DENVER — With a 4-3 vote, a bill that would allow certain offenders in Colorado to petition a court to reconsider their sentence advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon, following passionate testimony from former inmates and fierce opposition from those who believe victims would be put on the back burner as a result.
Senate Bill 26-115 would only apply to inmates who committed a crime when they were younger than 21, or those who are 60 or older. In both instances, the offenders must serve at least 20 years of their sentence before they can seek such a hearing.
Certain crimes would not be eligible for the second look hearing. Those include crimes that resulted in life without the possibility of parole sentences, inmates convicted of sex offenses, and crimes against children or first responders.
State Sen. Julie Gonzales, D — District 34, is the prime sponsor of the legislation. She told the Senate Judiciary Committee it would allow a judge to consider who a person is currently, while giving offenders the hope needed to encourage personal growth while incarcerated.
Gonzales is running the bill alongside State Sen. Mike Weissman, D — District 28, who said that sentencing is passing judgment on a person in the moment, but argued that decades later the emphasis should be on who the person has become.
A number of former inmates testified in support of the bill, sharing their own personal stories and explaining how they have changed over the years.
One of those people was Patrick Sanchez, who said he was 17 years old when he shot another person in the leg, and was convicted of attempted murder. Sanchez said he was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison, but was released early last January.
While incarcerated, Sanchez experienced the loss of a child, and said it completely changed his perspective.
“I like to say that I, with my actions and my choices, I behaved my way into prison. And when I thought nobody was looking, and making that conscious decision to do better and be better, I feel like I behaved my way out of prison,” Sanchez said.
Denver’s Micah Smith explored the intricacies of restorative justice during an episode of”Real Talk,” where two of the people who testified in support of SB26-115 shared their story:
Real Talk with Micah Smith, Episode 105: Restorative justice
Sanchez supports SB26-115, believing it will provide a light at the end of the tunnel for people staring down sentences that last decades.
“We can’t take it back, but what we can do is be the best person that we can. You know, moving forward, we can honor and pay homage to our victims by doing the right thing,” said Sanchez. “There’s so many men and women in there that are beyond deserving, far more than I am. But I’m here, so that’s why I’m here. I’m here to be the voice for them, for those that can’t be here.”
Meanwhile, representatives from the 23rd Judicial District spoke out against the bill, calling it a “massive step in the wrong direction” and a “betrayal of victims.”
District Attorney George Brauchler said the purpose of sentencing is punishment, not rehabilitation.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Nate Marsh said he tells victims at the start of any case that he will not be able to achieve justice for them because of Colorado laws. Marsh said this law would only make his job more difficult, and urged lawmakers to vote ‘no’ because the bill will strip the finality of a resolution from victims.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the sponsors told the committee the bill would prevent individuals from filing repetitive litigation, and reiterated that a judge would never be required to release an offender applying under the second look.
According to the fiscal note on the legislation, which compiled data from the Colorado Department of Corrections to determine how many inmates this would impact, there are approximately 98 offenders younger than the age of 21 when they committed their offense who have served over 20 years of their sentence. 203 offenders are 60 or older and have spent more than 20 years behind bars. Out of those two groups, 164 received murder convictions without the possibility of parole, meaning they would not be eligible for the sentence reconsideration.
That leaves 137 individuals who would be eligible to petition the court under the conditions of SB26-115.
The two Republicans on the committee, State Sen. Lynda Zamora Wilson and State Sen. John Carson, voted against moving the legislation forward, along with Democratic State Sen. Dylan Roberts.
SB26-115 heads to the Appropriations Committee for consideration next.
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Colorado state Rep. Ron Weinberg will face more scrutiny for allegations of unethical behavior following a vote of his peers Wednesday morning.
The House Ethics Committee found probable cause to further investigate two out of six allegations filed against Weinberg, a Loveland Republican, by fellow GOP Rep. Brandi Bradley. One surviving claim involves allegations that he copied or otherwise misused a master key that could access any of the offices of his fellow legislators and that he used the key to enter at least one member’s space.
The other still-active claim by Bradley alleges that Weinberg made sexually suggestive and inappropriate comments to her and others on multiple occasions.
Weinberg originally faced seven claims, but two of them were combined. The committee, made up of three Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously on all counts either to continue with or dismiss them.
Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat, said it was the pattern of alleged behavior, more than evidence around individual accusations, that warranted further discussion.
“There’s a pattern and practice of behavior here that suggests maybe some form of sexual harassment that crosses the line has happened,” Mabrey said.
That logic followed for accusations that Weinberg may have misused a master key to access areas of the building he normally wouldn’t be able to. Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, noted that legislative leaders had their offices rekeyed following the allegation — proof that suspicion was at least widespread enough to warrant further examination.
“They took action that they otherwise would not have taken,” Soper said. “And you don’t take action like that if you honestly don’t believe someone had ever had a key or had access to a key.”
Claims that Weinberg carried a gun in the Capitol and while drunk, both potentially crimes, were found to be unsubstantiated and dropped by the Ethics Committee. Claims that Weinberg accosted Bradley and was beligerent toward Rep. Stephanie Luck, also a Republican, during a 2025 committee meeting were also unsubstantiated as crossing ethical lines.
“Nothing this body has decided at this point determines one way or the other whether an ethics violation has occurred,” Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat, said. “It has simply found probable cause to proceed forward on those two points, and that’s all anyone should take away from this.”
Weinberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
He can request an evidentiary hearing to further investigate the claims against him, which would kick off more proceedings to determine if he breached ethical guidelines. If he does not make that request, the Ethics Committee will recommend to the House which actions, if any, it should consider taking against him, potentially including a reprimand, censure or removal.
Weinberg has denied all the accusations. He has characterized them as politically motivated to keep him from running for a leadership position within the Republican caucus.
The Secretary of State’s Office is conducting a separate investigation into whether Weinberg used campaign funds for personal expenses. The Ethics Committee considered claims regarding the alleged campaign finance violations but voted to defer to the Secretary of State’s investigation.
Weinberg has also faced other accusations that he sexually harassed two women prior to joining the General Assembly. Weinberg sued the women for defamation but dropped the suit in January.
He joined the legislature for the 2023 session after Rep. Hugh McKean died. Weinberg was then elected to a full term in 2024. He announced in January that he would not seek reelection this year.
Douglas County commissioners passed a measure Tuesday that requires hundreds of retail stores in unincorporated parts of the county to file a report with law enforcement when thieves rip them off.
But unlike an initial version of the law that was made public in December, the county will levy no fines on retailers for failing to do so — instead leaving any decision about punishment to a local court.
The first version of the law called for fines of $50, and all the way up to $1,000, for businesses that failed to report a crime. That caused some unease in the business community that Douglas County was overreaching.
Commissioner Abe Laydon said during the business meeting Tuesday that the ordinance was not meant to punish retailers but to keep the community safe.
“This is the most prosperous county in the state of Colorado — we don’t want us to become a target for organized crime,” he said. “When we tolerate organized retail theft, we normalize lawlessness.”
The latest rendition of the ordinance increased the time — from 24 hours to 96 hours — that businesses will have to report a theft. It also allows a retailer to report a crime via an online form rather than have police called to the scene.
That was enough to allay concerns from Chris Howes, the president of the Colorado Retail Council. In an attempt to make the measure more palatable to local businesses, he said his organization had some “fruitful discussions” with the county after the law was first unveiled.
“We don’t feel it punishes retail,” he said. “The focus on retail crime is overall going to be a benefit to us.”
District Attorney George Brauchler said he wants to get the message across that “we do not tolerate thieves.”
“If you come here to steal from us, plan on staying,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Business owners and citizens alike should know that we will continue to protect their property rights.”
Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said the ordinance is aimed at combating the recent trend of retail outlets, especially large ones, not reporting crime on their premises. The measure holds employers accountable for policies that discourage the reporting of theft and that might result in retaliation against an employee who does report a crime.
“When corporate policies prevent or discourage the reporting of theft, it limits our ability to investigate, identify patterns and hold offenders accountable,” Weekly said in a statement. “(This ordinance) reinforces the importance of timely reporting and evidence preservation while focusing on corporate entities rather than individual employees.”
DENVER — A bill that is expected to be introduced in the Colorado State Capitol within the next week would change how law enforcement responds to crashes where someone is seriously injured or killed.
“What people are just so blown away by, so upset about, is the only person ever tested that day was Magnus, the dead child. Not the person who killed him,” said Michael White, Magnus’ father, about Smilianska not receiving a sobriety test at the scene of the crash.
During the trial, prosecutors pointed to video evidence that showed Smilianska drinking late into the night prior to the crash.
