Education & Resources
POLICY UPDATES AND EDUCATIONAL ARTICLES TO HELP ORGANIZATIONS THRIVE
 Introduction
It’s The Final Countdown! The end of this week brings us to the 108th day of the 2025 session. And inexplicably both chambers are not planning on working this weekend. That means when everyone gets back to the Capitol on Monday there will only be 10 days left. So the final countdown is now truly upon us. Hopefully you clicked that link and are getting pumped up because those final 10 days will be the equivalent of the Rocky 4 training montage in the snow and the fight against Ivan Drago. Just 10 days to get a whole lot of work done… Expect some very long nights, working all next weekend, and of course a knockout at the end. But remember, in this strained analogy we are Rocky Balboa not Apollo Creed. Now that you’re pumped up for the final big fight, here’s some news to know from the Capitol this week. Final Budget Chaos and Correction On Monday, the final version of the budget passed both chambers… but the House wasn’t ready for the budget fun to end just yet. On Wednesday, the House killed an orbital bill, Senate Bill 268, which put the budget out of balance by $30 million – much to the dismay of the JBC. Senate Bill 268 took $30 million from the marijuana tax cash fund in order to balance the budget, but progressive members from the House argued for restoring that funding by killing the orbital bill to prevent the cancellation of the transfer included in the bill. This put a $30 million dollar hole in the already balanced budget, and JBC members quickly pushed for procedural action to reconsider the bill, which required a two-thirds vote from the House. JBC members explained to their fellow House colleagues that if the bill wasn’t reconsidered, it would erase the legislative set aside that had been left for bills this year to make up for it, and threatened to not convene House and Senate Appropriations committees until the issue was resolved. After a long afternoon of budget turmoil, a motion to reconsider the bill was granted after receiving just over the required votes for two-thirds approval. On the final vote, 11 Democrats who had originally voted against the bill switched to yes votes, and the bill passed on a vote of 39-25. Read more – Colorado House puts state's balanced budget in limbo after surprise vote creates $30 million hole Vetoes & Potential Overrides Last week, we mentioned a potential veto override on Senate Bill 77, which deals with the Colorado Open Records Act and was vetoed by Governor Polis. While the possibility of a veto override for Senate Bill 77 is still on the table, votes are still being counted whether this is a viable option and it’s unclear whether two-thirds of both chambers would vote to override Governor Polis when it comes to the Open Records Act. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 86 seems to be on a different path, at least for now. The bill requires social media companies operating in Colorado to remove accounts that are flagged to be engaging in illegal activity, which sponsors have indicated is intended to protect users who are minors. Although Gov. Polis vetoed this bill yesterday, the bill’s sponsors quickly turned out 29 votes to override the veto this morning – well over the two-thirds requirement. With that, Senate Bill 86 will head over the House for consideration of a veto override, also with the two-thirds requirement. The House is expected to take this up on Monday. Read more – Colorado Senate overrides Jared Polis’ veto of bill regulating social media in extremely rare rebuke of governor Another Fight For Two-Thirds On Thursday, the Senate rejected a proposal to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot, which also requires a vote of two-thirds, for the second year in a row. Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 would have placed a question on the November ballot to ask voters to allow lawmakers to pass legislation that would enable victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims against past abusers and enabling institutions. This was also proposed last year, but again, required a two-thirds vote from the Senate. With 23 Democrats and 12 Republicans on the Senate side, the resolution’s sponsors fell short by one vote of the two-thirds threshold last year, and again this year. The resolution failed on a party-line vote of 23-12. The proposal comes from a Colorado Supreme Court decision in 2023, which overturned a 2021 law which created a three-year window for people to take legal action against abusers over decades-old abuse and led to a significant increase in lawsuits. Read more – Colorado Senate rejects childhood sex abuse amendment — again. Advocates hope to put it on ballot anyway. Company Threatening To Leave The State Over A Bill On Wednesday, Uber announced that it will pull operations from Colorado if House Bill 1291, a bill aimed at safety for rideshare users, is passed and becomes law. The bill was brought by Representative Jenny Willford, who came forward earlier this year sharing her story of being sexually assaulted while using a rideshare service. Opposition to the bill has expressed several concerns including liability issues related to drivers offering food and drink to passengers, as well as requirements around reimbursement by companies to drivers who purchase recording equipment to document their rides. Following Uber’s announcement, the governor’s office issued a statement expressing a commitment to safety while using rideshare services, while also indicating concern over whether implementing the bill would be realistic for rideshare companies. The statement encouraged all parties to work toward a solution “that works for everyone”. The bill received bipartisan support on third reading in the House, and is now pending floor debate in the Senate. Read more – Uber says it will exit Colorado if bill aimed at boosting rideshare safety becomes law Committee Video Finally, the news you’ve been waiting for… we could get video coverage of committee hearings! Read more – Colorado lawmakers consider live-streaming legislative committee hearings for first time Next Week Next week starts the 10 day final countdown to the end of the session. It’s likely to be 10 straight days with some very long nights. Believe it or not, bills are still getting introduced. That even includes a much anticipated bill on the massive topic of artificial intelligence. Watch out for potential veto overrides, long debates over controversial bills like the immigration bill now in the House, and what will happen on other controversial bills like labor peace. And watch for what bills move out of appropriations and through all of the legislative steps at the very end of session. We are getting to the moment in session often called the red wedding – a reference to a lot of bills dying at once. But that Game of Thrones reference is getting dated now. So we’ll leave you with an even older one… Comments are closed.
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