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Tag: State Budget

Polis Signals Possible Clemency Review for Tina Peters as Final Year Begins
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Polis Signals Possible Clemency Review for Tina Peters as Final Year Begins

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says he has an ambitious agenda for his final year in office. He's been full throttle since he was elected governor seven years ago, leading the state through COVID-19, two school shootings, and four of the most destructive wildfires in Colorado history. "It's hard to sprint. You sprint for 8 years, and that's always the way we've approached it. Our team -- we say we're running through the tape. We're running through the tape here," he said. As he nears the finish line, he is not only focused on the state budget and issues like affordable housing, but also which state prisoners should receive clemency. Among those who have asked the governor for a reduced sentence is former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peter...
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Colorado Lawmakers Warn School Meal Taxes Could Return to Ballot Yet Again
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Warn School Meal Taxes Could Return to Ballot Yet Again

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The $95 million a year voters approved when they passed Proposition MM in November is expected to generate enough to fund the Health School Meals for All program. But it might still go back to the ballot. Just two months after Colorado voted — for the second and third times — to raise taxes for a school meals program, legislative analysts are warning state lawmakers they might have to go back to the ballot for round four. The news reduced Joint Budget Committee Chair Emily Sirota to a three-letter response during a December meeting: “O … M … G …” This time around, the stakes aren’t quite as high. The $95 million a year voters approved when they passed Proposition MM in November is expected to generate enough to pay f...
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If 2025 Had a Playlist, These Songs Would Be on It
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

If 2025 Had a Playlist, These Songs Would Be on It

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This was a year that kept interrupting whatever you thought you were doing. It arrived unevenly. Some moments swallowed entire news cycles. Others barely registered at first, only making sense months later, once the consequences showed up.  Most of the arguments about 2025 focused on motives or ideology. The consequences were easier to feel than to argue about.  Music, oddly enough, ended up capturing that better than summaries or charts. Not as nostalgia or a clever hook, but as a record. If this year had a playlist, the following songs would be included. We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel Inflation wasn’t theoretical in 2025. After years of high accumulation, it continued to...
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Colorado Budget Strain Deepens as Autism Therapy Audit Threatens $60 Million Medicaid Repayment
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Strain Deepens as Autism Therapy Audit Threatens $60 Million Medicaid Repayment

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Therapy centers countered that an abrupt rule change could result in long-term harm for children with autism. Colorado may have to repay the federal government from $60 million to $150 million after auditors found the state Medicaid program has been covering care by uncredentialed behavioral technicians for children with autism.  The financial hit comes as the state is already dealing with a $1 billion budget shortfall and cuts to Medicaid benefits that have affected multiple programs for people with low incomes and disabilities.  Colorado is among several states whose programs were audited by the Office of the Inspector General. The audit is not final and the results are not yet public, but officials at the ...
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Polis opts Colorado into federal scholarship program as education spending swells
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Polis opts Colorado into federal scholarship program as education spending swells

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado With Christmas right around the corner, we are all shopping in earnest. This flurry of activity makes us focus on our budget and how much we can spend on all that Christmas cheer. We are carefully counting our pennies, while the State of Colorado’s Budget continues to spend more each year. Governor Polis’ budget request for 2026 is over $50 billion. Education spending is no exception. Colorado’s per-pupil spending is $18,130, an increase of 7.4% since 2020, according to the Reason Foundation. As enrollment in public schools continues to decline, funding is going in the opposite direction. Coloradans are asking, “Where is all the money going?” Staffing levels are up, even with a 4.6% drop in public...
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Were Colorado voters sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Were Colorado voters sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM? Part 1 The Complete Colorado piece by Nash Herman linked first below poses an interesting question with its first line. Quoting: “Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information?”The answer is not a simple one. The question itself isn’t. If voters had perfect information, would they have voted differently? Was anything done intentionally? If there were omission/mistakes with no intent, how did they come about?Perhaps most important of all, what lessons can we take for the future?Getting anywhere close to an answer to the above will require three posts, all of which will be today. I’ll summarize my thoughts on the questions and...
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Minnesota’s Medicaid Scandal Shows Why Colorado Must Tighten the Guardrails
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Minnesota’s Medicaid Scandal Shows Why Colorado Must Tighten the Guardrails

By Cory Gaines | Complete Colorado To say Minnesota has had some fraud going on is an understatement. I don’t know that I’ve seen it mentioned much in local media, but it’s a big national story. Colorado should beware taking its turn in this barrel. First, some brief background. Minnesota sought (and received) Medicaid waivers during COVID to use taxpayer dollars to fund things like subsidized housing for recipients, which ended up an impetus for massive fraud. An MPR News article gives some context, but the sheer size of the numbers are what really popped out to me: “According to the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office, DHS [Minnesota Department of Housing Stabilization] had initially predicted the housing stabilization program would cost about $2.6 mill...
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Wolf Reintroduction Costs Mount as Colorado Faces Another Budget Shortfall
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Approved, Aspen Times, State

Wolf Reintroduction Costs Mount as Colorado Faces Another Budget Shortfall

By: Ali Longwell | The Aspen Times A Joint Budget Committee briefing looked at how Parks and Wildlife has spent general fund allocations on wolves. To implement Colorado's voter-mandated reintroduction of gray wolves, the state legislature annually allocates $2.1 million as well as additional funds for compensating ranchers for wolf-related livestock losses. Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo Colorado lawmakers continue to raise questions about the cost of the state’s wolf reintroduction during the early phases of the annual budgeting process for 2026. On Tuesday, Dec. 9, the Joint Budget Committee was briefed by committee staff on the 2026 budget for the Department of Natural Resources, which includes Colorado Parks and Wildlife.  It’s the second step in th...
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Voters Misled on Colorado Ballot Measures LL and MM as Costs Outpace Promises
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Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Voters Misled on Colorado Ballot Measures LL and MM as Costs Outpace Promises

By: Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information? It certainly looks that way based on a recent Joint Budget Committee (JBC) hearing on the Department of Education’s budget request for the coming fiscal year where some enlightening information was revealed about the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program (the relevant discussion began at the 9:38 am mark).  Background on ‘free’ school lunch As I previously explained, HSMA, also known as the “free” school lunch program, was created via Proposition FF in 2022 and was quickly recognized as financially unsustainable in just its first year of operation.  The legislature responded by asking voters to save the program by de-TABORi...
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Child-care costs surge under Biden-era rule and state law, forcing counties to freeze CCCAP
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Child-care costs surge under Biden-era rule and state law, forcing counties to freeze CCCAP

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s child-care system is staring down a financial hit driven by new federal mandates from the Biden administration. The rules were pitched as a way to make child care more affordable nationwide, but they shift the cost burden onto states—leaving Colorado to absorb millions in unfunded requirements at a time when access is already tight. A new analysis from the Common Sense Institute shows what this means for families: fewer available slots, county-level enrollment freezes, and real consequences for Colorado’s workforce. The change came from the Federal 2024 CCDF Final Rule that rewrites how states run child-care assistance programs. Under the new rule, families can’t be asked to pay more than 7 percent of their income,...
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