“The individual blamed her car steering,” Michael White said about Smilianska’s original explanation that an issue with her car caused the crash. “So, for 20 months, that was a story until trial. That a car malfunctions, crashes into the back of our son, no drugs or alcohol suspected.”
The Whites believe if Smilianska would have been administered a breathalyzer at the scene of the crash, it would have changed their son’s case.
Submitted to Denver7
“We would have gotten to the truth faster. We wouldn’t have been waiting,” said Jill White, Magnus’ mother.
According to a report from The White Line, the nonprofit founded by the Whites in the wake of Magnus’ death, more than 80% of Coloradans are in favor of mandatory drug and alcohol testing after a serious crash.
Magnus’ Law would require law enforcement to offer drivers a breathalyzer test when responding to scenes where someone has been seriously injured or killed. The driver would have the ability to refuse that test.
“This is for every family after us that’s going to go through this, because this isn’t going to stop. It’s going to continue,” said Michael. “We hope to cut down the numbers with this, with this law, but also providing, you know, victims and their families a sense of justice and accountability.”
Denver7
State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D — District 8, is one of the legislators who will be sponsoring Magnus’ Law. Roberts said the bill has bipartisan support in the Senate.
“What we’re hoping with this bill is to ensure that every time there is a serious injury or a death as the result of a car crash that an officer needs to offer the driver of that crash a portable breath test or some sort of preliminary screening to see if there is potentially alcohol or other intoxicants involved,” said Roberts. “Let’s try to figure out the full picture of what’s going on here. Maybe it was truly an accident, but if there was foul play, if there was intoxication, we need to have that investigation, and that’s what the victims deserve.”
The bill would require every Colorado law enforcement officer to take that step at such crash scenes. When asked about what opposition lawmakers have heard so far related to the bill, Roberts said it is centered upon ensuring the new mandate would not infringe upon Constitutional rights.
Still, Roberts said pushback has been minimal so far.
“This is an idea that was included in a larger bill last year that didn’t move forward, but we heard a lot of really good feedback, and so we’ve been using that to craft this language,” said Roberts. “The groundwork that’s been laid for this bill has been very extensive, and I think it’s going to lead to very broad support here.”
Boulder
Parents of Magnus White say son feels ‘further away’ after driver’s conviction
Roberts does not expect there to be a cost associated with the bill, which is notable in a year where lawmakers are staring down a multi-million dollar budget shortfall.
“We’re hoping to just get this in the minds of officers, like we wished could have happened in Magnus’ case, of what’s going on here? Let me look at the evidence. Let me try to figure out what we could do to support justice in this case,” Roberts said.
For Magnus’ parents, this bill passing through the Colorado State Capitol would become part of their son’s legacy — a legacy they believe will save lives in the future.
“That’s the key difference. Is when somebody is impaired, that’s a crime. When there’s a crash, somebody’s at fault, but when there’s impairment, that’s a crime. And so that’s what we want to root out or detect at the very beginning,” Michael said.
Denver7 will update this article once the bill is introduced.
We are committed to shining a light on the dangers vulnerable road users face in Colorado.
In a special Denver7 report below, the White’s shared more about their foundation, The White Line, and how they are working to create a safe space for other impacted families to tell their stories.
Two Families. Two Cyclists. A Movement for Safer Streets
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colette Bordelon
Denver7’s Colette Bordelon covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on crime, justice and politics. If you’d like to get in touch with Colette, fill out the form below to send her an email.
DENVER — On the heels of protests that erupted across the nation related to federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, Colorado Democrats announced legislation they contend will protect civil rights.
On Monday, Democratic lawmakers from both the State Senate and House of Representatives rallied alongside community members and stakeholders to unveil a new package of bills that are intertwined with immigration in America.
The new bills have not been introduced yet, but legislators said they will increase “accountability” and “transparency” through the enforcement of violations when personal information is unlawfully shared, require reporting on the demographics of immigration detention centers, and enact protections from deportation when an individual is traveling to or from places like a school or courthouse.
“We are addressing gaps and loopholes that have been existing, that are harming our communities. Like when people’s information is being requested with subpoenas and they don’t even know that this is happening. We want transparency. We want to make sure that people know that there’s a request for their information,” said State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-District 57. “We also want to hold detention centers accountable when our community members don’t have access to water, food, or even comfortable temperatures — when it’s too hot or too cold. We’re also hearing of abuses of children, of women, of people in detention centers, and it is not allowed.”
Southwestern Colorado
Family detained by ICE in Durango endured ’36 hours in a dungeon’: Nonprofit
State Rep.e Yara Zokaie, D-District 52, explained an upcoming bill centered upon law enforcement and how “they can be our partners in holding bad actors accountable.”
“This bill will focus on law enforcement clearly identifying themselves, and yes, that means not wearing masks and concealing their face,” Zokaie told the crowd. “It will also state that law enforcement are to detain anyone who breaks the law, including federal officials, until an investigation can take place, and that is current law… Finally, this bill states that former ICE officials are disqualified from being POST-certified and from holding certain positions within the state, and that includes employment in law enforcement.”
One of the speakers at the press conference was Ousman Ba, who immigrated to America when he was six years old from Senegal in West Africa.
“For all of us that think about this American Dream — that we come here for a better life, better opportunities — and now we are fearful just stepping out of our doors, even being in our own homes because we don’t know who is going to be knocking at that door,” Ba told Denver7. “There’s so many immigrants like myself whose stories need to be heard, and right now their voices are threatened, and they might not be able to be here.”
Colorado Democrats announce legislation they claim will hold federal immigration agents accountable
Another bill discussed at the news conference that has been introduced is Senate Bill 26-005, which advocates said would essentially give an individual injured during civil immigration enforcement a path for legal recourse.
“It basically says, where you have rights, you have to have a remedy if the rights are violated,” said one of the Prime Sponsors of SB26-005, State Sen. Mike Weissman, D-District 28. “People may not believe it, but right now, if a federal officer, say, violates improper search and seizure or excessively uses force, or violates your due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, you don’t have a clear cut remedy to go to court and be compensated for harms that you have suffered in our country… The government makes the laws. That’s what we do in buildings like this, but the government and its agents have to follow the law, too. That’s what Senate Bill 5 is about.”
Weissman explained that if SB26-005 became law, an individual hurt during immigration enforcement actions could retain a lawyer and file a case in Colorado court.
According to Weissman, SB26-005 was being put together late last year, before the national spotlight was thrust onto Minnesota.
“We had seen enough going on in Colorado and in our country to know that that was important. Then the tragedies, the killings by government officials of innocent people in Minnesota only underscored the need for government officials to be held accountable if they violate people’s rights, up to and including wrongful death,” Weissman said.
Colorado attorney general launches new tool to report federal agent misconduct
SB26-005 advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday afternoon, after a 5-2 vote along party lines. Approximately 60 people signed up to testify during the hearing, which lasted more than three hours.
Opponents spoke to lawmakers during the hearing, with one person calling the bill “confusing” and going on to say that this is not safeguarding the immigrant community but discouraging law enforcement from doing their job.
Legislators were accused of political grandstanding by those opposed to the bill, who called it a way to “score points” against the federal government.
State Senator John Carson, R-District 30, explained his ‘no’ vote to the committee and his constituents. Carson said he does not doubt the bill is “well-intentioned,” but said the federal immigration officers are simply enforcing the law.
Carson’s colleague on the committee, State Sen. Lynda Zamora Wilson, R-District 9, also voted against advancing the bill. She told the crowd she feared it would cause a “chilling effect” in both state and federal law enforcement agents.
Meanwhile, State Senator Nick Hinrichsen, D-District 3, said this was the “easiest ‘yes’ vote I’ve ever taken.”
SB26-005 heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee next.
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colette Bordelon
Denver7’s Colette Bordelon covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on crime, justice and politics. If you’d like to get in touch with Colette, fill out the form below to send her an email.
DENVER — A throng of people — estimated at more than one thousand strong — marched through downtown Denver on Monday to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The 40th annual Marade, a blending of a parade and a march, took on a different tone this year amid the tense political climate in the country.
The Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day tradition in Denver began at City Park, in the shadow of the monument dedicated to the prominent civil rights leader.
“Dr. King was envisioning a world that was nonexistent at the time. We are reaping a harvest because of the sacrifices made by those who came before us, paving the way for all leaders to serve and make a difference,” said Colorado’s State Senate President James Coleman, D-District 33. “It was a dream of Representative Wilma Webb to make Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday here in Colorado, one of the first in the country to recognize it.”
“Whatever is going on in this country, we can solve it the same way that we’ve solved other things without violence. We can do it,” Wilma said. “We have to do the same things that Dr. King lived, worked, and died for.”
