The battle lines are drawn and the forces – from high-priced lawyers to homeowners cheek and jowl with drilling rigs – arrayed for marathon hearings, starting Monday, aimed at reorienting Colorado’s oil and gas commission from promoting development to protecting public health and the environment. Through a set of proposed rules, the operation of the […]
KC Becker
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
5 new insights into Gov. Jared Polis’ coronavirus response and how COVID-19 is affecting Colorado
Jared Polis’ top deputies appeared before a panel of leading state lawmakers on Tuesday to talk about the governor’s response to the coronavirus crisis. Specifically, Polis’ surrogates outlined how Colorado has spent billions in federal aid and the ways in which the governor has used his executive authority to prevent COVID-19 from spreading out of […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, News, Politics and Government
As the financial crisis hits Colorado, PERA’s new oversight commission is sidelined
Two years ago, when Colorado lawmakers agreed to rescue the state pension plan from the financial brink for the second time in a decade, they insisted on new safeguards. Among them: A special oversight commission with a subcommittee comprised of lawmakers and outside financial experts to monitor the reforms, vet pension-related legislation, and — if […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News, Politics and Government, Transportation
Colorado may have missed a deadline to plan for reducing greenhouse gasses. Now the state faces a lawsuit.
The clock is ticking. Each day climate-altering, man-made gases are building up in the atmosphere and Colorado’s effort to help stem the tide is running late. The Air Quality Control Commission missed a July 1 deadline to issue draft rules to meet Colorado’s greenhouse gas reduction targets – or perhaps it didn’t. It all depends […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Crime and Courts, Education, Environment, Health, News, Politics and Government
Chaos and compromise: Colorado’s coronavirus legislative session ends with a flurry of big bills
The Colorado Capitol was mostly empty as the state legislature took a two-month coronavirus pause this spring. The work, though, didn’t actually stop. Behind the scenes, mostly via video calls on Zoom, lawmakers were figuring out how to deal with a host of new issues related to the pandemic, chief among them: how to balance […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Education, Health, News, Politics and Government
10 major issues being decided in the final hours of Colorado’s 2020 legislative session
Spirited debates about tax increases and school-required vaccinations, and policies to end police brutality have dominated the final days of Colorado’s coronavirus legislative session, expected to soon reach its last gavel. But lawmakers also decided on dozens of other proposals that will affect everything from their own salaries to whether Coloradans can keep ordering to-go […]
Posted inCOVID, News, Politics and Government
Colorado Democrats unveil plan for $70 million in federal coronavirus aid, including small business loans and renter help
Democrats in the Colorado legislature announced a slate of initiatives Thursday to spend $70 million in federal coronavirus aid, including a grant program to help small businesses recover from the pandemic and funds for mental health, domestic violence and renter assistance. The money is a portion of the $1.67 billion Colorado received through the federal […]
Posted inCOVID, Crime and Courts, Politics and Government
George Floyd has revived a Colorado effort to change how police-involved deaths are investigated
The recent protests across the country over the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, at the hands of police officers have revived the conversation around how best to investigate police-involved deaths in Colorado. State lawmakers were planning to try to make changes in the wake of the fatal Colorado […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, Politics and Government
“It feels like my back is up against a wall”: Why a handful of Colorado lawmakers are afraid to come to the Capitol
As House Speaker KC Becker, a Boulder Democrat, called the roll on Tuesday for the first time since Colorado’s legislative session went into recess due to the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Janet Buckner waited patiently to hear her name. A lawmaker since 2015 and the speaker pro tempore, she knew what to expect. Except instead of […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, Politics and Government
“It’s an 11 on the weird scale”: Colorado legislature makes an awkward return to the Capitol
The hallways were mostly empty. The lawmakers were mostly masked. The interactions were mostly awkward. The General Assembly’s return to the state Capitol after a two-month coronavirus pause looked anything but normal. Members of the House sat at desks divided by plexiglass or in the gallery above the chamber shouting down their votes on legislation. […]