The Denver Post editorial: Hickenlooper right to shame lawmakers avoiding honest budgeting
Gov. John Hickenlooper is right to shame lawmakers who delayed implementation dates on bills to avoid having to include funding in the budget before the bill can become law.
“We have concerns that the bill’s full and true impact on the state budget was not fully transparent,” Hickenlooper wrote in letters explaining why he wouldn’t sign Senate Bill 12 and Senate Bill 19. Without his signature and absent a veto, the bills will automatically become law on Saturday.
But Hickenlooper put lawmakers in coming sessions on notice: “We expect that future legislation not contain ‘work-around’ language to the annual appropriations process – whether by delays of implementation dates several years out, use of unnecessarily optional or permissive bill language or other tactics that may veil a bill’s true cost to taxpayers.”
We agree.
Trump-backed Tina Peters faces state resistance in transfer to federal custody
Thelma Grimes
thelma.grimes@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 8 hours ago
Colorado’s attorney general said he opposes efforts to move former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters from a state prison to a federal one, though he refused to comment on the specifics. In a statement to Colorado Politics on Monday, Phil...
Justice Melissa Hart missing for third week as judiciary defends Colorado Supreme Court’s functioning
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 9 hours ago
Justice Melissa Hart missed a third straight week of case considerations as of Monday, with the Colorado Supreme Court indicating she again did not participate in the court’s weekly decision-making about whether to accept or reject pending appeals. The Colorado...
Colorado Supreme Court signals intervention in 4 ongoing cases
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 10 hours ago
The Colorado Supreme Court recently signaled that it may intervene in four cases from trial courts, two criminal and two civil. At least four of the court’s seven members must agree to initiate the process of granting relief in a...
Colorado Lottery Commission proposes credit card sales, sparks controversy
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 10 hours ago
The Colorado Lottery Commission is planning some rule changes that are already raising eyebrows at the state Capitol, including the prospect of allowing residents to use credit cards to purchase lottery tickets. Within the more than 100 pages of rule...
Competency concerns arise again for arson suspect in Teller County fire
Mackenzie Bodell
mackenzie-bodell@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 12 hours ago
After already being deemed competent to proceed to trial once earlier, competency concerns again took the spotlight Monday for the woman allegedly behind the Highland Lakes fire that burned nearly 170 acres near Divide last year. Lowa Tillitt, 77, also...
Colorado Supreme Court to hear oral arguments, one justice is gone | COURT CRAWL
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 15 hours ago
Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. The Colorado Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in eight cases this week, plus one of its members is on an unexplained and open-ended leave...
Trump calls on House Republicans to pass bill releasing full Epstein files
Zach LaChance, Washington Examiner
zach.lachance.washington.examiner@gazetteedit.wpenginepowered.com
Updated 15 hours ago
President Donald Trump urged House Republicans to vote for a bill that would release nearly all of the remaining Epstein files held by the Department of Justice. The House will hold a vote sometime this week on the Epstein Files...
Iraq War veteran Jose Barco deported to Mexico
Carol McKinley
carol-mckinley@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 12 hours ago
Immigration officials this month began the deportation process for a decorated Iraq War veteran whose story captured national attention and garnered intense discussion both for and against his removal. On Tuesday, the conversation was over, and Jose Barco-Chirino, who had...
Washington state leaders rip Colorado over ‘failing’ wolf reintroduction program
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 9 hours ago
Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission on Saturday said “no, not now” to sending wolves to Colorado, after a hearing in which the state’s residents vigorously argued against it. The commission voted, 8-1, to send a letter to Colorado stating that...
Colorado Republicans call meeting to rein in chair Brita Horn, but state GOP says plans are ‘illegal’
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 8 hours ago
They’re at it again. For the second time in as many years, a group of Colorado Republicans are planning to convene a meeting of the party’s state central committee despite the state GOP insisting that the proposed meeting would be...