Gov. Jared Polis used his final State of the State speech Thursday to highlight achievements made on housing, education and transportation over his tenure, work that he said would continue through his final year.
His speech — which stretched to nearly 90 minutes — focused heavily on his record, while overviewing what he hopes to accomplish in his remaining months. He previewed plans to continue easing local barriers to build housing and to renew governance reforms within the Regional Transportation District. He called for more cuts to the income tax and doubled down on state climate goals.
He delivered his speech to a joint session of the Colorado legislature as lawmakers grapple with a major budget gap as well as divisions with both Polis and the federal government.
Polis is term-limited, making this his eighth and final State of the State address. He was first elected governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022. His rise in state politics coincided with the state’s distinctly blue shift: Along with Polis’ elections, voters have delivered Democrats control of both chambers of the General Assembly during his time in office.
In his first seven years, he oversaw the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and delivered free full-day kindergarten and partial preschool. He also worked with lawmakers to erase the so-called budget stabilization factor, or the budget maneuver that allowed the state to fund education below the level mandated by the Colorado Constitution. Polis called that effort a “beast.”
Among the other achievements he highlighted in his speech: Colorado becoming the new home of the Sundance Film Festival, the development of renewable energy infrastructure, the cutting of income taxes, and then-President Joe Biden’s designation of Camp Hale as a national monument.
“When it comes to turning my bold agenda into a better daily life for Coloradans, of course, we haven’t always succeeded on our first try,” Polis said. “But I’ve always stepped back up to the plate — because thatap what we do in Colorado.”
Polis, who recently had taken a less pointed stance toward the Trump administration than other Colorado Democrats, also ripped the Republicans who control Congress. President Donald Trump’s tariffs are costing Coloradans money, Polis said, and federal actions are threatening $1 billion in cuts to state programs.
“Washington Republicans — once the self-proclaimed party of states’ rights and small government — today are too often the party of socialism, overreach and intrusion into people’s daily lives, in ways that are wholly out of the scope of government,” Polis said. “Whether it’s picking corporate winners and losers, whether it’s co-opting capitalism with cronyism, it often feels like big government is in our wallets, our doctors’ offices, in our homes, bullying businesses of all sizes.”
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On immigration, he struck a different tone Thursday than he had in the same speech a year ago, when he said, just ahead of Trump’s return to office, that he welcomed immigration authorities’ presence in the state “to detain and deport dangerous criminals.”
This year, he noted that most detained immigrants without proper legal status have no prior criminal convictions, and he told reporters after the speech that the state “certainly” wouldn’t turn over data to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on people who weren’t involved in criminal activity. (Polis is still fighting a legal battle to turn over some data requested by ICE, despite a judge ruling that doing so would likely violate state law.)
The words on the Statue of Liberty, he told lawmakers, “often ring hollow against the cruel realities that we’re facing today,” with the federal government’s assault on immigrants.
“We welcome immigrants and refugees who follow our laws and seek to build a better life here, who strengthen our economy and enrich our communities under the shelter of our democracy. In our Colorado for All, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” Polis said, to a standing ovation from Democratic lawmakers.
Pop culture references, jokes
Polis delivered the lengthy speech in a packed Colorado House of Representatives chamber in the state Capitol in Denver. He wore a bolo tie stylized with the emblem of a Colorado C and a pair of logo-emblazoned running shoes to match.
He made a number of pop culture references — to Taylor Swift, to comedian Bowen Yang, to the self-explanatory movie “KPop Demon Hunters.”
Republicans, who found little to support during the speech, were unamused.
“When we see a lot of jokes being made — but then we hear farmers and ranchers being mentioned two times in the whole speech, but Taylor Swift being mentioned three times — our constituents aren’t OK with that,” said House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, of Colorado Springs. “They see the governor making jokes while they’re struggling to pay bills and they can’t afford their utilites and they’re losing their jobs.”
Polis did draw applause from Republicans on calls to further cut income taxes — something he’s supported in the past — while most Democrats sat. Caldwell and his assistant minority leader, Rep. Ty Winter, both said they were ready to reduce the income tax but had never found a partner in the governor.
“It’s lip service,” Winter said.
The governor later told reporters that, in exchange for another income tax cut, he planned to support a still-in-the-works bill that would include what he described as progressive tax changes. He struck a similar deal two years ago, when lawmakers backed a tax credit that has slashed child poverty after acquiescing to Polis’ desire for a conditional income tax reduction.
Trifecta control of state government by his party hasn’t resulted in automatic smooth sailing for the governor. Most recently, he has tussled with his fellow Democrats on land-use measures and technology regulations.
