Colorado lawmakers returned to the state Capitol on Wednesday morning for the 2026 regular session, which will bring four months of legislating, budget-balancing and politicking.
2:02 p.m. update: A key budget committee lawmaker confirms that Colorado Democrats will look to exempt K-12 education funding from the cap on state tax collections set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights this year — potentially freeing up billions of dollars to be spent on state services.
The proposal, which has not yet been officially introduced, would refer the substantial change to TABOR to voters in the November election. Because it would be a statutory change, officials said, they would need only majority support in the General Assembly to refer the measure to the ballot, and then majority support among voters for the change to go into effect. (Constitutional amendments come with higher thresholds.)
“(The Colorado Education Association) is working in partnership with teachers across the state to ask the legislature to consider increasing funding for K-12 public education by 2% every year for the next 10 years, paid for by raising the fiscal limit we have here in the state — raising the TABOR rationing limit — by what it is we spend on K-12 public education,” said Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat who’s vice chair of the powerful .
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He deferred to the teacher's union for more specifics, but he described the proposal's chances of passing the legislature as "pretty good" if it's introduced. The union declined to comment today. Democrats hold large majorities in both chambers of the legislature.
If passed, the measure could remove $4.5 billion in state general fund spending from being subject to the TABOR cap. The cap restricts how much of its revenue the state can keep to pay for services, meaning the change would free up cash that would otherwise be returned to taxpayers.
The TABOR cap grows based on population change and inflation; Bridges said this change would essentially add K-12 spending growth to that formula, lessening TABOR's squeeze.
The state has been consistently strapped for cash over the past two years, driven in particular by ballooning Medicaid costs. Health care costs have risen dramatically faster than the spending cap set by TABOR, which in turn throttles other aspects of the state budget.
House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, has been increasingly vocal about changing the formula, though she hasn't unveiled any details. She called for modernizing "our outdated fiscal structure" in her opening day speech earlier today.
Voters approved TABOR as an amendment to the state Constitution in 1992. In 2005, voters approved Referendum C to reset the cap on state spending, easing pressure on the state's budget for years. The electorate has rejected more recent efforts to change the amendment or raise the cap.
The Republican minority has vowed to fight any changes to the formula. Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson said he hadn't seen any proposals to change TABOR, but he called the amendment "largely successful in limiting the growth of government, which is what the voting bloc wanted to see happen."
Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican on the budget committee, said: "Everybody in their own home, at their own kitchen table, when they're figuring out their budget and what they're going to spend on, they know what their priorities are. What we have in this state, with our colleagues across the aisle, is a crisis of priorities."
"We need to learn to live within our means, just like every Colroadan and every working family in this state," Kirkmeyer added.
Senate leaders' opening speeches
12:46 p.m. update: Senate leaders, in their opening speeches, emphasized the importance of shared values in addressing Colorado's problems, while tacitly acknowledging that the major parties may approach issues from different views.
Senate President James Coleman, a Denver Democrat, noted the federal government's recent threats to state funding in the context of the state's ongoing budget shortfall, but otherwise he focused on affordability issues that plague the state.
"People across our state are having to stretch their dollars further just to make ends meet. Rent and housing prices are leveling off but remain high. Groceries, insurance, utility bills and everyday expenses are making monthly budgets a math problem that is increasingly more impossible to solve," Coleman said. "We have a role to play here. We won’t sit idly by while Coloradans are hurting."
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This year marks the 150th anniversary of Colorado's statehood, a marker that Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson drew on repeatedly in his speech. He highlighted the state's roots in mining and agriculture, and the indigenous people who lived here before European settlers.
While the anniversary gives a chance to reflect on the state's history, it also marks the start of the state's next 150 years, he said.
"The people of Colorado have been very clear about what they want from us: They want a state that is affordable, safe and full of opportunity," Simpson said. "They are concerned about how divided we've become in our political landscape. They want a government that listens, respects their work and understands families, small businesses and communities."
The two chamber leaders also acknowledged the loss of Sen. Faith Winter, the Westminster Democrat who died in a car crash in November. Despite political differences, Simpson said they repeatedly found places to work together.
"Faith's loss is immeasurable," Coleman said. "As we embark on our work this session, I hope we can incorporate the tenacity and joy she found in this work into our policies. ... Faith never forgot to be moved by the people behind her policies. She never forgot how to be human in this work."
12:07 p.m. update: The legislature has its first bipartisan -- and governor-finger-jabbing -- moment of the year.
Ahead of Gov. Jared Polis' annual address to the legislature, lawmakers have passed standard resolutions setting the date and time of his arrival in the House (this year, that's set for late morning on Thursday). That resolution refers to Polis by his honorific: "His Excellency."
