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Potential gubernatorial candidates suggest new approaches to transportation
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Potential gubernatorial candidates suggest new approaches to transportation

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Two of Colorado’s leading potential gubernatorial candidates suggested Wednesday that the state should focus more attention on maintaining and upgrading highway infrastructure, signaling a potential shift could be coming in transportation policy. Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser and Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, who are both rumored to be eying runs to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in 2026, spoke at a Move Colorado event on what’s next for transportation in the state. Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse sent a video to the event because Congress remains in session, while Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a fourth rumored candidate, had to miss the event because of a pressing issue, organizers said. ...
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Proposed state budget could cut $110 million from already pothole-laden highways
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Proposed state budget could cut $110 million from already pothole-laden highways

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado’s ability to build and fix the highways that are key to transporting goods and people could take a $110 million hit in the next fiscal year under budget-balancing proposals being offered by Gov. Jared Polis. The two-tiered reductions — a permanent cut of $65 million per year and a short-term cut of $49 million in other funds — are part of $638 million in expenditure cuts and revenue boosts Polis has suggested to deal with rising Medicaid costs and falling inflation. And while officials acknowledge that such spending rollbacks must happen somewhere in the budget, both legislators and Colorado Transportation Commission members warn these cuts could be particularly deleterious for transportation safety. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE SUM...
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Air Quality Commission will hold hearings under new procedural rules
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Air Quality Commission will hold hearings under new procedural rules

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance In an effort to create more public participation in rulemaking and to improve transparency in the process, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted Friday to overhaul its procedural rules for the first time since 1998. The new rules will extend from three months to four months the average time around most rulemakings, will restructure the way that parties to such hearings file motions and will attempt to define the scope of rulemakings more clearly from the start. They will become applicable in August, meaning that business and environmental groups that interact frequently with the AQCC will see the first changes by February or March in preparation for hearings later in the year. While technical in nature, the changes are significa...
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Polis proposes conversion of Pinnacol in controversial measure to balance budget
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Polis proposes conversion of Pinnacol in controversial measure to balance budget

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Gov. Jared Polis’ pitch to convert Pinnacol Assurance into an independent company is being driven not just by money it could generate for the state budget but by the belief that failing to loosen the company’s operational restrictions could jeopardize its sustainability. The Democratic governor sat for an interrogation before the powerful Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday about his plans to address a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall, including $638 million in expense cuts and revenue additions he has proposed. Among the most prominent and controversial of those suggestions is a proposal to allow the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurer of last resort to act as a private company, which could add $100 million to next year’s budget a...
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By regaining seat held by party-flipper Priola, GOP appears to have staved off Dems’ supermajority in Senate
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By regaining seat held by party-flipper Priola, GOP appears to have staved off Dems’ supermajority in Senate

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado Senate Democrats appear unlikely to capture a supermajority in that chamber, even as House Democrats are on track to maintain that veto-proof status in theirs, leaving the Legislature with a kind of status quo following the 2024 election. Several key races in each chamber remain too close to call, but in most cases those races have shown little change in results as more ballots have been counted. Some of the biggest pockets of untabulated tallies now remain in El Paso County, where both a state Senate and a state House race are on the line, and in Weld County, home to a key House race. But as of mid-afternoon Wednesday, nearly 24 hours after polls closed, Democrats appear to have retained a 23-12 margin in the Senate, leaving ...
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Regulators’ coming decisions could determine future of carbon capture in Colorado
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Regulators’ coming decisions could determine future of carbon capture in Colorado

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado is about to begin setting rules for companies seeking to pump carbon dioxide underground — a new technology that state leaders call necessary to reduce emissions but that business leaders warn won’t come to Colorado if regulations are too strict. Carbon capture occurs when companies pull carbon dioxide from the emissions emanating from industrial sources and then use wells to inject that gas into deep-rock formations, where it can be stored permanently. Some companies also are working to develop direct air capture where the carbon dioxide can be pulled straight from the atmosphere, but that technology remains nascent. Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting carbon-capture projects, but the ...
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Business leaders plead for changes in state’s new AI law, including definitions and appeals
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Business leaders plead for changes in state’s new AI law, including definitions and appeals

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Developers and deployers of artificial intelligence systems are begging a legislative task force to amend definitions and an “untenable” appeals process in Colorado’s AI law — and getting pushback from some groups who feel the law doesn’t regulate enough. The push-and-pull has played out for two months before the Artificial Intelligence Task Force, a 26-person group of elected officials and citizens put together by Gov. Jared Polis after he signed “with reservations” the most comprehensive AI regulatory law in America. With the regulations not going into place until February 2026, the task force is hearing from myriad groups affected by them and is required to submit a report to the Joint Technology Committee by February 20...
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New rules would limit use of fresh water in oil-and-gas operations
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New rules would limit use of fresh water in oil-and-gas operations

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance To reduce the amount of fresh water used in oil-and-gas drilling, operators must ensure a certain percentage of water they are using in extraction is reused or recycled under a plan set to be released in the next week by a legislatively created advisory group. The strategy from the Colorado Produced Water Consortium — a group of 31 energy, environmental and water experts that has been meeting for more than a year — will mark the first time Colorado has attempted to curb use of fresh water in the industry. Consortium members are required to produce a report with recommendations by Nov. 1, and the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing in December to put new rules into place. Oil-and-gas companies use ...
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Is end of Colorado Dem’s House supermajority needed for balance on business debates?
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Is end of Colorado Dem’s House supermajority needed for balance on business debates?

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance While politicos are focused on eight or nine races to see if Democrats keep their Colorado House supermajority in the Nov. 5 election, maybe the most important thing for business is not the number of seats each party wins so much as the fact there are so many contests. That observation is one offered particularly by Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat who holds significant power as chairwoman of the Joint Budget Committee and who also is a business advocate and one of the most frequent aisle-crossers on economic issues. Bird thinks that Colorado employers already have won — first by the results of June primaries that broke largely to pragmatists in both parties but also by the fact that close races require candidates to knock on doors an...
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Legislators have a business tax-break plan — and opposition to it
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Legislators have a business tax-break plan — and opposition to it

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance After considering several options to reduce the business-personal-property tax burden, Colorado legislators appear interested in backing a plan that would nix a rarely used tax break and create a new benefit focused on smaller companies. Late last month, the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Tax Policy advanced five proposals to Legislative Council, which will meet next week to determine which of those and of other interim-committee suggestions will be introduced as bills in the 2025 session. And while committee members declined to advance either of two BPPT-specific proposals it earlier had discussed, they did agree to incorporate one of those proposals into an omnibus bill that would make myriad changes to state tax law. ...
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