The state utility regulator with the power to influence Coloradans’ electricity, gas and phone bills could see some changes as lawmakers work on renewing its authority.

The Public Utilities Commission, known as the PUC, is arguably the most important regulatory body in Colorado. It’s a three-member panel that sets rules for power, telecommunications, transportation and other companies that we all use every day.

The PUC has been around since 1913, and every state in the U.S. has a similar body. But here in Colorado, it has to be reauthorized every few years. The last authorization was passed in 2019, with a seven-year timeframe. The reauthorization bill currently being considered would extend the commission until 2037.

The reauthorization law is important because the PUC is so powerful, and the law will shape how it works. This year’s bill includes a slew of proposed changes ranging from simple things like allowing commissioners to send emails, to more complicated issues like how electricity companies fund themselves.

A recent report from the federal government showed Colorado saw over 130,000 electricity disconnections in 2024. With energy and other costs on the rise, the PUC is going to play a crucial role in determining how accessible utilities are for Coloradans.

Need to Know

🚕 A Colorado lawmaker who was sexually assaulted by a Lyft driver has brought back a bill to more strictly regulate ride-hailing companies. The proposal would include more stringent background checks for drivers, options for audio and video recording during rides, and a requirement for companies to send annual reports to lawmakers on assaults and threats. Gov. Jared Polis, who became extremely wealthy working in the tech sector prior to his political career, vetoed a similar bill last year. (CPR, read the bill)

🗑️ Lawmakers are working on fixes for recent anti-pollution measures that had unforeseen consequences. One effort focuses on providing state funding for rural landfills to help them comply with air quality regulations passed last year. (Sky-Hi News) Another effort aims to remove a requirement in a law passed earlier this year that restricted disposal of plastic pellets to facilities with permits for hazardous waste. (Sum & Substance)

💰 The state’s budget for next year was finalized and sent to the governor’s desk for approval. As we covered in previous editions (April 2, April 7, April 10, April 23) lawmakers cut a wide range of programs, particularly state health care assistance, in order to comply with state constitutional limits on government spending. The final bill spared some programs from planned cuts and also included tweaks to funding for other programs. (Colorado Sun)

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🥾 Outdoors enthusiasts now have more public lands to play on near Red Rocks, after Jefferson County acquired a parcel last week that expands Matthews/Winters Park. I hike and run all the time at Red Rocks and Matthews/Winters, so I’m especially excited that officials are planning to add a new trail to the area. The whole park is pretty steep and rocky, which will make the new trail challenging to build – and fun to climb!

Lawmakers in Colorado could get a pay raise and increase spending on their personal security next year, even as they cut state programs that help pay for essential things like health care.

Pay for lawmakers next year is set for an automatic increase of about 6% compared to this year, meaning they would make about $50,000, plus thousands of dollars in per diem payments. That increase would cost taxpayers about $400,000 next year.

What’s more, legislators are advancing a bill that would use about $200,000 of taxpayer money next year to hire a security administrator who would be responsible for coordinating protections for lawmakers.

The pay increases are tied to inflation, which has made the cost of living far more expensive for everyone in recent years. And many lawmakers have to put their other jobs on hold during the legislative session that runs from January through May each year.

The security bill also responds to a real problem of increasing political violence across the country that was illustrated in dramatic fashion this weekend by the attempted attack on President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Still, Coloradans already think their taxes are too high, so lawmakers taking more for themselves while asking their constituents to deal with less might become a complicated position to defend heading into elections this November.

Need to Know

🔬 The manipulation of state crime lab tests was so extensive that it’s overwhelming attorneys helping those affected. After forensic scientist Missy Woods was charged last year with altering and omitting information from crime lab test results and breaking record-keeping rules, lawmakers passed a bill allowing people to go to court if their case could have been affected by that kind of misconduct. But there are a limited number of attorneys that can handle those cases, and given that thousands of people might be affected, the legal processes could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. (CPR)

🏫 A legal loophole could prevent school employees injured in mass shootings from suing their employers. A judge ruled last month that school employees can’t sue schools to recoup costs associated with school shooting injuries. Instead, they have to go through the state’s workers compensation program, because the claims directly relate to their jobs. The judge’s ruling only applies to a single case, but it highlights the limited impact of a 2015 law meant to allow lawsuits against schools by mass shooting victims, including both students and staff. Few successful suits have been filed under the law, though experts say it has led to more awareness and prevention measures. (Chalkbeat Colorado)

🤖 The Trump administration is backing Elon Musk’s court battle against a law meant to protect Coloradans from discrimination by AI. Musk’s company xAI sued Colorado earlier this month, arguing the law – which hasn’t yet taken effect – would violate the company’s civil rights by forcing its products to align with progressive values. The U.S. Justice Department filed a motion last week agreeing with the company’s arguments and claiming the law would impose “state-mandated discrimination.” (Denver Business Journal, Colorado Sun, read the filing)

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🏀 The Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves last night, saving themselves from elimination in the best-of-seven, first-round playoff series. That means we’ll get to watch them play at least one more game this season (Thursday at 5 pm). I’ll be honest: after how poorly the Nuggets played in games two through four, I wasn’t sure they could pull out another win. But the Nuggets are the only team to ever have come back from being down 3-1 in multiple playoff series in the same season, so if anyone can do it, it’s this team.

The federal government has loosened restrictions on medical marijuana, signaling a shift toward greater permissiveness for state-regulated markets like Colorado’s.

The order published last week moves medical marijuana products out of a category known as Schedule I, which is for drugs that have no accepted medical use, to Schedule III, which is for drugs that have medical uses and also a moderate to low potential for abuse.