The Webbs said this year might be their last time participating as leaders of the Marade.
“It’s time for others to take up the charge,” Wellington said. “We’ll be here when you need us, but we’re not going to be here every year.”
As part of his speech, Wellington acknowledged Renee Nicole Good, who was born in Colorado Springs and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis earlier this month.
“You have to march to where the people make the decisions. And the decisions, in this case, are at the State Capitol,” Wellington said. “We need to de-mask ICE. And the only way to de-mask ICE is to do it at the legislature.”
Cesar Sabogal
Denver7’s Colette Bordelon speaks with Cameron Tolbertduring the Marade.
The federal immigration crackdown was one reason 25-year-old Cameron Tolbert spent his holiday at the Marade.
“I feel like a lot of people just take a day like this and say, ‘Oh, it’s just another day off work,’” Tolbert said. “Considering the current state of our nation right now, I just feel like it’s now more important than ever to be a part of things like this.”
Tolbert said there are moments where he is discouraged by the direction of the country, but on Monday he felt unified with the community.
“To see this many people come out from all different races, backgrounds, kids, older people, everybody… It makes me have hope for a better day in the future,” Tolbert said. “We’re not going to sit here and just let these types of things continue to go on.”
Cesar Sabogal
The Marade concluded at the Colorado State Capitol.
The crowd ended their march on the front steps of the Colorado State Capitol. Denver7 asked Coleman if there is a possibility for the state legislature to “de-mask” federal agents during the 2026 session.
“I think that can happen in our state legislature. I’m proud of the work that was done in our last legislative session to work on immigration policy and civil rights,” Coleman said. “I know there’s policy this year that’s coming to address more immigration challenges, and that is a part of the conversation — not allowing law enforcement in the State of Colorado to wear masks.”
Meanwhile, the Webbs left the crowd with a sentiment rooted in King’s ideology.
“We have to treat each and every one of us with love. That is a power,” Wilma said. “Love is a power, and it always conquers hate.”
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colette Bordelon
Denver7’s Colette Bordelon covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on crime, justice and issues impacting our climate and environment. If you’d like to get in touch with Colette, fill out the form below to send her an email.
DENVER — Law enforcement may one day need to obtain a warrant in order to search the data collected from license plate readers in Colorado during certain investigations, if a piece of legislation currently being drafted becomes law.
That’s the goal behind a new bill being introduced this year by State Sen. Judy Amabile, D-District 18.
“These are automated license plate readers, and they have very quickly become ubiquitous. They’re all over the place,” she said. “They’re being used in ways that are extremely helpful for law enforcement and that are going to benefit our communities in terms of community safety. But they are also being misused, and also they’re being used in a way that’s a little bit sloppy by some departments. And we want to be careful that we don’t inadvertently step on people’s privacy rights.”
The controversial cameras — made by Flock Group, Inc. — have contracts with nearly 100 law enforcement agencies throughout Colorado that use the safety technology.
In Denver, the data cannot be shared with the federal government, according to a new five-month extension of the city’s contract with camera maker Flock Group, Inc. announced in October.
Denver
Denver bans sharing of Flock camera data with the federal government
“I’m definitely not anti-Flock cameras or anti-license plate reader technology,” Amabile said. “I’m interested in making sure that we’re doing it the right way.”
According to Amabile, the bill would require law enforcement agencies to identify certain members who are allowed to search such databases.
“It will ask that a person in a law enforcement agency be tasked with — or maybe multiple people — be tasked with doing the searches, so that not every single employee will have access to this database. But you’ll have to have somebody who has been trained, who understands what the rules are, and who that person will be tasked with accessing the data and searching the data,” said Amabile.
In addition, the legislation would require law enforcement to detail a reason for searching the database along with identifying information about the case in question. If an investigation is extended past 24 hours, Amabile said law enforcement would have to obtain a warrant to search the Flock camera databases in most situations.
“We have, you know, exigent circumstances that are excluded from that need for a warrant. Like, somebody calls up and says, ‘My car just got stolen. Here’s the license plate number.’ Then law enforcement would be able to search the database right away for that,” Amabile explained. “So, if you give permission, if there is an emergency happening, then this designated person can search the database and begin the investigation to stop the crime.”
Politics
Denver mayor’s Flock contract sparks council backlash over transparency
Amabile said the warrant portion of the bill, which is still being drafted, has received the most pushback from stakeholders so far. Still, she expects to garner bipartisan support on the measure as it moves through the Colorado State Capitol.
“They talk about the horseshoe, where the right meets the left. I do have colleagues from the Republican side who absolutely do not want government to invade their privacy, and so we will be talking to both sides of the aisle on this bill, and I think we have a very good chance of having it have bipartisan support,” said Amabile.
The state senator believes the bill is a common-sense approach that will help ensure the public understands how the Flock cameras are being used in their community.
“It is not a ban on using these cameras. What it is is guardrails around the use of the cameras and also around the use of the data that they generate,” Amabile said. “I hope it gives people comfort that these cameras are being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes.”
Denver7 reached out to Flock Safety about the new Colorado bill, and received the following statement:
Flock Safety supports legislation that creates guardrails for how license plate recognition data is used and shared, while preserving the effectiveness of this important public safety tool. Flock is strongly in favor of common-sense regulation that preserves the ability of law enforcement to use these highly effective technologies, while requiring the sorts of safeguards and accountability mechanisms communities expect. We stand ready to be a resource to the legislature as they consider these important issues.
The 2026 Colorado legislative session begins on Jan. 14.
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colette Bordelon
Denver7’s Colette Bordelon covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on crime, justice and issues impacting our climate and environment. If you’d like to get in touch with Colette, fill out the form below to send her an email.
A conservative podcaster who’s trumpeted false election conspiracies and called for the execution of political rivals, including Gov. Jared Polis, has formally joined the Republican race to become Colorado’s next governor.
Joe Oltmann, who filed his candidacy paperwork Monday night, now seeks to participate in an electoral system that he has repeatedly tried to undermine.
He is the 22nd Republican actively seeking to earn the party’s nomination in June. It’s the largest gubernatorial primary field for a major party in Colorado this century, surpassing the GOP’s previous records set first in 2018, and then again in 2022 — and it comes as the party hopes to break Democrats’ electoral dominance in the state.
That field will almost certainly narrow in the coming months; four Republicans who’d filed have already dropped out. No more than four are likely to make it onto the ballot — either through the state assembly or by gathering signatures — for the summer primary, said Dick Wadhams, the Colorado GOP’s former chairman.
The size of the primary field doesn’t really matter, he said, because few candidates will actually end up in front of voters. Eighteen candidates filed ahead of the 2022 race, for instance, but just two were on the primary ballot.
On the Democratic side, a smaller field of seven active candidates is headlined by Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Polis is term-limited from running again.
For 2026, Wadhams counted only a half-dozen or so Republican candidates whom he considered “credible,” a qualifier that Wadhams said he used “very, very loosely”: Oltmann, state Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Mark Baisley, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, ministry leader Victor Marx, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and former Congressman Greg Lopez.
Wadhams said that other than Kirkmeyer, all of those candidates had either supported election conspiracies or a pardon for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk now serving a nine-year sentence for convictions related to providing unauthorized access to voting equipment.
Oltmann, of Castle Rock, has repeatedly — and falsely — claimed that the 2020 presidential election was not won by Democrat Joe Biden, while calling for the hanging of political opponents. He previously said he wanted to dismember some opponents to send a message, according to the Washington Post, before adding that he was joking.
In his Dec. 26 announcement video, Oltmann baselessly claimed that Democrats, who have won control of the state amid demographic shifts and anti-Trump sentiment, were in power in Colorado only because of election fraud.
He said Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, along with 9News anchor Kyle Clark, were part of a “synagogue of Satan.” Polis and Griswold are both Jewish.
In his announcement, Oltmann painted an apocalyptic picture of the state and said he hoped that three of its elected leaders — Polis, Griswold and Weiser — would all be imprisoned. He pledged to eliminate property taxes, to focus on the “have-nots” and to pardon Peters, whom President Donald Trump has also sought to release by issuing a federal pardon that legal experts say can’t clear Peters of state convictions.
Oltmann’s decision to join the field is an example of “extreme candidates” from either major party “who file to run but will go nowhere,” predicted Kristi Burton Brown, another former state GOP chair. She now sits on the Colorado State Board of Education.
She said the size of the Republican primary field was a consequence of Republicans’ difficulties winning statewide races in Colorado. Democrats have won all four constitutional elected offices for two straight election cycles.
