From immigration to gun control and transgender rights, Colorado state lawmakers debated long list of controversial issues this session
Colorado 75th General Assembly adjourns after debate on more than 650 bills over 120 days
Colorado 75th General Assembly adjourns after debate on more than 650 bills over 120 days
Colorado 75th General Assembly adjourns after debate on more than 650 bills over 120 days
The 75th General Assembly adjourned Wednesday after debating more than 650 bills over the last 120 days in Colorado.
Efforts to close a $1 billion budget shortfall consumed much of the session and a plan to spend $4 million on new furniture for lawmakers became a flashpoint.
The furniture budget was ultimately cut in half. Budget writers slashed funding for dozens of programs -- ranging from food banks to workforce development -- while increasing funding for K-12 schools, higher ed and Medicaid. They also found more funding for safety net providers, especially rural health care clinics.
With money tight, Democrats floated new fees on auto, homeowners and health insurance. All of them failed, along with Republicans' efforts to repeal the retail delivery and plastic bag fees. But a bill banning hidden or junk fees - including in rental contracts - passed.
Lawmakers also passed bills to increase affordable housing, including measures to expedite manufactured housing by creating regional building codes, and incentivize condo development by limiting lawsuits over construction defects.
While legislators approved warning labels for gas stoves, they nixed them for gas pumps. And while they killed a bill to require age verification for online porn sites, they passed a measure that criminalizes deep fake porn -- or digitally altering pictures of real people to create fake nudes.
Maybe no bill generated more debate than a measure expanding transgender rights. It makes mis-gendering -- or using a name other than a transgender person's chosen name -- a form of discrimination.
A measure expanding protections for undocumented immigrants also drew fire. It passed the house the day after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state over what it called sanctuary policies.
A spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis says Colorado is not a sanctuary state and says the governor's office worked with bill sponsors to ensure their measure doesn't interfere with federal law enforcement partnerships.
A scandal at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation prompted the biggest criminal justice bill of the session. It ensures defendants and victims are notified if DNA evidence in their case may have been tampered with. It passed both chambers unanimously.
Colorado also now has one of the most restrictive gun bills in the country. It prohibits the sale of most semi-automatic firearms without additional background checks and training.
And thanks to a bill offering millions of dollars in tax credits, Boulder will be the new home of the Sundance Film Festival in 2027.
The session ended with drama over an artificial intelligence law.
The governor, attorney general and even some members of Congress urged lawmakers to delay implementation of the nation's first artificial intelligence law, but an effort to move implementation from January of 2026 to January 2027 failed in the waning hours.
Among the final bills to get approval were a measure that regulates rideshare companies and a bill that makes it easier to unionize. Polis has expressed concerns about both bills. He's already vetoed bills regarding social media regulations and open records requests, and lawmakers were unable to override those vetoes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Fetterman Calls California Protests ‘Anarchy' as He Criticizes Democrats
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania warned fellow Democrats that they could face a political backlash if they were seen as failing to sufficiently condemn acts of violence by protesters in Southern California, which local officials have said were limited. On Monday, he posted a photo on social media of a car engulfed in flames and a masked, shirtless person waving a Mexican flag. He suggested that Democrats — many of whom have in fact criticized acts of destruction or violence — should go further in denouncing unruly demonstrations. 'This is anarchy and true chaos,' he wrote. 'My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.' Local officials in California have described the violence as limited, under control and exacerbated by President Trump's decision to federalize the National Guard and deploy troops over the governor's objection. 'I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration — but this is not that,' Mr. Fetterman wrote. 'This is anarchy and true chaos.' Mr. Fetterman, elected in 2022, has become one of the Democrats whom Republicans love to quote as he has broken with some of his party's orthodoxies. He checked himself into a hospital for depression early in his first year in office, and his mental health has recently been the subject of both concern and scrutiny. Democrats on Capitol Hill tried to shrug off his latest comments on Tuesday. 'Everyone is entitled to their opinion,' said Representative Yvette D. Clarke of New York, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Some praise appeared to arrive, however, from Elon Musk, the owner of the social media site X, where Mr. Fetterman made his comment. Mr. Musk replied to the post with an American flag emoji.
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump's Flawed Message to Los Angeles
President Trump thinks he's sending a message. By deploying waves of National Guard officers and active duty Marines to Los Angeles, he's trying to show that he's powerful and in control, that anyone who protests his policies will pay a price. This is a classic deterrence strategy: hit hard in one place to scare Americans into staying home. But this strategy often backfires. If the majority of protests in Los Angeles reject violence, Mr. Trump may end up proving the opposite of what he intended: that he's afraid, that the protesters are disciplined and that the threat isn't the people — it's him. Counterinsurgency experts have long understood this dynamic. If you want to radicalize a population, there is no faster way than to use disproportionate force against civilians. David Kilcullen, a former senior adviser to General David Petraeus in Iraq, made this clear: Heavy-handed state violence doesn't pacify dissent, it inflames it. Another federal authority, the F.B.I., learned this lesson the hard way. In 1992 at Ruby Ridge in Idaho, an F.B.I. sniper shot and killed the wife of Randy Weaver while she stood in the doorway of her home, holding her baby. The F.B.I. had been called in to back up U.S. marshals who were engaged in a standoff with Mr. Weaver, whom they were trying to arrest on a fugitive warrant. A year later in Waco, Texas, federal agents engaged in a 51-day standoff with the Branch Davidians, a religious sect whose leader, David Koresh, was being investigated for alleged child abuse and the unlawful stockpiling of weapons. The siege ended in disaster: The compound went up in flames and more than 75 people, including at least 20 children, died. Public trust in federal law enforcement plummeted. Militias exploded in size and number. Timothy McVeigh later cited Waco as one of the reasons he bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. Since then, the F.B.I. has trod carefully when confronting American civilians, especially armed ones. In 2014, after the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy had long refused to pay federal grazing fees and hundreds of armed supporters faced off with federal agents, law enforcement backed down rather than risk another Waco. And two years after that, during the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon (this time led by Mr. Bundy's sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy), the bureau showed patience. For weeks agents avoided direct confrontation, choosing instead to wait, negotiate and de-escalate. It turns out that this strategy is more effective in avoiding violence. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Hegseth Defends Deployment of Troops to Los Angeles at Testy Hearing
In response to often sharp questioning from House Democrats on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the Pentagon's deployment of nearly 5,000 active-duty Marines and National Guard members to help the police in Los Angeles quell sporadic unrest. Mr. Hegseth, a former National Guardsman, also suggested in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee that the use of the Guard, part-time citizen soldiers, for homeland defense would expand under President Trump. 'I think we're entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland,' Mr. Hegseth told lawmakers. Officials in Los Angeles, as well as other major cities across the country controlled by Democrats, have expressed concern that the military deployments in California could set a precedent and serve as a test run for other urban areas where the administration's aggressive immigration enforcement could prompt large protests. Mr. Hegseth defended the deployment on Monday of 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 Marines, telling lawmakers, 'We ought to be able to enforce immigration law in this country.' The secretary had several testy exchanges with Democrats on the committee, who challenged him on the efficacy and cost of the deployments. At one point, he ignored direct questions from Representative Betty McCollum of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the committee's defense panel, about the cost to deploy troops to Los Angeles. Instead, Mr. Hegseth used his time to attack Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and the Biden administration. A clearly frustrated Ms. McCollum yielded back her time. When he was questioned again on the mission's projected costs, Mr. Hegseth deferred to the Pentagon's acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who said that Marine and National Guard deployments — estimated to last 60 days — would cost about $134 million, mainly for travel, housing and food. John Ismay contributed reporting.
