-TPB-SPF (M.D. Fla.), contain sworn admissions by Dr. Eric Coomer, the former Director of Product Strategy and Security for Dominion Voting Systems, that materially alter the public understanding of foreign interaction with U.S. election system technology. Filed on January 23, 2026, Coomer’s responses acknowledge that he worked directly with foreign individuals and foreign-based employees on Dominion voting equipment, adjudication software, election system code, and programming.  The sworn responses themselves are contained in the court filing below. 278-1Download He further admitted that Serbian employees had the ability to ...
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ICE Investigating Use of Death Symbol Cards Left in Vehicles After Colorado Detentions
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

ICE Investigating Use of Death Symbol Cards Left in Vehicles After Colorado Detentions

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released a statement condemning the actions of those leaving ace of spades cards, or "death cards," in the vehicles of people detained in a county in Colorado's mountains. Immigration advocacy group Voces Unidas first reported the practice on Thursday, stating that the cards were left inside abandoned vehicles in Eagle County after the detainment of nine Latino community members this week. The cards feature an ace of spades with "ICE Denver Field Office" at the top of the card and the address and phone number of the ICE detention facility in Aurora on Oakland Street. They were later found by family members. Voces Unidas The practice of leaving an ace of spades as a calling card reportedly bega...
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Colorado GOP Debates Strategy to Win Governor’s Seat After Two Decades of Losses
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado GOP Debates Strategy to Win Governor’s Seat After Two Decades of Losses

By: Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Colorado has not elected a Republican governor since 2002. On Thursday night, four candidates offered competing visions for how the party can reverse its 20-plus years of failing to secure the seat. The discussion hosted by the Women of Weld County touched on electability, affordability, housing, and how a Republican governor would work with the Trump administration. While 20 candidates are vying to win their party’s primary contest, only four attended the debate: Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, Joshua Griffin, Joe Oltmann and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell. Colorado’s last Republican governor was Bill Owens. The state is now considered by many to be solidly blue. Gov. Jared Polis, the current governor, won reelection i...
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