Skeptical Gov. Jared Polis signs law blocking more grocery stores from selling hard liquor

Colorado lawmakers have succeeded in putting a cork in part of the state’s liquor laws after a skeptical Gov. Jared Polis signed a new measure blocking the state from issuing a certain type of license to grocery and drugstores.

Senate Bill 33, which passed the legislature with sizable bipartisan support, blocks the state from issuing any more liquor licenses to drugstores, which typically means grocery stores that also have pharmacies. Supporters had argued that the law would help support independent liquor stores as grocery stores — which can now sell wine and beer — move increasingly into alcohol sales.

The new law, signed by Polis on Thursday, means more grocery stores can’t expand into selling hard liquor.

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Colorado budget cuts — including hit for roads, loss of health workers — cause heartburn as lawmakers close gap

The Colorado state budget is moving closer to finalization, but lawmakers have continued grappling over $1.2 billion in proposed cuts — with trims to a community health reimbursement program and to transportation funding among those drawing attention.

Proposed funding cuts for community health workers led to amendments and pleas from lawmakers looking to boost a workforce that one senator called a “lynchpin” for his rural district. Meanwhile, the proposed delay of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding has outside organizations worried about road conditions in coming years.

In both cases, critics warned that the proposed cuts and delays would cause more harm than savings. But the fiscal math doesn’t lie, budget writers counter — no matter how painful it makes the decisions.

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Gov. Jared Polis signs sweeping gun law that adds requirements to buy certain semiautomatic weapons

Gov. Jared Polis signed a sweeping gun-control measure into law Thursday, the culmination of years of effort by advocates and progressive Democrats to limit the sale of high-powered semiautomatic weapons in Colorado.

Starting next summer, Coloradans will have to pass a background check and a training course before they can purchase a swath of semiautomatic firearms that include most of the guns known colloquially as assault weapons. Senate Bill 3 also prohibits the sale of bump stocks and rapid-fire trigger activators, which are firearm components that can increase a gun’s rate of fire.

The bill’s sponsors said it was intended to prevent future mass shootings and enforce the state’s existing prohibition on high-capacity magazines.

“We have been able to add to the safety of each and every Coloradan, especially when it comes to gun violence,” said Sen. Tom Sullivan.

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Colorado lawmakers want to add body cameras to youth detention staff

Colorado lawmakers want to add body-worn cameras to staff working in the state’s juvenile detention centers and have backed off a request to substantially increase the number of beds available to house youth awaiting trial.

Legislators this week made drastic overhauls to House Bill 1146 to now include a pilot program in one youth detention facility and in one commitment facility that requires every staff member who is responsible for the direct supervision of youth to wear a body camera while interacting with them.

The program would be implemented from January 2026 through December 2028. The Colorado Department of Human Services would then recommend whether to continue and expand the program, or eliminate it.

The lawmakers’ request comes just weeks after a Denver Post investigation found widespread allegations of excessive force by staff in the state’s 14 juvenile detention facilities.

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Colorado launches new “last resort” homeowners insurance policy

Colorado launched the state’s new, last-resort homeowners insurance program — known as the FAIR Plan — on Thursday even as this summer’s weather conditions could be ripe for severe hailstorms and wildfires.

Homeowners who can show they’ve been declined coverage by at least three commercial insurance companies can apply to purchase a FAIR Plan policy that would provide up to $750,000 toward the cost of replacing their home. Applicants will have the option to add coverage for wind and hail damage as well as theft and vandalism.

“This product is not intended to compete with the admitted market,” said Kelly Campbell, the FAIR Plan’s executive director. “It’s not intended to be the same as a basic homeowners policy.”

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Polis threatens to veto bill addressing sentencing disparities between Colorado’s state and municipal courts

Gov. Jared Polis has threatened to veto a bill that would mandate Colorado’s municipal courts conform to state sentencing guidelines, the bill sponsors said.

House Bill 1147 would limit city courts from administering sentences that go beyond state limits for the same crimes. Legislative reforms in 2021 significantly reduced maximum penalties for a host of low-level, nonviolent crimes in Colorado’s state courts. But municipal courts, which operate individually and are not part of the state judicial system, were not included in the statute.

