Capitol Coverage

With the election less than two months away, political rifts in Grand County mirror those across Colorado and the rest of the country. Changing demographics are exacerbating political differences and making it hard to focus on the issues that matter, even when Republicans and Democrats agree on them.

An annual poll released this week shows inflation, low wages, unaffordable housing, and expensive healthcare are major concerns for Latino voters in Colorado. Also on the list are abortion, immigration, and gun violence.

Gov. Jared Polis is calling lawmakers back to the statehouse for a special legislative session on property taxes for the second time in less than a year. It’s a response to a set of ballot measures that threaten to undermine the state’s tax system.

A bill backed by Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, Colorado’s first Mexican-born state lawmaker, would create a grant program for local organizations that help new arrivals get settled and connected with services like housing, healthcare, education and employment.

Gov. Jared Polis and state lawmakers rode a demonstration train Thursday in a renewed push to develop the Front Range Passenger Rail from Fort Collins to Pueblo. The northern section, from Fort Collins to Denver, could open to the public as soon as 2027.

For the second year in a row, high school students skipped class and headed to the statehouse to demand legislative solutions to gun violence. State lawmakers are considering several gun control bills, including one that would designate locations like schools, churches, recreation centers and the State Capitol as gun-free zones.

The northern Front Range has suffered from high rates of air pollution for decades. Three bills announced Thursday by Democratic state lawmakers would take steps to reverse that trend.

The Colorado Supreme Court blocked Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot next year because he incited an insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th 2021. Colorado's GOP is now threatening to skip the primary election.

The Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot next year because he incited an insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th 2021. The decision will likely now go to the US Supreme Court.

Automatic voter registration systems are in place across the country, but Native American reservations have historically been excluded—until now. State and tribal officials in Colorado are rolling out the first voter registration system of its kind for tribal members ahead of the 2024 presidential election.