Legislative Session Recap

You've likely heard about a number of bad bills passed by the Colorado legislature this year, but we believe it's also important to hear about the wins conservatives had this session. Due to TABOR restricting how much our government can spend, there were 7% fewer bills this year, and when there are fewer laws, there are fewer restrictions on our freedom. Let's review a few bills that we were able to make better, eliminate, or prevent from coming to the floor:

TABOR

Liberal leadership committed to passing a Resolution requiring taxpayers to fund an ill-advised lawsuit against TABOR, challenging its constitutionality. Their goal was to remove citizens' ability to vote on tax increases in the future. Along with many of you, Advance engaged aggressively. We reached over 150,000 people on social media with our TABOR messages, and we texted citizens in key districts, asking them to contact their legislators. The resolution failed to pass a single house in the legislature, proving again that we can and will protect TABOR.

Immigration

HB 25-276 is a sanctuary law, but with the threat of our statewide ballot measure looming over the legislature, Governor Polis ensured a provision was added to the bill that allowed cooperation with federal officials in criminal investigations. 276 is a terrible law, but it is essential for provisions protecting citizens' from criminals to be added in.

Parents’ Rights

HB25-1312 was an egregious violation of parents’ rights, threatening to remove children from their parents’ custody if their parents did not agree with the state’s version of gender ideology. We pushed out a video explaining this dangerous bill, and we sent texts into multiple legislators’ districts. Conservative organizations across the state banded together, and citizens set a record in Senate committee for the number of people who showed up to testify. While 1312 was unfortunately passed and signed by Governor Polis, the most dangerous portion of 1312 -- that would have threatened parents' custody rights -- was removed by the sponsors, a significant victory won after heavy public pressure.

School Choice

Several bills were drafted designed to roll back charter schools. However, after our school choice measure received nearly 50% of the vote last November, Democrats were divided on advancing these bills and they were not introduced at all.

Citizen Petition Measure

Liberals in the legislature ran a bill to shorten the citizens’ initiative process and require heavy-handed reporting to punish those who use this process. Advance was able to get new deadlines and the worst reporting requirements removed from this bill.

Labor Unions

Much of the legislature’s time this session was eaten up by the union’s attempt to force employees in the state to pay for unionization, even if they vote against it. Advance urged citizens to push Governor Polis to veto this anti-business bill, and he did.

New Episode of The Advance Colorado Rundown

The latest Advance Colorado Rundown features a discussion on homelessness with Michael Fields and former Mayor Pro Tem of Aurora, Dustin Zvonek. The City of Aurora is implementing an innovative solution to homelessness, partnering with non-profits to provide essential job training and life skills while also providing resources, recovery programs, and a place to stay for people living on the streets. Hear the details on our podcast.

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Apply for the New Leader Academy!

We are gearing up to start our third class of the year in the Advance New Leader Academy, and we'd love to have you join us! Find the details and apply here: