CAPITOL IDEAS: 2026 legislative session kicks off focused on state budget, affordability

The statewide segment of this story was first published at Colorado Newsline

DENVER | Colorado lawmakers return to work Wednesday for their annual 120-day regular legislative session, and the buzzword of the next four months will once again be affordability.

“The Colorado we’re working towards is one where everyone has a chance to work hard and get ahead,” Senate President James Coleman, a Denver Democrat, told reporters Tuesday. “Where high-quality health care is accessible to all without breaking the bank, our K-12 students and educators have what they need to succeed, and every hard working family can afford housing, health care, child care and higher education. This is what we’re working towards.”

Cost-of-living concerns have been a major theme for both Democrats and Republicans the last few years at the Legislature, as lawmakers passed bills focused on spurring new housing development, bolstering consumer protections and advancing tenants’ rights. It has become more salient as the federal government freezes or outright cuts funding for some safety-net programs in the state.

“We’re facing an uphill battle amid recent attacks from the Trump administration and the federal GOP, including hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for child care, food assistance, job training and other crucial services that keep Colorado families afloat,” House Majority Leader Monica Duran, a Wheat Ridge Democrat, said. “Colorado Democrats are laser focused on this session to pass legislation that will drive down costs.”

Democrats hold wide majorities in both the House and Senate and can pass their agenda without bipartisan support, but high costs are top of mind for both parties.

“We need to focus on the issues we’ve been hearing most about, which are affordability and crime,” House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, a Colorado Springs Republican, told Newsline. “My colleagues across the aisle are hearing the same concerns, and so we are trying to get things done in a bipartisan fashion on those issues.”

Republicans have new leadership in both chambers. Sen. Cleave Simpson, an Alamosa Republican, replaced former Minority Leader Paul Lundeen over the summer when Lundeen took a job leading a conservative nonprofit. Caldwell took over as the leader of the House Republicans when former Minority Leader Rose Pugliese resigned following a special session last year. Pugliese and Duran had a public falling out on the House floor.

Caldwell said he views his caucus’s role as being the “adults” in the chamber. Since Republicans cannot pass any legislation on their own, however, their job requires working with Democrats to see their ideas make it through the legislative process.

“If there’s a bill that we do not agree with, that we can’t stop with our numbers, our role is to work across the aisle to get amendments and get wins, especially if the bill is going to pass regardless,” he said.

Another budget shortfall

Lawmakers will be constrained by a tight fiscal environment — this is similar to last year — and to pass a balanced budget they will need to find about $800 million in funding cuts. That is the gap between how much it would cost to fund the government at the current level and how much the state actually has to spend.

“It’s not going to be easy, but we are required to pass a balanced budget, and Democrats and Republicans will have to come together to protect the services our constituents need,” Coleman said.

The primary force behind that budget shortfall is ballooning costs for Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income Coloradans. Coverage and use of the program have expanded while the cost of care keeps rising.

The state’s coffers haven’t kept up, partially due to the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. That constitutional amendment limits how much the government can keep in tax revenue and spend for programs and services without voter approval. The cap is based on inflation and population growth, and program costs are outpacing inflation. The restriction has long drawn ire from Democrats, who argue it prevents the state from investing in areas like education, infrastructure and health care.

Medicaid costs have grown much faster than the TABOR cap and now make up the biggest share of the budget. It’s an imbalance that is projected to worsen, which is why Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, wants to find a strategy to curb Medicaid cost growth. His proposed budget suggests a $300 million increase to the program next fiscal year, less than half of the projected cost increase.

“What we face is an explosion in Medicaid expenses due to an older and grayer Colorado,” House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said during a legislative preview breakfast hosted by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. “There isn’t a way for us to get out of this budget situation except to tackle health care.”

McCluskie also wants Colorado to consider adjusting the spending cap.

“Thirty years after TABOR (was passed), it’s time that we have that conversation,” she said. “It doesn’t mean getting rid of it. It doesn’t mean that we don’t still think about the way we control or channel government spending. It just means that we’ve got to do it in a better, more effective way so that we’re meeting the priorities we hear about from our constituents.”

Last year, lawmakers made the budget work — it was a $1.2 billion shortfall then — with one-time spending cuts and other accounting maneuvers that prevented severe damage to essential services. This time, many of those levers aren’t available, which could mean more painful cuts.

“With the budget shortfall Colorado is facing, we’re going to have some tough decisions to make this session,” Caldwell said. “Do we look at areas we can cut or do we look at how to raise revenue? Obviously, my position is looking at where we can cut spending.”

The six-member, bipartisan Joint Budget Committee has already begun its work of crafting the state budget. That legislation typically gets passed in the latter half of the session.

Revisiting bills from 2025

Democrats will once again vote on a bill to repeal the state’s Labor Peace Act, a 1940s law that requires a unique second union election in Colorado for workers to negotiate some aspects of their contract. Last year, it was one of the first bills to be introduced but one of the last to pass, as business groups and labor interests tried to negotiate a compromise that would appease Polis. It passed unchanged and Polis vetoed it.

Democrats will consider it again this year, and that tension with the governor’s office will likely remain.

Additionally, lawmakers will need to decide how to proceed with the state’s artificial intelligence anti-discrimination law, set to go into effect in June. First passed in 2024, the law was immediately controversial among tech companies and some businesses, which worry it is too rigid and will stifle innovation. Proponents of the basics of the law want to curb bias in AI programs and set up a framework so consumers and affected people know when AI is used in major decisions related to areas like their employment and finances.

A task force met in 2024 to work out a policy solution, but a bill to tweak it during last year’s legislative session failed. Polis then charged the Legislature to include the issue during the special session last summer, but talks broke down, and lawmakers passed a bill to push back the implementation date. That gives them this regular session to find a path forward.

“There is still so much I want to accomplish, including solving the AI puzzle once and for all,” Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, a Denver Democrat, said.

New leadership and an election year

There will also be interpersonal tension and the dynamic of an election year at play this legislative session. It is the final session for McCluskie and Duran in the House and the final year for Rodriguez in the Senate.

It is also Polis’ final session as governor.

While many legislators will be running to retain their seat in the Capitol — or move from the House to the Senate — a number are also campaigning for higher office, some against one another. That means they will need to be present in the Legislature and also active on the campaign trail.

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, and Rep. Scott Bottoms, a Colorado Springs Republican, are both vying for governor.

Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, and Sen. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican, are eyeing the U.S. Senate, and Rep. Manny Rutinel, a Commerce City Democrat, is running for the 8th Congressional District.

Rep. Brianna Titone, an Arvada Democrat, and Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, are running for state treasurer. Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Wheat Ridge Democrat, is campaigning to be secretary of state.

Also in the background will be an ethics investigation into a weekend retreat attended by members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, which comprises moderate Democrats. An ethics complaint alleges that those 16 lawmakers violated the state’s gift ban by allowing pro-business dark money group One Main Street to help pay for the gathering. The inquiry could deepen a rift between moderate and progressive Democrats in the Legislature.

People can view live and archived video streams of Capitol proceedings through the Legislature’s website and YouTube page. The Legislature’s website also posts the daily schedule, including committee hearings and expected floor work.

— Sara Wilson, Colorado Newsline

Aurora legislators focusing on living costs, policing, affordability and gun control

AURORA | Local lawmakers were in the thick of consequential and often controversial legislation last year, and they’re likely to repeat that for the 2026 legislative session.

Here are a few bills and priorities local state lawmakers are focusing on this year.

Rep. Michael Carter 

Democratic House Rep. Michael Carter represents District 36 covering both Adams and Arapahoe counties. 

Carter said his main goal this legislative season is to pass one bill that would raise jail standards at Aurora’s Municipal Detention facility to match those in County jails across the state. 

Carter said he is also focusing on a consent decree bill that would require that officer-involved shootings of unarmed civilians that result in death would require investigations to go through the attorney general instead of the surrounding district courts. Currently, Aurora is under a consent decree, and investigations are sent to the county district attorney in the city where the civilian was shot. This new bill would require the attorney general to conduct the investigation, rather than the district attorneys in the 17th and 18th judicial districts.  

Rep. Chad Clifford

Democratic House Rep. Chad Clifford represents Arapahoe County District 37. Clifford said the one main bill he hopes to sign into legislation this year is the Workers’ Protection Act. This bill is being brought back after passing in the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis last year. 

“Unfortunately, while both sides moved their positions, labor and business missed an opportunity this year to modernize this outdated law while providing lasting certainty to Colorado workers and businesses,” Polis said in his 2025 veto message.

Polis has said recently that “nothing has changed” and unless a measure wins support of both businesses and unions, he could anticipate another veto, according to media reports.

The act aimed to eliminate the requirement for a second election to negotiate a union security agreement clause in the collective bargaining process, according to the General Assembly in 2025. 

Other bills that Clifford said he planned to sponsor or support as priorities were Housing Protections for People with Disabilities, Updates to Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training and Enhanced Security Measures for Elected Officials and Sensitive Spaces.

Sen. Mike Weissman

Democratic state Sen. Mike Weissman represents District 28, which covers Adams and Arapahoe Counties. 

Weissman said he hopes to pass a “moral budget under these especially tough circumstances.” 

“We face constraints both due to the decades-old, unique in the nation constraint that is TABOR and also due to revenue losses crammed down on Colorado by the Trump regime’s billionaire tax giveaways, because our tax laws are linked to federal tax laws, Weissman said.  

The state needs to preserve the investments it has made to this point in K-12 education funding, Weissman said.  

“We need to root out private equity profit seeking and other ‘rent seeking’ from the Medicaid system while preserving care for people who need it,” he said.  “We need to continue to identify and reduce or eliminate special interest tax breaks that tax dollars away from things Coloradans want, like affordable education and job training options, roads in good repair and court systems that handle cases reasonably quickly.”

Two of the of the many bills Weissman said he will be working on include remedies for violations of federal constitutional rights that happen during immigration enforcement and protecting access to healthcare by increasing review of certain mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare system that threaten to reduce patient choice, increase prices and reduce access to services.

