ALERT: The Colorado House plans to be in session Sunday, possibly to debate a slate of transgender rights bills brought by the Democratic majority this session.
House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, said she decided to schedule work on Sunday instead of Saturday —the weekend day when weekend work typically happens — to accommodate some Democratic representatives in her caucus who have Saturday commitments.
However, working on Sunday has another potential benefit for the bill’s supporters: It may mean that some of the chamber’s most religious Republicans won’t be present, including Rep. Scott Bottoms, a pastor from Colorado Springs. Bottoms is one of the legislature’s fiercest opponents of the transgender rights measures.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ signature preschool initiative is serving thousands more families than expected in its first year, but its success has come with a trade-off: Fewer low-income children attend full-day preschool today than before the program launched.
Under Colorado’s previous state-funded preschool program, which ended July 1, more than 6,000 at-risk 4-year-olds received funding for a full-day classroom slot last school year. This year, the state only provided 3,500 full-day slots to the most at-risk kids — even as funding for preschool has increased and overall enrollment exceeds expectations.
The shift in who benefits from state-funded pre-K has frustrated state budget writers. But in early budget discussions, the Joint Budget Committee appears unlikely to push the administration to change course without new funding.
“These are hard choices before us,” Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat who chairs the JBC, said at a meeting earlier this month. “They’re hard choices, and I wish we were in a different world where we had a different funding source for universal pre-K.”
In 2020, Colorado voters approved Proposition EE, imposing higher taxes on nicotine and tobacco products to fund the state’s expanded preschool program, which initially promised 10 hours of publicly funded pre-K a week to every 4-year-old in the state.
Later, the Polis administration used its rulemaking authority to up the offer to 15 hours per student — and most families have opted in to the additional classroom time.
All told, 44,845 children were enrolled in Colorado’s preschool program as of January 2024, according to state budget documents. That represents 60% of eligible kids, about 10 percentage points more than the 30,000 kids that administration officials had expected to enroll.
Among enrolled 4-year-olds, 68% receive 15 hours a week in funding, while just 24% opted for 10 hours a week. Just 9% attend 30 hours, the equivalent of a full day.
Under the old program, 28% received full-day pre-K (20 hours, at the time) out of a total enrollment of 28,000. Over 70% of program participants qualified for free or reduced-price lunch before the pandemic — up to around $36,000 in household income for a family of two.
In the new program, the department considers about half of students to be low-income, but it uses a broader definition: those making up to 270% of the federal poverty line, or around $53,000 for a family of two.
“Thanks to the Colorado Universal Preschool program, total preschool enrollment for low-income children has increased from 2022 to 2023,” a spokesperson for Polis told The Sun in a statement. “There are significant benefits to a universal program that provides more hours and provider choice for all children, and the Governor is hoping to build on the program’s success and increase the number of hours all children receive in the coming years.”
For next school year, the department is expanding eligibility to more low-income children by adding “poverty” as a qualifying factor. The rule change could allow an additional 2,900 children to enroll in full-day preschool at a cost of around $12.5 million, according to budget documents —but only if there’s enough money to do so.
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CORRECTION: The Feb. 23 newsletter incorrectly reported some polling results because of a source’s error. The poll, conducted by Global Strategies Group, a Democratic firm, showed that 72% of registered Republican voters in Colorado viewed former President Donald Trump favorably, while 26% viewed him unfavorably.
MORE: In budget hearings this month, JBC analysts laid out the trade-offs in stark terms: The more enrollment grows for universal pre-K, the less state funding will be available for low-income children to attend full-day preschool.
That’s left budget writers closely scrutinizing the Department of Early Childhood’s administrative requests, including funding for staffing and IT projects.
“At the end of the day, if we want to serve more children with 30 hours, that will take away from it,” said Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who sits on the JBC. “I don’t want to serve fewer low-income kids with full day.”
At a February meeting, the JBC gave preliminary approval to a $7.2 million increase to the program’s state funding to cover the cost of inflation in the 2024-25 budget. That would bring the state’s general fund contribution to $147 million, on top of a proposed $208 million from the voter-approved preschool cash fund.
