COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER

Introduction

Today is the 80th day of the legislative session – two-thirds of the way to the end! For the last newsletter in March, we’ll start off with Women’s History Month and the many impacts women have had on Colorado politics. At CLS, our team includes four women who wouldn’t be where we are today without the women who have come before us and the men who have supported us, particularly in the political arena. 

It all started in 1870, when territorial governor Edward McCook advocated for lawmakers to follow Wyoming’s lead in granting women the right to vote, but the idea was rejected by lawmakers at the time. When drafting Colorado’s state constitution in 1876, delegates also pushed to include equal suffrage in the state constitution, but were outvoted. 

Fast forward to 1893, the suffrage movement had resurfaced in Colorado with outgoing Governor John Routt, a Republican, as well as incoming Governor Davis Waite, a populist, both supporting women’s right to vote. A referendum for the upcoming ballot was drafted to grant women the right to vote, which was largely supported by local newspapers at the time. In 1893, Colorado became the second state to grant equal suffrage, and was the first state to do so through a popular vote.

Women in Colorado politics have come a long way since then. For the past 20 years, Colorado has been included in the top five states in the nation with the most female legislative representation. This year, the majority of seats in the General Assembly are held by women. 

​Colorado is home to several female political leaders from both sides of the aisle who have paved the way for women in politics. Madeleine Albright, who grew up in Denver, served as the first female Secretary of State under President Clinton in 1997. Condoleeza Rice, who also grew up in Denver, served as the first female U.S. National Security Advisor under President Bush in 2001, and became the second female Secretary of State in 2005, succeeding Albright. 
As we near the end of Women’s History Month, cheers to all who have made it possible for women to have successful careers in politics. Male or female, this weekend also marks a significant milestone of two-thirds of the way to the end, and that’s something we can all toast to! Cheers to 40 days left, and here’s the news from this week.

Budget Finalized (Finally)

On Wednesday evening, the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) finalized their proposed state budget plan, as the state is facing a deficit of $1.2 billion. In short, this year’s proposed budget plan still won’t completely solve the deficit issue, and members of the JBC vocalized that this will likely be an ongoing situation in years to come.

This put the JBC in the difficult position to make cuts across the board, including cuts to social programs across various departments, transportation funding, workforce programs and incentives for businesses, just to name a few.
However, these cuts were made in order for the state to be able to absorb the increasing cost of Medicaid and increase reimbursement rates for providers, as well as preserving the ability to fully fund K-12 education for another year. 

That being said, the JBC also deadlocked on a proposal that would’ve paused the implementation of the new school finance formula, even though there isn’t enough money to pay for the implementation. Instead, the JBC landed on increasing general fund spending on K-12 by $150 million next year, which the rest of the legislature will decide how to allocate. To fully fund the current formula, the state would have to increase its school spending by $186 million next year. The new formula would require an additional $100 million to be pulled from the State Education Fund, which could risk insolvency of the fund within the next few years. 

In addition to the budget bill (also known as the “Long Bill”), there will be upwards of possibly 80 orbital bills that are expected to be introduced and move alongside the budget bill as it works its way through the legislative process. These orbital bills contain statutory changes that are needed to match the proposed budget.

The Long Bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate on Monday. From there, Senate members will meet with their respective caucuses to determine priorities, and will spend the week debating amendments to the budget based on those priorities. After the Senate, the Long Bill will spend the following week in the House, in which all Senate amendments will be stripped off, and the House will go through the same debate process as the Senate. After the Long Bill is finished in the House, it will go back to the JBC to reconcile the differences between the Senate and House versions of the Long Bill. 

Read more – Colorado lawmakers finalize budget proposal. Here’s what they cut to close the $1.2B gap – and what they didn’t.

Sundance Film Festival Coming To Boulder

Governor Polis and many others were sun-dancing at the news on Thursday that the Sundance Film Festival decided to relocate to Boulder for at least 10 years starting in 2027. 

Bringing Sundance to Boulder has been a big priority for the Governor this session. Not only will there be millions of dollars in economic impact – in 2024 Sundance contributed $132 million to Utah’s gross domestic product, added 1,730 jobs for residents with $69.7 million in wages, and funded $13.8 million in state and local tax revenue – but the Governor is also from Boulder and sees this as a legacy accomplishment in his final years in office. 

Initially more than 100 locations expressed interest in hosting the iconic film festival and was then narrowed to six finalists (Atlanta, Cincinnati, Santa Fe, Louisville, Park City & Salt Lake City, and Boulder) but in the end it was really between Sundance staying in Park City and expanding to Salt Lake City as well or relocating to Boulder. 

Boulder might like to think it won out on cool vibes alone but tax credits also played a big role. House Bill 1005 has been working through the legislative process this session and is now on its way to the Governor’s desk after passing this week. That bill creates a whopping $34 million in tax credits for Sundance ($4 million in 2027 and 2028, $5 million in 2029, and $3 million 2030-2036) and also added a small tax credit for existing film festivals in the state. 

Read more – Boulder wins Sundance Film Festival starting in 2027, beating out Utah

Presidential Portrait Drama

Finally, everyone who had President Trump raging at his portrait in the Colorado Capitol on their 2025 bingo card can mark that off. 

Given everything else going on at the federal level it was a surprise when the week started with the President of the United States complaining about how he looks in a portrait that hangs on the third floor of the Colorado Capitol. Especially since his supporters paid for and approved the portrait during his first term. 

Legislative leadership, not wanting to pick a fight over something so ridiculous, acceded to the request that the portrait be taken down and stored at History Colorado. Can’t make this stuff up.

Read more – The Colorado Capitol portrait of Donald Trump has been removed after his protest

Next Week

Next week will be Senate budget week; the Long Bill and numerous orbital bills will be introduced on Monday. Tuesday will be April Fools Day, so watch out there. The committee calendar actually isn’t too crazy right now, but get ready for things to start flying fast and furious in the final third of the session. 

​Have a good weekend.