It's been a big week in the news.

We have the first American pope.

Pope Leo the 14th was selected with the end of the conclave.

And here in Colorado, we had the end of the legislative session.

And this session had contentious moments, especially with lawmakers more willing to challenge the governor a bit.

We've got a full recap of what lawmakers have done and what still needs to be done in a possible special session, all with you in mind.

So let's bounce into this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone, I'm Kyle Dyer.

Let me get right to introduce you to this week's insider panel.

We have Patty Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword.

Adam Burg, senior policy advisor at Foster Graham law firm Laura Aldrete, a city building consultant and former planning director for the City and County of Denver.

And Carly West, vice president of government affairs with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

I think the golden oldie See You in September could have been the theme song as the first regular session of the 75th Colorado General Assembly came to an end this week, because lawmakers are likely to return in four months to deal with a few more issues.

That being said, a lot did happen over the last four months.

More than 500 bills were passed.

Adam will let me know for sure and what transpired affects all of us.

And Patty was also interesting because this session it seemed as though Democrats in the state Capitol were a little more likely to challenge Governor Polis.

Well, since he isn't running again, they don't necessarily need his support.

They can offend him or at least ignore him for a while.

But I think he will get his revenge.

And we're going to see that because he will call a special session.

There's no question there are two really good reasons for right now.

One is the Medicare cuts that are proposed.

They're so huge.

And we thought it was tough balancing the budget.

This year.

We're going to be looking at another billion at least.

Probably that will have to come out of Colorado's budget.

So come September when we really know what Congress has done, it will be a good time for a special session.

The other issue is fascinating, which is they waited too long to really deal with the changes to Abe I, which were the problems were made last session.

The bill they passed last session really didn't work.

Policies worry technologies worried that it's going to really dampen economic development for Colorado.

So we think we'll see that come up again.

The only thing that's always true about the legislature is it's not over till it's over, and then it's still not over.

We have all these laws of unintended consequences, and we're seeing that right now with last year's AI bill.

as you were noting, almost nearly 500 bills, passed by lawmakers and 120 days, they dealt with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, which is also no small feat.

and over and over, we heard about, you know, how expensive the states become and how expensive medicaid's coming, school financing, which voters seem to really want a full financing plan.

and so lawmakers, yes, they did some good this year, but they also did some stuff that it's questionable about whether or not it's going to save Coloradans money or lead to better outcomes across the state.

two notable, I think, losses for the governor this year.

one was Yaqub, which is the yes, and God's backyard movement to allow religious institutions to build housing on their property.

we saw the Senate choose to essentially kill that bill.

and this was another one of sort of the governor backed ideas about pushing housing and housing affordability in the state.

The other was, 1302, which dealt with a, fee on homeowner's insurance policies, 1% that would have gone towards, hill damage and sort of wildfire mitigation.

Again, another conversation of a fee And, Laura, I know you're focused on a lot of these housing issues.

Sure.

And that's where I was going to focus on the wins and the losses.

And to Adam's point about, the insurance fee that was defeated.

And, I agree, it just felt like it missed the mark.

If if the issue is affordability of housing, certainly insurance is a component of that, but not really addressing income restricted, folks in the urban communities.

It just seemed like it was not, lined up with where the greatest need is One I am hopeful for, for affordability is the construction defect law, which has which was put in place, I believe, in 2008 was try.

They have tried at least once or try twice to fix it keeps falling and stumbling.

We continue to have an enormous gap in in a product that allows people to purchase condos from rental to move into condos, and perhaps one day they want to be go into single family.

But at least there's another option.

And right now it's not on the table.

We'll see if this construction defect law, actually addresses that.

Okay.

All right.

Carly.

another, interesting bill that came up was House Bill 1297.

This would have added or actually increased the existing fee on health insurance that you get, primarily folks who are getting it through their employer in the small or medium sized businesses, and it would have increased the amount that that fee is by a few hundred dollars a year for every family who gets it, from their employer.

So it's an affordability fee.

It would have gone to a couple of other programs, but at the end of the day, it would have definitely driven up the cost of health insurance across Colorado.

And it's not the only area where we've seen kind of the focus on affordability go in a direction that we're like, is that affordable?

We also saw a proposal that never got legs.

It never got introduced, but a proposal to bump up Colorado's, 100% clean electricity requirement by a decade.

We're already looking under current law at cost of electricity rates rising at three times the rate of inflation.

So to increase the rate at which we're going to adopt new technology by a decade, there's no way that that wouldn't have driven cost for Coloradans as they pay for energy.