Or, at least, it did. After today's intro speeches, Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Ken DeGraaf rose and proposed amending the resolution and to change "His Excellency" to "The Honorable." DeGraaf, one of the most conservative lawmakers in the Capitol, cast it as a natural continuation of anti-Trump protesters' "No King" rallies.
Initially, DeGraaf -- a frequent filbusterer -- drew some groans.
But then Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat who's among the most progressive legislators, spoke in support. When the amendment was put to a vote, it overwhelmingly passed -- 53-12 -- with a number of Democrats in support.
Now the Senate has to take up the amendment.
Speaker: 'Let's do what's right'
11:41 a.m. update: In her final speech as House speaker, Rep. Julie McCluskie criticized political violence and called for an end to the "caustic rhetoric all around us." She listed the deaths of Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota Democrat shot and killed over the summer, and Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist shot and killed at a college event in September.
But she also struck a defiant tone against the increased targeting of the state by the Trump administration and urged her colleagues not to bow to political pressure. She accused the White House of trying to "hold Colorado hostage" and quoted Winston Churchill: "You were given the chance between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will still have war."
"I fear this administration will target Colorado no matter what we do," she said. "So members, let's do what's right."
That drew a standing ovation from the House's Democratic majority, who stood again as McCluskie pledged to defend immigrants and LGBTQ+ Coloradans.
In a reference to federal immigration agents, she criticized "masked vigilantes" and named Renee Good, the Coloradan killed by an immigration agent earlier this month in Minneapolis; Jeanette Vizguerra, the Colorado activist released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody last month after nine months in detention; and Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, a Durango father who was detained and deported with his two children last year.
Lawmakers are indeed set to take up more immigration bills this year, including one that would give Coloradans the ability to sue ICE agents over constitutional violations. Faced with an ever-present budget gap, McCluskie also shouted out another coming fight: to reform the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Lawmakers have privately discussed plans to change TABOR and allow the state to retain more money, subject to voter approval.
"It is time to modernize our outdated fiscal structure, because our future shouldn't be bound by a 30-year-old formula that doesn't account for today's realities," McCluskie said, referring to the decades since voters adopted TABOR and its cap -- which takes into account growth in the state's population and inflation.
In his response, Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell similarly called for a cooling of political temperatures. But he spoke in defense of TABOR and core Republican priorities: opposition to gun control, to increased regulation and to bills -- often aimed at shoring up protections for transgender Coloradans -- that Republicans view as intruding on parental rights.
GOP leaders say they'll offer better vision
11:22 a.m. update: The day began with morning press conferences by House and Senate Republicans, who criticized the state of the state after seven years of unbroken Democratic rule.
"It's been a long time, 60-plus years, (since) we've experienced this phenomenon," Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson said. "We think there's certainly a better path and vision for Colorado in front of us, and we offer a new vision where there's some balance on it, a balanced approach to police -- and will produce better outcomes for Coloradans."
Sen. Lisa Frizell, the chamber's assistant minority leader, called for deregulation and a pro-business agenda. Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer already had declared opposition to Gov. Jared Polis' likely effort to ramp up the state's clean energy targets -- the governor is expected to back legislation that would require all energy sources in the state to be renewable by 2040, 10 years ahead of the current schedule.
But Simpson also said Republicans may need to "engage, potentially differently" with Democrats, who outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1 in both the House and Senate.
For the House, new Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, a Colorado Springs Republican, likewise tied the state's woes to the streak of unified Democratic control of its government. Caldwell and his caucus displayed a sign touting various low rankings for Colorado compared to other states: a cost of living that's too high, too many regulations on businesses and too much crime.
He said parental rights would again be a top priority for House Republicans. Democrats have run several bills over the past few years to protect trans youth, in particular, a move that conservatives have decried as government interference with families.
Caldwell also noted calls to "lower the temperature" in politics, but he pledged his caucus would still fight on its priorities.
Original story: Colorado lawmakers face a battery of challenges as they, joined by their families, celebrated the 2026 session's first day.
Budget cuts are on the horizon as legislators look to dig the state out of yet another financial hole. Gov. Jared Polis enters his final regular session as a lame duck with an uncertain relationship with the legislature, whom he will address in his final State of the State address Thursday. Over the next 120 days, legislators will navigate controversial scrutiny and funding cuts from the federal government, ongoing cost-of-living pressures, and a Democratic caucus internally roiled by dark money and public sniping.
But opening day is typically colored by lawmakers embracing and leading their families on tours of their home for the next four months. The leadership of both chambers will give speeches, and the formalities of opening day will march along in their usual pomp and circumstance.
