Today is April 30, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Gov. Jared Polis signs $40.6 billion state budget containing $2 billion more in spending

Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed the state’s $40.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year, which includes $2 billion more in spending.

Those increases are driven by bigger allocations for health care, a significant expansion in the state’s workforce and more money for schools seeing increased enrollment of immigrant students whose families illegally crossed America’s southern border and traveled to Colorado.

Lawmakers marked a major milestone with this year’s budget — paying off the budget stabilization factor, the 14-year “debt” to K-12 education that twice topped more than $1 billion, including as recently as just four years ago. This year’s school finance act, which is on its way to the governor, contains that last payment of about $140 million.

One of the largest increases went to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which got a bump of $511 million in general funds over its 2023-24 budget, an 11.5% increase.

9 days to go before Colorado session ends: Votes on gun bills, constitutional amendment, tax credits

Check out some of the highlights from Monday, the 111th day out of 120 days of session for the Colorado General Assembly, including action on same-sex marriage and gun legislation.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston called 'fascist' as he tries to convince protesters to dismantle tents

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Friday went to the Auraria Campus in an attempt to persuade the protesters to voluntarily dismantle their tents.

He failed.

“We are here to try to make sure we can help you all exercise your right to protest peacefully,” the mayor said.

To do that, the mayor said, the campus must be able to continue to operate.

Police officers later arrested more than two dozen pro-Palestinian protesters. They also cleared several tents that went up near the Tivoli building on the Auraria campus on Thursday, when the protesters made several demands, notably that the University of Colorado divest from corporations that operate in Israel.

In shift, appointed commission proposes cap on property-tax revenue increases

In his latest, Ed Sealover, editor of The Sum & Substance, writes about how the Commission on Property Tax pivoted, after five months of talks, decided to recommend slightly higher cap with the increasing likelihood of having to contend with a tax-revenue cap initiative on the November ballot. Here’s the gist:

Days after Sen. Chris Hansen floated a draft bill with tax reductions for commercial and residential properties but only a soft cap on revenue increases, the heads of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce and Special District Association of Colorado offered a new plan. The proposal, which drew wide support from commission members, would cap the growth of statewide property-tax revenues at 6% a year with some exceptions, while keeping intact the tax-assessment cuts for houses and commercial buildings offered in the first draft.

The message from backers of the plan was clear: If the commission can’t assure voters that scenarios like this year’s substantial spike in property-tax bills won’t happen again, those voters will put into place a 4% cap on property-tax revenue from Advance Colorado.

Federal judge bars gun evidence in criminal case due to Denver police's unconstitutional search

A federal judge last week barred the government from using evidence from a man’s backpack in his prosecution for illegally possessing a weapon, following a Denver police officer’s unconstitutional search.

The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures requires that law enforcement obtain a warrant or rely on a specific exception to the warrant requirement. To that end, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized officers, for their own safety, may search a person they have detained if they believe the suspect is armed and dangerous.

However, the government failed to show they needed to search Curron Terrier Jones’ backpack for safety reasons because he was handcuffed and physically separated from the bag when police opened it and discovered a handgun.