For now, the change will have limited impacts in Colorado. The medical marijuana market has been shrinking in recent years, and the recreational market, which isn’t affected by the federal order, is nearly ten times bigger in terms of sales volume. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, which means it will still be hard for marijuana businesses to use traditional banking services.

But the rescheduling order marks the first time the federal government has acknowledged the legitimate medical value of marijuana. This could eventually open up opportunities for further research that could lead to new marijuana-based medicines.

What’s more, the federal government is planning a hearing on a broader rescheduling that could include recreational marijuana products coming this summer. Industry advocates say looser federal restrictions could improve investor confidence and help slow or reverse the contraction seen in recent years in Colorado’s marijuana sector.

Need to Know

🌳 Denver’s city government is offering small grants for community-led sustainability and resilience projects. Ten grants will fund projects up to $25,000, and two grants will give up to $50,000 for initiatives like planting trees and flowers, or hosting workshops on energy conservation. Eligible groups include nonprofits, neighborhood organizations and tribal entities. (CPR, Denver city government)

🏠 Gov. Jared Polis laid out a plan he says will save Coloradans an average of $800 on homeowner insurance next year. The proposal would incentivize hail-resistant roofs and measures to protect against wildfires. High risks from those natural events have made Colorado homeowner insurance rates some of the highest in the country. (Axios, Denver Post, read the plan)

🔧 Coloradans are helping their neighbors repair items that they might otherwise have to replace at community-organized “repair cafes.” Colorado laws require manufacturers to allow people to repair things like powered wheelchairs, agricultural equipment and digital devices. But advocates are worried about proposed legislation that could roll back those rights. (Colorado Sun)

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🎸 When I started playing guitar as a teenager, I learned every single song from the live album Johnny Cash recorded at Folsom Prison in California. The intensity of the performance captivated me, but I never really explored prison music beyond that album – until now. The Marshall Project has been doing a limited-run newsletter called “Redemption Songs” focusing on a cache of prison music uncovered by one of their journalists. The music and the stories behind the songs are incredibly powerful and totally worth a listen.

Using AI to set different prices and wages for people based on their individual characteristics could be outlawed in Colorado, as momentum gathers for a proposed ban on the practice, known as surveillance pricing.

Most Coloradans agree that people should be protected from companies unfairly using personal data to set higher prices or offer lower wages for certain people, according to a recent survey by the American Economic Liberties Project and Data for Progress. The levels of support and opposition reported in the poll were fairly stable across political parties, race and gender, indicating broad consensus.

Similar proposals are being introduced in states across the country and the Colorado bill is advancing through the state legislature, but there are some caveats. Businesses generally oppose the ban and lawmakers have previously tried passing similar legislation only to run into opposition from Gov. Jared Polis, who has made hundreds of millions of dollars in the tech sector.

Need to Know

⛓️ The state parole board could release incarcerated people who committed crimes as juveniles without the governor’s approval, under a proposal being considered by lawmakers as Colorado’s prison system nears the limits of its current capacity. State law offers early release to juvenile offenders who serve at least 20 years and complete other requirements, but Gov. Jared Polis hasn’t approved any releases under that program since 2023. The new proposal would give the governor 60 days to make a decision before the parole board could act on its own. (Denver Post)

🧐 A state lawmaker is under investigation for allegedly mismanaging political party funds. The House Ethics Committee is looking into several thousand dollars of spending by Rep. Mandy Lindsay, a Democrat from Aurora, who made multiple payments of party funds into her personal account. Fellow lawmakers will probe whether the payments were legitimate reimbursements with poor record-keeping or misappropriation. (Colorado Newsline, Denver Post, read the complaint)

🏥 A health care program that helped immigrant kids and pregnant people is getting slashed in the coming year’s state budget. The program started in 2022 but ended up costing nearly seven times as much as initially projected due to unexpectedly high demand. The cuts are among many health care aid reductions lawmakers are considering to comply with the state constitution’s limits on the growth of government spending. (Colorado Newsline)

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🌱 My wife and I are starting a little garden this summer and some of our seeds have already started taking off. The radishes were the first to pop up, but the rainbow chard isn’t far behind. And we’ve got some little calendula seedlings starting to sprout as well. I can’t wait to start harvesting and eating these homegrown veggies.

K-12 students could see an increase in state education funding in the coming year under a school financing bill advancing through the state legislature.

Lawmakers plan to slash various programs, particularly health care, to close a $1.5 billion budget gap. But education has been largely spared since the state constitution requires education funding to increase each year in line with inflation.

The new budget would provide $10.2 billion for K-12 education, an average of about $12,314 per student. Although that represents an increase compared to this year, Colorado still spends less per pupil than many other states.

Still, some education programs are being cut, including a teacher recruitment program, grants for math instruction, bullying prevention, and school counseling. And beyond K-12 education, the state’s universities plan to raise tuition next year in response to budget shortfalls.

