🖋️ Colorado Gov. Jared Polis Polis set a personal record by vetoing a dozen bills passed by lawmakers in 2026.

The vetoes covered a wide range of topics, from social media to union rights to lobbying. Here’s a quick rundown of all 12 bills – what they proposed and why the governor nixed them.

1. SB-147 - This bill was directly aimed at Polis. It would have required the governor’s office and other state agencies to disclose when they try to influence Colorado lawmakers, just like other lobbyists. The bill had strong, bipartisan support from lawmakers, but Polis said it would put unfair limits on the governor’s office.

2. HB-1005: This bill would have made it easier for workers in Colorado to unionize by eliminating a two-vote process that doesn’t exist in any other state. Polis said he opposed the bill because it didn’t take business interests into account.

3. SB26-005 - This bill would have allowed Coloradans to sue over constitutional violations related to immigration enforcement. Polis vetoed the bill, saying it was too narrowly focused on immigration. He said he supported a different bill that would have allowed lawsuits over constitutional violations in a broader range of contexts – but lawmakers didn’t pass that bill.

4. HB26-1210 - This bill would have banned so-called “surveillance pricing” where companies use your personal data to set a price specifically for you. Polis said the bill could prevent companies from offering lower prices, and he said consumers can bring lawsuits under existing anti-discrimination laws if companies unfairly give them a higher price.

5. HB26-1255 - This bill would have required social media companies to respond to law enforcement warrants within 24 hours, and it would have required social media companies to report threats posted on their platforms to law enforcement. Polis signed a similar bill with a 72-hour time limit to respond to warrants, but he said the 24-hour limit is too tight and out of step with other states. He also said the requirement to report threats could stifle free speech.

6. HB26-1286 - This bill would have required a human driver to be present in commercial vehicles over a certain weight. Polis said the bill was too strict and could prevent Colorado from “being on the cutting edge” of automated driving technology.

7. HB26-1355 - This veto basically restores $1.75 million in funding that lawmakers were going to cut from out of school programs. Polis said the state has the money and the programs help kids stay out of trouble and improve their career prospects.

8. SB26-146 - This bill would have prohibited restaurants from including single-use utensils in take out or delivery food unless customers opt in. Polis said compliance could be hard on small businesses.

9. HB26-1418 - This bill would have put a fee on transactions in video games to help pay for youth mental health and education. Polis said it could lead to lawsuits over whether it violates constitutional budget limits.

10. HB26-1236 - This bill would have put some additional consumer-focused protections around arbitration proceedings used to resolve disputes with companies. Polis said it could discourage arbitration and make resolving those disputes more costly and less efficient

11. SB26-134 - This bill would have ended credit card fees on sales tax, but Polis said the bill faced too much legal risk. He said Illinois tried to implement a similar law but it’s been tied up in court.

12. SB26-184 - This bill would have expanded the kinds of cancer considered an occupational disease for firefighters, but Polis said the expansion could discourage fire departments from participating in a program designed to help firefighters with cancer treatment costs.

💸 In response to the state budget explainer I did last week, I got a lot of comments asking about waste, fraud and corruption.

The bottom line is that accountability in public spending is important, but it’s only part of the answer to Colorado’s budget problems.

It’s not like waste, fraud and corruption aren’t real issues. There was a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal in the state court system in recent years, and we’ve also seen a couple different recent cases of healthcare fraud reaching into the tens of millions of dollars.

But the scale of the waste, fraud and corruption is way, way smaller than the scale of the budget problems – we’re talking about amounts that are measured in millions of dollars versus the billions of dollars that advocates say are needed for things like education, healthcare and transportation.

Another thing is that the politicians that talk the most about waste, fraud and corruption tend to argue that the solution is to keep government spending to a minimum so taxpayers don’t get ripped off even more.

But there’s a flaw in that argument too. The solution to waste, fraud and corruption is to add or adjust accountability mechanisms to root out and prevent those problems.

Just keeping the budget small, on its own, doesn’t address any of those issues.

⚡ This week saw a new development in Xcel Energy’s request for what would be its largest-ever rate increase in Colorado.

The company offered to reduce its request to about 70% of the amount it originally sought, though that would still represent the largest rate increase ever.

Consumer advocates oppose the plan, and the public still has a chance to weigh in before and during a hearing scheduled for June 16.

⛓️‍💥 Next week’s newsletter will include a write-up based on a new video series focusing on prisons.

Colorado is home to the only supermax federal prison in the U.S., and its state prison system is approaching maximum capacity. Check out the series, which explores those issues and looks at potential reforms that could make prisons more humane.

Almost everybody agrees that Colorado’s state budget has problems.

Healthcare and other aid programs are getting cut while schools, public safety and transportation remain underfunded.

Some blame waste, fraud and corruption. But that’s only a small part of the story. The real causes are a lot more complicated.

I spent the last few weeks learning more about the basics of the budget here in Colorado, talking to experts and digging into economic research to better understand what’s going on with our tax money.

History of TABOR

If you pay taxes in Colorado, you’ve probably heard of TABOR, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

It’s the amendment to the state constitution that says the government has to run a balanced budget and send you a refund when it collects more taxes than it’s allowed to spend.

But TABOR’s tax and spending limits are at the core of Colorado’s budget problems, so understanding TABOR is fundamental for understanding everything else about the budget.

