Tag: legislature
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From mental health coverage to bison protection: New Colorado laws that take effect Jan. 1
A new year means new laws in Colorado, covering everything from health insurance and gun shows to “junk fees” and protections for wild bison. Here’s a list of laws passed during the 2025 legislative session that will go into effect on Jan. 1. House Bill 1002: Medical necessity determination insurance coverageThis law codifies and clarifies…
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Once a step ahead, Colorado’s economy cools, burdened by rising costs and regulations | FISCAL ROCKIES
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Editor’s Note: Once among the nation’s fastest-growing economies, Colorado today confronts mounting challenges that threaten its momentum. This series reveals how a state once defined by prosperity is navigating economic cliffs and ridges. We explore the impact that increased regulations, tariffs, shifting tax policies, the high cost of living and widening urban–rural divides have on businesses,…
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LETTERS: Failure after failure; stop the negative waves
Failure after failure Just when you think things can’t get any worse in Colorado, it does. As a third generation Colorado native, voter, and taxpayer, I have had to witness the undoing and destruction of a once great state. Watching what happened this year in Colorado has been interesting and disappointing. Colorado is now facing…
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Perspective: Colorado’s disconnect on justice
Rising crime rates and heated policy debates have put Colorado’s sweeping criminal justice reforms under the microscope, as lawmakers’ efforts to transform the system face growing resistance from voters concerned about public safety. In the past decade, the state legislature has rolled out scores of reforms, including reduced sentences for nonviolent offenses, expanded parole and…
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EDITORIAL: Colorado crime soars when criminals go free
It was encouraging to see a news report in The Gazette this week about a recent rise in car chases by police in Colorado’s third-largest city. A needed shift in policy by the Aurora City Council last March gave the city’s police more latitude in pursuing suspected car thieves and other lawbreakers. It’s part of…
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EDITORIAL: Hurdles to AI will cost Colorado
No sooner had Colorado’s legislature punted on AI, yet again, during this summer’s special session — than a Homer Simpson-worthy “Doh!” might as well have pealed out across the state. It would have been an acknowledgment lawmakers had blown it, for the time being, in making Colorado a more welcoming destination for the development of…
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Colorado justices decide pre-2025 law did not criminalize AI-generated child porn
Colorado law prior to 2025 did not criminalize, as a means of sexually exploiting a child, the use of artificial intelligence to generate nude images depicting real children, the state Supreme Court concluded on Monday. The legislature acted this year to clearly establish a crime for someone to have or share fake, yet “highly realistic,”…
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EDITORIAL: Colorado’s next budget crunch
Like slacker students who flunked a course and had to make it up in summer school, Colorado state lawmakers who were summoned back to the Capitol last month — to patch a gaping hole in the current state budget — knew they had gathered under a stigma. Convened by Gov. Jared Polis, they sullenly filed…
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EDITORIAL: Don’t herd Coloradans into density zoning
Colorado’s governor and legislature are leading us all down a primrose path to density zoning. It’s a wonky term for cramming more housing into less space. There’s even an attempt at an elegant variation — the more marketable “gentle density” — meaning, wedge more expensive multiplexes between single-family homes. It’s the hobby horse of the…
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Colorado legislators deny move to delete ‘tax increase’ language in ballot title in statewide publication
Colorado legislators on Thursday rejected an attempt to change the title of a ballot measure in a widely disseminated publication in order to avoid mentioning that it would result in a tax increase for households with incomes above $300,000 a year. The proponent of the change argued that keeping “tax increase” in the measure’s title…