Colorado lawmakers wrapped up the 2026 legislative session on Wednesday with Democrats highlighting policy wins on affordability, health care, and public safety, while Republicans argued that the majority’s budget decisions worsened the state’s financial and business climate.

Lawmakers passed about 120 bills this legislative session amid federal funding cuts and a $1.2 billion budget deficit, leaving no wiggle room for excess spending.

Despite this, House and Senate Democrats say they delivered real results for the people of Colorado in areas such as affordability, health care, and education.

“With extraordinary and generational drought, inflation, unlawful federal overreach, and a significant budget crisis all weighing on our minds, lawmakers came together and we accomplished some amazing work,” said House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, who closed out her final year in the General Assembly on Wednesday.

Lawmakers tackled what McCluskie called “must-fix” issues, such as competency and artificial intelligence, as well as the caucus’s top priority for the session: making the state more affordable.

“Our focus on affordability will produce results for years to come,” McCluskie said, noting legislation prohibiting surveillance price and wage setting and making homes more resilient to hail, which plays a large role in the state’s skyrocketing homeowner’s insurance costs.

Senate President James Coleman said the Democratic-led legislature has worked hard since January to deliver results to families.

“This was a very difficult budget year. We faced a $1.2 billion deficit for the second year in a row, made worse by federal cuts that hit Colorado especially hard,” he said. “But unlike Washington, we know how to get things done in government, and every year we pass a balanced budget.”

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R‑Brighton, who serves on the Joint Budget Committee, agreed that the state passed a balanced budget but disagreed with how the money was allocated.

“The problem with our budget is the same problem you’d have if you gave your kids your credit cards and they maxed them out,” she said. “In this case, the kids are the Democrats. They max out our credit cards and then make only the minimum payment.”

Kirkmeyer argued that Democrats should have “cut spending, cut programs, cut taxes, and cut regulations.”

“We still have businesses leaving this state,” she added. “More than 100 businesses signed a letter saying Colorado is unfriendly to them. We are not open for business in the State of Colorado.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson highlighted his caucus’s accomplishments, including legislation addressing the state’s competency crisis, as well as what he described as a broader shift in the Capitol.

“There’s a growing recognition—even across the aisle—that the status quo isn’t working,” he said. “Republicans and Democrats worked together more than many people realize. That doesn’t mean we agreed on everything; we absolutely did not. But it does mean there’s increasing awareness in this building that Colorado cannot continue with division, rising costs, public frustration, and one‑party policymaking without accountability.”