Need to Know

🚏 The Denver metro area’s public transit system, RTD, could see service slashed under managers’ plans to close a budget gap and avoid a credit downgrade. Some RTD directors questioned the proposed cuts – between 20% and 36% of bus and train service – saying they could create a spiral where reduced service leads to less money flowing into the system as fewer people use it. Alternative funding could come from the state government as well as fare increases, worker furloughs, overtime restrictions, advertising, debt refinancing and stricter fare enforcement. (Denver Post)

🛢️ A fracking company can build a drilling site near the Aurora Reservoir, a state oversight commission decided this week. Homeowners and environmental activists had strongly opposed the project due to concerns about the health and ecological impacts of oil and gas drilling just over a half-mile from hundreds of homes and the city’s main water source. But the commission voted 3-2 that the company’s proposal met state standards. (Sentinel, Denver Post, Colorado Sun)

💰 Betting on specific events within sports games will remain legal in Colorado, after lawmakers dropped a proposed ban so as not to lose the tax revenue from so-called proposition, or prop bets. Prop bets vastly expand opportunities for betting on sports, since they make it possible to bet on almost any aspect of the game rather than just the final outcome. By the same token, they open the door to corruption since it’s far easier to fix small features of games compared to fixing the outcome of the entire contest. (CPR, Axios)

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💥 For much of my career, I reported on organized crime, and I still love a good crime story, like this recent article from the New Yorker about an insurance scam that involved people intentionally crashing their cars into big rig trucks. The author, Patrick Radden Keefe, is one of the best crime journalists out there, and he does an incredible job of laying out how the scheme came together and how it unraveled.

Law enforcement could face new statewide restrictions on the use of license plate-reading surveillance cameras under a bill currently being considered by lawmakers.

The proposal would limit officials’ ability to share information from surveillance camera systems with other jurisdictions and would require a warrant to access information more than 72 hours after a crime has occurred.

License plate-reading cameras have caused significant controversy in cities across Colorado. Denver scrapped its contract with a major surveillance camera company called Flock earlier this year amid concerns the camera data might be shared with federal law enforcement, including immigration authorities. The city has signed a new contract with a competitor called Axon, which officials claim has more privacy safeguards.

Boulder is also considering alternatives to its Flock system, and Durango is looking at restricting local law enforcement’s use of the cameras.

While license plate-reading cameras have unquestionably helped solve serious crimes in Colorado, critics say a lack of proper guardrails around their use can open the door to invasive and abusive applications of the technology.

Need to Know

🚕 Ride-hailing drivers who wanted more control over their earnings and working conditions created the Drivers Cooperative - Colorado as an alternative to big companies like Uber and Lyft. The worker-owned platform still doesn’t have a big base of drivers or riders, so it can be hard to find a timely ride and drivers still have to rely on other work to supplement what they earn from the cooperative. But the drivers say its reach is growing. (Denverite)

🔌 The electric power giant Xcel Energy wants customers to pay $100 million to cover costs associated with meeting increased demand for energy during the summer. A coal powered plant that is Xcel’s largest source of electricity is still offline, meaning the company might have to buy power from other sources to meet demand. The proposal, along with other rate increases for electricity and gas, would need the approval of a public oversight body. (Denver Post)

💦 Cities looking to manage their water supplies during persistently dry conditions might need more than outdoor watering restrictions. Experts say encouraging residents to use less water can help, but for very dry cities like Denver and others across Colorado, additional measures like water reuse plans and limits on industrial water use might be needed. (The Conversation)

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🌎 Today is Earth Day, a commemoration and call to action for efforts to protect our environment. There are a ton of related events across Colorado today and the rest of the week. I’ll be joining a litter pickup at Lakewood Park on Sunday from 2 to 4 with my neighborhood’s local sustainability group. Look up an event near you – it’s a great way to connect with your community.

Coloradans could see less locally produced food on the shelves this year as drought and high costs push farmers and ranchers to scale back their operations.

Some farmers say they’re considering reducing the area of crops they cultivate due to dry conditions brought on by a winter with record-low snowfall.

What’s more, the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts have reduced the availability of farm workers, and the war with Iran has sent fuel and fertilizer costs soaring due to military blockades of the Strait of Hormuz, a major global shipping thoroughfare for those products.

Ranchers are also feeling similar effects. Grazing areas remain too dry for cattle to feed and the price of hay has spiked. Some ranchers are considering selling off part of their herds, since cattle prices remain high at the national level.

Need to Know

🏘️ Residential property owners would be allowed to split their lots in two and build homes on lots as small as 2,000 square feet, under bills that passed the state House earlier this year. While state lawmakers have pushed to make it easier to build denser housing, the proposals have been a harder sell in some cities, like Lakewood, which earlier this month rejected a plan for increased housing density. (Colorado Sun, read the lot-splitting bill, read the lot size bill)

💊 Colleges and universities in Colorado would have to provide students with access to abortion medication under a bill that advanced in the state legislature last week. The proposal would add to abortion protections that Colorado voters approved in 2024, following a Supreme Court decision that allowed states – including Colorado’s neighbors Texas, Oklahoma and Utah – to ban abortions. (KUNC, read the bill)

🧐 Complaints about abusive management and millions of dollars in payouts to former staff at the Department of Human Services led the state to hire independent investigators. Their probe is likely to focus on the social services agency’s deputy executive director for operations and strategy, Katy Morrison, who reportedly described her management style as “slap and tickle.” The human services agency is the state’s second-largest after the prison system, employing about 5,000 workers. (Denver Post)

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🔔 I got dinner last night from the Taste of Philly in Lakewood. If you’re like me, and you like cheesesteaks but have zero interest in actually going to Philadelphia, this place is perfect. They have locations across Colorado, and I highly recommend their locally inspired green chile philly.

Federal authorities are preparing to step in and decide how to deal with shrinking flows in the Colorado River, as the seven states that rely on its water have failed to agree to a solution.

This year’s record-dry winter has put pressure on water managers to find solutions to stabilize the water supply for some 40 million people in the Southwest. But the so-called Upper Basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, where most of the river’s water originates – haven’t been able to reach a deal with the so-called Lower Basin states that use most of the water — California, Nevada and Arizona.

So now, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is moving toward imposing its own management plan this summer. Reports suggest the feds will release additional water from an upstream reservoir at Flaming Gorge in northern Utah to maintain water levels at southern Utah’s Lake Powell reservoir, so it can continue to produce hydropower.