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THE NARRATIVE
It’s the year of competing and overlapping legislation at the Colorado legislature
Construction defects reform. Short-term rental property taxes. Accessory-dwelling units zoning. Homeowners association regulations.
State lawmakers are debating more than one bill on each of those topics this year.
When it comes to rewriting Colorado’s construction defects laws, there have been at least three measures introduced — two of which would loosen the state’s rules and others that would tighten them. House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, hinted that more “may still be to come.”
It’s the year of competing bills at the Colorado legislature, a relatively new phenomenon aimed in part at muddying the policy waters and complicating debate. For instance, a short-term rental property tax measure in the House, House Bill 1299, is aimed at undermining Senate Bill 33, a wider-reaching short-term rental property tax proposal in the Senate.
Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, chalks up the conflicting bills to a lack of communication among lawmakers this year, in part because they are afraid of violating the state’s open meetings laws after two Democratic representatives sued the House over alleged violations of the statutes. The case resulted in a settlement.
“There’s probably less coordination and conversation happening amongst legislators prior to bills getting introduced,” Fenberg, who is sponsoring a rewrite of the legislature’s open meetings laws, told reporters this week. “There’s a lack of … dialogue happening amongst colleagues.”
We’ve heard that from other lawmakers at the Capitol this year, too.
Fenberg said the “tenor of the legislature the last year or two” — particularly interpersonal conflicts — are also to blame.
“I don’t think we can minimize the sort of chilling effect on the tenor and tone of the legislature when you have members suing each other about process,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. I don’t think you can argue that’s a healthy way to promote dialogue. Whether you agree with the lawsuit or the merits of it or not, I just think it crosses a line that makes it so people are going to be a little apprehensive and hesitant to have an open and honest conversation with each other.”
COLORADO LEGISLATURE
Speaking of less legislative coordination and conversation …
The Colorado Senate, in an odd turn of events Tuesday, rejected a bipartisan bill that would have allowed locations where parents can legally relinquish newborns to install climate-controlled and electronically monitored “newborn safety devices.”
Senate Bill 83 would have applied to so-called safe haven places like hospitals and fire houses. The measure would have made Colorado the 20th state to legalize the devices —colloquially called baby boxes — though it contained no requirement that they be installed. Under the state’s safe-haven law, uninjured infants can be anonymously relinquished within 72 hours of birth, though there must be face-to-face transfer of the child. Dropping a baby off and leaving is not allowed.
Sen. James Coleman, a Denver Democrat and lead sponsor of the bill, said he brought the measure in response to community feedback that it was too difficult for some women to have a face-to-face interaction with someone while relinquishing their newborn.
But some Democrats in the Senate chafed at the idea, worried that it could have unintended legal and emotional consequences on mothers — and that it could be an end-run around abortion rights. The Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, for instance, opposed the bill.
Why it matters: Measures that make it out of committee and onto the House or Senate floor almost always pass, especially if they are bipartisan. The bill also had bipartisan sponsorship in the House — including Assistant House Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat.
Senate Bill 83 was approved last week on second reading in the chamber, but only after a “division” was called for by Democratic Sen. Tom Sullivan of Centennial, an opponent of the measure. Second reading votes are typically voice votes —and they almost always are approved. Asking for a division means that senators must stand in support or opposition to a bill, a parliamentary maneuver increasing the chances that a measure won’t advance.
But when the bill came up Tuesday for a final, third-reading vote in the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, moved that the bill be laid over until May 9 — one day after the 2024 lawmaking term ends— effectively killing the bill.
Republicans in the chamber fought the motion, forcing a recorded vote, but it passed 19-16.
Coleman supported laying the bill over. Four Democrats — Sens. Rachel Zenzinger, Joann Ginal, Dylan Roberts and Kyle Mullica —sided with Republicans in trying to advance the measure.
Analysis: Coleman, who is Senate president pro tempore, is interested in running for Senate president next year to replace Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat and the current president who is term-limited. But his sponsorship of Senate Bill 83, and the measure’s failure, are an indication that he may not exactly have the pulse of the Democratic caucus.
