Colorado lawmakers launch bid to undercut ‘irresponsible’ road funding mandate in Initiative 175
Democratic lawmakers are threatening to undercut a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at forcing Colorado to spend more on roads — which they warn would bust its already-teetering state budget — before it ever reaches the November ballot.
A bill they plan to introduce in the Capitol on Friday afternoon is designed to counteract Initiative 175, which could divert money from other state priorities to meet its mandate. The construction industry-backed proposal would require the state to spend some $2 billion per year, including $540 million from the general fund, on road transportation projects.
The proposal, which hasn’t yet qualified for the ballot, immediately drew concerns from Democratic lawmakers, who are reeling from making regular $1 billion-dollar cuts in recent years to make up for ongoing budget shortfalls. Underscoring the fiscal pressure, lawmakers just recently sent a spending plan to Gov. Jared Polis for the next fiscal year that had to bridge a $1.5 billion deficit.
“What we cannot do is fill a pothole and close a hospital,” said Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat working on the legislative counter. “And thatap the situation that we will be faced with should Initiative 175 go into the state constitution.”
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Live updates: Veto watch begins with labor measure; Senate passes ‘swipe fees’ bill fought hard by finance companies
The Colorado House and Senate have entered the final two weeks of the 2026 legislative session, and both chambers were set Friday for lengthy floor votes on several hefty bills, including legislation dealing with credit card swipe fees, state labor laws and other issues.
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Colorado Senate passes bill loosening requirements for cities to get money from major housing fund
Colorado lawmakers are again moving to tweak the requirements of Proposition 123, the state’s marquee affordable housing fund, as the vast majority of local governments enrolled in the program have not met the housing targets passed by voters in 2022.
Democratic lawmakers told their colleagues in March that “upwards of potentially 90%” of local governments that signed up to receive a share of the program’s roughly $300 million annual budget haven’t notched sufficient growth in their affordable housing stock to meet the program’s requirements.
Echoing concerns that local officials have raised for years, legislators argued that the growth requirements in the program were “inflexible” and “outdated.” Those requirements were based on census data and an assessment of existing housing.
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Police opposition kills Colorado lawmakers’ attempts to limit Flock cameras, data collection
Two bipartisan bills aimed at limiting warrantless access to Coloradans’ data by state government agencies have been defeated after both efforts crashed into stiff opposition from law enforcement groups and, in one case, Gov. Jared Polis.
Both bills died in the past week. Lawmakers announced the demise of Senate Bill 70 from the Senate floor on Wednesday, with its backers voluntarily killing a measure that would have limited government access to data collected by license plate-reading camera providers like Flock Safety.
A week earlier, the House Judiciary Committee killed House Bill 1037. The bill — after a late amendment — would’ve asked voters to decide whether Colorado law enforcement should be able to access individuals’ data from third-party brokers without a warrant.
Both bills were bipartisan. HB-1037 was sponsored by one of the House’s most progressive members, Rep. Jennifer Bacon, and one of its most conservative, Rep. Ken DeGraaf.
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Colorado lawmakers yank bills reworking marijuana sales tax, allowing wider sales of more potent THC drinks
A pair of bills that would have changed rules around marijuana and THC-infused drinks in Colorado died this week after the sponsors yanked them ahead of their first votes.
The bills were withdrawn ahead of committee votes Tuesday. One of them, Senate Bill 164, would have expanded the market for hemp-based beverages infused with THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
If passed, the bill would have increased the amount of THC allowed in hemp drinks to make them more attractive for sale in venues and liquor and grocery stores. The drinks could not be derived from marijuana or synthetic or semisynthetic cannabinoids.
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New Colorado law bans sales of cats, dogs in pet stores in bid to crack down on ‘puppy mills’
Following in the paw-steps of several other states and local governments, Gov. Jared Polis signed a new law Wednesday that will soon ban pet stores in Colorado from selling dogs or cats.
Once it goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2028, House Bill 1011 will only allow pet stores to host animals from adoption or rescue services, so long as the stores don’t charge fees and the animals are sterilized. It otherwise prohibits those stores from selling dogs and cats in an effort to curb commercial breeding and sales from “puppy mills.”
