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Colorado Legislative Malpractice
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Legislative Malpractice

By Michael Hancock | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When Ideology Replaces Stewardship, the Patient Doesn’t Recover — It Declines There is a reason malpractice carries such moral weight in medicine. A physician is entrusted with the care of a patient. When that trust is violated—through negligence, arrogance, or ideological blindness—the consequences are not abstract. They are physical, measurable, and often irreversible. What we are witnessing in Colorado today is a different form of malpractice. Not medical, but legislative. The patient is the state itself—its economy, its infrastructure, its fiscal health, and ultimately, its people. And the pattern is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: policies enacted not in service of long-term stability, but i...
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PERA Payments on the Chopping Block as Polis Seeks Short-Term Budget Relief
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

PERA Payments on the Chopping Block as Polis Seeks Short-Term Budget Relief

By: Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The move would save the state money in the short term to address Colorado’s budget crisis, but it could cost the pension as much as $180 million in the long run. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has proposed cutting the state’s contributions to the public pension by as much as $38 million next year to help cover the cost of employee raises owed under the state’s collective bargaining agreement. The move would buy the state government some financial breathing room for next year, when it faces an $850 million deficit. But it would also come at a steep long-term cost that could come back to bite public workers and taxpayers alike. The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee will consider the proposal between now and March, when it’s scheduled to ado...
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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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TABOR Didn’t Build the Potholes
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Substack, Top Stories

TABOR Didn’t Build the Potholes

By Michael Hancock | Commentary, Undercurrent Substack Bureaucracy and pet projects did — and it’s time to realign our priorities. Colorado’s roads crumble, our classrooms overflow, and every budget cycle we hear the same refrain: “It’s TABOR’s fault.” Critics of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights insist that this constitutional guardrail has starved government of the resources it needs to educate children, maintain infrastructure, and keep the state running. But what if the potholes and crowded classrooms aren’t a symptom of too little revenue, but of misplaced priorities? The truth is, Colorado’s budget has grown steadily for years. Billions more flow into the state’s coffers than a decade ago. Yet the very areas citizens rely on most—roads, schools, public safety—continue to lag. TA...
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PERA seeks legislation to push the next auto-adjust to 2044
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

PERA seeks legislation to push the next auto-adjust to 2044

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun State pension officials plan to ask lawmakers to relax some provisions of Senate Bill 200 in order to provide financial relief to PERA’s members. For the first time since the state pension’s finances cratered in the early 2000s, the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association is putting together a legislative proposal to bring some relief to its beleaguered members. At the pension board’s annual retreat in Colorado Springs earlier this month, pension officials offered a number of ideas to prevent — or at least delay — another round of automatic adjustments to the system’s finances. If the legislature agrees, the changes could spare retirees from additional cuts to their monthly pension checks, and stave off even higher payroll d...
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Lawmakers propose risky PERA maneuver for voter-approved police funding amid budget shortfall
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Lawmakers propose risky PERA maneuver for voter-approved police funding amid budget shortfall

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun Something’s missing from the Colorado state budget proposal — and it’s a biggie. The Joint Budget Committee last week finalized its budget package without deciding what to do about Proposition 130: the voter-approved requirement that the state spend $350 million to support law enforcement. But the six-member panel does have the makings of a plan. The JBC was briefed last week on a draft bill to dole out the $350 million in regular installments over the next 10 years. If only it were that simple. READ FULL ARTICLE ON THE COLORADO SUN
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More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun State pension members in Colorado are likely to face another round of benefit cuts and contribution hikes within the next two years, board members learned last week, after a study found that the public retirement system has been underestimating some of its future debts. The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association holds a review every four years to ensure it is accurately estimating a range of assumptions about its investments, the public workforce and the lifespans of its retirees. Think of it like a financial checkup to make sure that the assumptions underpinning the future payments it owes to retirees are unfolding as expected. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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‘You are here to serve’: As Colorado’s pension costs grow, some PERA members say its board isn’t listening
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

‘You are here to serve’: As Colorado’s pension costs grow, some PERA members say its board isn’t listening

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun Months before five Colorado school districts took the drastic step of suing the state pension plan, their elected representative tried to bring their concerns to the Public Employees’ Retirement Association Board of Trustees. “We (the Board) rarely hear from people in the field about how PERA staff decisions affect their organizations,” Scott Smith — a PERA board trustee at the time — wrote in a November 2023 email to school administrators. “If you have issues or concerns with any recent PERA staff decisions, I would encourage you to sign up for public comment.” The exercise got the board’s attention — just not the way Smith intended. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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PERA needs $13 billion in cash or wide-ranging cuts for solvency, state policymakers are told
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

PERA needs $13 billion in cash or wide-ranging cuts for solvency, state policymakers are told

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun Six years and billions of dollars into Colorado’s 30-year pension rescue plan, the Public Employees’ Retirement Association has less than a 50-50 chance of reaching its goal of full funding by 2048. PERA officials on Monday are expected to report back to the legislature’s Pension Review Subcommittee on what it would take to increase those odds to 67%. The answer: $13 billion in up-front cash, or a wide-ranging package of “draconian” cuts, according to PERA’s actuaries. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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PODCAST: Looking at PERA, the pension plan that supports 140,000 Coloradans
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Approved, Common Sense Institute, State

PODCAST: Looking at PERA, the pension plan that supports 140,000 Coloradans

By D.J. Summers | Common Sense Institute What exactly is PERA? Are state and public employees getting the short end of the stick? Is PERA financially sound? And how is Colorado managing these challenges? PERA obligations might sound dull at first, but this is a conversation that affects nearly 140,000 public employees in Colorado. Join us as we delve into these vital questions and more. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE PODCAST
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