Burton Brown said it “might be a good idea moving forward” to require candidates to do more than just submit paperwork to run for office. That might include a monetary requirement: She said she didn’t support charging candidates significant sums but thought that “requiring some skin in the game” could prevent “unreasonable primaries.”
The 2026 election comes as state and national Democrats search for a path forward after Trump’s reelection last year.
Approval polling for leading Colorado Democrats has sagged this year, and voters here hold unfavorable views of both the Democratic and Republican parties that are roughly equal, according to a November poll.
Wadhams said that the odds were “very difficult” for any Republican gubernatorial candidate next year. While approval for Polis and other Democrats has declined, support for the Republican standard-bearer — Trump — is far lower in the state. In last year’s election, Colorado was a largely blue island in a broader national red wave.
To have a real shot of winning in 2026, Wadhams argued, the GOP needed to nominate someone for governor who could sidestep anti-Trump sentiment and press on the issues driving voter discontent. Running more divisive candidates in a blue state, he warned, would risk harming Republicans’ chances in down-ballot races the statehouse or in races for Congress.
“There seems to be an opening for Republicans we haven’t seen for a while,” he said. “But that opening will only exist if we have candidates who won’t get pulled into this conspiracy stuff and this Tina Peters stuff. Because those are nonstarters. They’re sure losers.”
DENVER (AP) — Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the former senator and U.S. representative of Colorado known for his passionate advocacy of Native American issues, died Tuesday. He was 92.
Campbell died of natural causes surrounded by his family, his daughter, Shanan Campbell, confirmed to The Associated Press.
Campbell, a Democrat who stunned his party by joining the Republican Party, stood out in Congress as much for his unconventional dress — cowboy boots, bolo ties and ponytail — as his defense of children’s rights, organized labor and fiscal conservatism.
A member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, Campbell said his ancestors were among more than 150 Native Americans, mostly women, children and elderly men, killed by U.S. soldiers while camped under a flag of truce on Nov. 29, 1864.
He served three terms in the House, starting in 1987. He then served two terms in the Senate, from 1993 to 2005.
Among his accomplishments was helping sponsor legislation upgrading the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in southern Colorado to a national park.
“He was a master jeweler with a reputation far beyond the boundaries of Colorado,” said Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper on X. “I will not forget his acts of kindness. He will be sorely missed.”
Campbell was seen as a maverick
The motorcycle-riding lawmaker and cattle rancher was considered a maverick even before he abruptly switched to the Republican Party in March 1995, angry with Democrats for killing a balanced-budget amendment in the Senate. His switch outraged Democratic leaders and was considered a coup for the GOP.
“I get hammered from the extremes,” he said shortly afterward. “I’m always willing to listen … but I just don’t think you can be all things to all people, no matter which party you’re in.”
Considered a shoo-in for a third Senate term, Campbell stunned supporters when he dropped out of the race in 2004 after a health scare.
“I thought it was a heart attack. It wasn’t,” said Campbell. “But when I was lying on that table in the hospital looking up at all those doctors’ faces, I decided then, ‘Do I really need to do this six more years after I’ve been gone so much from home?’ I have two children I didn’t get to see grow up, quite frankly.”
He retired to focus on the Native American jewelry that helped make him wealthy and was put on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. He also worked on a line of outdoor gear with a California-based company, Kiva Designs, and became a senior policy adviser with the powerhouse law firm of Holland & Knight in Washington.
Campbell founded Ben Nighthorse Consultants which focused on federal policy, including Native American affairs and natural resources. The former senator also drove the Capitol Christmas Tree across the country to Washington, D.C., on several occasions.
“He was truly one of a kind, and I am thinking of his family in the wake of his loss,” said Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette on X.
An accidental politician
In 1982, he was planning to deliver his jewelry to California, but bad weather grounded his plane. He was killing time in the southern Colorado city of Durango when he went to a county Democratic meeting and wound up giving a speech for a friend running for sheriff.
Democrats were looking for someone to challenge a GOP legislative candidate and sounded out Campbell during the meeting. “Like a fish, I was hooked,” he said.
His opponent, Don Whalen, was a popular former college president who “looked like he was out of a Brooks Brothers catalog,” Campbell recalled. “I don’t think anybody gave me any kind of a chance. … I just think I expended a whole lot of energy to prove them wrong.”
Campbell hit the streets, ripping town maps out of the Yellow Pages and walking door to door to talk with people. He recalled leaving a note at a house in Cortez where no one was home when he heard a car roar into the driveway, gravel flying and brakes squealing.
The driver jumped out, tire iron in hand, and screamed that Campbell couldn’t have his furniture. “Aren’t you the repossession company?” the man asked.
“And I said, ‘No man, I’m just running for office.’ We got to talking, and I think the guy voted for me.”
Campbell went on to win and he never lost an election thereafter, moving from the Colorado House to the U.S. House and then the Senate.
Born April 13, 1933, in Auburn, California, Campbell served in the Air Force in Korea from 1951 to 1953 and received a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University in 1957. He attended Meiji University in Tokyo from 1960 to 1964, was captain of the U.S. judo team in the 1964 Olympics and won a gold medal in the Pan American Games.
Campbell once called then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt a “forked-tongued snake” for opposing a water project near the southern Colorado town of Ignacio, which Campbell promoted as a way to honor the water rights of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes.
He clashed with environmentalists on everything from mining law and grazing reforms to setting aside land for national monuments.
Despite all this — or perhaps because of it — voters loved him. In 1998, Campbell won reelection to the Senate by routing Democrat Dottie Lamm, the wife of former Gov. Dick Lamm, despite his switch to the GOP. He was the only Native American in the Senate at the time.
Campbell insisted his principles didn’t change, only his party
He said he was criticized as a Democrat for voting with Republicans, and then pilloried by some newspapers for his stances after the switch.
“It didn’t change me. I didn’t change my voting record. For instance, I had a sterling voting record as a Democrat on labor. I still do as a Republican. And on minorities and women’s issues,” he said.
Campbell said his values — liberal on social issues, conservative on fiscal ones — were shaped by his life. Children’s causes were dear to him because he and his sister spent time in an orphanage when his father was in jail and his mother had tuberculosis.
Organized labor won his backing because hooking up with the Teamsters and learning to drive a truck got him out of the California tomato fields. His time as a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy in California in the late 1960s and early ’70s made him a law enforcement advocate.
His decision to retire from politics, Campbell said, had nothing to do with allegations that Ginnie Kontnik, his former chief of staff, solicited kickbacks from another staffer and that his office lobbied for a contract for a technology company with ties to the former senator.
He referred both matters to the Senate Ethics Committee. In 2007, Kontnik pleaded guilty to a federal charge of not reporting $2,000 in income.
“I guess there was some disappointment” with those charges, Campbell said. “But a lot of things happen in Washington that disappoint you. You just have to get over them because every day there’s a new crisis to deal with.” ___ This story has been corrected to remove a reference to a massacre occurring at Great Sand Dunes National Monument. The massacre that was referenced took place at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.
Immigrant activist Jeanette Vizguerra is on the precipice of being released from an immigration detention facility after an immigration judge ruled Sunday that she can post bail.
Denver immigration judge Brea Burgie set Vizguerra’s bail at $5,000, but she included no other restrictions, like an ankle monitor. Her family intends to immediately post the bond, her legal team said in a statement. She likely won’t be released for at least 24 to 48 hours, said Jenn Piper, the program co-director for the American Friends Service Committee of Denver. Still, Burgie’s ruling means Vizguerra, a mother of four children, will be home by Christmas.
The order comes two days after Vizguerra’s legal team argued that the activist, who was born in Mexico and has spent most of the last 28 years in the United States, posed no flight risk and was not a danger to the community. She has been detained in the Aurora detention center since March, when she was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at her work.
Vizguerra’s legal team said Sunday that Burgie found that Vizguerra “does not pose a danger to the community,” nor did she pose a flight risk, given her “strong family and community ties” and her previous compliance with court proceedings.
Vizguerra’s bail hearing took place Friday because of the order of a separate federal judge last week. When her family posts bail, Vizguerra will be released while her broader legal efforts to stay in the country — and fight her deportation — play out in both immigartion and federal court.
An activist who received national attention when she sheltered in a Denver church for years during President Donald Trump’s first term, Vizguerra was named one of TIME’s most influential people in 2017. Earlier this year and while in detention, she won a humanitarian award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization.
Vizguerra’s supporters have held regular vigils for her outside of the detention center for months.
An immigration judge will decide in the coming days whether to temporarily release an immigrant rights activist after a Friday bail hearing that was delayed when authorities tried to block media access to the courtroom.