In his speech, Polis said he hoped to continue to work on land-use reforms. (He also made a Taylor Swift-themed joke about the lawsuit threats the state often sees from Kevin Bommer, the head of the Colorado Municipal League, when he or his members see the state encroaching on local control.)
Polis said he would seek to give local governments more resources to build and improve bus and train stations, and unite them with more housing near transit hubs.
Regarding artificial intelligence, the subject of pending regulations that both Polis and lawmakers want to adjust, he called on state officials to “act thoughtfully to really embrace that amazing innovation while empowering and protecting consumers.” Colorado is a leading state for AI, he said — a standing he wants to maintain.
After the speech, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, a Democrat who has led the legislature’s AI regulation push, said conversations were ongoing and that a task force created by Polis was readying language for more legislation.
RTD reform, budget crunch
The governor highlighted a slew of achievements in public transit, such as the expansion of the state’s Bustang regional bus routes. But he also nodded at an upcoming fight over the Regional Transportation District, the agency that oversees public transit in metro Denver.
“Until we have a world-class metro area transit agency with RTD, we simply cannot meet our climate, affordability or convenience goals,” Polis said. “This begins with governance changes, increased accountability and transparency, and a stronger partnership between the cities it serves and the transit agency.”
The final legislative session of Polis’ tenure is guaranteed to have its share of speed bumps.
The state again faces a deep budget deficit as ballooning Medicaid costs eat up an ever-growing share of state spending. Polis called the numbers “stark.”
To try to move the program toward fiscal sustainability, Polis has proposed a slew of Medicaid cuts, which could set off a battle with Coloradans who rely on the service — especially those with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“The reality is that health care expenses are rising far faster than the rest of our budget,” Polis said. “We must take action to bring Medicaid costs to a sustainable level and protect access for the 1.2 million Coloradans who rely on Medicaid.”
He said Americans are “getting screwed on health care,” but the state can’t solve the problem alone. Universal health care, from the federal government, would cost less and provide better health outcomes, he said.
“We will continue fighting for Coloradans, but ultimately, we need Washington to step up and take real action on a real solution. Call it what you will — a social insurance model, a multipayer universal health care, Medicare for All, a single-payer system with private insurance and care on top — no matter the jargon, no matter what you call it, no matter your policy preference, the outcome is what matters: health care for everyone at lower costs, like every other country has,” Polis said.
Polis has also sought — again — to privatize Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s workers’ compensation insurer of last resort. That proposal appears dead on arrival in the legislature.
Polis nonetheless highlighted the effort in his State of the State speech.
Converting the Pinnacol would “shore up our workers’ compensation system to better protect workers,” while setting up the quasi-governmental agency for long-term success in a changing marketplace, Polis said. It would also give the state some budgetary relief. The governor tied the potential sale to keeping the senior homestead exemption for property taxes fully funded.
His comments on health care generally drew praise from Democratic lawmakers. Reps. Kyle Brown and Emily Sirota both praised it as the strongest part of his speech and his most progressive policy area.
But Sirota was less supportive of his renewed Pinnacol pitch.
“I don’t think it’s responsible to try to balance the budget on the back of a ‘maybe,’ ” she said, highlighting the likelihood that lawsuits would follow any attempt to privatize the insurer.
Intrigue over vetoes, Tina Peters
Polis concluded his speech with another acknowledgement that this would be his last — and that whoever addresses the General Assembly next year might not be as eager to sign some of the bills lawmakers are working on.
And on the flip side, Polis joked about buying commemorative veto pens for use on those bills he disagrees with.
“I encourage all legislators — again, in my last year — to take advantage of the opportunity to lead on issues you know that I will agree with you on, and perhaps the next governor won’t or you don’t know,” Polis said, listing school choice, eliminating puppy mills, supporting blockchain and cryptocurrency and reducing the income tax.
“And on issues you know I might disagree with you on, we might be able to work together to find an agreement — but much to my staff’s chagrin, this year, I ordered a special pen for that, after poor (state Sen.) Jeff Bridges couldn’t even get a regular pen from (my chief of staff) when I vetoed his bill a couple of years ago. At least you deserve a keepsake if that happens.”
Rifts between Polis and legislative leaders on a major labor bill and the pending artificial intelligence regulations haven’t appeared to heal after repeated rounds of brutal negotiations during prior legislative sessions. The governor told reporters that his approach to the legislature wouldn’t change this year and that they would agree on some things but disagree on others.
Rumors and recent reports that Polis may reduce the sentence of Tina Peters, the former county clerk convicted of felonies related to Trump’s election conspiracies, have many fellow Democrats on pins and needles.
Polis repeatedly declined to directly answer several reporters’ questions Thursday afternoon about whether he’d spoken to the Trump administration about pardoning Peters or reducing her sentence. He did deny that he’d spoken to the federal government about releasing her in some sort of trade.
