Public health insurance option gets early Colorado House approval
Some warned about mission creep. But Colorado’s Democrat-controlled House has tentatively endorsed developing a proposal for a public health insurance option.
Gov. Jared Polis insists such an option will introduce competition and make insurance affordable for thousands of Colorado families.
The House voted Friday to require two state agencies to study and develop a proposal for the Legislature by Nov. 15.
The bill goes to the Senate after another House vote.
Fourteen rural counties have just one health insurer. Their residents face some of the nation’s highest premiums.
Republican Rep. Marc Catlin, a bill co-sponsor, says it’s smart to study what a public option might look like before introducing formal legislation in 2020.
Republican Rep. Mark Baisley warns it puts Colorado on a fast track to a public option.
Appeals court finds Wheat Ridge officer lacked probable cause to arrest defendant
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 11 hours ago
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday concluded a Wheat Ridge officer lacked probable cause to arrest a man because the information suggesting criminal activity was too minimal to act upon. Corporal Jeremy Schmitz was patrolling a truck stop off of Interstate...
By 2-1, appeals court takes no issue with constitutional violation from defendant’s absence at hearing
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 7 hours ago
Colorado’s second-highest court, by a 2-1 vote, concluded that an Adams County judge’s order granting crime victim restitution was valid, even though the defendant was absent from a hearing which he had a constitutional right to attend. The U.S. and...
Colorado man released under competency law arrested again with gun on college campus
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 10 hours ago
A man at the center of a growing debate around Colorado’s competency laws has been arrested less than a month after he was released from jail following the dismissal of an attempted murder charge. Ephraim Debisa, 21, who has also...
Denver budget woes spotlight shift in Johnston’s homelessness campaign
Deborah Smith
deborah.smith@denvergazette.com
Updated 13 hours ago
The city’s budget woes have triggered shifts in the future of Mayor Mike Johnston’s campaign to eliminate homelessness in Denver. After a week-long series of budget hearings, city officials now have a clearer picture of how Denver plans to address...
Colorado governor seeks FEMA aid for wildfire recovery
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 13 hours ago
Gov. Jared Polis has formally requested that President Donald Trump and FEMA issue a Major Disaster Declaration to unlock funding to support Colorado’s response to the Elk and Lee fires in Rio Blanco County. “The Elk and Lee fires ripped...
Colorado’s chief justice describes threats, invasions of privacy after Trump disqualification decision
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 13 hours ago
Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez spoke out on Thursday about the threats and invasions of privacy members of the Colorado Supreme Court and their families endured after a high-profile 2023 decision to disqualify now-President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot....
Appeals judge to Supreme Court: Please endorse a single reasonable doubt definition for Colorado
Michael Karlik
michael_karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 15 hours ago
A member of Colorado’s second-highest court asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to endorse one definition of “reasonable doubt” for trial judges to use — out of the three versions currently on the table. Colorado’s template jury instructions for...
Palmer Lake adopts voter-approved ordinance with big implications for Buc-ee’s
Savannah Eller
savannah-eller@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 16 hours ago
Earlier this month, voters in Palmer Lake voted in favor of an ordinance that would make any request to increase the size of the town an automatic ballot question. That would include the controversial annexation request from developers of the...
Colorado Republicans again weigh whether to boot unaffiliated voters from party primaries | TRAIL MIX
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 18 hours ago
For the fifth time since Colorado voters created the state’s semi-open primary system, Republican Party officials are set to decide if unaffiliated voters can cast ballots in the party’s upcoming primary. More than 400 members of the Republicans’ state central...
Virginia Giuffre’s family urges Rep. Crank’s help in release of Epstein files
Cleo Westin
cleo-westin@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 16 hours ago
Family members of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an accuser of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and other survivors called for the release of the Epstein files outside 5th District U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank’s office Wednesday in Colorado Springs. “As...
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Colorado GOP chair candidate Ken Buck proposes installing Steve House as state party's CEO
U.S. Rep. Ken Buck plans to name Steve House, a former chair of the Colorado Republican Party, as the state GOP’s CEO if Buck is elected state chair at a party meeting later this month, the three-term congressman told Colorado Politics. “I am going to bring in the very best talent, the smartest people I […]
CAPITOL M | Feb. 24-March 2: Halfway to Sine Die edition
Yes, we’re at the halfway mark. Officially, day 60 of the 120-day session is Monday, March 4. Wasn’t that quick? Or, THAT WAS TOO QUICK! Under “things you did not know”… Rep. Matt Soper of Delta has in his family history a lunch, hosted by his ancestors in the early 20th century, with the guest […]