But keeping more water in Lake Powell could have downstream impacts like affecting hydropower generation at the Hoover Dam on Lake Mead in Nevada. It could also reduce recreation opportunities and damage ecosystems.

What’s more, federal action might spark lawsuits that could turn water management into a complicated court battle that would further complicate efforts to find a solution for a drying river basin that’s only expected to get drier going forward.

Need to Know

📜 Worker protections and data center regulations attracted the most lobbying during this year’s state legislative session, according to an Axios analysis. Lobbyists spent the most time trying to influence lawmakers regarding bills to adopt stricter workplace safety standards, protect workers from extreme temperatures, and make it easier to form unions. They also lobbied hard on a bill to give tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks for data centers, as well as a competing proposal to make data centers adhere to environmental and other standards. (Axios)

🔆 Installing small solar power kits to reduce residential electricity costs would get easier for Coloradans under a recently passed bill Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign. So-called “balcony solar” kits usually cost under $2,000, compared to tens of thousands of dollars for a full rooftop system. The bill would prevent “unreasonable” conditions on installing the kits, while also including safety requirements and allowing landlords to limit the size and location of the panels. (Colorado Sun, read the bill)

💨 Marijuana safety testing and tax rules could change under a bill currently being considered by lawmakers. The bill would ask voters to decide whether state health authorities, rather than private companies, should test marijuana products to ensure they’re safe to consume. It would also shift the tax regime so more revenue comes from products sold in dispensaries rather than at intermediate manufacturing stages. (Colorado Politics, read the proposal)

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🦢 I went for a run yesterday at Sloan’s Lake Park on the west edge of Denver. The trail around the lake is almost exactly 3 miles, and it’s pretty much totally flat, which makes it a great place to do timed interval workouts. Also, you get amazing views of the mountains from the east side of the lake and a great view of the Denver skyline from the west side.

Colorado police are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence tools, claiming they will help solve crimes, even though that remains largely unproven.

This week, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office became the latest law enforcement agency to announce it will use an AI tool called TimePilot to help comb through evidence. A police spokesperson told the Denver Gazette that the $100,000-per-year program could shorten a months-long investigation down to “an hour or two.”

Earlier this year, the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority bought an AI-powered forensic camera for around $70,000, claiming it would help solve thefts in the Denver metro area even while admitting the camera hadn’t been used by any other police in the U.S.

The huge volumes of digital evidence collected in modern law enforcement investigations can be difficult to sort through – and AI tools can help with that. But they can also invade people’s privacy and unfairly discriminate against them, leading to ongoing debates in Colorado and around the world about the proper limits on these technologies.

Over the last decade, major crimes in Colorado have had fairly consistent clearance rates – basically a measure of whether a suspect was arrested or an investigation concluded some other way. If these tools work as police claim, we should see those numbers start to go up.

Need to Know

🚇 Transit planning will be crucial to the success of two new sports stadium projects in Denver, team representatives said. A new football stadium planned by the Broncos will need city investment to expand public transit access, since there will be limited stadium-specific parking. A separate stadium planned by the women’s soccer team Summit FC will have no specific parking, and may need to rely heavily on ride-hailing drop-offs to bring in fans. (Denver Business Journal)

⛓️ Prisons would have to take steps to release more inmates to relieve overcrowding under a bill being considered by state lawmakers. Gov. Jared Polis has called to open a new prison to handle the expanding inmate population, but some lawmakers and experts say releasing low-risk incarcerated people would be more cost-effective. (Colorado Politics, read the bill)

🔫 A queer gun club in Denver is seeing a spike in interest amid rising fears about political violence. Most U.S. gun owners have traditionally been white, male and conservative, but gun ownership is becoming increasingly diverse at the state and national level. (Denverite)

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💫 I’ve been really enjoying learning about astrophysics from PBS Space Time. The episodes are always interesting and often funny. I recently watched one about how consciousness might influence the quantum mechanics underlying our reality. If you’re looking for something that will really bend your brain for about 15-20 minutes, I’d highly recommend giving this show a shot.

People affected by fires and floods in western and southern Colorado last year won’t get federal help with their recovery efforts, since the Trump administration has denied millions of dollars in disaster aid in a move that officials called a political attack.

Gov. Jared Polis announced this week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, had denied appeals for help dealing with damage from an August wildfire in Rio Blanco county and October flooding in La Plata, Archuleta, and Mineral counties.

Without federal help, the state and local communities have to foot the bill for cleaning up debris and repairing damaged structures, roads and power lines.

State officials said it was the first time in 35 years that the federal government had denied such a request from Colorado. But the Trump administration is routinely denying disaster aid to states run by Democrats during his second term.

What’s more, the Trump administration has targeted Colorado in other ways, including trying to cut off funding for transportation, scientific research, food assistance and infrastructure projects.

Need to Know

✂️ Counties are looking for solutions to coming cuts to health care and food assistance programs under recent changes to federal tax and spending laws that have affected the state budget. Proposals are focused on consolidating county-level health and human services operations to save money on administrative costs. State lawmakers set aside $3 million to study how to streamline the programs later this year. (Glenwood Springs Post Independent)

🏥 Nine hospitals in Colorado are at risk of closing or reducing services due to health care aid cuts, according to a report from the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. The hospitals are located in both urban and rural areas, and experts say tens or hundreds of thousands of Coloradans could be affected. (Denver Gazette, read the report)

🍴 A coalition of restaurants is pushing back against calls to lower the minimum wage for tipped workers, saying it would hurt workers and give an advantage to bigger restaurant companies. The coalition’s letter to city leaders was meant to counter a report by a restaurant industry group earlier this year suggesting Denver could help its food service sector by lowering labor costs. (Denver Business Journal)

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🤓 I visited Denver’s Central Library yesterday to pick up a book I’ve been wanting to read, and I was reminded how awesome the recently remodeled building is. It’s not just books (though they do have a huge selection of those). The library also has technology services, meeting spaces and an “ideaLAB” with a 3D printer, a recording studio and tools for all kinds of crafts. On top of all that, the architecture and design are really impressive and it’s worth just taking a walk around inside.

