Colorado Gov. Jared Polis reaches the 100-day mark of his administration Thursday with plenty to celebrate, even if he didn’t deliver on one of his top campaign promises. This week, the Democrat’s top agenda item — a measure to provide state-funded, full-day kindergarten — won a key victory, and other legislation he supports is advancing […]
Brian Eason
Special to The Colorado Sun
Twitter: @brianeason
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Coloradans were set to get a property tax cut. Gov. Polis is mulling a workaround to stop it.
Gov. Jared Polis plans to ask lawmakers to forgo an expected statewide property tax cut this year, in a bid to stave off local budget cuts and free up state funding for other priorities. If the gambit succeeds, it would deny Colorado homeowners an estimated 3.5 percent property tax cut they otherwise would have received […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Growth, Politics and Government
Climate change is a priority at the Capitol. These charts show how far Colorado needs to go.
Colorado needs to do its part to avert the worst-case scenarios of global climate change. That premise is at the heart of a bill introduced by House Speaker KC Becker to establish ambitious pollution-reduction goals. But meeting the targets will be a big ask. House Bill 1261 would commit Colorado to the short-term targets of […]
Posted inGrowth, News, Politics and Government, Transportation
Colorado lawmakers want to eliminate spending caps. Here’s how the TABOR overhaul would work.
House Speaker KC Becker on Wednesday debuted a measure that could reshape state spending in Colorado, permanently eliminating taxpayer refunds and allowing lawmakers to ignore some of the most restrictive public spending limits in the nation. If the state legislature approves the bill – and Colorado voters pass the measure in November — it would […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado wants to import prescription drugs from Canada. How it could work, and why it may not.
Colorado is trying to become one of the first states in the nation to import prescription drugs from Canada, a bid to give consumers relief from soaring pharmaceutical costs. A bill making its way through the General Assembly with the support of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis would create a program to start importation by 2022. […]
Posted inEducation, Politics and Government
Worried about slowing economy, Democrats look to delay Polis pledge for full-day kindergarten
A slowing economy coupled with a backlog of unmet needs have left top Democratic lawmakers hesitant to fully fund all-day kindergarten, setting the stage for a possible budget fight with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis over one of his signature campaign promises. The disconnect between Polis and legislative Democrats reflects the difficulty of adding public programs […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Colorado pits big colleges against small campuses in a “zero-sum game.” Gov. Polis wants a truce.
Teacher protests and a push for full-day kindergarten are dominating the education debate in Colorado, but policymakers are quietly working to address the state’s other school crisis: higher education. The problem is significant. Colorado is effectively trying to sustain one of the most educationally demanding economies in the country, while spending the fourth least of […]
Posted inEducation, Politics and Government
Colorado’s universities are catering to out-of-state students. Is their public mission at risk?
Colorado’s flagship public university is within reach of a controversial milestone: the majority of its student body could soon come from out of state. The University of Colorado’s Boulder campus has trended that direction for years — the result of radically changing its business model to make up for two decades of state budget cuts. […]
Posted inPolitics and Government
Here’s a guide to how the Colorado state budget works, and how much is spent
Colorado lawmakers debate hundreds of bills each year, but only one must win approval: the state budget. Known as the “long bill,” the annual spending plan for state government is estimated to reach north of $30 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1. And the debate about how to spend the money is […]
Posted inUncategorized
What you need to know about TABOR, Gallagher, Amendment 23 and the hidden forces that constrain spending in Colorado
Coloradans want better schools, faster commutes and safer streets, but they usually don’t want to pay higher taxes to get them. And thanks to a tangle of voter-approved constitutional spending restrictions and mandates, that fundamental tension between services and spending is more complicated to navigate in Colorado than just about any other state. What separates […]