Yesterday was the launch of Colorado’s 2025 legislative session, and Democrats and Republicans are both focused on affordability, housing, and mental health this year. But they disagree on what should be done.
“From housing to health care – Colorado Democrats are back to continue our work to make our state a more affordable place to call home,” said Rep. Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon) in a news release. “Supporting families is a top priority, and our first ten bills will bring down the cost of housing, specifically for renters, and ensure youth with complex health needs have access to care. We’re focused on meeting Colorado’s climate goals, combating wildfire, and attracting film tourism in our great state.”
The first 10 bills released by Colorado House Dems include measures aimed at preventing wage theft, increasing insurance coverage for mental health care, and addressing rent prices and affordable housing, among others.
Republicans also say they’re focused on affordability. “I think what Coloradoans want is stability,” said Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Ty Winter (R-Las Animas County) during an appearance yesterday on Colorado Morning News. “They want affordability. They want to see crime go down and they see their tax dollars being spent wisely with a stop-gap, and that’s TABOR. So we’re going to just keep pushing those values forward and trying to make it affordable for Coloradans, because I think that’s the number one thing that people are facing. It doesn’t matter if you live in Trinidad, Colorado, or if you live in Grand Junction, Colorado. Affordability is a huge issue and I think that’s the main thing we’re going to try to tackle this year.”
Republican goals conveniently align with Advance Colorado’s 2025 legislative policy agenda. “In this agenda, which we release every year, we talk about ten major issues affecting Coloradans, families, communities, businesses across our state, and we propose real solutions that the Legislature should fix,” said Advance Colorado VP Kristi Burton Brown during a Jan. 3 episode of the Advance Colorado podcast. “But if they don’t, we know that Advanced Colorado can work together with the people to pass measures on the ballot.”
Last year, Advance Colorado pushed the failed ballot measure to “protect school choice” and a measure to cap property taxes, which was removed from the ballot after Democrats conceded to a special legislative session.
This year, Advance Colorado is looking to address measures on crime, economic issues, education, and mental health. The Colorado House Minority Leader, Rep. Rose Pugliese (R-El Paso County), is currently an Advance Colorado fellow, and there are a number of Republicans who are willing to sponsor bills supported by Advance Colorado.
“I believe there’s another state representative, Jarvis Caldwell [R-Monument], who’s bringing back this bill again and says that he also, I believe, has bipartisan support right now,” said Brown of the effort to end Personal Recognizance Bonds for “violent repeat offenders.”
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-Fort Morgan) is also behind the measure. “Everyone can PR out, bond out,” she said during a Jan. 6 appearance on the Big Morning Show. “It’s annoying when you have to arrest them and then they’re out within an hour, a couple of hours. And now the question is, if we know they’re going to PR out, and there’s nothing they have to do afterward, no court appearance, it really is gutting everything [and] sending the message that they want to send is we just don’t want to punish and make people accountable.”
Advance Colorado doesn’t just want to keep more adults in jail, but is also pushing a measure to increase the number of juvenile offenders who can be incarcerated. “One [measure] that we’ve seen Colorado’s district attorneys agree on right now is reforming the juvenile bed cap in Colorado,” said Brown. “We’re supporting that. And basically, the D.A.s have told us the juvenile bed cap is too low. What this means is that you have a lot of juvenile offenders, more than people would expect, committing crimes across the state. But there’s not enough room to get them in a facility and rehabilitate them.”
Democrats will continue efforts at criminal justice reform. State Rep. Regina English (D-Colorado Springs) is introducing legislation to encourage jails to provide access to the services and treatment Coloradans need to be successful as they re-enter the community in order to reduce recidivism.
Winter notes that while both sides of the political spectrum are focused on the same issues, they have very different solutions. “We just have two different ways of getting there,” he said. “There’s so many things that are going on in the state. Statistically, you see a huge shift in Colorado. You know, now we’re one of the worst states to retire in. We have some of the highest inflationary rates in the nation. And with the green energy push, we’ve seen the cost of energy go through the roof in this state. So the Democrats have been in control for a while here in the state of Colorado, and they’ve had a chance to promulgate policy out of the building. And I don’t think that it’s landed very well on the shoulders of Coloradans, and that’s why we’re there.”