And to understand TABOR, you have to go back to the nationwide anti-tax movement that started in the mid-20th century.

People across the U.S. were feeling increasingly dissatisfied with how their taxes were being spent. Some of that was a bigoted backlash to the civil rights movement and government programs that helped people who were discriminated against. Some of it was a growing distrust of the government due to scandals like Watergate and the Vietnam War.

When the economy slowed down in the mid-1970s, a lot of people felt pushed to the brink by rising prices – so they looked to tax cuts for financial relief. Activists in California convinced voters to support an amendment to the state constitution that limited property taxes. And the success of that campaign inspired a wave of anti-tax initiatives in states across the country – including here in Colorado.

It took years of organizing and a few failed attempts to get TABOR passed here. But the constitutional amendment that voters finally approved by a small margin in 1992 is widely recognized as the most restrictive limitation on taxes and government spending of any state in the country.

“TABOR is the most consequential fiscal issue and policy in our state because it dictates everything else,” said Andrea Kuwik, an analyst at the Bell Policy Center, a progressive think tank.

What TABOR does

Think of the state budget under TABOR like a pie. You only get a single pie each year, so you have to decide how big of a slice to give to each program you want to fund. A bigger slice for one program means less for everything else.

And you can’t just make the pie as big as you want. TABOR limits the year-to-year expansion of the budget by tying it to two factors: the state’s population growth and the price of consumer goods.

On the surface, it sounds like that would allow the budget to adjust to changes in the economy. But in practice, government spending doesn’t always keep up.

One of the problems is that costs can grow more quickly for the government than for consumers.

Healthcare is a key example. It has become the biggest item in the state budget, in part because of big improvements in the quality of care that have caused prices in that sector to grow far faster than prices of other consumer goods. Expanding healthcare coverage to more Coloradans has also increased the overall expenditure.

“We don’t want to give that up because it increases the human flourishing of our society,” said Caroline Nutter, an analyst at the Colorado Fiscal Institute, a progressive think tank. “But high-quality healthcare comes at a cost, and that cost has increased far more than the price of groceries.”

Population growth is also an imperfect measure because it doesn’t account for the economic impacts of demographic changes. Population growth spurred by working-aged people moving into the state won’t have the same effects as an influx of young children or elderly retirees.

“Those populations cost more,” Nutter said. “They have healthcare costs and other costs that are just higher than your average 25-year-old full-time employee.”

How the budget got so complicated

Pretty soon after TABOR passed, the limits it placed on the state budget started to clash with Coloradans’ desire for greater government investment in certain areas.

In 2000, voters tried to give K-12 education more money by passing another constitutional amendment called Amendment 23, which mandated annual education spending increases. But after the start of a global economic crisis in 2008, lawmakers decided the state couldn’t afford to meet those requirements. So they created an accounting trick called the budget stabilization, or BS, factor that withheld billions in school funding over more than a decade.

Coloradans also voted for a big modification to TABOR in the wake of the economic downturn that followed 9/11 in the early 2000s.

Tax revenues fell because of the recession, but since the budget could only grow based on how big it was the previous year, this caused a “ratchet effect” where the budget got stuck at a lower baseline.

“The state couldn’t do any kind of counter-cyclical spending, which in economics is just the ability to inject money into the economy when the economy isn’t doing well. And it is a very proven and evidence-based way to respond to economic downturns,” Nutter said.

To deal with this issue, Coloradans passed Referendum C in 2005, which suspended TABOR’s budget growth limits for five years and eliminated the “ratchet effect.”

“Without that, it would have been billions and billions of dollars that would have been cut,” Kuwik said.

Why Colorado has so many fees

TABOR’s budget restrictions have also spurred lawmakers to turn some programs into government-owned businesses called state enterprises that generate the vast majority of their revenue through fees instead of taxes.

One example is the higher education system. In the mid-2000s, Colorado’s public colleges and universities converted to function as state enterprises, funded largely by tuition and federal grants.

Similarly, the state’s parks and wildlife agency is funded mostly by hunting and fishing license fees, park entrance fees and proceeds from lottery sales.

The patchwork nature of the state’s budget makes it hard to track exactly how the government is spending taxes, fees and money collected from various sources. That can generate distrust and contribute to the feeling that government services are inefficient, not worth paying for or in need of even stricter fiscal discipline.

“I see TABOR as a huge transparency problem,” Nutter said. “It’s not all in one place where the average person could look up what is the state budget, how we spend our money.”

On top of this, TABOR requires voter approval for new tax increases, which can warp voters’ perceptions of how heavy their tax burden really is. Colorado has some of the lowest tax rates in the country, but most Coloradans still feel their taxes are too high.

“They get asked these questions much more so than in other places, and so then it feels like you’re being taxed a lot,” Kuwik said.

Another important impact of TABOR was that it caused a shift toward higher local tax rates. Courts have ruled that local governments can get rid of TABOR’s tax limits if voters approve it, so local governments have raised taxes to fill gaps in state funding for things like childcare, transportation and housing.

“That creates a hodgepodge of inequities in certain places,” Kuwik said, pointing to the example of mountain resort communities that can impose taxes that mostly fall on visitors while other rural communities have to tax themselves to fund government programs.

“Who’s bearing the burden of the taxes becomes a challenging question,” Kuwik said.

Can Colorado’s budget be fixed?