Attorneys representing Jeanette Vizguerra told the judge, Brea Burgie, that government lawyers had provided no evidence that Vizguerra posed a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Vizguerra, a nationally renowned activist, has been in the Aurora detention center since her March arrest, and her attorneys reiterated their allegations Friday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intentionally targeted Vizguerra because of her public profile and advocacy. They asked Burgie to release Vizguerra, who was born in Mexico and does not have proper legal status, on bail while the rest of her immigration case proceeds.
“Detention is not justified,” said Laura Lichter, one of Vizguerra’s lawyers.
Shana Martin, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, argued that Vizguerra should continue to be detained indefinitely because, Martin said, she was both dangerous and a flight risk. Martin pointed to Vizguerra’s criminal conviction for using a fake Social Security card so she could work, as well as to traffic violations, as evidence that she “shows a lack of respect for authority.”
One of Vizguerra’s daughters recently joined the Air Force, and Vizguerra applied for a form of legal status based on her daughter’s military service. Martin said that application has been denied — something Lichter said was news to Vizguerra and her lawyers.
Lichter said after the hearing that she’d never seen that type of application denied in a case like Vizguerra’s. She told Burgie that the denial was “fantastic evidence” of the government’s bias against her client.
CIting the extreme complexity of the case, Burgie said she would issue a written decision on whether to grant bail to Vizguerra at a later date. The Denver judge appeared remotely in the Aurora detention center’s hearing room.
As Vizguerra waited in a hallway outside the courtroom, she blew a kiss to family members and waved to supporters.
The hearing came two days after a U.S. District Court judge ordered federal officials to provide Vizguerra with a bail hearing before Christmas.
Proceedings were delayed Friday morning after personnel at the detention center, which is privately run by the Geo Group, told reporters and supporters that they couldn’t enter the courtroom. It’s typically open to observers, family members of detainees and journalists who provide photo ID and go through a security checkpoint.
Earlier Friday morning, a Denver Post reporter was waiting for an escort to the courtroom when a Geo Group lieutenant approached and asked what courtroom he was visiting. When the reporter said he was there to watch the Vizguerra hearing, the lieutenant told him the courtroom was full and escorted him back to the lobby.
Juan Baltazar, the facility’s warden, later told reporters that they wouldn’t be allowed into the courtroom “partially” because of space constraints, as well as because of unspecified “safety and security” concerns.
Geo personnel also closed and locked a gate leading into the facility, with an armed guard later controlling access. The gate was not closed on several earlier visits by The Post earlier this fall. Guards on Friday were dressed entirely in black, a change from their standard blue shirts.
Baltazar said ICE officials had called and verbally ordered Geo personnel to allow in only lawyers, family and witnesses. He said the limitations were put into place “because of the attention (this case) is getting.”
When Lichter pressed him about what safety or security risk was posed by reporters, Baltazar said questions would have to be directed to ICE.
“Everybody has a boss,” he said.
After continued prodding by Lichter, facility personnel eventually relented and allowed in several reporters, along with a handful of Vizguerra’s supporters.
Messages sent to Steve Kotecki, Denver’s ICE spokesman, and to a regional ICE representative were not immediately returned.
Immigration authorities must provide detained activist Jeanette Vizguerra with a bail hearing in the next week, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in Denver.
The order offers an avenue for potential temporary release for Vizguerra, an immigrant without proper legal status who has spent nine months in federal immigration detention.
The activist was arrested in March and has been fighting efforts by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and deport her ever since. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang requires that authorities give Vizguerra the opportunity to seek a temporary release before an immigration judge in Aurora’s detention center by Christmas Eve.
Her hearing is currently set for Friday morning, according to one of her attorneys, Laura Lichter.
If granted bail, Vizguerra would be released from detention while her immigration case continues to wind its way through the courts. Because Vizguerra is fighting her deportation both in federal court and in immigration court, it will likely be “many months or even years” before her case is fully resolved, Wang said.
The Mexico-born activist has lived in the United States for more than 30 years and has repeatedly fought attempts to deport her, though she accepted a voluntary departure in 2011. During the first Trump administration, she sought shelter in a Denver church and was named by TIME as one of the most influential people of 2017. She left the church’s sanctuary and was given reprieves by ICE.
But early in Trump’s second term, she was arrested in March in what her attorneys have argued was an intentional effort to detain and deport her because of advocacy that’s protected by the First Amendment. Her detention was celebrated by ICE on social media, and one agent allegedly told her, “We finally got you.”
In Wednesday’s order, Wang said Vizguerra’s allegations that she was targeted specifically because of her speech raised “serious due process concerns.”
DENVER — For the second year in a row, Colorado is staring down a daunting budget deficit — and the governor believes cuts to Medicaid are one solution to balancing the budget.
The solution, however, feels more like a problem for many Colorado families worried about what it may mean for the future.
The presentation began by setting the stage for the situation, where Gov. Polis cited the federal government shutdown, tariffs, and H.R. 1 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) as factors that hurt Colorado’s budget.
“These actions, combined with large increases in Medicaid costs, are straining the General Fund. Difficult choices are needed to address these impacts and protect the progress we have made,” Gov. Polis said in his presentation.
A special session was held in August to address the state’s $1.2 billion budget hole, which was created by tax changes made in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Act (H.R.1). As a result, Colorado will collect less revenue than expected when lawmakers approved the state budget in May.
Some of that $1.2 billion revenue loss was absorbed by the state education fund and the affordable housing fund. Around $300 million that the state had in surplus, which would have been refunded to taxpayers, will now be used to help fill the gap. That left lawmakers with a budget gap estimated to be around $783 million.
Democratic legislative leaders and Polis had a three-pronged approach to address the budget gap:
Cut special corporate tax breaks
Dip into the state’s reserves
Make spending cuts
During the special session, lawmakers cut corporate tax breaks by about $250 million. They left it to Polis to make the spending cuts and to determine how much to borrow from state reserves.
The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), which administers Colorado’s Medicaid program, makes up roughly one third of the total General Fund appropriations for the next Fiscal Year.
As a result, in part, HCPF will see more than $79 million in cuts. About $38 million of that will come from freezing an increase in provider reimbursement rates that kicked in on July 1.
Then, an executive order from the end of October “initiated an additional $537 million in budget reductions to HCPF, most of which will begin this fiscal year to quickly realize savings to address the state’s current and future budget challenges,” according to the department.
HCPF has proposed several changes within budget requests targeted at saving money and the sustainability of programs. Their proposal was guided by a certain framework created by the department that aims to “avoid draconian cuts.”
As part of that framework, data analytics were employed to find trends in cost increases and examine why those increases were occurring.
“Medicaid is the fastest growing part of this budget that we present, considerably faster than education spending, the other big element,” Polis told the JBC on Wednesday. “You have to dig deeper within Medicaid. There are some costs that are not increasing more than others, and there are some that are… There’s some elements of Medicaid that have remained static and are sustainable. There’s other aspects that are not. We can’t just paint Medicaid with one broad stroke.”
Jim Waltz
Governor Jared Polis presented his budget proposal to the Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday morning.
According to Polis, his proposal would protect the 1.2 million eligible Coloradans who are covered by Medicaid, as well as those who qualify in the future.
The overview of the budget requests for Fiscal Year 2026-27 reports that caseload costs within Medicaid are “growing faster than revenues will allow without crowding out other uses of the General Fund.” It continues to say that since Fiscal Year 2018-19, the General Fund appropriations for Medicaid have “grown far faster than inflation.”
Members of the JBC had concerns about Polis’ proposal following the presentation.
“My concern about the cuts that have already been made, and about what we’re looking at going forward, is that we are impacting our most vulnerable populations in the state,” said State Senator Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat. “Some of the people who have been reaching out to me have been talking about how they have a person that they care for that requires 24/7 care. They will literally not be able to survive… I just wonder what the long-term consequences are of the decisions that we’re making today that will restrict the kind of care that our most vulnerable populations are getting. And whether we are going to be driving more people into institutional settings, which are a lot more expensive than having people receive care in a less restrictive setting.”
State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican who represents Larimer and Weld counties, said she did not have many questions for Polis. Instead, she had comments she wanted the committee to consider.
“Last year, I asked you why I should think your budget was serious. This year, I definitely don’t think this budget is serious,” Kirkmeyer said. “We know where you used to balance the budget on the backs of students. Now you’re balancing the budget on the backs of people who rely on Medicaid, and you’re jeopardizing health care for everybody.”
Kirkmeyer called on the JBC to “do the right thing” and “build a budget that works for the people of this state.”