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
GOP MAILER: The Colorado GOP took aim at The Gazette and Jeff Crank, a conservative commentator who is running in the 5th Congressional District Republican primary, in a pro-Trump mailer sent to El Paso County residents this week. The Sun obtained a copy of the mailer, which echoed an email sent to Republicans this week. Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams is also running in the 5th District primary. The mailer accused The Gazette of “corrupt campaigning for (presidential candidate) Nikki Haley and Jeff Crank” and it called the newspaper’s report that the party considered using Dominion Voting Systems machines to count ballots at the party’s state assembly defamatory. “The Gazette has become the corrupt political arm of anti-Trump billionaire Phil Anschutz,” the mailer said.
CENTENNIAL INSTITUTE: Colorado Christian University announced Wednesday that Jeff Hunt is leaving as executive director of the school’s Centennial Institute after nine years. The universityalso announced that the institute’s annual Western Conservative Summit won’t take place this year as planned. A CCU statement said the summit will return in 2025 under a new executive director. Hunt was paid $168,312 by CCU and $26,624 by related organizations in 2022, according to tax documents. He is now hosting a morning conservative talk show on 710KNUS.
COLORADO GOP: Former Boulder County GOP Chairwoman Peg Cage said in an online post that she’s been removed as chair of the committee overseeing vote counting at the Colorado GOP state assembly in April because she objects to using machines to tally ballots. Former state Rep. Ron Hanks, chair of the party’s ballot and election security committee, said in a recent email to party members that paper ballots will initially be counted by “two 1970s-technology optical readers from Scantron” followed by a hand count.
ELECTION 2024: State Rep. Steven Woodrow, D-Denver, has endorsed Denver attorney Sean Camacho in his House District 6 primary bid against state Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver. Woodrow backed Epps when she ran for the seat in 2022.
PERRY WILL: It’s Perry Will Friday, and in honor of the weekly holiday we’re letting you know there is a change.org petition circulating to feature the New Castle Republican’s voice on the Denver International Airport concourse train. If you’re wondering what Perry Will Friday is, it’s a holiday in honor of the state senator that began on social media.
STORY: Colorado man accused of assaulting police during Jan. 6 riot arrested in Wheat Ridge
STORY: Colorado bill aims to plug holes in the state’s past “forever chemical” bans
STORY: Lauren Boebert’s son arrested in western Colorado in connection with string of vehicle break-ins
STORY: Colorado Medicaid is discriminating against people with disabilities, federal complaint claims
STORY: Denver closing four shelters, scaling back migrant services to save $60M
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: “I don’t trust the state party anymore”: Colorado GOP leader Dave Williams under fire by party members over controversial tactics, personal attacks
GRAND JUNCTION SENTINEL: Tina Peters’ civil trial with now-deceased ex-husband is delayed
THE DENVER POST: New bill would put climate scientist, person of color on board that regulates Colorado’s air quality
COLORADO POLITICS: Colorado bill would require companies to disclose hidden mandatory fees
COLORADO POLITICS: Colorado Senate panel rejects Gov. Jared Polis’ nominees to wildlife commission
9NEWS: Eating disorder survivors say new law is needed to establish standards of care
AXIOS DENVER: Colorado “noncommitted” campaign launches Biden protest ahead of Super Tuesday primary
THIS WEEK’S PODCAST: What you need to know about Colorado’s presidential primary
DO THE MATH
111,506
The number of unaffiliated voters who had cast ballots in Colorado’s Republican presidential primary as of Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
That compares to the 49,572 unaffiliated voters who had cast ballots in the Democratic presidential primary in Colorado in the same period, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.
The unaffiliated votes represented 30% of the 376,517 Republican presidential primary ballots cast through Wednesday, while they represented just 18% of the 268,261 Democratic presidential primary ballots cast.
There were 117,507 unaffiliated ballots turned in through Wednesday that hadn’t been processed yet.
Unaffiliated voters make up nearly half of the state’s registered electorate.
STORY: Nikki Haley came to Colorado in her quest to defeat Donald Trump. Here’s how her visit went.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Corrections & Clarifications
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