Supporters of trans rights are fighting a multi-front battle in Colorado as the federal government and anti-trans activists take aim at policies protecting trans kids.

Colorado has some of the most LGBTQ+ friendly policies of any state in the country, which could be one reason that it’s become a target of the anti-trans movement. But LGBTQ+ groups have a strong base of support, and a new coalition called Families Not Politics launched recently in response to two anti-trans ballot measures that Colorado voters will decide in November

One of them would effectively ban trans kids from playing on boys or girls school sports teams. The issue of transgender policies for school sports came up in a federal investigation that recently found Jeffco Schools’ trans protections violated gender equality laws, despite no evidence that trans kids put fellow athletes at a competitive disadvantage.

The other ballot measure would ban gender-affirming surgeries for kids. Major hospitals in Colorado have suspended gender-affirming care for minors in the face of legal harassment and threats from the federal government. The Colorado Supreme Court will soon decide whether the decision to suspend care violated state anti-discrimination laws.

Need to Know

🤝 Colorado cities and counties would be able to team up to tackle houselessness under a proposal being considered by state lawmakers that would let them form multi-jurisdictional agencies to coordinate prevention and reduction efforts, share resources, and (with voter approval) levy taxes. (KUNC)

🧐 A policy limiting the use of Colorado court data for federal immigration enforcement has come under scrutiny by Republicans in Congress. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Colorado’s court administrator asking for information about the policy, claiming it “obstructs federal law.” (Denver Gazette, read the letter)

🧯 Wildfire preparedness will be especially important after Colorado’s bone-dry winter. Experts say people who live in high-risk areas should have an emergency “go bag” ready in case they need to quickly evacuate. Clearing debris and cutting back vegetation can keep fire further away from inhabited structures. (Rocky Mountain PBS)

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⌛ I really enjoyed this article from Wired about the Internet Archive, whose Wayback Machine saves snapshots of old webpages that are incredibly helpful for online research. Major publishers like the New York Times are increasingly blocking the organization from archiving their content over concerns about unauthorized use that could hurt their bottom line. The article does a good job of capturing the difficulty of balancing the benefits and drawbacks of this kind of archiving.

Businesses are complaining that Colorado puts too many restrictions on them, leading them to consider moving their operations to other states.

The Colorado Chamber of Commerce put out a report last week saying nearly 100 companies had left the state since 2019, taking nearly 14,000 jobs with them. This week, a pro-business coalition called Ensuring Colorado’s Innovation Future asked state authorities to reduce regulations, which they claim stifle growth.

Lawmakers are taking note. On Monday, the state Senate unanimously advanced a bill backed by the Chamber that would require agencies to review regulations every five years, and eliminate or modify those that aren’t working.

But the business perspective is only one side of the story. Regulations meant to protect workers and prevent harmful conduct are not the only reason companies may look to other states. Businesses have also cited Colorado’s sky-high child care costs and skilled worker shortages as obstacles to their operations.

Need to Know

🤖 AI chatbots could face stricter regulations aimed at protecting Colorado users from emotional harm under a bill that recently passed an initial step of the lawmaking process. A lawsuit filed last week is challenging a previously passed Colorado law protecting people from discrimination by AI in financial, employment and educational decisions. (Colorado Politics, Colorado Newsline, read the bill, read the lawsuit)

♿ People with disabilities are facing public transit service cuts as the Regional Transportation District (RTD) seeks to balance a budget deficit linked to high maintenance costs and low ridership. The agency is also considering measures including land sales and fare hikes to make up its budget gap. RTD’s top executive recently announced she will leave her job next year. (Denver Post, Denver Gazette)

🍃 Marijuana regulators said they will crack down illegal sales of products sourced from hemp rather than marijuana. The state’s marijuana enforcement division issued a bulletin Monday saying some companies are putting the public at risk by misrepresenting the origin of purported marijuana products. The agency also said a pattern of tax avoidance in the industry is sapping revenues from state and local governments. (Denver Gazette/ProPublica, read the bulletin)

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🐔 I got dinner last night from one of my favorite restaurants in Lakewood, an Asian-fusion fried chicken place called Kickin’ Chicken. My go-to order is the chicken and waffle (spicy) with a side of Vietnamese slaw – but literally everything on the menu is excellent. They also have a location in Aurora.

Nearly 4,000 union workers at a massive meatpacking plant in Greeley ended a three-week strike with a new contract that the union described as “all gains…and not a single concession.”

The two-year contract offers wage increases and bonuses in addition to shielding workers from increasing health care costs and reimbursing them for protective gear.

The Greeley plant is owned by the Brazil-based JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, which rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit each year.

Negotiations between the union and JBS went on for eight months before workers called a strike. The union had accused the company of unfair labor practices, including attempting to intimidate workers not to strike, but those complaints were dropped as part of the new deal.