As a result, defendants in Colorado’s municipal courts can face much longer sentences than those in state court for the same petty offenses, The Denver Post previously found.

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Colorado officials ready legal defense fund against Trump cuts and potential investigations

Colorado legislators are fast-tracking the creation of a $4 million fund to help Gov. Jared Polis’ office defend against actions by the Trump administration — including potential criminal investigations — as policymakers grapple with frozen funding and uncertainty from the federal government.

Using state money set aside to match federal dollars, House Bill 1321 would establish a fund to hire staff or contractors to defend against threats to federal funding that’s due to the state. The money could also be spent on reimbursing the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, should its attorneys have to defend state leaders and employees against legal and criminal proceedings filed against them. That would include potential inquiries from Congress.

Should the $4 million prove insufficient, the bill would also allow Polis’ office to accept gifts, grants and donations to add to the fund — meaning that the state could essentially use crowdfunding to defend itself and its funding streams from the Trump administration.

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Colorado Democrats’ bid to launch TABOR lawsuit clears first committee

Democrats’ latest attempt to uproot a state constitutional amendment that severely limits officials’ spending authority narrowly passed its first committee vote Monday night.

House Joint Resolution 1023 would commit the Colorado General Assembly to suing the state over whether the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, passes federal constitutional muster. Voters passed TABOR as an amendment to the state constitution in 1992. Among other provisions, it restricts lawmakers from raising taxes without seeking voter approval and limits how much the state budget can grow annually.

This resolution, if it passes the full legislature, would result in a legal challenge based on whether TABOR’s restrictions are allowed under the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that all states have a republican form of representative government. TABOR, the resolution argues, restricts the state to a direct democracy when it comes to matters of spending.

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Colorado lawmakers back new election requirements for officials appointed to vacant seats

Colorado lawmakers on Monday backed a pair of bills to reform the much-maligned process that helped seat nearly a quarter of the legislature, while rejecting a competing proposal that would’ve required changing the state constitution.

The two favored bills, which cleared an initial House committee, are essentially a package aimed at changing the vacancy-filling process: House Bill 1315 would allow lawmakers appointed via a vacancy committee to serve no more than a full session in the Capitol before standing for an election, while House Bill 1319 would enact similar election parameters for vacancy-appointed commissioners in large counties.

Both bills are bipartisan, and they passed the House’s State, Civic, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee in succession.

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Tenants facing eviction could get jury trial under bill before Colorado legislature

In October, amid a record-breaking wave of eviction filings, the Colorado Supreme Court handed down a seismic decision: Tenants facing eviction have a right to contest their displacement in front of a jury.

The opinion — sparked by a lawsuit from a tenant challenging allegations from her landlord — marked a shift, at least for the relatively small number of cases that would qualify under its parameters. Eviction proceedings are often dispatched in rapid succession, with relatively few tenants defended by lawyers and county judges typically denying requests for jury trials.

Then, in December, the court reversed itself. In a move that one housing lawyer said he’d never seen before, the court voluntarily withdrew the opinion because of its new understanding of an underlying fact in the case — how the tenant had been served her eviction notice.

The court then demurred on the deeper question about tenants’ access to jury trials. That question, the justices wrote, should actually be addressed by the legislature.

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Budget week part 2: A flurry of election reforms and more this week in the Colorado legislature

It’s Budget Crunch: Part II in the state Capitol this week, as the state budget and several dozen spending measures hit the House.

The proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which starts in July, cleared the state Senate in perfunctory fashion last week. Now it begins what will likely be a more tense journey through the House. That means there will be few committee meetings on this side of the Capitol as House members spend most of the week debating the budget — known as the “long bill” — and its cluster of 60-some related measures, known as “orbitals.”

The long bill is, well, long, and the orbitals revolve around it. The legislature is a clever place.

If all goes to plan, the budget will be on the House floor Wednesday, Thursday and — if need be — Friday for a parade of amendment proposals from Democrats and Republicans alike. It’ll then likely go to a conference committee of House and Senate legislators to resolve amendments made in each chamber before going to Gov. Jared Polis for passage into law.

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