Today at Corky Gonzales branch of the Denver Public Library, Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) signed the “Consumer Right to Repair Digital Electronic Equipment,” which gives consumers a right to repair their own equipment including “cell phones, gaming systems, computers, and televisions.”
Jeff Crank, the Republican competing against Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams for the 5th Congressional District nomination, has been endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Candidate Fund. Crank, a regional vice president at the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and host of its American Potential podcast, has called abortion a “convenience” and expressed support for a national abortion ban.
Democratic lawmakers who hammered out and passed by overwhelmingly bipartisan margins compromise property tax bills this past legislative session are feeling dismayed and betrayed by conservative groups that got their way in negotiations but are forging ahead anyway with a pair of draconian tax-cut ballot questions Dems say would devastate the Colorado economy.
Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) signed a bill into law earlier this month aimed at helping older Coloradans save money on rent through a refundable tax credit.
Rep. Stephanie Vigil (D-Colorado Springs) responded yesterday to Colorado GOP Director of Special Initiatives Darcy Schoening’s recent party-wide email urging parents to remove their kids from public schools and claiming Democrats want to “turn more kids trans.” Schoening’s email specifically identified legislation sponsored by Vigil, this year’s House Bill 1039, Non-legal Name Changes in Schools.
On May 17, the Colorado House and Senate sent a “Mobile Electronic Devices & Motor Vehicle Driving” bill to the governor prohibiting a driver, 18 years of age or older, from using a mobile device unless it is a “hands-free accessory.”
In the 48 hours following the close of Colorado’s legislative session, the state’s most prominent business group, Colorado Concern, had a board member resign publicly while citing policy disagreements, and scrubbed the names of member companies and its remaining board members from its website. Now, nobody is willing to talk about what happened.
Ballot initiatives. Referenda. Plebiscites. Whatever you want to call them, they play a major role in Colorado’s political life. We vote on tax increases, pet projects, citizens’ initiatives, legislatively referred initiatives, and anything else under the sun for which a determined enough cadre of organizers can collect a sufficient amount of signatures to place on our ballots. Colorado is not unique in this regard – 26 states have ballot initiative processes – but we are exceptional: between 1912, when the first initiative appeared on a Colorado ballot, and 2023, Colorado has voted on 266 initiatives, the third most of any state, behind Oregon and California.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a standing-room only rally at Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace Sunday. Kennedy, a member of the famous political dynasty, built his reputation in the 1980s as an environmental lawyer, and more recently as an anti-vaccine activist, known for his belief in conspiracies surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Virginia school board that voted recently to restore the names of Confederate leaders to two schools was elected with the help of conservative Christian groups that promote parental rights and oppose Critical Race Theory.