Another bill he plans to focus on would prohibit what he says are abusive practices used by medical debt collectors and ensure protections for how debt information is stored and exchanged. 

Sen. Tom Sullivan

Democratic state Sen. Tom Sullivan represents District 27, which includes parts of Aurora, Centennial, Dove Valley, Inverness, and Foxfield in Arapahoe and Douglas counties.

He said he is working on adding petitioners for the Extreme Risk Order  gun-control bill to include co-responders and institutions such as health care, mental health and higher learning facilities. 

He said he is also working on legislation that would regulate 3D printing of firearms.

Rep. Naquetta Ricks

Democratic state Rep. Naquetta Ricks represents House District 40, which includes much of central Aurora. 

Ricks said she hopes to see legislation strengthening immigrant rights and protecting homeowners signed into law.

“These are issues I am proud to champion because they directly impact families who are most vulnerable right now,” Ricks said. “As immigration enforcement intensifies nationwide and the cost of housing continues to rise, our neighbors need stability, protection, and support.”

Ricks said she is hoping to also see legislation signed that strengthens small businesses and makes them more sustainable.

“I remain committed to advancing policies that promote fairness, housing security, and dignity for everyone,” Ricks said. 

Two bills Ricks said she plans to sponsor or support as priorities this year include legislation expanding access for opportunities in the healthcare and professional sectors, protecting homeowners from predatory HOA practices, and strengthening state support programs for small businesses. She said she is also championing legislation to reform temporary event permitting to help small and emerging businesses in the cannabis industry grow and succeed.

“Each of these efforts is rooted in my commitment to leveling the playing field and ensuring that our economy and our laws work for everyone, especially those who are too often left behind,” Ricks said in an email.

Rep. Mandy Lindsay

Democratic state Rep. Lindsay represents District 42, which includes part of northwest Aurora. 

“Outside of the work we’ll do to tackle the important everyday issues Coloradans face — affordability, housing, healthcare, education, etc. — state legislatures across the country need to protect their citizens from hurtful policies coming down from the federal level,” Lindsay said. “It’s more important than ever that we are engaged, nimble, and responsive to actions coming from DC that negatively impact the state of Colorado.”

She said she also plans to sponsor a bill that is supported by Colorado Poverty Law Project and helps renters navigate the eviction court process by making the system more fair, consistent, and uniform from one county, or one judge, to the next. 

“Whether a tenant is able to remain housed or experiences homelessness may sadly depend on which county they’re in, which judge they’re assigned, or even what kind of mood their judge is in that day,” she said. “People in nearly identical situations end up with vastly different outcomes based on arbitrary factors that are outside their control.”

As listed by Linsdsay, the bill will propose six reforms:

1) It prevents minors from being named as defendants, so that kiddos don’t end up with a court record when they’re not old enough to legally mount a defense;

2) It seeks to cap the number of eviction answers that can be demanded in court on any single day, so that courts can provide better services and legal aid providers can help more people through clinics;

3) It seeks to eliminate or roll back the “bond” (i.e. cost) that tenants must pay to appeal bad eviction decisions, so that access to justice is available to everyone regardless of money constraints;

4) It will prevent evictions by giving people an opportunity to pay back rent at any point on or before their eviction trial;

5) It will recognize some basic circumstances that entitle people to extra time in the eviction process, such as when they experience hospitalization, sickness, or other conditions outside of their control that prevent them from participating in their court action; and lastly

(6) It seeks to give people more time to move after an eviction, 30 days instead of 10, so that people have more time to find alternative housing and storage for their belongings. This might be one of the single greatest things the state can do to prevent homelessness without having to spend a dollar of taxpayer funds

A second bill Lindsay said she also wants to focus on is a My Colorado Card pilot program which mirrors the My Denver Card, where kids grades 6-12 are able to get into recreation centers, museums, and cultural facilities for free.

A third bill she is focusing on would update the Colorado state procurement law to allow for 25% advance payments on contracts with nonprofit organizations, Lindsay said in an email.

Since the state relies on many nonprofit organizations to implement policies and solutions for societal needs, Lindsay said in an email. The state will contract with these organizations through either grants or contracts for service. 

The contracts are by default reimbursement contracts, she said, which can leave the organizations unable to serve the role because they don’t have the cash to front the costs. 

“Most of the organizations that are rooted in community and have the expertise to implement solutions are locked out of being able to contract with the state, leading to the state losing out on highly qualified contractors who can best serve local communities,” Lindsay said. 

Sen. Iman Jodeh

Democratic State Sen. Jodeh serves in Senate District 29 which includes much of the Arapahoe County side of Aurora. 

“We’re facing unprecedented times,” Jodeh said. “Congress failed to renew the premium tax credits, endangering healthcare accessibility for all Coloradans. Meanwhile, ICE continues to violate American civil rights every day. These things affect affordability, safety, and dignity for all Coloradans. But they hit working class black and brown families the hardest. These interconnected issues are all my bill priorities this session, and unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury to choose just one. Justice requires us to fight on all fronts.”

— Cassandra Ballard, Sentinel Staff Writer