by Colleen Enos
Last Wednesday, on September 10th, we witnessed a political assassination. A young, courageous conservative was murdered in cold blood on the campus of Utah Valley University. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was engaging students in conversation and debate when he was violently gunned down.
College campuses are supposed to be places of intellectual curiosity where ideas are explored, and students make up their own minds. This concept of free speech was something our country was founded on, but it seems that the Colorado legislative majority party does not want to hear differing thoughts. The message of the Kirk assassination was that if you don’t agree with progressive ideology, you should just sit down and shut up. In the 2025 Extraordinary Special Session, the message to Republicans was the same.
The Special Session convened on Thursday, August 21st, and lasted until Tuesday, August 26th. Governor Polis issued a “call” to the legislature to convene and outlined the topics on which they could pass legislation. Unfortunately, cutting spending was not among them. There were 30 bills and three resolutions introduced dealing with the topics the Governor outlined. All bills that had Republican sponsors, with the exception of SB25B-005, were killed on the first day of the Special Session. SB25B-005, the lone bill with one Republican sponsor that survived, dealt with reallocating funding from the Department of Natural Resources Wolf funding to the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise. Both parties agreed that the Special Session was “divisive,” with Republicans calling it “political theatre.”
But what was actually accomplished? Eleven Democrat-led bills were passed, but since the Governor’s call did not allow the introduction of bills that cut spending, none did. Instead, taxes were raised, small businesses were hurt, and Planned Parenthood in Colorado was re-funded to the tune of $4 million. Six of the bills that were passed dealt with various forms of raising taxes.
One bill, SB25B-003, changed a ballot measure by adding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding to the Healthy School Meals for All program, and another bill, SB25B-001, instructed the Joint Budget Committee to hold hearings with the Governor’s office when there was a lack of sufficient revenue. When adding in the Reallocate Department of Natural Resources Wolf Funding to Health Insurance Enterprise bill, SB25B-005, the Increase Transparency for Algorithmic Systems (AI) delay bill, SB25B-004, and the State-Only Funding for Certain Entities bill (aka the Give Planned Parenthood more money!) bill, SB25B-002, we get to eleven bills.
This result could cause bewilderment as to what the Republicans said about all these bills. Well, they weren’t allowed to speak. Rule 14 was invoked to cut off debate after Representative Camacho (D) complained that Republicans were just wasting the taxpayers’ money by talking and representing their constituents. So effectively, any Coloradan who disagrees with the majority and is represented by a Republican was told to sit down and shut up. (Independents are already shut up since they are unrepresented in the General Assembly.)
At the end of the Special Session, the legislature raised approximately $253 million in revenue out of the $783 million shortfall. Governor Polis then cut $252 million primarily from the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing, which will reduce Medicaid provider rates and likely result in less access to care. The balance of the shortfall will be paid by the general fund reserve, which will then have to be replaced in the 2026-2027 budget by law in the next session.
Given that the 2026-2027 budget was going to start off with a $700 million deficit before the general fund reserve was tapped, it looks like Colorado will have another one-billion-dollar hole to fill. Now is the time to send a new message to Colorado leadership. We are tired of being ignored. We will not sit down and shut up; instead, we will stand up and shout!
What you can do:
- Call and email your state representative and state senator to share your concerns about the Special Budget Session.
- Pray for our government leaders.
Let Your Voice Be Heard.
In Him,
Colleen Enos
CHEC Director of Government Relations
Colleen@CHEC.org
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