And Patty mentioned the Medicaid situation that we're going to have to go into a special session to discuss, but more about the I, I'm just curious.

I think the average person out there is so confused about what I is about, what are we regulating?

Why is it so important that we figure this out?

Because the new the law that was passed last year is supposed to take effect early this coming year.

Right.

So what's the story on this?

Why is it so important to figure out in the special session.

Yeah.

So the as you know that this very sweeping sort of first in the nation law around consumers and I in transparency about when a company is using I passed last year for Majority Leader Rodriguez so the governor issued a letter when he signed a bill last year saying, you know, lawmakers need to come back.

And there was a lot of concern.

There's a lot of ambiguity in this bill.

We need more clarity.

So we waited all session for a bill to come.

And, you know, we get the bill in the final couple weeks.

And then the lawmaker, the same sponsors last year postpones it.

and so that's left us where we are now, which is this February 1st, 2026, 2026 deadline.

the bill is so complicated that it's sort of being prefaced is if you use any kind of software, you know, AI is not particularly well defined.

you may fall under the rules that are going to govern this bill.

And so it's left a lot of businesses with a lack of surety around what to do.

in the interim.

So what do businesses do in the meantime?

In the meantime?

We're trying to figure it out, but it definitely raises questions because under current law, there's potential liability for a business if you're just using an off the shelf product that you don't necessarily know has AI embedded in that system somewhere.

But if it does, that creates a liability for you in terms of needing to disclose certain things that you're utilizing it for and a host of other things.

And when you look at last year's bill that passed, it's like putting a speed limit on horse and buggy.

When we're all now moving in fast cars.

Things change so fast.

Just when you were looking at your own email, when all of a sudden on your phone, you're getting you're getting AI, you're getting things translated.

That wasn't happening a year ago.

So we are looking at a very obsolete bill already that will take effect the very first.

Okay.

All right.

Let's talk about some of the other, measures that lingered into the final days of the legislative session and brought with them a lot of emotion.

We had pro-labor legislation, trans rights bill, a bill to regulate, our rideshare companies.

Adam, where do you want to begin with this?

One is the Kelly loving act.

This is the, Transgender Rights bill that deals with, dead naming and sort of the recognition in school policy around, the name people choose to use, adding more legal protections for transgender individuals.

Obviously, a lot of the floor conversation, it can be a very contentious topic for some people.

And then when you get to ride shares, you're looking at something that stems from a very horrific personal circumstance of a legislator, using rideshare company and seeking more protections for people who utilize Lyft or Uber and those kinds of services.

And the bill was heavily amended throughout the process from where it was introduced.

Will the governor sign it?

We will know sometime before June 6th, as to what he determines to do.

But we still have these outstanding issues that we yet don't know the outcome.

I wonder about the util ity of using the state legislature for these issues and the level to which we, manicured the, the bills within them.

And.

Right, super, super supportive of transgender, and making sure that those rights fought for, for them are protected.

Do we need to get down to the net of, of bathroom naming, in a in a bill?

I don't know that that is the appropriate use.

I would hope that we could just use some common sense similarly, very sympathetic of of, representative who experienced the sexual assault.

are the conditions that were placed in that bill the right ones?

Like did it go too far?

Was there a more common sense solution that could have allowed better security, better, protection for riders and drivers?

first female drivers?

but without the contention.

Right.

that's some of my disappointment in, in the state legislature that it's, Where is the common sense here?

Carly, I know you were involved a lot with Senate Bill five, which was the regarding redoing the Labor Peace Act that was introduced on day one.

Yes, it was.

And still talking about it this week.

It was one of the first bills introduced.

It was one of the last ones passed, even though the rhetoric at the beginning of session was that this would be one of the first, if not the first, bill to land on the governor's desk.

So a lot of negotiations in the meantime.

And that's the reason you saw this take the entire session.

The governor, to his credit, really stood by his word when it came to how he wanted to see, proposal that was different than Senate Bill five as introduced, something that both labor and business could support.

He helped us navigate a lot of conversations.

I think we all know, though, at the end of those, we ended up with the same bill with no meaningful changes to it.

no changes at all.

Actually, you can't have a minority of employees requiring that the majority who didn't vote in favor of joining the union must pay union dues.

And that was the hard line for us.

And where we weren't able to see progress on a negotiated agreement.

And now is before the.

Governor and now it's before the governor.

He's spoken a lot about how he wants to see something that everyone can live with and get behind.

The bill didn't change at all.