Need to Know

💵 The state budget is getting closer to completion after the House passed it over the weekend. Lawmakers had to cut a broad swath of programs – especially those related to health care – to make up for a $1.5 billion shortfall caused by constitutional spending limits and lower-than-expected tax revenues. (Denver Post, Denver Gazette)

💉 A program to reduce lethal opioid overdoses in Aurora has shown success, according to Aurora Fire Rescue officials who administer the initiative. Under the program, firefighters who respond to overdose calls leave behind overdose-reversing medication in case the person needs it again. (Sentinel)

🖐️ Residents of downtown Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood say authorities haven’t done enough to address homelessness and crime. The neighborhood includes the state capitol building as well as history and art museums. Some residents said the city’s enforcement efforts seemed to push problems around rather than solve them at the root. (Westword)

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🏜️ I went to Arizona last week for a visit with family and took a quick side trip to the Grand Canyon. The geography was really impressive and it was interesting to see the Colorado River from such a different perspective. I made an Instagram post with some of my favorite pictures. My overall review is: definitely worth seeing once, but once is probably enough.

The dysfunction in Colorado’s Republican Party stalled the passage of the state’s budget bill as well as the party’s candidate selection process. Republican Rep. Brandi Bradley forced a full reading of the more than 600-page proposal over complaints about how colleagues handled an ethics investigation of fellow Republican Ron Weinberg.

The investigation found probable cause last month that Weinberg had made inappropriate sexual comments about Bradley and improperly accessed parts of the capitol building. Bradley said the investigation and punishment – ordering Weinberg to attend an anti-sexual harassment training – weren’t sufficient.

Her move forced lawmakers, including fellow Republicans, to work late several days this week and into the weekend, interfering with the state Republican assembly in Pueblo where candidates are chosen.

The incident highlights bigger problems as the Republicans head toward the 2026 midterms. The state party’s chairperson resigned last month before she could be ousted by a no-confidence vote, making her the third party leader to resign in less than a year. And the party has very little money on hand going into the peak campaigning months before the November vote.

Need to Know

🍃 Less and less money from state marijuana taxes is flowing to local governments, and they may get cut off entirely. Marijuana sales and prices have been falling for years, meaning the state is collecting less money that it can kick back to local governments. Lawmakers have slashed the share of state marijuana taxes going to local governments over the last ten years, and they’re currently considering a bill to eliminate the kickback entirely. (Westword)

⚖️ Venezuelan migrants accused of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang got much lighter sentences than federal prosecutors wanted. The defendants denied gang ties and the government didn’t present solid evidence of their alleged membership. The judge that handed down the sentences didn’t comment on the strength of the government’s case, but appeared to consider the criminal activity less serious than authorities had claimed. (CPR, Courthouse News Service)

🪏 Burying power lines to reduce wildfire risk can cost nearly four times as much as installing overhead lines. The solution is one of several being proposed by power giant Xcel as part of a nearly $2 billion wildfire mitigation plan. Other measures include inspecting equipment using drones and installing technology to shut off power to small sections of the grid, avoiding broader shut offs. (Denver Post)

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🌴 I’m traveling to spend time with family this week, so I’m going to take a short break from writing this section. I’ll be back on Monday with a review of my experience of the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon.

Economic issues like cost of living, housing affordability and taxes are top-of-mind for Colorado voters, according to a new survey released this week by the Colorado Polling Institute.

A majority of Coloradans think the state’s economy will worsen in the coming year, and nearly one in ten respondents said the cost of living was one of the most important issues for the state government to address.

The vast majority of respondents (84%) said the state budget has problems or is in crisis, reflecting a widespread acknowledgment of the government spending and funding mismatch that led to a $1.5 billion budget gap this year.

At the same time, most respondents don’t want to raise taxes to pay for more state programs. Six in 10 respondents said taxes are already too high, and about the same number support the 1992 amendment to the state constitution known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, which limits how much the state’s budget can grow each year.

The big caveat with this poll is that the pool of respondents is older and whiter than the actual makeup of Colorado. The majority of respondents (57%) were over the age of 45, even though most Coloradans are younger than 45. And the polling pool was only 13% Latino, even though Latinos make up over 20% of the state’s population. Still, older and whiter people tend to have more political power so their preferences often have an outsize impact on policy.

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📉 Colorado’s labor force shrank and the state lost jobs last year, according to new data from the state’s Department of Labor and Employment. The job losses were small and more than two dozen other states saw similar numbers. Economists said Colorado is generally following a national trend of low or negative growth that will probably continue this year. (Colorado Sun)

🚏 The head of the Regional Transportation District (RTD) will leave her job in May 2027, after declining an extension on a contract that pays her an annual salary of more than $420,000. The mass transit agency has faced criticism for low ridership, reliability and safety issues. Several other top leaders have left in recent years, and lawmakers are considering reorganizing the agency’s board to include fewer elected members. (Denverite, Axios)

🥾 Volunteers are maintaining hiking and biking areas during “mud season” when trails are especially vulnerable to erosion and other damage. If you love the outdoors and want to give back to the community, there are plenty of opportunities to help out. Try to stay off muddy trails until they dry, and make sure to walk or ride through snow and mud instead of around it, to avoid widening the trail. (5280 Magazine)

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🌴 I’m traveling to spend time with family this week, so I’m going to take a short break from writing this section. I’ll be back on Monday with a review of my experience of the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon.

Lakewood voted on Tuesday to repeal zoning changes that would have made it easier to build denser housing in Colorado’s fifth-biggest city.

Even though supporters of the zoning changes had much more financial muscle, the pro-repeal side won by a margin of nearly 2-to-1, backed by strong support from single-family homeowners who argued housing density had not improved affordability in other Denver suburbs and could create congestion and environmental harms.