This year’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall was mostly caused by new federal tax cuts that meant Colorado collected less state tax than expected.

But those recent tax cuts aren’t the only thing holding Colorado back from investing more in key areas like healthcare, education, transportation and public safety. TABOR’s budget restrictions are a big obstacle.

Politicians and advocates favoring smaller government often point to waste, fraud and corruption as major causes of Colorado’s budget problems. And there have been significant recent cases of healthcare fraud reaching into the tens of millions of dollars.

But reducing waste, fraud and corruption requires adjusting or adding accountability mechanisms. Simply keeping the budget small, without other measures, won’t solve those issues.

Colorado voters have shown a willingness to tweak TABOR’s limits when they’re seen as too strict. And advocates like Kuwik and Nutter see opportunities for reforms to TABOR that could make the budget more responsive to Coloradans’ needs while keeping state finances healthy.

Both of their organizations are backing a ballot initiative this fall that would allow the state to keep money above the TABOR cap to spend on K-12 education.

Progressive advocates are also backing a proposal that might be on our ballots this fall for a graduated income tax, under which people who earn less than $500,000 a year would pay a lower income tax rate than people with higher incomes. Under TABOR, everybody pays the same flat rate.

“A graduated income tax – getting more revenue into the system – is a really important step in trust and a really important step in showing people that government can be effective when it is adequately and sustainably funded,” Nutter said.

🤑 I spent much of this week doing research and talking to experts about Colorado’s state budget in preparation for a series of explainers about how the government is spending our tax money.

Taxes are one of the issues Coloradans care about the most, and if you know where to look, it’s not that hard to find the data.

What’s not so easy is digging into that data and finding out what it really means.

But that’s my job. So if you’ve got a question about the state budget or about how our tax dollars are spent, let me know and I’ll look into it.

Stay tuned for the budget explainers starting next week!

🏫 Colorado’s first “public Christian school” is dropping a discrimination lawsuit against the state and it could be forced to shut down under new rules lawmakers passed this year.

The school is called Riverstone Academy and it opened last August in Pueblo county.

The founders hoped they could provoke a lawsuit that would end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, and force the state to provide funding even though the school is explicitly religious.

But that didn’t go as planned. Right after the school opened, the county cited it for health and safety issues and the kids had to move into a nearby church.

The school did eventually sue the state over the funding issue, but now that lawsuit is over.

It’s probably not the end of the broader fight over public funding for religious schools – but it is the end of this particular battle.

📮 Voters in Colorado’s primary elections next month will choose among candidates largely selected by a small group of highly engaged political party actors, according to a new report from the progressive advocacy group Courageous Colorado.

The primaries are important because they decide which candidates will be on the final ballot this fall. And in heavily Democratic or Republican areas, the winner of the dominant party’s primary almost always wins the general election too.

But Colorado actually makes it way more complicated and difficult for candidates to get on the primary ballot than most other states.

Here, a lot of candidates qualify for the primaries by participating in a process called a caucus or assembly, which tend to be controlled by political party insiders.

And that could be making our politics more polarized. Even though most Colorado voters are independent, the candidates that end up on the primary ballots are often chosen by a small group of highly-engaged, political party actors.

The report calls this Colorado’s “democracy paradox” – the state makes it easy to vote, but it gives voters really narrow choices about who to vote for.

📨 Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk who broke the law while investigating false claims of fraud in the 2020 elections, will get out of prison early after receiving clemency from Gov. Jared Polis.

Peters was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to nearly 9 years in prison for crimes that included lying to get an unauthorized person access to the county’s electronic voting system during a software update, and ordering staff to turn off surveillance cameras that were supposed to monitor the update. Polis’ clemency decision will let her out on June 1.

The crimes occurred in early 2021, when lots of people were still falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election against Joe Biden. Oddly, Trump won Mesa County – the biggest county in Western Colorado – by a significant margin in that election.

Peters didn’t find any fraud in Mesa County, and there’s no evidence that fraud played any role in Biden’s victory in 2020.

Polis said Peters sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first-time, nonviolent offender. But many disagreed – including the Republican prosecutor who convicted her and Polis’ fellow Democrats, who formally censured him over the clemency decision.

🏥 Colorado’s Supreme Court ordered the state’s biggest children’s hospital to restore gender-affirming care for minors.

Children’s Hospital Colorado paused care last year – like dozens of other hospitals across the country – after the Trump administration called gender-affirming care bogus and threatened to cut off federal funding.

But Colorado’s Supreme Court said the pause likely discriminated against trans patients – and the threats of funding cut offs are only speculative.

The ruling only applies to Colorado, but it’s the latest — and maybe the biggest — legal win pushing back on the Trump administration’s attacks on hospitals that provide gender-affirming care.

The case still has to go back to a lower court, so stay tuned for more updates.

🏗️ Local governments are moving ahead with temporary bans on new data center construction.

State lawmakers didn’t pass any new data center laws this year, even though they were lobbied hard by the tech sector, labor unions, environmentalists and other groups with competing interests.

Without new statewide guidance, local communities are temporarily banning new facilities to give them more time to come up with plans and regulations.

The city of Denver just approved a one-year pause on new data centers, and few other cities and counties either have passed or are considering similar measures.

Most Coloradans think data centers bring more problems than benefits. Pretty much everyone is worried about rising energy costs and environmental damage.

