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Colorado Supreme Court bars proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado Supreme Court bars proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday confirmed a proposed ballot initiative to ban gender-affirming care for children will not appear on the November ballot, while another measure that would revamp the state's primary elections and implement ranked-choice voting remains eligible. The justices reached their conclusions on narrow procedural grounds, revolving around the deadline for seeking Supreme Court review and the limited types of challenges the court may hear under existing law. Both initiatives arrived at the Supreme Court after consideration by the Title Board, the three-member body that screens citizen-initiated ballot measures. The board's responsibility is to determine whether a proposed initiative contains a single subject, as the st...
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PERA’s investments bounce back in 2023, but the Colorado pension plan nets step backward
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State, The Colorado Sun

PERA’s investments bounce back in 2023, but the Colorado pension plan nets step backward

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s public employee pension system generated strong investment returns in 2023 — but its finances still deteriorated for the second time in five years as it struggles to bounce back from a miserable 2022. The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s investments grew by 13.4% in 2023, according to its annual financial report released Friday. That matches its 13.4% loss from a year earlier. But because the pension has to average 7.25% returns a year to meet its funding targets, the net result was a step backward for the chronically underfunded pension. PERA’s unfunded debt to members grew by $1.2 billion to $27.5 billion, the report shows. Its funding ratio — the amount of money it has in the bank relative to...
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‘I am 100% conservative’: Boebert predicts 4th District primary victory in call with supporters
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

‘I am 100% conservative’: Boebert predicts 4th District primary victory in call with supporters

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice When the dust settles in less than 24 hours on the Republican Party's primary election, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert intends to be the party's 4th District general election nominee. "We have definitely put in the work," she said during a Monday evening call with grassroots supporters. "I'm ready for a victory." While she brought the panache to the call, her campaign manager, Drew Sexton, noted his desire to tamper expectations until after election returns. "We're hopeful to bring it home tomorrow," he said. She is able to have high expectations, Boebert said, because of the effort put into the campaign, effort some didn't recognize, such as two opponents who criticized that she expected the campaign to be a "coronation". A Kaplan Strategies...
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A new rule aids ranchers in killing wolves attacking their livestock at night
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State, The Colorado Sun

A new rule aids ranchers in killing wolves attacking their livestock at night

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Colorado Parks and Wildlife will allow ranchers to use artificial light to aid in killing wolves caught in the act of attacking their livestock at night.  The change follows a 6-4 vote by the Parks and Wildlife commission at its meeting on June 13. The ruling is significant because wolves generally attack at night, yet ranchers have been unable to shoot them due to a statute that prevents hunters from shooting at an animal after dark and using artificial light.  Currently, livestock owners are allowed to use night vision technology to conduct hazing that doesn’t harm or kill a wolf. They’re also allowed to kill a wolf they catch it attacking livestock in daylight. The new rules gives them added support after dealing with wolv...
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Group tied to Kent Thiry drops $1.1 million into Colorado legislative primaries in final days before election
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State, The Colorado Sun

Group tied to Kent Thiry drops $1.1 million into Colorado legislative primaries in final days before election

By Sandra Fish and Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun A group tied to Kent Thiry, the wealthy former CEO of the Denver-based dialysis giant DaVita, is spending nearly $1.1 million on TV and digital ads in 13 state legislative races in the days leading up to Colorado’s primaries on Tuesday.  The money supports more moderate Democratic and Republican candidates in their races against their more liberal or conservative opponents.  Let Colorado Vote Action, a state-level super PAC, was created Monday and spent the money Wednesday on ads that were to begin Thursday. The committee reported the spending Friday night, meeting a 48-hour campaign finance disclosure deadline in the lead-up to the primary.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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As primary draws to a close, candidates are making final pitch to voters, asking for turnout
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

As primary draws to a close, candidates are making final pitch to voters, asking for turnout

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice From the far stretches of the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope and all places in between, candidates up and down the ballot have spent the past six months attempting to woo voters. At one time earlier this year, a dozen candidates were vying for the Republican nomination in the 4th District to replace U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, and others in less ballyhooed races worked no less hard to earn support for their party nomination. All the miles, chicken dinners, speeches, videos and ads culminate Tuesday in the election of party nominees to various offices - nominees Republicans hope can win in the general election this fall. So what is the final message candidates hope to leave with voters? What efforts did candidates make to get voters to cast ba...
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Colorado employers may finally have found enough workers, but 1.7 open jobs remain for every unemployed worker
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado employers may finally have found enough workers, but 1.7 open jobs remain for every unemployed worker

By Tamara Chuang | The Colorado Sun Colorado received some notable mentions in the latest national job-openings report. The state had the largest one-month increases in both workers who quit jobs or left involuntarily. That helped the state rank as the second highest in the nation for workers who quit jobs and third highest for those who lost them in April, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, or JOLTS. The last time the state hit a 3.5% quit rate was in the summer of 2021, when the Great Resignation took hold and employers faced the worst labor shortage in years. But the frustrations employers felt with getting ghosted by new hires back then doesn’t appear to be happening today, at least from what Tony Gagliardi is hearing. As state dire...
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Colorado to see ‘enormous decrease’ in revenue, less TABOR refunds because of new tax laws
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado to see ‘enormous decrease’ in revenue, less TABOR refunds because of new tax laws

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The latest revenue forecast for Colorado's state government reflected the effects of some of the 30 laws approved this year that changed tax policy, resulting in less revenue for state operations and decreased Taxpayer's Bill of Rights refunds to residents.  The overarching message is the 2024-25 budget was tight — and 2025-26 is going to be even tighter. And that doesn't yet include the potential effects to the state budget from two ballot measures that could require the state to backfill up to $3 billion to cover lost property tax revenue for school districts and local governments. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado tribes want to get into lucrative online sports betting. A dispute with the state is getting in the way.
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado tribes want to get into lucrative online sports betting. A dispute with the state is getting in the way.

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun Colorado tribes want to offer online sports betting. But their tax status, and other issues, has some people worried that allowing the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain tribes to offer remote wagering on professional sports might siphon valuable revenue away from Colorado water projects. The Colorado Department of Revenue declined to comment on the specifics of the dispute, while tribal representatives say they are frustrated with the state’s refusal to allow them to offer it. In November, a proposition referred to the ballot by lawmakers in House Bill 1436, will ask voters to allow the state to keep more of the revenue generated by sports gaming. Taxes collected on those bets, which were authorized in 2019, are projected to generate $34.2 million in t...
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Colorado wildlife officials confirm Grand County wolves have reproduced
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado wildlife officials confirm Grand County wolves have reproduced

By The Colorado Sun At least one pup has been born to a pair of wolves transplanted to Colorado from Oregon in December. Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Thursday evening said a gray wolf pup was spotted on June 18 in Grand County but said it is likely as many as five more were born. Biologists tracking location data noted in early April that a female’s collar had stopped uploading GPS coordinates, but then resumed sending data later in the month. This led the biologists to believe she was likely in a den. Though CPW did not release a photo or video footage of the pup, a news release said biologists had observed the area where the female’s collar was transmitting from the air and ground, using remote cameras and public reports. The biologists will continue to observe the denning ...
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