Many pro-repeal residents felt the city brushed off their concerns, and some even said that city officials actively tried to intimidate opponents of the changes. The local water district also ended up in a legal dispute with the city after the water district said raised concerns about the water management impacts of higher-density housing.

Supporters and opponents of the zoning changes both acknowledged that Lakewood urgently needs to deal with housing affordability. The area saw the biggest jump in houselessness in the Denver metro area last year.

But Tuesday’s vote means the city will have to look for new solutions.

Need to Know

🚰 Water quality regulations for mobile home parks could become more stringent under a bill that passed the legislature last week. The measure, which still needs the governor’s signature, builds on a previous law that required water quality testing for all mobile home parks. That testing revealed that roughly 1 in 10 parks did not meet basic standards. Under the new bill, mobile home parks would have to address issues like odor, taste and discoloration in addition to basic safety requirements. (Denver7)

📵 Regulations on social media companies appear to be facing a more favorable political climate in Colorado during this year’s legislative session. Gov. Jared Polis signed a law last week to make social media companies respond faster to police warrants, after vetoing a similar bill last year – and an even tougher bill is still being considered by lawmakers. Other bills aimed at protecting kids are also under consideration. (Colorado Politics, Colorado Chamber of Commerce)

🏡 Colorado homeowner insurance rates are some of the highest in the U.S. due in large part to weather-related risks like hail, fires and floods. Lawmakers are looking for ways to bring down premiums to help more people afford home ownership. One proposal under consideration would tax insurance companies to create a state fund to help pay for hail-resistant roofs. (Denver Post, CPR)

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🌴 I’m traveling to spend time with family this week, so I’m going to take a short break from writing this section. I’ll be back on Monday with a review of my experience of the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon.

It’s not just Colorado. The whole country is worried about the rising cost of health care, according to a recent survey by the Gallup polling group.

Even as health care costs continue to increase, Coloradans are going to get less state assistance, since lawmakers are planning to slash health care aid to make up a $1.5 billion budget gap.

Colorado voters changed the state’s constitution in 1992 to limit how much the budget can grow each year. Because health care has gotten so much more expensive, it’s the main line item pushing the budget past those constitutional limits.

State health care assistance programs, known as Medicaid, are just one of many parts of the budget that lawmakers are considering cutting, though education funding is being left largely intact.

The bipartisan panel in charge of drafting the budget finished it last week, and it’s now awaiting the approval of the full legislature. But health care costs keep rising, and federal assistance is shrinking, meaning more cuts will likely be on the table in future years.

Need to Know

🚩 Health care and educational institutions can now request to temporarily take guns away from people who might be a danger to themselves or others under an expansion of the state’s “red flag” law signed yesterday. The new law also added behavioral health co-responders to the list of people who can request courts to issue firearm risk protection orders. (Denver Post, read the law)

🤳 Students and educators are debating proposals for in-school phone use policies ahead of a statewide deadline requiring all schools to create them by July. The requirement comes from a law passed last year aiming to limit distractions linked to phone use at school. Communities are seeking to restrict distracting phone use while allowing for safety and educational uses. (CPR)

🏘️ Affordable housing funding could get blocked for more than 90% of local governments because they aren’t meeting a requirement to increase affordable housing stock. Voters approved hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing funding in 2022, but they required cities to increase affordable housing by 3% per year in order to access the money. Most local governments haven’t met that threshold, so lawmakers are considering changing the requirement. (Colorado Sun)

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🏀 The Nuggets won against the Portland Trailblazers last night, extending their winning streak to nine straight games and advancing from fourth to third place in the Western Conference. It’s been a kind of roller-coaster season with a lot of injuries, but the team is looking strong heading into the playoffs. They also face exciting matchups this week in their final three games of the regular season, which I’m stoked to watch.

Nearly 5,000 people in Colorado have been arrested by federal immigration agents since the start of the second Trump administration, but the increased enforcement is causing more problems than it purports to solve.

Colorado has long been a focus of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. In October 2024, a month before the election, he named his deportation plan “Operation Aurora,” referring to misleading claims about the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in the Denver area.

Now, data obtained by the non-governmental Deportation Data Project and reported in the Denver Post shows 4,750 people have been arrested since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. That’s nearly twice the number of arrests in 2023, and more than four times as many as in 2024.

The aggressive deportation drive in Colorado and across the country has succeeded at reducing immigration at the expense of straining crucial economic sectors like agriculture and health care, which are facing worker shortages.

What’s more, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement has ignored federal court orders and made violent threats against immigrant communities, pushing local and statewide authorities to look for ways to protect Coloradans from excessive force by agents.

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🚣 Colorado River communities and environmental advocates are exploring various ways to protect the waterway. The Colorado River Indian Tribes gave the river formal personhood rights last year, and some Colorado towns have passed river-specific environmental protections. Other advocates have established private conservation efforts. Record-low snowpack and high heat this winter and spring have added urgency to negotiations over how to manage the future of the river, which is a major water source for much of the Southwest. (Colorado Sun, Denver Post)

📩 Colorado and 22 other states sued the federal government to protect their mail-in voting systems. The lawsuit is one of several legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order last week seeking to create a federal list of eligible voters in order to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending ballots to anyone not on the list. The states argue the U.S. Constitution gives them – not the president – the authority to administer elections. (Colorado Newsline, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, read the lawsuit)

🥩 A union strike will end at a major meatpacking plant in Greeley after the company agreed to restart negotiations with nearly 4,000 workers seeking better pay, safety policies and other workplace improvements. The union had accused the company of trying to intimidate workers out of striking, which could be illegal. (Associated Press, Denver 7, union website)

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🎲 With the NBA playoffs coming up, I’ve been thinking a lot about betting and gambling. So I was fascinated by this article from 404 Media about a new academic paper by a researcher at Colorado State University showing that humans have been gambling a lot longer than we previously thought. An analysis of hundreds of artifacts showed Native Americans played games of chance as far back as 12,000 years ago. Modern sports betting is obviously completely different from these ancient games, but it’s still interesting how long people have found entertainment in wagering.