At the same time, data centers power pretty much everything we do online and they can also bring economic benefits. Colorado already has dozens of data centers – and there are plans to build even more.

But there’s a lot of disagreement about how to make sure they’re built and operate responsibly. Temporary bans aren’t a permanent solution, so this issue isn’t going away.

I’ve learned a lot in the month since I launched this newsletter, and it’s made me rethink how to best fulfill The Blanket’s mission of covering Colorado’s biggest challenges through a solutions and accountability lens.

To do that better, I plan to move away from daily updates and toward deeper, original reporting that provides more context and understanding.

My decision to start this newsletter and the related social media accounts coincidentally lined up with the closing months of Colorado’s legislative session, and over the past few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time following the progress of various bills. That helped me learn more about how the political process works here, and it improved my understanding of what are the top issues on the minds of politicians, business leaders, activists and voters here in Colorado.

It also helped me get more familiar with the media landscape and realize that there are a lot of newsletters offering daily updates not unlike the ones I’ve been sending out here. Far fewer dive deep into the history and context of the issues facing our state and explain them from the bottom up. So that’s what I want to focus on moving forward.

I’ll also continue building my graphic design and video editing skills, and experimenting with different formats on social media. I’ve gotten good engagement on some of the videos I’ve made – especially considering I’m starting from absolute zero.

I’ve done high-volume, fast-paced news coverage before. But it’s not my passion and it’s not my strong suit – and I don’t think it’s what’s missing from the current news landscape in Colorado. I’m hoping this pivot will move The Blanket in a positive direction.

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ICE is still making unlawful arrests in Colorado, a federal judge ruled in an order requiring the agency to give agents additional legal training.

The judge ruled this week that ICE agents in Colorado aren’t complying with an order he issued last year telling them to stop making arrests without a warrant if they couldn’t prove the person was a flight risk according to the judge’s interpretation of federal law.

The order also required ICE to document its arrests so the court could monitor the agency’s compliance, but the judge said ICE hasn’t been doing that either – probably because most of the 200 ICE agents in the Denver field office haven’t received any training on the order and don’t know how to comply with it.

This issue of inadequate training for ICE officers has gained prominence over the past year because ICE has been on a hiring spree, more than doubling in size as it ramps up immigration enforcement in Colorado and across the country.

Some of the Colorado officers who didn’t understand the judge’s order had been on the job for years, raising questions about the adequacy of ICE’s training. During the recent hiring surge, training schedules for new ICE recruits were shortened from 72 to 42 days and whistleblowers claimed that standards were loosened to get more agents into the field making arrests.

Officials have insisted the training remained rigorous, but ICE recently said it would return to the longer, 72-day training schedule.

Need to Know

📚 Voters will have to decide this fall whether to allow the state to spend more tax money on education rather than returning it to taxpayers. Lawmakers passed a measure to include the question on the November ballot. It could provide hundreds of millions of dollars in additional education funding over the next ten years, though taxpayers might have to give up thousands of dollars in returns. (CPR, Denver Gazette, read the bill)

🧑‍🧑‍🧒 A state tax credit aimed at reducing child poverty will stop this year after Gov. Jared Polis threatened to veto a bill that would have funded the credit by raising taxes on corporations. Funding for the credit was disrupted by changes to the federal tax code that affected Colorado taxes. Lawmakers said Polis refused to sign the bill unless it included income tax cuts. (Denver Post, Colorado Sun, Colorado Newsline)

🧑‍⚖️ Law firms would be be barred from making financial deals with businesses not owned by attorneys under a bill that passed the legislature this week. The idea is to ensure that lawyer’s ethical duties to their clients don’t conflict with outside business pressures.(Sum & Substance, read the bill)

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Something Good

🤳 I probably wouldn’t describe social media as “something good” in a general sense, but if you’ve been enjoying this newsletter, you’ll probably like The Blanket’s social media accounts. We post most days on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and X. Help spread the word by following us, and liking and sharing our content!

Today is the last day for Colorado lawmakers to pass bills before this year’s legislative session ends, starting a 30-day countdown for the governor to veto bills he disagrees with.

In Colorado, bills that pass the General Assembly become law if the governor signs them, or automatically if he doesn’t give his signature or veto. The governor has to veto a bill within 10 days if the legislature is in session, and lawmakers can override the veto with a two-thirds vote. But once the legislative session ends, the governor has 30 days to veto a bill and that veto is final.

This poses an issue for at least one bill with widespread support among lawmakers that would require the governor’s office to disclose when it uses taxpayer money to try to influence proposed legislation. However, the bill moved through the process slowly, and Gov. Jared Polis is expected to veto it.

The end of this year’s legislative session came with a flurry of activity. Some of the highlights are recapped below.

