As we dive into a new year and legislative session, I’m honored to start my new role as president and chief executive of Colorado Concern. I am humbled to fill the large shoes of my esteemed predecessor, Mike Kopp, whose leadership and tenure built a strong foundation for the success of Colorado’s business community.

Committed to a strong and vibrant future, Colorado Concern is an alliance of more than 135 top executives and civic leaders with a common interest in enhancing and protecting our state’s business climate. It is my intention and one of my top priorities as I lead this organization to work collaboratively with the members and business leaders to ensure Colorado’s economic viability and prosperity.

For decades, Colorado has been a highly attractive place to live and do business. But we are slipping quickly in our economic competitiveness, and I’m not ignorant of the fact I’m entering this pinnacle in my career at a time when it is increasingly more difficult for companies to do business in Colorado. As the Common Sense Institute’s recently released 2024 Colorado Free Enterprise Report points out, in the last several years Colorado has become a vastly expensive place to live and do business, and policy choices at the state and local levels are driving these changes.

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As a fifth-generation Colorado native, I have seen tremendous growth and opportunities, but they have come with a downside — affordability, or the lack thereof — in numerous sectors of our economy. Yes, affordability is key, and it needs to become our watchword. According to U.S. News & World Report 2023 Best States Rankings, Colorado ranks No. 43 in affordability. We must come together to reverse this trend. That is why Colorado Concern has filed a ballot proposal measure to rollback valuations to 2020 levels and cap the growth of property values to 2.5% each year. This measure establishes a true market rate for tax calculation purposes and provides all property owners with a decidedly transparent and simplified tax assessment system. Soaring property taxes erode the budgets of Colorado families and small businesses, so providing relief will remain a priority for our organization.

In the Denver metropolitan area and elsewhere in the state, commercial office buildings that consist primarily of small businesses are operating in an already volatile and financially stressful environment due to many circumstances — historically high vacancy rates and rising foreclosures; stagnant demand and declining lease rates; rising interest rates and inflation; supply-chain problems; and an ever-increasing list of burdensome and expensive regulatory mandates for electrification, electric-vehicle charging and green roofs.

That is why Colorado Concern will be more active and engaged this year in the Denver metro area at the municipal level. That engagement will start with Denver because the city’s legislative and regulatory issues tend to have a statewide impact. Take Energize Denver, for example. Energize Denver requires all existing owners of “covered buildings” in Denver — 25,000 square-feet and larger — to comply with stringent energy efficiency mandates that force them to either electrify their existing buildings at significant cost or pay substantial penalties. This is compounded by the state’s recently adopted Regulation 28, imposing similar building performance standards on buildings over 50,000 square-feet. Both mandates significantly impact building and small-business owners, and we will ask policymakers to conduct an intensive examination of their implementation timelines and fines.

As the 2024 legislative session begins, Colorado’s civic and business leaders look forward to working in partnership with elected officials at the state Capitol to drive toward policy solutions that protect our state’s business climate and foster vibrant and sustainable economic growth for all Coloradans.

Dave Davia is the newly-selected president and CEO of Colorado Concern – a statewide CEO-based organization devoted to investing in and promoting a common-sense and pro-business environment through the political process.