Today is May 25, 2023 and here is what you need to know:

Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday signed into law two measures tied to property tax relief for homeowners and commercial property owners, with a backdrop of a home in Commerce City that could soon be on the market. 

Joe Medina has lived in that ranch-style home for 43 years, but taking care of it has gotten to be too much, he said. He’s ready to downsize, but fears losing his senior homestead exemption, which saves him $600 to $700 per year. 

A ballot measure, Proposition HH, which is tied to one of the measures Polis signed, would allow him to take his senior exemption to his next residence without having to wait 10 years, as is currently required for a new property. 

Senate Bill 303 would take a portion of the TABOR surplus, which pays for TABOR refunds, and divert it for at least 10 years to homeowners and commercial property owners for property tax relief.

The measure attempts to address skyrocketing property taxes, the result of substantial increases in property values, as well as the 2020-voter approved repeal of the Gallagher Amendment, which kept property taxes low.

But opponents of the measure, including the conservative nonprofit Advance Colorado Institute, announced Wednesday they added more than a dozen plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the bill adopted by legislative Democrats on the last day of the 2023 session.

With eight days to go until the United States is unable to pay its bills, the White House and Congress are still nowhere near an agreement on raising the national debt ceiling. 

The U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling – the limit on how much the government can borrow – in January. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the measures the government has used to pay its bills since then could be exhausted by early June, giving them until June 1 to come up with a solution. 

Since 1960, Congress has raised the debt ceiling 78 times, most recently in 2021. President Joe Biden wants to raise the ceiling again, but Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have blocked the proposal for months, trying to cut government spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. 

If the debt ceiling is not raised and the U.S. defaults on its debt for the first time ever, financial markets will be sent into turmoil, economists agree.

The numerous potential economic impacts would likely lead to a recession, including leaving tens of millions of government workers and Social Security recipients unpaid, making it difficult for businesses and citizens to borrow money, and downgrading the U.S. credit rating, leading to higher interest rates. 

Even if the government defaults for less than a week before reaching a solution, 1.5 million people would lose their jobs, including approximately 10,200 people in Colorado, according to a CBS report. 

With the clock ticking and debates between the White House and Congress ongoing, Colorado Politics talked to State Treasurer Dave Young about what a national default would mean for Colorado. 

Kelly Brough secured four endorsements from several Democratic leaders with just under two weeks to go before Denver’s runoff election day. She faces former state Sen. Mike Johnston to become Denver’s next mayor after Michael Hancock’s three terms in the office. 

Howard Chou, former 1st vice chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, Patricia Shaver, former 2nd vice chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, Marc Kamin, former chair of the Denver Democratic Party and Democratic Party activist Susan Rodgers joined together in endorsing Brough.

The endorsements come less than a week after the Denver Republican Party endorsed Brough for mayor. Several of her latest endorsers highlight her ability to work across the aisle, something Brough herself continuously points to at debates and on campaign stops. 

A Douglas County Board of Education director abruptly resigned Tuesday night during a public meeting, citing concerns about the district’s legal fees, politicization of the board and implementation of the district’s equity policy.

Director Elizabeth Hanson’s mid-meeting departure Tuesday is the latest turmoil to hit the district, as it continues fighting a legal battle that sprang up during the controversial firing of former superintendent Corey Wise last year.

Before leaving the boardroom, Hanson said her resignation was effective immediately.

Earlier this month, the board rejected a settlement offer in a lawsuit brought by state Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch, which alleged the board majority violated Colorado’s open meeting laws when planning Wise’s ouster by using a series of one-on-one and private meetings.

School Board President Mike Peterson and members Becky Myers, Christy Williams, and Kaylee Winegar were named individually.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, stepping into a crowded Republican primary contest that will test both his national appeal as an outspoken cultural conservative and the GOP’s willingness to move on from former President Donald Trump.

The 44-year-old Republican revealed his decision in a Federal Election Commission filing before an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

It marks a new chapter in his extraordinary rise from little-known congressman to two-term governor to a leading figure in the nation’s bitter fights over race, gender, abortion and other divisive issues.