A defunct provision of the Colorado Constitution that limits marriage to between a man and a woman may finally be stripped from the state’s guiding document under a proposed amendment introduced in the state Senate. The resolution, filed late last week by Sen. Joann Ginal, a Fort Collins Democrat, requires support from two-thirds of state … Read more
Nine years ago, one of Silverthorne’s few income-restricted housing properties was sold to a private firm. The sale — at a price that was double the property’s assessed value — raised worries in the high-cost mountain community that the new owner of the Blue River Apartments might lift rent caps that had kept its 78 … Read more
Fresh off a historic vote to advance a ban on many high-powered, semi-automatic guns, the Colorado House approved three more gun-related bills over the weekend — sending them across the Capitol for another round of debate. Those votes on Saturday were followed Monday by the state Senate’s final approval for two other gun reform bills … Read more
A bill in the Colorado legislature, filed in response to reports that patients were confused when a company they’d never heard of sued them over medical debts, would limit how collection agencies can pursue payment. HB-1380, which passed the state House on Wednesday, would require debt collectors operating in the state to disclose who initially … Read more
Colorado lawmakers have again rejected a bill that would have allowed supervised drug-use sites to open in willing cities — the third time in a year legislators have killed the proposal. On Thursday night, two Democratic senators joined with the Senate Health and Human Service Committee’s three Republicans in voting to kill House Bill 1028, … Read more
Gov. Jared Polis signed “for-cause” eviction protections into law Friday, making Colorado the sixth U.S. state to enact the policy that’s aimed at blunting displacement of vulnerable tenants. The law, passed by the legislature late last month, effectively gives tenants a right of first refusal to renew their leases. That protection, supporters say, will insulate … Read more
Colorado legislators are working to launch two commissions that will help shape criminal justice policy statewide into the near future, an effort that’s drawn the praise of policymakers while reigniting the same simmering tensions that helped sink a predecessor last year. Under recommendations issued last month by a working group convened by Gov. Jared Polis, … Read more
Facing a wall of opposition from fire officials, Colorado lawmakers on Wednesday killed a bill that would have allowed taller apartment buildings to be constructed in a single-stair style that’s common in Europe. House Bill 1239, had it passed, would have allowed developers in Colorado to build five-story buildings around a single stairway, rather than … Read more
Politicians and news outlets expressed outrage Monday over the expulsion from a Republican gathering of an experienced politics reporter who was told the state party chairman believed her reporting was “very unfair.” Journalists and elected officials, including the former chair of the Colorado Republican Party, came to the defense of Colorado Sun reporter Sandra Fish. … Read more
Low-income Coloradans with mental illnesses are poised to receive longer hospital stays after state legislators set aside money to expand a decades-old Medicaid rule. Federal law requires that Medicaid patients hospitalized in psychiatric facilities be discharged after 15 hospital days in a month or the facility doesn’t get paid. The rule was intended to prevent … Read more
