Republican legislators from across the county gathered in Washington, D.C. last week for the American Legislative Exchange Council’s States and Nation Policy Summit. Heading Colorado’s delegation was state Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park), who appears to be considering a run for governor in 2026, and serves as one of ALEC’s Colorado State Co-Chairs.
Reached via email, Baisley says he attended four policy sessions as well as speeches by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate who is now working with Elon Musk to slash government spending. Baisley says Trump’s victory has energized and inspired Republicans across the country, including in Colorado and described himself as leaving the conference “inspired to ensure that Colorado benefits from that energy.”
His fellow state lead, state Rep. Ryan Armagost (R-Berthoud), confirmed via text that he did not attend this year’s conference, but a trio of new representative-elects — all Weld County Republicans — did: Carlos Barron (R-Fort Lupton), Ryan Gonzalzes (R-Greeley) and Lori Garcia Sander (R-Eaton).
All three attended the “New Legislator” component of the ALEC event, but none responded to requests for comment. This article will be updated with any responses received.
Asked about policies he hopes to promote in Colorado, Baisley cited artificial intelligence regulation and live event ticket sales as two issue areas where ALEC model bills offer policy changes he sees as improvements over Colorado’s current laws.
“The sessions that I attended at the ALEC conference here in Washington D.C. included Communications and Technology, Prescription Drug Affordability, Election Integrity, and Education Freedom Alliance,” says Baisley. “I also attended the keynote presentations by Newt Gingrich and Vivek Ramaswamy. The policy matters presented that I believe could work well for Colorado include AI [artificial intelligence], entertainment ticket price protections, and election integrity.”
Baisley criticized the AI bill that was passed by a large bipartisan coalition (over bipartisan opposition) in each chamber last year. He says that while he will argue for ALEC’s model bill as an improvement, he is ultimately hoping for federal regulation to supersede state laws.
“Colorado Senate Bill 24-205 regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) passed in the 2024 session over my objections,” says Baisley. “States across the nation are in a sudden scramble to get ahead of new challenges introduced by AI technology, introducing over 700 AI-related bills this year. In my view, the new AI law in Colorado takes the wrong approach, attempting to regulate the software itself rather than the actual use of the technology like making decisions on loan and college applications. I believe it to be critical that we fix Colorado’s AI law to keep those jobs and industries in Colorado. The reality is that we are in competition with other states that are doing it well. ALEC is developing model legislation for AI that I believe would be a vast improvement over the Colorado law which is scheduled to go into effect in 2026. I am hoping that the federal government takes up this mantle in order to avoid creating a confusing patchwork of laws that AI software developers will have to address. And if we don’t get it right in Colorado, we could lose those jobs to Texas, Florida and Tennessee.”
“Another offering of model legislation from the ALEC conference is regarding live event ticketing,” Baisley says. “I ran a bill last year with Majority Leader Rodriguez to address the enormous price markups by scalpers and bot purchasers that buy up concert and sport event tickets before consumers ever have a chance to buy them at face value. I was not happy with how our Senate Bill 23-060 ended up after a slew of amendments thrown at it by lobbyists and attorneys. Our bill passed through the legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Polis, so there is opportunity to re-visit the matter with this model legislation from ALEC that takes into account new federal laws on the matter.”
As part of its 2025 Essential Policy Solutions handbook, ALEC indeed offers model legislation on both artificial intelligence regulation and live event ticketing reform.
“Legislators who attended the conference from several states described excellent examples of how they have returned medical sovereignty to parents, improved education through competitive choice, and improved election integrity,” said Baisley. “I would love to see all of these citizen-centric trends offered in Colorado. It is, however, difficult to advance such causes with the current single-party rule by Democrats in the Denver Capitol.”
“It was evident at the ALEC conference that the Trump victory has excited Republicans across the country, Colorado included. Trump’s win inspired hope for a new promise for America. This is especially true among Republican legislative caucuses. Newt Gingrich encouraged state legislators to follow President-Elect Trump’s lead in restoring government to an attitude of service rather than citizen control. He instructed us to communicate frequently, openly and effectively with the citizens whom we represent about our efforts to improve their lives through smaller, better government.
Vivek Ramaswamy gave us a high-level description of his and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort. This will include reducing and eliminating bureaucracies like education that have become centralized in Washington rather than more appropriately left to the States. He ended with a polite warning to us state legislators: “If we are successful, your job will actually go up … The 10th Amendment actually means something.”
There is a bright future ahead for America, an historical phase for the nation. I am coming away from this Washington, DC conference inspired to ensure that Colorado benefits from that energy; a new promise for Colorado.”
Baisley did not technically say he is running for Governor, but he concluded his statement with “a new promise for Colorado,” which just so happens to be the name of a recently launched independent committee… that has endorsed him for Governor in 2026.
