The Highs, Lows, and In-Betweens
Imagine 15 squirrels fighting over three acorns. That’s what it looked like under the Capitol dome, thanks to Colorado’s $1.2 billion deficit.
Between Jan. 8 and May 7, our team fought like hell for the Youth Agenda. We have finally made it to the end of the legislative session, and tbh? It was a wild ride. Because our state is so broke, it was realllll hard to pass any bill that would cost money. Spoiler alert: that’s most bills, including good ones!
Season 3 of the Real Advocates of the Colorado Capitol had more at stake than ever. With Trump’s administration stepping back into power, tensions were high and lawmakers were stressed to the max to make sure legislation was passed and signed by the governor. While some got through, there were still over 120 bills stuck in the legislative process in the final days of session.
All in all, this session wasn’t the best (but no one dropped any guns circa legislative session 2022, so I guess it wasn’t the worst?). This is why we need more stakeholding, more young people in places of power, and even bolder policy change next time around to protect our rights and progress as a state.
Keep reading for the download of the 2025 session. Prefer a video confessional? Look no further.
🏆 Wins!
Senate Bill 183, a bill codifying abortion in our state constitution regardless of what insurance you have, was passed and signed by the governor. Shout-out to our 2025 Youth Agenda Champion, House District 35 Rep. Lorena Garcia, for sponsoring the bill!
Rep. Garcia also sponsored Senate Bill 014 to get rid of language in our constitution that says marriage is only between a man and a woman. Gov. Jared Polis (a.k.a. J. Po) signed the bill into law! Regardless of who you love, marriage should be recognized by our government.
The Real Advocates put their necks on the line to defend young people from harmful social media bills. We helped stop Senate Bill 086 and House Bill 1287 from passing. While the bill sponsors wanted to protect young people online, they didn’t want to talk about the unintended impacts of government oversight and surveillance on social media. Read Senior Policy Manager Kiyana Newell’s article about why it’s important for our generation to be a part of policies that threaten our online presence.
The governor signed Senate Bill 001, “the Colorado Voting Rights Act,”into law on May 12! This is a huge win for voting rights in Colorado. Read Silvia Entenza’s blog about how this new law is a step towards inclusivity, transparency, and language justice in elections. Special shoutout to Common Cause (and past New Era Field Director, Aly Belknap) for leading the effort on this!
House Bill 1010, sponsored by our endorsed Youth Agenda Champ Rep. Zokaie (House District 52), will help save you money by cracking down on corporate price gouging for everyday necessities. Thanks to her work, businesses won’t be able to increase the price of a good or service “essential for the health, safety, and welfare of the public” by 10% or more during an emergency. Corporations use disasters to raise costs of necessities for more money and it’s about damn time we stopped it! Congrats on passing 1010 into law!
😓 Lost but Not Forgotten
Our main priority was fixing our tax system because without any money, we can’t do all of the cool and exciting things we want to with housing and health care. House Joint Resolution 1023 would have called into question the Taxpayer Bill of Right’s (TABOR) constitutionality, but it was the boogeyman of this legislative session because everyone was too scared to talk about it. If passed, courts would have decided whether this part of our constitution is legal.
TABOR is so bad that legislators can barely pass bills that have a fiscal note. The sponsors of this bill, House District 6 Rep. Camacho and Rep. Garcia (YA Champ at it again!), argued that legislators can’t even do what they are elected to do at this point.
This legislation did not even get scheduled for the House floor for debate after its committee hearing. And quite truthfully, that is all we asked for. We wanted to start the conversation that TABOR is ruining any progression that we have for the state, damning the next generation from a better Colorado.
Trying to schedule 1023 for debate on the House floor caused quite a debacle and big feelings.. Let’s just say, TABOR was TABOO to talk about this session, even though getting rid of it would solve a lot of our revenue headaches. But this is not the end of our tax work! We know that there is a lot more to do to get rid of TABOR and make the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe in taxes.
Thank you to all of our Real Advocates out there for reaching out to your legislators about this measure. Our tax reform movement is only beginning. Want to get involved in taxing the rich? Go to this page!
It’s Complicated
Senate Bill 005, the Worker Protections Act, makes forming unions in the state of Colorado easier by eliminating the required second election for workers organizing in their workplace to negotiate for better pay and working conditions. Though it passed, the governor decided to veto it, going against the public of Colorado and legislators. Shout out to labor who put in WORK this session!
The work won’t stop here. Colorado’s worker movement is powerful and only growing.
House Bill 1004 prohibits the use of algorithmic price settings for rent. It passed in a huge win for renters…but our lovely governor (and homeowner) is still debating on whether to put pen to paper and sign the bill into law. We’re begging him to do so, because frankly, rent is too damn high and it doesn’t help that big corporations jack up costs using algorithms.
Implementation of our 2024 ballot measures
Last November, young people spoke loud and clear and voted to pass abortion and marriage protections. Amendment J struck language in our constitution that only acknowledged marriage between a man and a woman. Amendment 79 protected abortion rights within our state, regardless of what insurance a person has.
This legislative session, Senate Bill 183 and 014 implemented these ballot measures to make sure Colorado would see its impacts! These are huge wins for young people because J. Po already signed both of these bills into law. Woohoo!
See Boulder Organizing Intern Kaleigh Cousins’ blog about the testimony she gave in support of abortion access and the positive change we will see.
“As I was tabling for New Era Colorado at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) during the 2024 election season, it was clear that many students were interested in Amendment 79 and eager to protect reproductive rights in the state. What I saw on campus became clear through the election results: 69% of young voters supported passing Amendment 79, and together, we did.”
Kaleigh Cousins, New Era Colorado intern based out of Boulder.
Then, watch Development Manager Kylie Claxton’s testimony in support of marriage equity!