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More People Are Leaving Colorado as High Costs and Regulations Take Toll
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

More People Are Leaving Colorado as High Costs and Regulations Take Toll

By Vince Bzdek | Colorado Politics It’s finally happened. Buried in all the self-congratulatory reports about Colorado reaching the 6 million mark in population last year was news that should be keeping our political leaders up at night. For the first time in 20 years, more people left Colorado to go to other states than moved here from elsewhere in the country, 12,100 more. “More outs than ins,” the state demographer’s office said in a statement. I’ve been dreading this moment for years. Colorado’s total net migration – the number of people coming here versus the number of people leaving – has dropped by over 50% from 2015 to 2025. That means Colorado’s population growth has now slowed to its lowest level since 1989, according to the state demographer...
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Federal Judge Says Colorado Health Officials Not Liable in Gas Stove Label Fight
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Federal Judge Says Colorado Health Officials Not Liable in Gas Stove Label Fight

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A federal judge last week dismissed the constitutional claim against leaders of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment over a 2025 law requiring health disclosures on new gas-fueled stoves. In June, Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1161 into law, which requires retailers of gas stoves to affix a “yellow adhesive label” that reads “UNDERSTAND THE AIR QUALITY IMPLICATIONS OF HAVING AN INDOOR GAS STOVE.” The label must also include a URL or QR code to a webpage created by the health department that provides “credible, evidence-based information on the health impacts of gas-fueled stoves.” The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers filed a complaint asserting a single First Amendment vi...
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Colorado’s clean-energy crusade looks a lot like Germany’s—and that should scare us
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Substack, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s clean-energy crusade looks a lot like Germany’s—and that should scare us

By Michael Hancock | Commentary, Michael Hancock’s Undercurrent A warning for Colorado before it repeats Europe’s green mistakes. Germany tried to save the planet — and ended up saving nothing, not even itself. The same ideology that shut down its nuclear plants, drove up energy prices, and gutted its industries is now being repackaged in Colorado under the banner of “climate justice.” The warnings are flashing red, but our leaders seem too busy chasing virtue to notice the cliff ahead. Germany once led the world in renewable energy. It also now leads it in self-inflicted economic decline. After spending hundreds of billions of euros to “go green,” the country that once symbolized industrial excellence now faces soaring energy prices, factory closures, and an exodus of jobs. ...
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O’Donnell: Colorado isn’t creating jobs—it’s creating unemployment
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

O’Donnell: Colorado isn’t creating jobs—it’s creating unemployment

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice  January 2023 was a changeover month of sorts in the United States because it marked a division between the taxpayer subsidized COVID economy and the less subsidized post-COVID economy. According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the United States added 3,149,000 jobs between January 2023 and June 2025, a 2.0 percent increase for the nation as a whole.  Employment growth so far this century has averaged just under one percent a year, so the 2.0 percent figure is roughly on track (although preliminary July BLS data are less positive and subject to revision). At the same time, unemployment increased by 1,268,000, a 22.1 percent rise. This is a less positive aspect of the economy that few seem ...
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Colorado regulators seeking steep increases in permitting fees for air pollutants
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Approved, State, The Sum & Substance

Colorado regulators seeking steep increases in permitting fees for air pollutants

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado regulators want to raise fees by as much as 67% on air-pollutant emissions and the permits that are required for them — a price hike that industry leaders hope will result in faster permitting. The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted last month to set an April rulemaking hearing to consider the fee increases and new rules around the reporting of emissions. If approved, four separate fee hikes — meant to cover the costs of permitting, monitoring and enforcement — would go into place between June 2025 and early 2026. These increases will be debated as part of a trio of hearings in the new year focused on increasing regulations around air toxic contaminants, as prescribed in a 2022 law. The AQCC will identify five air toxins...
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Colorado is 6th most regulated state in America, chamber report says
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado is 6th most regulated state in America, chamber report says

By Marissa Ventrelli and Luige del Puerto | Denver Gazette Colorado is the sixth-most regulated state in the country and nearly half of its roughly 200,000 regulations are "excessive or duplicative," a finding that poses negative ramifications on economic growth, on productivity and, ultimately, on residents, according to a new study from the state's chamber of commerce. The study commissioned by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce is the latest report to examine the state's regulatory environment and to argue that the regulations lead to job losses associated with compliance costs and lost sales. The chamber released its study following another report showing that Colorado has slipped behind other states in terms of economic strength and that its economy is proje...
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In one of most regulated states, Colorado chamber calls for reform as business rankings decline
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Approved, KOAA News, State

In one of most regulated states, Colorado chamber calls for reform as business rankings decline

By Brett Forrest | KOAA-TV NBC 5 The Colorado Chamber of Commerce is calling for regulatory reform as their latest Colorado Scorecard showed the state declining in several key business metrics. Loren Furman, the president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber, said they hired a group of economists from outside the state to examine the data. “The data that they came back with was pretty shocking. What they found is that Colorado is the sixth most regulated state in the nation,” said Furman. “We have over 165,000 regulations implemented through law. And 45% of those regulations are deemed excessive or duplicative.” READ THE FULL STORY AT KOAA-TV NBC 5.
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Linnebur: A look at Sackett v EPA’s rechanneling of water governance in America
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Linnebur: A look at Sackett v EPA’s rechanneling of water governance in America

By Tyler Linnebur | Commentary, ConservAmerica A year has passed since the Supreme Court's ruling in Sackett v. EPA and its impact on America's water regulation is unmistakable. For decades, Western states have grappled with the complexities of water rights and regulations, given the resource's immense value and critical importance to the region. This landmark decision, which narrows the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA's ) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE’s) authority and shifts more responsibility to the states, has triggered significant changes in both the ongoing debate and the ways states protect their water resources. By clarifying the constitutionally limited scope of federal authority, the Sackett ruling aligns with Congress's original intent to reg...
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Colorado short-term rental owners, advocates rally against “heavy-handed regulation” from lawmakers
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado short-term rental owners, advocates rally against “heavy-handed regulation” from lawmakers

By Jason Blevins | Colorado Sun After several years of work to combat state legislation that would increase regulations and taxation on short-term rentals, owners are actively lobbying policymakers. Colorado is the birthplace of short-term rentals. And the state is ground-zero for local regulation of the booming industry. After several years of reactive, defensive responses to increased regulation and taxation legislation, the state’s short-term rental owners and managers are organizing with an educational campaign and lawmaker lobbying plans. Colorado House Speaker Rep. Julie McCluskie, a Democrat from Dillon, earlier this month warned that short-term rental legislation “is highly likely” in either the special session or next year’s session.  READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO SU...
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Colorado’s oil & gas industry faces more regulation with emissions-cutting rules
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Approved, State, The Sum & Substance

Colorado’s oil & gas industry faces more regulation with emissions-cutting rules

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado officials are advancing rules to cut carbon emissions in yet another sector — this time in the midstream sector of the oil and gas industry, a battleground area in which both industry and environmental leaders worry already about the proposed regulations. The midstream sector is comprised of the pipelines and facilities that transport natural gas from wells to the transmission companies that distribute it to power plants and homes. A key part of the sector — which is made up in Colorado of three major players and a couple dozen smaller companies — is the compression plants that keep the gas moving down long pipelines to its destinations. As part of efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030, state officials have put rules i...
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