Denver7 asked Polis for a response to Kirkmeyer’s comments. His team sent Denver7 the statement below:
Gov. Polis is doing everything he can to lower the cost of healthcare. Senator Kirkmeyer can’t have it both ways and has generally voted to expand the size of government — pushing the state to make unsustainable spending decisions, and ignoring the impacts of H.R. 1 and the disastrous effects it will have on Coloradans’ access to healthcare. Governor Polis submitted a responsible, balanced budget proposal that fully funds schools, funds public safety improvement and increases funding for Medicaid to ensure our most vulnerable Coloradans continue to have access to the care they need and deserve, now and in the future.
Ally Sullivan, spokesperson for Governor Jared Polis’ Office
Meanwhile, 3-year-old Jackson Roberts was preparing for his weekly physical therapy appointment.
“Jackson, he cannot independently walk on his own, and so this is just kind of building that stability and the muscles that he needs in his legs to build up the endurance,” said his mother, Ciara Stewart. “Jackson has two extremely rare genetic mutations, and that has caused a multitude of brain deformities, severe developmental delays. “He is nonverbal. He is nonambulatory. But outside of all of the craziness that we endure, you know, Jackson is a smart, happy and joyful kid who’s full of potential.”
This year alone, Stewart said her son had spinal and eye surgery.
“It’s hard because I’m doing everything I can to give him every single opportunity to thrive and to grow and stand up, to be included in everyday activities,” Stewart said. “Being a first-time mom, this is not exactly what you dreamt of life to be, and you just have to like mold to the new reality and become the better version of the parent that your special needs child needs you to be.”
Stewart told Denver7 Medicaid has been their lifeline.
“If it wasn’t for Medicaid and these programs, we wouldn’t be able to afford these things for him,” Stewart said.
Stewart fears for the future of Medicaid in Colorado, specifically when it comes to Community Connector Services, a program that supports children learning how to safely and independently access their communities.
“What affects my son the most is Community Connector cuts that allows us to engage in the community in a safe way, and it gives us those resources that we need to be successful in an environment that’s not entirely sculpted for children like my son,” Stewart said.
Jim Waltz
Three-year-old Jackson Roberts relies on Medicaid.
“This will ensure that parental responsibilities are taken into account with this service, while allowing age-appropriate members to make meaningful connections within their communities,” the document states.
Stewart disagrees.
“Community Connector doesn’t replace a parent responsibility. It empowers it, at the end of the day,” she said. “It is a blessing and a half to see my son be able to navigate our home and communities and his school more independently.”
Ultimately, Stewart believes cuts to Medicaid would be felt throughout the entire Colorado community.
“I understand that budget cuts have to happen, and I just hope that they just don’t end up being as drastic as what it’s looking like. Because it’s not just my family, it’s thousands of families, thousands of disabled children, thousands of disabled adults,” said Stewart. “It’s not just an effect on families. It ripples through the economies and our communities as well.”
What exactly the future holds for Colorado health care programs is still uncertain, since the budget process is far from over.
In January, state departments can request adjustments to their appropriations from the JBC for the fiscal year ahead. Such requests are called supplementals, which are bills that can be introduced into the legislative session in early February.
Once the JBC has settled on their recommendations, the result is the Long Bill — the legislation that details the state budget. That is typically introduced into the session by late March or early April.
Related coverage:
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In the last budget that Gov. Jared Polis will usher through from conception to enactment, the term-limited Democrat hopes to wrestle down ever-rising Medicaid costs, he said Friday in unveiling his proposal.
It’s a plan that proposes clamping down on dental benefits, requiring prior authorization for more services and making payment changes affecting home health services. Elsewhere, Polis hopes to revive his often-proposed — and never accepted by the legislature — idea of privatizing Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s workers’ compensation insurance program, to generate hundreds of millions of dollars.
Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Coloradans, has been gobbling an ever-bigger chunk of the overall state budget for years. It’s growing at a rate that’s double the overall spending growth allowed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
If left unchecked, Medicaid costs could end up dwarfing all other spending in the state in the next 15 years, leaving almost no money for any services that aren’t directly related to education or health care, according to the governor’s office.
“This gets worse if we don’t fix it,” Polis said Friday.
The governor’s overall budget proposal for the 2026-27 fiscal year includes a total spending request of more than $50.6 billion, up from $48 billion in the current fiscal year, which goes through June 30. Most of that is already spoken for as pass-through spending or other obligations.
The general fund, which covers most day-to-day spending, would grow from about $18.2 billion to $18.6 billion under Polis’ proposal.
Polis’ announcement of his proposal represents a starting point for the state’s next spending plan, which will cover July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. He will unveil an amended proposal in January as the state updates economic projections.
Then the legislature will have its say, starting with the powerful Joint Budget Committee.
Four of the committee’s six members are seeking higher office in the 2026 election, making this budget an even more pitched-than-usual declaration of political values. The legislature will vote on the final budget in the spring.
Early forecasts have the body needing to make up a nearly $1 billion gap — again — between planned spending and what the state is allowed to spend under the growth cap set by TABOR. This tight budget year follows an August special session where lawmakers needed to fill a $783 million hole opened up in the current fiscal year by federal tax changes signed into law by President Donald Trump over the summer.
Trying to rein in Medicaid
Polis said a key hope of his budget proposal is to bring growth in Medicaid spending in line with the overall growth in state spending allowed by TABOR. Over the past decade, the state constitution has limited total state spending to growth by an average 4.4% per year.
Medicaid spending has grown at double that rate, 8.8%. In that period, general fund spending on Medicaid has grown from about $2.4 billion $5.5 billion per year.
In his proposal, Polis would increase state Medicaid spending by about $300 million. That increase alone represents more spending than several executive agencies’ combined budgets — but would still be half as steep as Medicaid’s projected growth without changes to the program.
A Medicaid sign is displayed in the hallway at Clinica Family Health on Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Adams County, Colorado. (Photo by Eli Imadali/Special to The Denver Post)
Polis said he wants to lower overall spending on Medicaid services without touching how much individual providers are paid for services. Proposed changes include annual caps of $3,000 on dental benefits, which Polis noted would be double the cap that existed in 2023; adding prior authorization to some services; and changing how payment is calculated for home health nursing and therapy services.
Several of those proposals are extensions of executive orders he issued to help shore up the most recent budget trouble in August.
“There have been a number of benefits that have been added (to Medicaid) in recent years, and some of those are not sustainable over time,” Polis said.
His administration has also been working with national consultants to examine how Colorado’s Medicaid spending has differed from national trends. That report should be available in the New Year.
Pushing to privatize Pinnacol … again
In another key element of his proposal, Polis is looking to restart a fight from last year over converting the state’s quasi-governmental workers’ compensation insurance program to a fully private enterprise.
Polis’ office predicted the Pinnacol Assurance spin-off, if completed, would generate at least $400 million for the state. About half of that would go to pay for the homestead property tax exemption, while the rest would go to state maintenance and to balance the budget.
Pinnacol acts as an “insurer of last resort” for employers in high-risk industries. The firm is generally not allowed to refuse to insure employers or cancel policies, but it can operate only within Colorado’s borders.
Polis restarted the conversation last year with arguments that Pinnacol was hamstrung from competing in today’s markets, where employers are less bound by state borders than ever. Turning the quasi-state agency into a private firm would also equal a payday for a cash-strapped state.
The effort petered out when the idea didn’t win much traction during the legislative session — though Polis hinted later that he hadn’t given up on the effort.
This year, Polis said the money would help the state keep its property tax break for certain long-term homeowners, known as the homestead exemption. The tax break is usually paid for using the state’s TABOR surplus, but the state won’t have one this year, Polis said.
“Nearly every other state has moved in this direction for reasons that are very important to employees and employers,” Polis said. “For Pinnacol to be able to continue to serve as our insurer of last resort, we have to be able to allow them to write interstate business, to take some of the same steps that can reduce overhead and produce better value to employees that other states have done.”
Opponents to the move worry that taking Pinnacol private would weaken protections for workers and employers in the state. The insurer essentially acts as a social safety net for industries that otherwise couldn’t obtain coverage, they argued last year.
This year, opponents are warning that privatizing the insurer and taking a portion of the money — potentially hundreds of millions of dollars — would be unconstitutional because the money isn’t the state’s to take.
“Pinnacol’s assets were built from employer premiums, not tax dollars,” said Stephanie Tucker, an attorney and president of the Workers’ Compensation Education Association, in a statement. “These funds belong to the employers who paid premiums and (to) injured workers, not the state. Privatization without clear legal authority could result in years of litigation and uncertainty for both Pinnacol and the state of Colorado.”
State officials have a different interpretation. The state “has an obligation” to get value for Pinnacol if it’s spun off, Mark Ferrandino, the head of the Office of State Planning and Budgeting, said.
