Douglas County commissioners voted on Tuesday to explore establishing a home rule charter, arguing the move would allow the county to carve a path that is different than where the state is headed.    

Establishing home rule, officials said, gives commissioners and the county more local control.

“Douglas County seeks more local control, freedom from state laws via Home Rule Charter,” the county said in a news release.

If the county ultimately adopts its own home rule charter, it would become the first sole Colorado county to do so in more than 45 years. Only Pitkin and Weld counties are currently under home rule charters out of Colorado’s 64 counties.

“For too long, we have watched as reckless state policies have made Colorado less safe, less affordable and less free,” Commissioner Abe Laydon said at a news conference on Tuesday. “We are pursuing home rule status to assert our right to govern ourselves in the best interest of our people.” 

“We have seen a crisis of homelessness escalate because the state enables, rather than addresses the root causes,” he added, pointing to homelessness, immigration and property taxes as areaas that home rule counties could tackle differently.

Examples of what a home rule county can address range from retail bag fees, public health regulations, mask mandates and “sanctuary” policies, according to officials.

“I think the biggest benefit, from a legal standpoint, is self regulation — that we aren’t always at the mercy or direction of people who know nothing about the county,” Douglas County Attorney Jeffrey Garcia said. 

“So many issues that are really of local interest are now controlled by the state and moving in a direction that is not good for the people of Douglas County,” added Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle.

Douglas County voters would have to approve the creation of a home rule charter committee and the greenlight to adopt a new charter, according to a handbook distributed to all county commissioners by Colorado Counties, Inc.

The handbook noted that county home rule “does not include the kind of ‘functional’ home rule powers found in municipal charters.”

“Thus, state statute still determines the functions, services, and facilities provided by home rule counties,” the handbook said. 

Under Colorado law, citizens may establish their own government structure, including the number of commissioners, county employees, duties and compensation.

Still, the commissioners and staff must operate the county in accordance to a more structured home rule charter, limiting what the county can do compared to a municipality. For example, counties with a home rule charter don’t have unlimited ordinance-making powers like home rule cities.

Douglas County has set the special election date for June 24. The cost of that election is $500,000, according to officials.

The June 24 vote establishes a charter committee and selects its 21 members. If voters approved it, then a second vote on Nov. 4 would approve home rule charter language.

Douglas County’s home rule charter would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

Currently, there are 103 municipalities in Colorado that have adopted home rule charters. All Douglas County municipalities — excluding the Highlands Ranch metro district — already adopted home rule, according to county officials.

Denver and Broomfield also adopted home rule, given they both have dual city-county status.

Weld County’s home rule charter went into effect in 1976, while Pitkin established a home rule charter in 1978, according to their respective home rule charters.

Commissioner George Teal said the idea of adopting home rule was first mentioned during COVID-19. Around that time, in 2021, Douglas County voted to pull out from the Tri-County Health Department, once the state’s largest county-level public health agency, to create its own health agency.

“With our experiences during the COVID pandemic, the creation of our own public health department brought into sharp focus that we can do things like this here in Douglas County,” Teal said.