Need to Know

🤖 A new framework for preventing AI discrimination is likely to become law once it gets Gov. Jared Polis’ signature. The new law will repeal and replace legislation passed two years ago that was never actually implemented due to pushback from the tech industry. The new law will require companies to disclose when they use AI in consequential decisions like medicine, housing, school and employment, and it will give Coloradans the right to appeal and review those decisions. (Denver Business Journal, Colorado Politics, read the bill) Separately, lawmakers are considering bills to limit the use of AI in health insurance decisions and mental health therapy, as well as a bill aimed at protecting people from potentially harmful interactions with AI chatbots – though little time remains to pass them before the legislative session ends. (Colorado Politics)

🗳️ Elections in Colorado will have some changes starting this fall. Gov. Jared Polis is likely to sign a bill aimed at countering potential interference from President Donald Trump’s administration. The bill would require election clerks to send out ballots earlier to avoid disruption to Colorado’s mail-based voting system, among other measures. (Colorado Sun, read the bill)

🏳️‍🌈 People who undergo so-called “conversion therapy” will be able to sue practitioners if they suffer harm from efforts to try to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill, which is expected to get Gov. Jared Polis’ signature, is a response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that struck down Colorado’s statewide ban on conversion therapy. (Daily Camera, April 1 newsletter, read the bill)

💡 The state utility regulator will remain a three-person board, despite a push by utility companies to expand it to five people in a bill that will renew the board’s authority for the next decade. The Public Utilities Commission, known as the PUC, oversees companies in power, telecommunications, transportation and other sectors. Its authority has to be renewed this year, offering opportunities to change how it functions. The companies argued more members would increase the board’s “ideological diversity,” but opponents said adding more commissioners could complicate decision-making. (Colorado Sun, April 29 newsletter, May 11 newsletter)

👷 Several worker protection measures are headed to the governor’s desk. One bill seeks to establish statewide standards that mirror federal requirements for employers to maintain generally safe conditions in the workplace, in response to declining workplace safety enforcement by President Donald Trump’s administration. Another bill would require large meatpacking plants to provide workers with adequate bathroom breaks and protective equipment. Another bill aims to improve data collection on worker injuries and illnesses related to extreme temperatures. (CPR, Colorado Newsline)

🖥️ No new statewide data center laws are coming to Colorado this year, after the failure of two competing bills – one aimed at incentivizing data center construction and another seeking to put environmental guardrails on the facilities. Lawmakers couldn’t find a compromise between trying to reap the economic benefits of data centers and addressing concerns around their impact on energy and the environment. (Colorado Newsline)

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Something Good

🐟 Over the weekend I tried a recipe for beer-battered fish and mushy peas from Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, with a homemade tartar sauce based on a James Beard Foundation recipe. Colorado isn’t really known for great seafood, but occasionally I get a craving for it and I often like to prepare it myself. This meal was simple and tasty, and it didn’t require expensive or super-fresh fish.

Colorado’s state utilities regulator won’t be able to force companies like Xcel Energy to fund infrastructure improvements by raising money from investors rather than consumers.

Lawmakers dropped a proposal from a bill they are working on to reauthorize the Public Utilities Commission, known as the PUC, which sets rules for power, telecommunications, transportation and other companies that we all use every day.

The proposal would have allowed the PUC to require companies like Xcel to raise money from investors through sales of bonds that the utility would later pay back, plus interest. As it stands, the PUC can recommend that process, known as “securitization,” but companies can ignore the commission and try to pass costs onto consumers in the form of higher rates instead.

Consumer advocates say securitization keeps costs down for consumers, while utilities argue it cuts into their profits.

Xcel is currently asking the PUC to approve a new electricity rate increase that would add about 10% to Colorado consumers’ bills. That hike would amount to a 33% increase since 2023. The company says the increases are needed to pay for infrastructure improvements, wildfire mitigation and cleaner energy generation.

Need to Know

💰 Gov. Jared Polis signed the state’s budget for the next fiscal year on Friday. The budget makes big cuts to healthcare assistance in order to comply with the state constitution’s limits on taxes and government spending. Many other programs also saw cuts, though education funding was largely spared. (Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics, previous newsletters: April 2, April 7, April 10, April 23)

🏥 Big businesses won’t have to pay more to support Colorado workers’ healthcare aid after lawmakers shot down a bill that opponents argued could push companies to avoid hiring workers who need healthcare assistance. Others said it could violate the state constitution’s tax restrictions. The bill would have made companies with more than 500 employees pay $2,300 per year (roughly half the average cost of Medicaid) for each employee working more than 20 hours a week who uses state healthcare assistance. (Sum & Substance, March 26 newsletter, read the bill)

🖥️ New data center regulations have proven difficult to move forward in the state legislature due to strong disagreements between pro-business and pro-environment camps. A bill that would have offered tax incentives to attract data center development died last week even though supporters added provisions aimed at addressing environmental and consumer concerns. A separate bill focused on establishing environmental guardrails for data centers is still in the works, and it could be amended to include more incentives to lure data center construction, but it has a short window to pass before the legislative session ends this week. (Colorado Sun, Sum & Substance, March 27 newsletter, read the bill)

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Something Good

🤠 Over the weekend I went to the Buffalo Bill museum and grave in Golden and found it way more interesting than I thought it would be. Two things struck me: One was the relatively progressive values held by one of the most legendary figures of the American West. (Bill’s dad was stabbed for speaking out against slavery, and Bill himself publicly backed women’s right to vote and equal pay – though he had a complicated relationship with Native Americans.) I also found it interesting that near the end of his career, Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West” shows paired up with Pawnee Bill’s “Far East” shows to create a “congress of rough riders of the world.” It seems like Buffalo Bill almost did too good a job of bringing his showcase of the American West to the global public. After a couple decades, the mythical image he helped create was no longer exotic enough to draw audiences on its own.

Groups with ties to the national Democratic Party are funding efforts to redraw Colorado’s congressional election maps to favor Democratic candidates.

