Gov. Jared Polis, in an interview with The Colorado Sun on Thursday, offered new insight into his positions on some of the most contentious bills that will be debated in the Colorado legislature this year.
Those include measures on guns, labor and housing.
Here’s what the Democrat said during his appearance at The Sun’s event previewing the 2025 legislative session:
Polis isn’t fundamentally opposed to proposed ban on banning manufacture, sale of certain semiautomatic weapons
Polis said that while a ban on the manufacture and sale of semiautomatic firearms with a removable ammunition magazine isn’t his preferred method of tackling gun violence, he’s not fundamentally opposed to the idea.
Still, the Democrat was noncommittal on whether he would sign Senate Bill 3 should it pass this year and make it to his desk. The measure would affect the manufacture and sale of most semiautomatic rifles and shotguns with removable magazines, along with some semiautomatic pistols.
As introduced, the legislation has enough cosponsors to pass the Senate and it almost surely has enough support to clear the House, too.
“I want to make sure it doesn’t interfere with legal, law-abiding gun owners in our state for hunting, for home defense or sport,” he said. “We’ll certainly bring those values to the table as the discussions continue.”
Polis said he thinks the state’s focus “should be on guns used in crime,” which is why his priority firearm bill at the Capitol this year targets stolen weapons.
“I’m not entirely sure why the legislature wants to play around with different gun models,” he said. “Certainly always a red line for me has been don’t affect things that people already have. This proposal obviously clears that.”
Bill changing Colorado’s Labor Peace Act is a nonstarter for Polis as introduced
Polis indicated that a bill that would make it easier for unions to require all employees at a company to pay for representation, whether they are in the union or not, is a nonstarter as introduced.
Senate Bill 5 would eliminate a requirement that 75% of workers at a company sign off before a union can negotiate with an employer on union security, which is when workers are forced to pay collective bargaining representation fees regardless of their union participation.
The requirement is part of the Labor Peace Act, a roughly 80-year-old law.
“I’m all for unions,” he said, “but if dues are going to be deducted from paychecks, I think the workers deserve to have a say.”
The governor said he’s open to a change in the Labor Peace Act lowering the 75% threshold.
“There’s nothing magic about 75%,” he said. “I think that’s a variable that can be talked about. As long as the workers are at the table, have a say, I think there’s a broad range of discussions to be had.”
The bottom line: “I’m open to a better compromise if there is one out there,” the governor said. “I’m not confident. I don’t think there is.”
Housing and health insurance
Here are some other highlights from what the governor said during the event about the bills being debated at the Capitol this year:
- On this year’s attempt to pass legislation limiting lawsuits over construction defects: “Very often these things take two years to do. I’m confident with the right sponsors, the right support it’ll happen.”
- Polis did not seem supportive of legislative Democrats’ effort to ban algorithms used by landlords to set rent. “Algorithm simply means a mathematical function. I love math and economics and science,” Polis said. “The less market friction there is, the more that formulas can deliver value for tenants and landlords, the better.”
- The governor stood by his 2019 decision to veto a bill requiring that property managers running homeowners associations be licensed. “HOAs can hire whatever management firm they want,” he said. “We’re not about to reduce the number of management firms by adding hoops and costs and training that gets passed along in your HOA fees. HOA costs have gone up more than enough.”
- Polis seemed skeptical of bills that would require private insurers to provide coverage for behavioral and mental health that’s equal to coverage for physical health, as well as coverage for weight loss and diabetes prevention. “If it increases rates, it doesn’t sound like something I can be for. Everything sounds wonderful — cover this, cover that, cover everything — and that’s the opposite of my mandate from the people, which is to reduce the percentage of your income that goes to health care. They have to go through the actuarial analysis process that we’ve laid out, and if it increases the cost of health care, it’s something that I’m very skeptical of.”
The governor and Trump administration
The governor refused to elaborate on his State of the State remarks about welcoming help from the Trump administration in deporting dangerous criminals. We asked him twice to define what a “dangerous criminal” means to him, but the governor sidestepped the questions.
“If they’re talking about taking away the mom and dad and making an orphan of an American child with parents who’ve committed no crime, that’s not something that we’re supportive of,” he said.
Polis nonetheless pushed back on the notion that he’s too cozy with Trump.
“Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, so for every 10 things he does that I disagree with, he’ll probably do one or two things that I agree with,” he said. “If people are going to use a magnifying glass and say ‘why did you praise what Trump did here?’ they’re probably ignoring the other 15 times where I said what he was doing wasn’t good.”