Eight years after Colorado voters closed a slavery loophole in the state constitution, there’s still disagreement over whether the prison system is violating it.

In 2018, Colorado voters became the first in the nation to ban forced labor as punishment for a crime, closing a loophole in the state constitution that also exists in the U.S. Constitution.

But a state judge ruled last month that the Colorado Department of Corrections has been violating that ban by applying extra punishments like long stretches in solitary confinement to incarcerated people who refuse to work prison jobs that often pay less than a dollar per hour.

Both the Department of Corrections and Gov. Jared Polis told me through spokespeople that they believe slavery and forced labor are wrong and illegal, but they don’t think their policies amount to constitutional violations.

For now, the judge’s decision is on hold while she considers the government’s request to modify her ruling. Under the proposal, punishment for mere refusal to work would still be banned but punishment would be permitted if the refusal leads to other violations, like creating a disturbance or a physical altercation.

The judge’s ruling is due by mid-May, but the incarcerated people challenging the policy disagree with the proposed modification. So whether or not the modification happens, the decision is likely to be appealed, meaning the question of what counts as forced labor in Colorado prisons will be decided by higher courts.

Need to Know

🌿 Communities across Colorado are seeking solutions to historically hot and dry conditions that have reduced water supplies and increased wildfire risks. New state wildfire codes are starting to go into effect in high-risk areas, and Denver and other cities are considering drought surcharges on large water users in addition to outdoor watering restrictions. (Colorado Sun, CPR)

🔌 Power provider Xcel Energy announced a plan to deal with growing demand from data centers. The company’s proposal, which has to be approved by a public oversight board, would require large users like data centers to commit to long-term contracts and pay for the infrastructure needed to serve them. Consumer advocates said the proposal is a good first step toward protecting residential and small business customers from electricity rate increases. (Xcel Energy, Colorado Sun)

🗓️ Employers may have to allow state lawmakers to take unpaid time off work during the legislative session if Gov. Jared Polis signs a bill that passed yesterday. Many lawmakers have other jobs, since they only make between $40,000 to $50,000 for work they do during the 120-day legislative session that runs from January to May. They also get a per diem and reimbursements that can amount to thousands of dollars. (Colorado Politics)

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🤠 I’ve been making a lot of meals lately from a cookbook based on dishes served at The Fort restaurant in Morrison. Last night, I used their coffee barbecue sauce to marinate some chicken that I ate with wild rice and roasted broccoli. It was amazing. The experience of eating at the historic restaurant, with its live entertainment and incredible views of the area around Red Rocks, is hard to recreate at home – but the recipes in the cookbook can get you pretty close.

Colorado could start paying for a new prison in the next year, while programs that pay for health care get cut.

Lawmakers in charge of drafting the state’s budget voted on Wednesday to back a multimillion-dollar plan to pay a private company to reopen an old prison, since the state is running out of space in its current facilities.

At the same time, the budget committee proposed tens of millions of dollars in cuts to health care assistance. The proposals still need the full legislature’s approval, but they give a preview of what the final budget will likely look like.

Lawmakers have to make cuts somewhere. Coloradans voted in 1992 to limit the growth of the state’s budget, and this year there’s a $1.5 billion shortfall due to several factors including lower-than-expected tax revenues – in part because the economy hasn’t been great, and in part because state taxes are linked to federal taxes, which were cut last year.

Health care spending has become the biggest line item in the state budget in recent years, making it a natural target for cuts. But spending on prisons has also increased, meaning lawmakers could vote to spend less on keeping Coloradans healthy while continuing to spend more locking them up.

Need to Know

📬 Colorado officials are defending the state’s mail-in voting system after President Donald Trump issued an executive order that could interfere with it. The order seeks to create a federal list of eligible voters and put the U.S. Postal Service in charge of determining who can get a mail-in ballot for federal elections. Officials and experts say the order is likely illegal, since the Constitution gives states the authority to run elections. Even if it survives legal challenges, it probably can’t be implemented ahead of November’s elections. (Votebeat, Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics)

🏛️ Tina Peters, a former elections clerk in Mesa County, will get a new sentence for crimes she committed while trying to prove debunked 2020 election conspiracies. A state appeals court said the judge who initially sentenced Peters to over eight years in prison wrongly punished her for First Amendment protected speech and beliefs. President Donald Trump issued a pardon to Peters, but the appeals court said it doesn’t cover state crimes. Gov. Jared Polis had previously indicated that he thought Peters’ original sentence was too harsh. (Colorado Sun, Denver Post, CPR, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Read the court’s opinion)

📃 A self-described “public Christian school” in southern Colorado is at the center of a new lawsuit alleging a local school board in Pueblo County violated open-meetings laws when it appointed a board member with ties to the controversial school. Riverstone Academy — created to challenge limits on public funding for religious schools — sued the state earlier this year, arguing that the possibility of losing public funding amounts to religious discrimination. (Chalkbeat)

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🌳 My neighborhood’s sustainability group had its monthly meeting last night, and I enjoyed connecting with my neighbors to plan clean-ups, educational workshops and other actions to strengthen our community and build resilience. There’s a whole network of sustainable neighborhood groups across Colorado, so if it sounds interesting to you, see if your neighborhood is already participating or learn about starting your own group.