Colorado currently has an even split of Democratic and Republican representatives in the U.S. House – four from each party. But Democrats want to ask voters to approve new maps that would give the party a good chance to take seven of the eight seats in 2028 and 2030.

The redistricting effort has raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars this year, mostly from two groups that have ties to the national Democratic Party but don’t disclose their donors, according to a recent public filing that the Colorado Sun first reported.

Colorado’s current map was drawn by an independent redistricting commission that voters approved in 2018. The Democratic redistricting proposal would change the maps for the 2028 and 2030 elections, before returning to the independent system.

The campaign funding revelations highlight Colorado’s place in a broader national fight over election maps, which entered a new phase last week after the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier to draw maps that dilute the power of racial minority voters. Republicans in Colorado and other states have also been trying to redraw maps to favor their party.

Need to Know

👶 A controversial plan to shore up state childcare aid was voted down on Wednesday by a legislative committee. The bill would have allowed state-run businesses to put money in riskier investments with higher potential returns, directing the profits to bolster aid programs that have frozen enrollment and left thousands of families without childcare. Opponents argued the plan could violate state laws against investing public money in corporations. (Denver Post, May 6 newsletter, read the bill)

⚕️ Lawmakers are looking for new ways to fund a program that helps Coloradans afford health insurance on the individual market, after dropping a proposal to charge health insurance companies $40 million in fees that they would pass onto consumers. The program needs to raise about $140 million to avoid thousands of people potentially losing coverage. (Sum & Substance, May 5 newsletter)

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Something Good

🐕‍🦺 My co-working companion (aka my dog Maya) is happy to be back in the office after a snowstorm-related internet outage disrupted our normal routine. She has been doing a great job covering the urban wildlife and delivery worker beats for The Blanket, and we’re working on setting up a live feed of her barking news alerts. We’ll report back with an update soon.

The Trump administration has sued Colorado and the city of Denver over their bans on semiautomatic and high-capacity guns, citing the Second Amendment.

The federal government sued Denver on Tuesday and filed a similar suit against Colorado on Wednesday, after city and state leaders refused demands to repeal laws prohibiting semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines like those used in some of the state’s deadliest mass shootings.

Multiple studies have shown that bans like these can significantly reduce the number of people killed by mass shooters. But gun rights advocates have been testing the legality of high-capacity magazine bans in several states in recent years, and the issue could soon be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Need to Know

🔎 Groups of lawmakers known as legislative caucuses can keep their donors secret. A now-abandoned proposal would have required public, quarterly reports listing the funders of these groups. Opponents said it could discourage caucuses from coming together to discuss important policy issues. One lawmaker proposed making caucus funding part of the Secretary of State’s campaign finance oversight. (Colorado Sun, Denver Post, read the bill)

🏟️ A new group is coming together to negotiate with the Broncos football team on behalf of Denver residents who will be impacted by a huge new stadium and entertainment district project in the west Denver area known as Burnham Yard. Communities near the planned mega-project have voiced concerns about economic displacement and quality of life disruptions. (Denver Post, Axios)

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🤓 Shout out to local libraries – in particular the Belmar branch of the Jefferson County public library system. The snowstorm knocked out my internet yesterday, but I was able to get online at the library and work from this room that has an amazing view of Belmar park. It was another great reminder of the importance of these public spaces.

Childcare assistance in Colorado could get a funding boost under a contentious proposal to allow state-run businesses to put money in riskier investments with higher potential returns.

Lawmakers are trying to find money for Colorado’s struggling Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP, which has had to freeze enrollment in many counties, leaving thousands of primarily lower-income families without childcare.

The proposal would allow businesses owned and operated by the state — funded mostly by fees rather than taxes — to invest some of their money into portfolios that provide higher returns but come with more risk. The money earned from those investments would be directed toward CCAP. Currently, funds are kept in safer, lower-yield investments overseen by the state Treasury.

The proposal wouldn’t be an immediate fix. Money wouldn’t flow for at least two years while the investment fund builds up a reserve. And some critics have raised concerns that the plan might violate state laws that prohibit investing public money in corporate stocks, which means it could spark lawsuits if it’s passed.

Need to Know

🔫 The Trump administration sued the city of Denver over its ban on assault weapons. The lawsuit filed on Tuesday claims the city’s prohibition on large-capacity firearms violates the Second Amendment. Denver officials said they stand by the law and believe it will hold up in court. (Denverite, read the lawsuit) On Monday, Gov. Jared Polis signed a state law banning 3D printing of guns and gun parts. (Denver Post, read the law)

🧑‍🌾 Farmworkers in Colorado will have to work eight more hours a week before they get overtime pay under a law signed Monday by Gov. Jared Polis. A Colorado law passed in 2021 set the state’s overtime threshold at 48 hours for most agricultural workers and 56 hours for “highly seasonal” employees who may take time off between seasons. Now, all farmworkers must work at least 56 per week to earn overtime. (Denver Post, March 25 newsletter, read the law)

🏘️ State lawmakers ditched two proposals to increase housing density after facing opposition from local officials and neighborhood groups in various cities. The abandoned bills would have allowed residential property owners to split their lots in two and build homes on lots as small as 2,000 square feet. Proponents argued the bills would help lower housing costs, but opponents said they would take away localities’ ability to decide their own housing policies. (Colorado Sun, April 21 newsletter, read the lot-splitting bill, read the lot size bill)

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🚭 I really enjoyed this story from CPR about students and educators leading efforts to reduce vaping among young people in Colorado. The campaigns are funded by millions of dollars from the vape-maker Juul, which paid to settle a lawsuit by Colorado and other states over allegations the company illegally marketed to kids. As someone who started using tobacco as a teen and went through the difficult process of quitting as an adult, I can attest to the importance of these kinds of prevention campaigns.