Polis said he’s been briefed on the legal question and his staff classified it as a “very low litigation risk.”
Gov. Jared Polis is still trying to find a way to comply with a federal immigration subpoena, four months after a Denver judge ruled that doing so would violate Colorado law.
In repeated court filings, including one submitted Friday, Polis’ private attorneys have said they intend to turn over records on 10 businesses that employed several sponsors of unaccompanied children to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They’ve asked a Denver judge, who previously prohibited some state employees from complying with ICE’s subpoena, to dismiss the case and clear the way for them to turn over a more limited batch of records.
The recent filings represent the second attempt by Polis to comply with the April immigration enforcement subpoena. The governor’s first attempt was blocked by District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones in June, after Jones sided with a senior state employee who’d sued Polis earlier that month to stop the state from fulfilling the subpoena.
The employee, Scott Moss, argued that providing the requested records would violate state laws that limit what information can be shared with federal immigration authorities.
But though Jones preliminarily sided with Moss, his ruling is complicated. He prohibited Polis from directing a specific division of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to comply with the subpoena. But he said he couldn’t prevent Polis from directing others to comply with the subpoena, even though Jones said doing so would still likely violate the law.
The records that Polis now says he intends to turn over to ICE are in the custody of another labor department division not covered in Jones’ order.
In an email Tuesday, Polis spokeswoman Shelby Wieman declined to comment on the case or why Polis is still seeking to provide records to ICE. She pointed to the administration’s recent legal filings.
The administration has previously said it wanted to support ICE’s efforts to check on unaccompanied minors without legal status, though the governor’s office has not provided any evidence that it has sought assurances that ICE wasn’t seeking the information purely for immigration enforcement efforts.
David Seligman, whose law firm has supported the case, criticized the governor’s decision to seek the lawsuit’s dismissal while indicating his intention to turn over records to ICE. While ICE wrote that it wanted detailed employment records so it could check on the well-being of unaccompanied children, Seligman and Moss, the employee who brought the lawsuit, have argued that the agency only wants the information so it can arrest and deport the children’s sponsors.
“It is absolutely absurd that this governor would be going out of his way to comply with and cooperate with ICE in light of everything that we’re seeing right now,” Seligman said.
Moss has since left the department, and Polis’ lawyers now argue that no one associated with the case has a legal standing to challenge compliance with the subpoena. They’ve also argued that they can turn over the records because the employers’ addresses and contact information can be found online.
The records are only part of the broader swath of personal details that ICE initially requested, and they cover only six of the 35 sponsors for which ICE first sought records. The sponsors are typically family members of children without legal status, who care for the minors while their immigration cases proceed.
The administration has similarly told ICE officials that it intends to comply with part of the subpoena once the lawsuit is concluded. In a July 11 email, Joe Barela, the head of the Department of Labor and Employment, wrote to a special agent in ICE’s investigative branch that the agency planned to “provide your office with the names and contact information for those 10 employers.”
Jones must now rule on whether to dismiss the lawsuit or let it proceed. Between June and early September, Recht Kornfeld, the private law firm Polis hired to represent him in the lawsuit, has billed the state for more than $104,000, according to records obtained by The Denver Post through a public records request.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has said it was unable to represent Polis because of legal advice it provided to the governor related to complying with the subpoena. The office has declined to characterize the nature of that advice.
The subpoena was sent to the state labor department in April as part of what ICE described as essentially a welfare check of unaccompanied minors in the state. The subpoena sought employment and personal records for the children’s sponsors.
Initially, administration officials decided not to comply with the subpoena because of the state’s laws limiting such contact. But Polis abruptly changed course and decided to turn over the records, prompting Moss to sue.
Polis’ office has claimed that the governor wanted to comply with the subpoena because it was part of a “targeted” criminal investigation into human trafficking. The state’s immigration laws — including one signed by Polis in late May — allow state officials to comply with federal subpoenas if they’re part of criminal probes, rather than immigration enforcement operations.
But the governor’s office has not released any evidence that the criminal investigation actually exists or that it made any effort to ensure that it did.
Jones wrote that “the subpoena — on its face — was not issued as part of a criminal investigation,” and he said that no one in Polis’ office or the labor department, “with the potential exception of the governor himself,” actually believed that the subpoena was part of a criminal investigation.
The subpoena is not signed by a judge, and the federal statute that it cites is related to immigration enforcement.
In her email Tuesday, Wieman, Polis’ spokeswoman, did not address questions about whether the state had pursued or received any additional information confirming the existence of the investigation allegedly underpinning the subpoena. Nor did she address questions about whether Polis had directed any state resources to check on the children.
Federal immigration arrests in Colorado surged this summer as the Trump administration charged ahead with its plans to mass-deport undocumented immigrants.
But as arrests have spiked, law enforcement agencies increasingly have detained people without any prior criminal convictions or charges, internal data show.
Between June 11 and July 28, ICE arrested 828 people in Colorado, according to a Denver Post analysis of data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley. That amounted to more than 17 arrests per day, a more than 50% increase from the first five months of the Trump administration, through June 10, a period covered in a previous Post story. The rate from this summer was also more than five times higher than the daily arrest average from the same time period in 2024.
Of those detained over the summer, only a third had prior criminal convictions noted in the records. Another 18% had pending charges, indicating that nearly half had been neither convicted nor charged with a crime and that their only violation was immigration-related.
That, too, is a shift: In the earlier months of President Donald Trump’s second term, two-thirds of the 1,639 people arrested in Colorado had either been convicted of a crime (38%) or charged with one (29%).
“That tracks with what we would have expected (and) what we’ve been hearing from community sources,” said Henry Sandman, the co-executive director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “The data and the reality disproves ICE’s talking points that they’re going after criminals. We’re seeing tactics increase. They’re trying to increase arrest numbers as high as possible, whatever the reason may be for detaining folks.”
Steve Kotecki, a spokesman for Denver’s ICE field office, did not respond to a request for comment late last week.
The data, obtained directly from ICE by the UC Berkeley researchers through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, offers the clearest look at immigration enforcement activities available, as ICE doesn’t post recent information online. For this analysis, The Post examined arrests that occurred in Colorado; arrests that were listed in the dataset as occurring in Wyoming but which took place in a Colorado city; and arrests lacking a listed state but which occurred in a Colorado town or county.
The Post removed several apparent duplicate arrests and a similarly small number of arrests in the region that did not have a specific location listed. The analysis also included a handful of people who appeared to have been arrested twice in the span of several months.
When listing a detainee’s criminal background, the data provides no details about the criminal charges or prior crimes. Illegally entering the country is typically treated as a civil matter upon first offense, but a subsequent entry is a felony criminal offense.
More info about July operation
The newly released data includes the same nine-day period in July during which ICE has said it arrested 243 immigrants without proper legal status “who are currently charged with or have been convicted of criminal offenses after illegally entering the United States.” The arrests, the agency said, all occurred in metro Denver.
But the data published by the UC-Berkeley researchers does not fully match ICE’s public representations.
During the same time frame, the agency arrested 232 people, according to the data. Most of those arrested during that time had never been convicted or charged with a crime, at least according to what’s in the records. Sixty-six people had a previous criminal conviction, and 34 more had pending charges.
Kotecki did not respond to questions about the July operation.
The Post previously reported that ICE falsely claimed that it had arrested a convicted murderer in Denver as part of the July operation. The man had actually been arrested at a state prison facility shortly after his scheduled release, state prison officials said last month.
While ICE claimed the man had found “sanctuary” in the capital city — a shot taken at Denver’s immigration ordinances — The Post found that state prison officials had coordinated his transfer directly to ICE. He was then deported to Mexico, and information matching his description is reflected in the UC Berkeley data.
It’s unclear if all of ICE’s arrests are fully reflected in the data, making it difficult to verify ICE’s claims. The researchers’ data is imperfect, experts have told The Post. The records likely represent the merging of separate datasets before they were provided by the government, increasing the likelihood of mistakes or missing data.
Some arrests in Colorado were listed as occurring in other states or had no state listed at all. Other arrests were duplicated entirely, and researchers have cautioned that ICE’s data at times has had inaccurate or missing information.
The anonymized nature of the data, which lacks arrestees’ names but lists some biographical information, also can make it difficult to verify. When ICE announced the results of the July operation, it named eight of the people it had arrested. Court records and the UC Berkeley data appear to match up with as many as seven of them.
The eighth, Blanca Ochoa Tello, was arrested on July 14 by ICE’s investigative branch in a drug-trafficking investigation, court filings show. But it’s unclear if she appears in the ICE data, as she was arrested in La Plata County and no woman arrested in that county was listed in the data.