According to a legislative analysis, there are seven pet stores in the state licensed to sell the animals and five more that serve as brokers.
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State budget heads to Gov. Jared Polis after lawmakers wrestle with cuts to disability services
Colorado’s $46.8 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year will head to Gov. Jared Polis after both chambers of the legislature agreed Tuesday to the final version approved by the powerful budget committee.
The House and Senate had previously adopted a series of amendments to the state spending plan that needed to be reconciled. The Joint Budget Committee decided which amendments would stick, and in which fashion, as it sought to meet the constitutional requirements to pass a balanced budget.
The JBC’s approved changes included higher caps for dental care for immigrants without legal status who benefit from a Medicaid-like program, money for veterans services, and more time to allow children with intellectual or developmental disabilities to transition automatically to adult comprehensive care.
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Bill requiring college pharmacies to stock abortion pills for students passes Colorado House
Colorado may soon require its colleges and universities to stock abortion pills in their campus pharmacies under legislation passed Monday by the state House.
House Bill 1335 passed on a near-party-line 41-22 vote, with nearly all of the chamber’s Democrats in support against their Republican colleagues and a lone Democratic dissenter. After it passed the abortion measure, the House then passed House Bill 1276, which would require inspections of immigrant detention centers and direct the state to publicly disclose when it receives federal immigration subpoenas.
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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis declares Monday ‘Denver Summit FC Day’ in honor of newest sports team
Flanked by four Colorado-born soccer players, Gov. Jared Polis declared Monday “Denver Summit FC Day” in honor of the debut season for the state’s only major professional women’s sports team.
Polis announced the proclamation from the state Capitol rotunda, after the four players and other members of the Summit organization were celebrated in the state Senate. Summit is six games into its initial season in the National Women’s Soccer League, and its home debut last month was greeted by an NWSL-record 63,004 fans.
The team gave special jerseys to Polis, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera and Sen. Marc Catlin, who officially welcomed the team in the Senate.
“I feel so honored and humbled to be standing in front of you, representing our player group,” team captain Janine Sonis, who grew up in Highlands Ranch, said during the news conference unveiling the proclamation.
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Lawmakers kill bill regulating residential lot sizes as Colorado legislature enters final weeks
Colorado lawmakers have killed legislation that would have limited local governments’ ability to dictate residential lot sizes as the legislature enters its final weeks of work before the 2026 session concludes.
The session’s dying light usually includes the sweeping demise of bills big and small. On Thursday, the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee brought that extinguishment to House Bill 1114. Part of a yearslong effort to reshape local zoning rules, the bill would’ve prohibited local governments from requiring that single-family home lots be larger than 2,000 square feet, making larger minimum sizes against state law.
The measure passed the House in late February, only to hit the skids in the Senate, which has taken a more critical view of zoning reforms. The bill died on a 7-0 vote after its Senate sponsor, Denver Democrat Sen. Matt Ball, asked for its euthanization following testimony and debate.
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Colorado lawmakers grapple with limits on kids’ AI chatbot interactions — and access to adult content
Once again, Colorado lawmakers say they are “trying to thread a really important needle” thatap eluded them in the past — establishing more online protections for young people, without running afoul of concerns over privacy and freedom.
Backers of this year’s legislation are confident they’ve hit the right balance, or at least landed on good first steps. But others worry the measures don’t go far enough.
Two measures capture the push-and-pull of the debate. Senate Bill 51 would require a user to log their age when setting up a new device, such as a smartphone, to restrict or grant access to adult age-restricted apps or websites. The bill’s sponsors say they’re trying to land on the side of privacy by using age attestation, which means the user vouches for their age rather than proving it by handing over personal information, like IDs or facial scans, to the companies.
House Bill 1263, meanwhile, would create new regulations for chatbots powered by artificial intelligence, with an emphasis on how they interact with users, especially children and teenagers.
The bill’s sponsors don’t seek to prohibit access to the emerging technology. But the bill would require the bot to give regular notice to users that they are interacting with a robot — not a sentient entity — among other provisions seeking to restrict sexually explicit content from the bots and give people who express suicidal ideas links to crisis support.
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