Workers in Colorado will likely continue to face an obstacle to unionization that doesn’t exist in other states, even though lawmakers have once again passed a bill to get rid of it.

Forming a union in Colorado requires workers to take two votes: first, a simple majority of workers has to agree to form the union, then three-quarters of workers have to approve the union’s authority to collect dues from workers’ paychecks.

No other state requires that second vote, though about half of states make it illegal to require workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

Colorado lawmakers passed a bill to end the second-vote requirement last week, with some pointing out that unions help workers bargain for better wages and working conditions. But Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a similar bill last year and is expected to veto this one too, saying it doesn’t represent a compromise between labor and business.

Unions can’t really function without collecting dues from members, so the second-vote requirement represents a big hurdle for workers trying to bargain collectively with their employers. It’s part of the reason why Colorado has one of the lowest unionization rates in the country.

Need to Know

🤖 Colorado consumers could get protections from AI discrimination that look different from what lawmakers originally intended. A new bill would repeal and replace a law passed two years ago that was never actually implemented due to pushback from the tech industry. The new proposal would require companies to disclose when they use AI in consequential decisions like medicine, housing, school and employment, and it would give Coloradans the right to appeal and review those decisions. But unlike the current law, it wouldn’t force AI companies to report on the potential for discrimination or disclose how their systems work. (Colorado Sun, Sum & Substance, Axios, read the bill)

⛓️ Several proposals to reduce overcrowding in Colorado’s prison system are advancing in the state legislature. The measures include making more prisoners eligible to earn time off their sentence, lowering the prison population threshold at which the parole board would have to consider more people for release, and allowing the state parole board to approve releases of certain people who committed crimes when they were under 21 if the governor doesn’t act. Lawmakers have also considered a request by Gov. Jared Polis to open a new prison. (Colorado Sun/CPR, April 2 newsletter, read the earned time bill, read the juvenile offender bill, read the overcrowding bill)

⚕️ Health insurance companies could pass $40 million in fees onto Colorado customers next year under a plan to fund a struggling health care affordability program. State lawmakers are advancing a bill to raise $140 million for the program through $100 million in bond sales and $40 million in fees on insurers, which the companies said they’ll pass onto consumers. Supporters say the plan will prevent thousands from losing coverage, while critics warn it unfairly raises costs for customers and could face legal challenges. (CBS Colorado, Sum & Substance, read the bill)

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🛸 I’ve been rewatching the classic 90s TV show “The X-Files” and thinking a lot about my experience as a Millennial kid living through the era of dial-up Internet, brick phones, and big, boxy suits. For that reason, I really enjoyed this essay by a Gen Z author reflecting on their perceptions of the show’s portrayal of that time from the perspective of someone who didn’t experience it themselves. I was surprised at how much I identified with their observations, even though we’re coming to the show from totally different viewpoints.

Rules meant to protect the public from potentially harmful behavior by businesses will be reviewed more frequently under a bill expected to be signed into law soon.

The bill requires state agencies to review all of their regulations at least every five years, with the goal of removing or changing rules that aren’t working as intended. The measure passed last week with overwhelming bipartisan support and is likely to get Gov. Jared Polis’ signature.

Colorado already has laws that require agencies to review their rules, but the so-called “regulatory review” bill aimed at speeding up that process and giving it more teeth was a top priority for the business community, which claims that Colorado has excessive regulations that hurt the economy because of the high costs of compliance.

The Colorado Chamber of Commerce put out a report in February claiming Colorado is the sixth-most-regulated state in the country. In April, the pro-business group put out another report claiming Colorado’s excessive regulations were causing companies to flee the state.

But the assertion that regulations are killing jobs in Colorado is mostly backed by anecdotal evidence like complaints from business owners. In fact, two of the top states where Colorado companies relocated in recent years – California and Texas – actually have more regulations than Colorado does. And academic research has called into question whether regulations really kill jobs, suggesting instead that they may simply change the type of jobs available.

Need to Know

🏘️ Local and tribal governments could get easier access to hundreds of millions of dollars in state affordable housing funds. More than 90% of local governments were at risk of missing out on the funds because they had failed to increase affordable housing stock as much as current law requires. Lawmakers are advancing a bill to change the requirement from a generalized, percentage-based goal to an individual calculation based on housing and job growth in local areas. (Denver Post, April 7 newsletter, read the bill)

🚨 Multiple innocent Coloradans have gotten pulled over because license plate-reading cameras mistakenly tied their vehicles to criminal activity. The errors reportedly resulted from the similarity between the letter O and the number 0. (9News) A proposal to restrict law enforcement’s use of data from license plate cameras failed last week in the state legislature. (April 30 newsletter)

👷 Colorado’s U.S. Senators are challenging the Trump administration’s recent denial of federal disaster relief aid following major fires and floods last year. A new bill would allow the federal Congress to override such denials, which have become much more common under Trump, especially in states like Colorado that are governed by the president’s political opponents. (Sky-Hi News, April 16 newsletter, Senators’ press release, read the bill)

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🍛 This weekend, I ate Bharta Makhni from one of my favorite restaurants in Lakewood: Little India. I usually prefer to eat at the restaurant, which has a classy yet casual atmosphere and excellent service, but I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I got it delivered instead and the food was just as good.

