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Tag: Jared Polis

Billions in Marijuana Taxes and Crumbling Roads Sparks Online Fight Between Polis and DeSantis
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Billions in Marijuana Taxes and Crumbling Roads Sparks Online Fight Between Polis and DeSantis

By: Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–An online beef erupted between Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Wednesday evening on X (previously Twitter) over legalized marijuana and Colorado’s poor road conditions. In a thread of posts, the Florida governor said Colorado’s declining marijuana taxes have not helped alleviate anything for the state, rather the recent decrease in marijuana sales is due to a surge in the black market caused by high taxes on legal weed. The claims led Governor Polis to jump in the conversation, defending his record. The battle at the keyboard started from a post made by Florida’s Voice, highlighting a survey saying a majority of Floridians want the right to vote on marijuana legalization themselves, “not have...
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Polis Budget Plan Sparks Bipartisan Pushback Over Medicaid Costs and Pinnacol Gamble
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Budget Plan Sparks Bipartisan Pushback Over Medicaid Costs and Pinnacol Gamble

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Gov. Jared Polis’ proposed state budget for 2026-27 drew sharp criticism Wednesday from the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, as lawmakers from both parties criticized plans to slow Medicaid spending growth and to rely on a deal to privatize Pinnacol Assurance. This quasi-state agency is the state’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance. Polis has already cut $79 million in the 2025-26 budget, primarily for rates paid to Medicaid providers in dental, behavioral health and services to children with disabilities. The governor’s 2026-27 budget proposes an additional $197.7 million in general fund dollars, or about 5.6%, in the Medicaid program. But the projected growth is at 11.9%, or $631.4 million. He has also brought in...
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Governor Polis Pushes Record $50.7 Billion Budget Amid Fiscal Concerns
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Governor Polis Pushes Record $50.7 Billion Budget Amid Fiscal Concerns

By: Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–Governor Jared Polis recently proposed his more than $50 billion Colorado state budget, requesting a flood of money to education and public safety while acknowledging Medicaid spending has gotten out of hand. The 2026-27 spending plan was presented to the Joint Budget Committee on Oct. 31, three days ahead of schedule. Polis’ total request stands at $50.7 billion, with $18.6 billion being General Fund (or discretionary) money. The plan dedicates an additional $167 million to school finance, as well as reallocating remaining revenue from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund to the education fund , while increasing universal pre-school funding by $14.3 million. The state will then issue $2 million for the evidence-based math accelerator program, $...
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Polis Silent on Claims of RTD Using Public Tax Money for Political Gain
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Commentary, State

Polis Silent on Claims of RTD Using Public Tax Money for Political Gain

By Natalie Menten | Commentary, Colorado Politics A tax-hike campaign shouldn’t be funded with public tax dollars to hire political consultants — period. Yet Colorado law contains a loophole that allows public agencies to spend money campaigning under the guise of “education” or “engagement.” That’s exactly what the Front Range Passenger Rail District, an appointed board that includes 17 voting and seven non-voting members — many hand-picked by Gov. Jared Polis — intends to do. On Oct. 30, the district issued a public bid to hire a consultant team to create a “Friends of Front Range Rail” relational engagement platform. The bid spells out the goal: “build awareness, engagement, and grassroots momentum,” while giving supporters tools to “share campaign content,” “invite friends,” and ...
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Colorado Counties Push Back on Polis Over Costly ‘Unfunded Mandates’
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Counties Push Back on Polis Over Costly ‘Unfunded Mandates’

By: Allie Jennerjahn | Denver7 In Mesa County alone, Commissioner Bobbie Daniel tracked down almost $10 million a year in unfunded mandates. DENVER — More than 40 Colorado counties have voiced concerns to Governor Jared Polis about laws being passed without funding. They claim it's putting a burden on local governments, and in some cases, leave taxpayers to foot the bill. The concern started in Mesa County when Commissioner Bobbie Daniel started to notice "unfunded mandates" getting brought up constantly when discussing budget. "I asked, 'Anyone tracking this? Is this something that we're, collectively as an organization, tracking?' And no, and we weren't at the time," Daniel said. "And so I said, "Let's continue looking at this. Let's track it and see what we come up with.'"...
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Polis Sounds Alarm on Medicaid Spending: “We Can’t Fund Everything”
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Polis Sounds Alarm on Medicaid Spending: “We Can’t Fund Everything”

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Gov. Jared Polis released his budget request for next year, and Medicaid will take a big hit. The governor says the health insurance program for low-income Coloradans is growing at nearly twice the rate of the state government overall. Polis says, if the state doesn't slow the rate of growth, the program will crowd out everything but funding for schools in the next few years. In the state, 1.2 million Coloradans rely on Medicaid. The governor says none of them will lose coverage, but what that coverage looks like will change.  "There's two levers on Medicaid," Polis said during a press conference. "One is how many people you cover, and two is what you cover." Polis' budget request hones in on what services Medicaid covers. "There have bee...
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Feds to Polis administration: Stop importing wolves from Canada
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Feds to Polis administration: Stop importing wolves from Canada

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Efforts by Colorado Parks and Wildlife to bring in more wolves from Canada later this year may have hit a snag after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service told the state it may not do so. In an Oct. 10 letter, Brian Nesvik, director of USFWS, told Gov. Jared Polis and Jeff Davis, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), that Colorado is not allowed to bring in gray wolves from Canada or Alaska. Any wolves brought to Colorado as part of the wolf reintroduction program must come from one of the lower 48 states, the agency said. Nesvik cited what’s called 10(j) rule, noting USFWS authorized the state to release and establish gray wolves in Colorado as an experimental population “subject to Service oversight.” However, the 10(j) rule o...
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Tina Peters’ attorney presses Governor Polis and Secretary Griswold to eliminate computer voting machines
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Tina Peters’ attorney presses Governor Polis and Secretary Griswold to eliminate computer voting machines

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Attorney John Case, who represents former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, has sent an open letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold urging the state to immediately discontinue electronic voting systems and return to in-person, hand-counted paper ballots. Case’s letter, dated October 21, outlines a series of concerns about the Dominion voting software used in 60 counties. It cites sworn testimony from two former Venezuelan election insiders who claim Dominion’s systems share code and design elements with Smartmatic software previously used in Venezuela—software the witnesses allege was developed to ensure predetermined outcomes. According to the letter, those sworn statements were part of federal court filings in...
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Progressive tax push could cripple Colorado’s economy
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

Progressive tax push could cripple Colorado’s economy

By Robert G. Natelson | Commentary, Complete Colorado At a time when most states are cutting income taxes, some influential Colorado leftists want to jack up the state’s top income tax rate to one of the highest in the nation. They are hawking a “graduated” (or “progressive”) tax—that is, one that discriminates based on income. They promote this scheme with their usual demagogy, including the fraudulent claim that higher taxes will harm only “the rich.” In truth, it will harm almost everyone but the rich. Much of the Left’s demagogy is harmless, and some of it is even amusing. But this irresponsible scheme is positively dangerous. As explained below, it’s a revolver in a game of Russian Roulette aimed against the livelihood of Colorado families. A revolver with every chamber loade...
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Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics For the second time in as many years, Gov. Jared Polis has appointed a working group to address the issues around the state’s 2024 law on artificial intelligence. The law, which Polis signed despite major misgivings last year, is still not ready for prime time. The implementation date for the new law, as set by lawmakers in the August special session, was moved from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, providing a little more time for the tech industry and consumer groups that have been at odds over the law to come to a consensus. Whether that’s doable is another question, given that the first working group spent the last half of 2024 trying to work out differences. The working group’s final report indicated more areas of disagreem...
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