To verify ICE’s July operation claims, The Post examined arrest data in Colorado and Wyoming, which jointly form the Denver area of operations for the agency. The Post also searched for arrests in every other state to identify any arrests that may have occurred in a Colorado area but were errantly listed under other states.
Federal agents detain a man as he exits a court hearing in immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on July 30, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Nationally, immigration authorities had their most arrest-heavy months this summer, according to data published by researchers at Syracuse University. Immigration officials arrested more than 36,700 people in June, its highest single-month total since June 2019, during Trump’s first term. More than 31,200 were arrested across the country in July.
The Trump administration has also set out to increase its detention capacity to accommodate the mass-deportation plans.
As of late July, ICE planned to triple its detention capacity in Colorado, according to documents obtained last month by the Washington Post. That plan includes opening as many as three new facilities and the expansion of Colorado’s sole existing facility in Aurora.
DHS officers watch from the parking lot as protesters gather at the entrance to the ICE Colorado Field Office on Aug. 30, 2025, in Centennial. (Photo By Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)
Over the course of this year, ICE arrested people in Colorado who were originally from more than 60 countries, according to the data. That included 10 Iranians arrested in late June or early July. Six of those people were arrested on June 22, the day after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. Three more were arrested over the next 48 hours.
The vast majority of the undocumented immigrants who were arrested and deported were returned to their home countries, though roughly 50 were sent somewhere else, the data show. Nine Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador in the first two weeks of the Trump administration, when alleged gang members were dispatched to a notorious prison there.
ProPublica identified roughly a dozen Coloradans who were sent to that prison. It reported that several were arrested in late January, which matches information listed in the ICE data published by UC Berkeley.
Advocates’ fears of continued arrests have escalated as ICE’s funding has surged. On Aug. 30, several immigration advocates picketed outside an ICE field office in Centennial after a number of immigrants received abrupt notices to check in at the facility.
Four people were detained, said Jordan Garcia, the program director for the American Friends Service Committee’s immigrant-rights program in Colorado.
Among them, he said, was an older Cuban man with dementia. Garcia and other advocates spoke with the man and his son before they entered the facility. The son later came out, Garcia said, and said that his father had been detained.
DENVER — Colorado’s special legislative session ended on Tuesday after six days. The success of the session depends on which state lawmaker you ask.
Governor Jared Polis called the session on Aug. 6 to address the state’s $1.2 billion budget hole, which he said was created by tax changes made in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Act (H.R.1). According to the governor and fellow Colorado Democrats, Colorado will collect less revenue than expected when lawmakers approved the state budget in May.
Some of that $1.2 billion revenue loss was absorbed by the state education fund and the affordable housing fund. Around $300 million that the state had in surplus, which would have been refunded to taxpayers, will now be used to help fill the gap. That left lawmakers with a budget gap estimated to be around $783 million.
To address the budget gap, the Democratic majority focused largely on reining in tax breaks for big corporations. Their strategy also included taking money from state reserves and cutting spending. However, they left it to Polis to determine exactly where to make those spending cuts.
The governor is expected to present a plan to the Joint Budget Committee on Thursday.
Denver7 has been following Colorado’s special legislative session. Read our previous coverage below:
“This has been an incredible session,” said State Senator Jeff Bridges, D – District 26. “The special session accounted for about $250 million of the now $750 million we have to make up for in the general fund.”
Bridges, who is the chair of the Joint Budget Committee, said Polis’ presentation is expected to address the remaining $500 million of the deficit.
“We’ll spend about $250 million in reserves, and then there will be about $250 million in revenue reductions. So that’s things like cuts to Medicaid. It’s potentially reductions in higher education support from the state,” Bridges said. “These are going to be cuts that people will see and feel. It’s unavoidable that there will be some pain caused by cutting $250 million from a $16.5 billion budget. It’s a lot less than what we thought we were going to have to cut. It’s less because we closed those loopholes. It’s less because we have such strong reserves, but it’s still going to be really impactful for folks.”
On the other hand, Colorado Republicans believe the special session was tailored to Democrats.
“Actually, what we did was make a budget crisis worse,” said Colorado House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, R – District 14. “I want to say I’m sorry to the people of Colorado that we weren’t able to accomplish what really should have been done, which is looking at how we prioritize our budget and how we keep more money in the pockets of hardworking Coloradans.”
State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, R – District 23, a member of the Joint Budget Committee, told Denver7 she is extremely disappointed in the results of the special session.
“Not only did we increase taxes, we start trying to figure out how to balance the budget on the backs of small businesses. Now that is wrong,” Kirkmeyer said. “They made our budget problem worse.”
Kirkmeyer speculated the governor will recommend cuts to Medicaid provider rates and higher education.
“I’m not anticipating that we’re going to agree. I’m not anticipating he’s going to come in with enough cuts,” Kirkmeyer said.
Denver7 will follow up on the plan expected from Polis on Thursday.
Denver7’s Brandon Richard contributed to this article.
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The first round of bills from the Colorado legislature’s latest special session is heading to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk after receiving final approval from lawmakers Sunday. But work on several key bills remains.
The other priority bills for the Democratic majority continued to move along, though they hadn’t yet crossed the finish line. Lawmakers are still debating nearly all of the bills aimed specifically at eating into the $783 million deficit facing the state following the passage of the federal tax and spending bill.
Those bills include proposals to raise money by ending tax incentives for large insurance companies, selling tax credits for future tax years at a discount, permanently ending a tax write-off for high-income people and businesses, and ending a credit that goes to retailers for collecting sales tax.
“Every dollar we give away through an outdated vendor discount is a dollar we take away from kids in classrooms, from seniors who need health care, from working families who depend on Medicaid and SNAP,” said Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Republicans argued at length against most of the bills. They argued the state should cut spending, not seek more tax money, to respond to the federal tax bill.
“We are not fixing the budget with any of these bills,” Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said. “In fact, all we’re doing is making it harder for small businesses to survive.”
Meanwhile, the fight around how to change Colorado’s first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence regulations dragged on.
Senate Bill 4, which would require more disclosure from AI companies and tighter rules to prevent discrimination, progressed to a debate among the full Senate after narrowly passing a key committee vote 4-3 Sunday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, who has made AI regulations a signature of his time in office, amended the measure to tweak some disclosure requirements and delay the regulations by three months. He also changed the committee makeup ahead of the vote, making it more favorable to his proposal.
The change moves the bill closer to the position of Polis and other opponents of the bill, who favor a flat delay over worries that existing regulations would be too onerous. Other negotiations about the bill continued into the evening.
“I worry we are rushing through something in this extraordinary session that will cause us to potentially pass some legislation that has a lot of unintended consequences,” Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, who voted against the bill in committee on Sunday. “And I have been hearing that from people all over this building, just losing their minds and not being able to agree.”
A second, competing bill concerning AI regulations had been amended earlier in the special session to simply delay the February regulations from kicking in until October 2026. That measure, House Bill 1008, was slated for a hearing by the full House, but the body had not reconvened by 7 p.m. Sunday.
The conservative network Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defaming a Denver-based voting equipment company by spreading lies about President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, according to documents filed Monday.
The settlement comes after Fox News Channel paid $787.5 million to settle a similar lawsuit in 2023 and Newsmax paid what court papers describe as $40 million to settle a libel lawsuit from a different voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which also was a target of pro-Trump conspiracy theories on the network.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled earlier that Newsmax did indeed defame Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems by airing false information about the company and its equipment.
But Davis left it to a jury to eventually decide whether that was done with malice, and, if so, how much Dominion deserved from Newsmax in damages. Newsmax and Dominion reached the settlement before the trial could take place.
The settlement was disclosed by Newsmax on Monday in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It said the deal was reached Friday.
The disclosure came as Trump vowed in a social media post Monday to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines such as those supplied by Dominion and other companies. It was unclear how the Republican president could achieve that.
The owners of several dilapidated apartment buildings in Aurora and Denver have faced a new threat in recent months: an investigation by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office on suspicion of violating the state’s safe-housing and consumer-protection laws.
The state office sent subpoenas to CBZ Management, one of its primary representatives and several of its subordinate companies in September, according to records obtained by The Denver Post. The subpoenas seek answers and records related to a swath of CBZ’s practices, including how it advertises its properties and whether tenants get the apartments they have toured; how the companies track and respond to maintenance requests and health code violations; how they handle security deposits; and how they screen tenants, among other questions.
CBZ Management’s buildings in Aurora have been the subject of extensive tenant and municipal complaints and have recently drawn international attention over allegations the properties were overtaken by gangs.