The governor’s office would have to disclose when it tries to influence Colorado lawmakers under a proposal that has broad support in the state legislature.

Currently, the governor’s office can lobby without having to tell the public when it uses taxpayer money to advocate for or against a legislative proposal.

Lawmakers are looking to change that by advancing a bill that would require the governor’s legislative liaisons to file the same public disclosures as other lobbyists.

Gov. Jared Polis’ spokesperson called the bill “absurd” and said it would put unfair limits on the governor’s office. Polis reportedly plans to veto it if it comes to his desk.

Laws limiting the use of public funds for lobbying are relatively uncommon in the U.S., and several states have explicitly exempted the governor’s office from rules that apply to lobbyists.

Still, Polis doesn’t have a lot of allies in his opposition to the proposal. Lawmakers from both political parties, the lobbying industry itself and other powerful groups like labor unions all support it.

Need to Know

🛠️ Colorado consumers will keep their right to repair tech products after lawmakers voted down a proposal this week that would have allowed the state attorney general to exempt devices used in “critical infrastructure” like power plants and security agencies. Right-to-repair advocates argued that exempting those devices would give tech companies more power over consumers without actually addressing concerns about infrastructure security. (Colorado Sun, Colorado Politics, CPR)

🐶 Pet stores cannot sell dogs or cats starting next year, under a law signed this week by Gov. Jared Polis. The measure is meant to encourage adoption from animal shelters and reduce demand for high-volume breeders known as “puppy mills,” which often subject animals to poor conditions. (Colorado Newsline, read the law) Pet store owners opposed the law, saying it would push pet buyers to shop on the black market instead. (Denver Post)

⚖️ The federal government’s mass deportation drive is interfering with efforts to prosecute immigrants who commit crimes in Colorado. Federal immigration authorities have deported suspects who were awaiting trial for serious crimes, effectively giving them what one prosecutor called a “get-out-of-jail-free card.” (CPR) It’s a reflection of a larger pattern playing out nationwide, where crime-fighting resources are being redirected toward immigration enforcement. (ProPublica)

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🌿 The rain these last few days made for kind of a dreary week, weather-wise. But it’s been great for getting my garden going. My wife and I replanted our radish and chard seedlings in grow bags and moved them outside, and they are taking off! Stay tuned for updates on the peppers and herbs that we’re hoping will sprout soon.

State lawmakers are proposing new measures to protect Coloradans from federal immigration enforcement, but they could face legal challenges.

A bill currently under consideration would require state agencies to notify people when they hand over Coloradans’ personal information to federal immigration authorities, and it would require the agency that provides the information to post a redacted copy of ICE’s request on its website.

Colorado law bars the state from giving people’s personal information to ICE unless it’s part of a criminal investigation. But Gov. Jared Polis has been fighting a legal battle to get permission to turn over information ICE requested from the state’s Department of Labor. So far, the judge has prevented the disclosure, saying it’s not related to a criminal matter, but the case is still ongoing.

The bill would also expand the state’s power to perform health and safety inspections at facilities where ICE detains immigrants, which are notorious for dangerous and often deadly conditions.

States don’t have power over facilities directly operated by the federal government, and facilities run by private contractors have prevented officials in some states from conducting inspections. In Washington state, officials are suing to try to get access to a facility run by the GEO Group, which also operates Colorado’s only detention facility, in Aurora.

ICE’s privately-run detention facilities have caused controversy around the country. And in Colorado, the question of the state’s authority over detention conditions will become more urgent as the GEO Group prepares to open a second facility outside Denver to hold the increasing numbers of Coloradans arrested by ICE under the Trump administration.

Need to Know

🕵️ A proposal to restrict law enforcement’s use of license plate-reading cameras failed due opposition from police and Gov. Jared Polis. Law enforcement agencies testified that their investigations would be unduly hindered by a state-level proposal to limit data-sharing and require warrants for accessing camera data. (Colorado Sun) Local law enforcement agencies are also opposing a similar bill on the federal level introduced by Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert. (Fox31)

🏳️‍🌈 Coloradans harmed by “conversion therapy” could get the right to sue those who practice it under a bill that state lawmakers are advancing. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that Colorado can’t ban “conversion therapy” because that would violate the First Amendment’s free speech protections. But LGBTQ+ advocates hope the proposal to substitute the government ban with a private right to sue will pass legal muster. (KUNC, Erin in the Morning, read the bill)

🚆 Plans for passenger train service linking Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins got official approval this week. The project is expected to cost $332 million, and it will use existing freight tracks owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to run three round-trip trains per day starting in 2029. Transportation officials see it as a first step toward a bigger goal of extending passenger train service south along I-25 all the way to Pueblo. (Denver Post)

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🎬 Tonight at 7 p.m., the Colorado Media Project and Press Forward Colorado are hosting a screening of a new docuseries called “Reimagining Local News.” The event will also feature a “fireside chat” with the host of the documentary, Charles Blow. It’ll be at the Buell Public Media Center in downtown Denver. I’ll be there, so say “hi” if you see me!

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.