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Tag: Regulatory Overreach

A ‘county average’ for pretzels: Colorado’s next price-control creep
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

A ‘county average’ for pretzels: Colorado’s next price-control creep

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice HB26-1012“A PERSON IS PRESUMED TO BE ENGAGED IN AN UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICE IF THE PERSON CHARGES A CAPTIVE CONSUMER A PRICE FOR AN ANCILLARY GOOD OR SERVICE THAT IS MORE THAN THE AVERAGE PRICE OFFERED FOR A COMPARABLE GOOD OR SERVICE SOLD IN THE COUNTY IN WHICH THE CAPTIVE CONSUMER PURCHASES THE ANCILLARY GOOD OR SERVICE” Welcome to bill #12 of over 700 to be considered and passed into law in 120 days of session. The Democrats keep piling on regulations that jack up costs for everyone, then act like the fix is squeezing vendors harder—instead of slashing the taxes, fees, and mandates they've created. They could drop sales taxes on basics, cut absurd airport fees, or repeal rules that inflate...
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Court Halts Colorado Effort to Mandate Gas Stove Health Warnings
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Uncategorized, Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Court Halts Colorado Effort to Mandate Gas Stove Health Warnings

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–A federal judge on Friday sided with an appliance manufacturing trade group in pausing enforcement of a Colorado law requiring consumer warning labels on gas stove appliances. Plaintiffs see the ruling as a win against state compelled speech, albeit a temporary one, as the litigation will likely continue. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) filed a complaint in August against the state regarding House Bill 25-1161. In effect since Aug. 6, the law requires retailers to attach air quality warning labels to gas-fueled stoves sold in Colorado. The yellow label reads: “Understand the air quality implications of having an indoor gas stove.” It includes a QR code linking to a Colorado Department of ...
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The man Polis vowed to destroy: Kevin Kauffman’s final fight for truth and legacy
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

The man Polis vowed to destroy: Kevin Kauffman’s final fight for truth and legacy

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice They tried to bury him. He’s still standing—with the paperwork to prove it. On his 50th birthday, Kevin Kauffman stood waist-deep in the waters off Eilat, Israel. His son handed him a sealed envelope his accountant asked him to deliver on this day. He opened it, read what was inside and stood in silence. It wasn’t just a numerical milestone in that envelope—it carried the weight of a life built by a self-made man. Kauffman had earned every cent the hard way, guided by mentors, not inheritance.  What he saw didn’t make him feel powerful. It made him reflect. “The achievement led me to a deeply felt realization—I had a responsibility to my family and my community,” Kauffman said. “So I started thinking about how to give some of it ba...
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Bled dry by the state: One oil company’s fight to survive ECMC’s war of attrition
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

Bled dry by the state: One oil company’s fight to survive ECMC’s war of attrition

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice An oil company’s $7M cleanup plan became the state’s excuse to shut it down. Jeffrey Kauffman stood at the edge of an excavation site—not to check production, but to explain why there wasn’t any. There was no rig, no flaring, no signs of oil moving to market. Just a fenced-off hole in the earth—and a state agency that wouldn’t let them fill it back in. “This one’s cost between $200,000 and $300,000,” said Kauffman, who serves as KPK’s Chief Operating Officer. “We submitted clean soil results months ago. Still no approval to close it.” The site is one of roughly a dozen that KPK has excavated under orders from the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC). Some holes have remained open since early 2024. This one, the s...
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The Rule 211 gamble: How two towns used Colorado law to effectively shut down an oil company’s core assets
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

The Rule 211 gamble: How two towns used Colorado law to effectively shut down an oil company’s core assets

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Buried wells, sworn affidavits and a state determined to make an example. This is the opening chapter of a three-part series on one oil and gas company’s final stand—and what the documents and data actually reveal. Start with the towns. Stay for the verdict. Start with the towns. Stay for the verdict. In September 2024, the cities of Dacono and Frederick uploaded a PDF to the Energy and Carbon Management Commission’s (ECMC) filing system. It was short, simple—and explosive. The two municipalities weren’t asking for a cleanup, a fine or a negotiated fix. They were asking the state to order the permanent plugging and abandonment of 45 wells operated by K.P. Kauffman Company (KPK). Their argument relied on Rule 211, a provision historically u...
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Colorado gun dealers say new license law is death by paperwork
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completecolorado.com, Approved, State

Colorado gun dealers say new license law is death by paperwork

By Savana Kascak | Complete Complete DENVER—A new Colorado law subjecting gun dealers already regulated by the federal government to onerous state licensing and regulatory burdens is more about a hostile legislature stifling gun rights than anything else, according to some in the firearms industry. House Bill 24-1353, Firearms Dealers Requirements and Permit, requires federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) also obtain a $400 state permit issued by the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) that must be renewed every three years. Employees must complete an annual training course on gun safety and storage and get fingerprinted for a criminal background check. DOR agents can conduct random on-site inspections at any point to ensure the law is being followed. Governor Jared Polis...
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Ratepayer risk? State law forces Xcel into costly ‘Markets+’ grid deal
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Ratepayer risk? State law forces Xcel into costly ‘Markets+’ grid deal

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun Xcel Energy must join wholesale electric market to meet Colorado law. Execs say big upfront cost is best economic and operational choice. Xcel Energy’s plan to join a short-term, wholesale electric market is drawing fire from critics who, in hearings before state regulators this week, said that the price tag is too high and the benefits are minimal. The market for purchasing day-ahead power Xcel Energy wants to join, Markets+, is run by the Southwest Power Pool, or SPP, whose grid stretches across all or parts of 14 states from Texas to North Dakota. In hearings before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, business and consumer groups are challenging the $30 million in upfront costs to join Markets+ and Xcel Energy executives are defen...
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Hancock: The future of Colorado hangs between boom and blackout
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Substack, Top Stories

Hancock: The future of Colorado hangs between boom and blackout

By Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, Substack There's a difference between dreaming big and hallucinating. Colorado's progressive legislators have yet to figure that out. Once a beacon of frontier grit and entrepreneurial promise, Colorado is drifting into a twilight of self-imposed stagnation. This isn't the result of some unforeseeable external shock. No. The decline is being engineered — brick by legislative brick — by a political class more interested in social signaling than in fostering economic vitality. The question isn't whether Colorado faces a reckoning. The question is whether we will admit the cause before we hit the wall. Let's start with energy, the lifeblood of any serious economy. Colorado holds a wealth of natural resources—oil, gas, coal, and uranium— all of ...
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