So we are looking to him, hoping that he'll still stand by that statement.

Another issue that became a union issue, a worker issue that wasn't really what people had anticipated was the restaurant tipped minimum wage bill, where I think that was that that short of the transgender bill, the ugliest discussions, both on the floor, but also all around with restaurateurs being threatened, it was a really, really ugly bill.

The compromise that came up throws it kind of to the municipalities, which is at least a solution that puts it on the locals, which is good.

But it was ugly.

The transgender discussions were horrific.

and then we go to the Uber.

The rideshare issue was going too far to have every single ride filmed.

I don't think any of us want that, having been in Ubers before, but you want safety and the one good thing that came out of that whole discussion, I think, was freeing up some more money to go to the CBI to get those rape kits taken.

That was adding insult to injury of what had happened to that legislator, was the fact that it was taking more than a year and a half to have rape kits analyzed.

All right.

Now let's talk about the Trump administration suing the state of Colorado and the city of Denver and leaders of both over the immigration laws and policy, the policies that are in place here, the legislature and the city council of Denver made some moves this week that, as Axios Denver, put it, look like a poke in the eye to the administration.

I'll start with you, Laura.

Yeah.

So, whether or not the Trump administration is going to be successful, I think it's very unlikely.

And I don't think that's his their intention.

Right.

I, I see this as analogous to this schoolyard bully we see, I think, in, in the governor and then the mayor Johnston, we see, two gentlemen, two leaders who are basing their, their decisions on beliefs and principles.

And I, I certainly, support that.

But there there is calculus.

There is risk with that for, for their populace.

And I think we have to be careful about what is that calculated risk, how far do we move?

And do we understand the, intended unintended consequences on our decision to stand by our beliefs?

But but there will be consequences.

And I think, I hope, that our leadership is thinking deeply about how do they how do we pivot as a state?

How do we pivot as a city if we're going to stand by our principles, which I would I would suggest we do we're seeing a lot of policies proposed at the state and local level that are really looking to get ahead of what's happening at the federal level, and some of the uncertainty that that causes.

for example, one of the things we are looking at is city council this week chose not to renew and extend a contract for automatic license plate readers, and that was based out of concerns around data privacy and specifically how data associated with that program might be used for immigration enforcement.

So that's the reason they didn't continue it.

But at the same time, this has been a really successful program for safety.

We've seen in just one year, the system helped with 289 arrests, 170 stolen vehicles being recovered, 29 firearms seized.

We even saw it, leading to the investigation and identification.

and ultimately arrest and organized auto theft rings.

So while we recognize those real data privacy concerns, we're also moving away from a program that has really helped very real concerns that we have about safety, particularly in downtown and throughout the region.

So when we look at policies like this, we wish our city council would weigh a little bit more, what things look like, in terms of the businesses and that impact to our economy downtown really helped to ease some of the burdens we currently have as opposed to add to them.

How do you.

Well, we have to remember, the schoolyard bully isn't just taking away the ball, but he's taking away actual funds.

So the city has lost probably 24 million in reimbursement.

That would have come for what the city did last year to help migrants.

And we are seeing course whether it's doesn't necessarily have to involve immigration.

The arts have lost their money, the endowment has lost their money.

Science is losing money.

So Trump can still affect you by pulling money away.

the legislature did indeed stick their finger in Trump's eye with this last bill they pushed through that gives immigrants more rights, more protections.

It was just a big yeah to Trump.

But on the other hand, he's already pulled money.

He can pull more and that can happen.

We have to congratulate Judge Sweeney, who did put in an injunction that the alien, the enemy aliens act alien.

I might add that backwards, but it cannot be used here in Colorado to deport people illegally.

Okay.

Adam.

I think it's become a really complicated dynamic across the state and in Denver.

we are truly testing the limits of federalism.

It feels like it.

Time to see.

It almost feels like the mayor and the governor are testing President Trump to see how far he's willing to go.

As Patty noted, the lawmakers took on immigration this year.

only two of the Democrats did not vote in favor of that bill, and they were called out by several groups for not doing so.

So it has become a very Partizan issue in Colorado.

The one thing I worry about at times with the city is the ability to both walk and chew gum.

so with a lot happening across the board on immigration, but, you know, there's a lot happening in this city.

And I worry at times that issues like immigration, while incredibly important, to the city and to the state, take up some of the air and the money out of things that maybe could be going to helping locals who live here.

Have.

A better life.

and that includes both immigrants and, you know, and citizens.

And I just worry times that we get so consumed by those, those very tenuous issues that we miss sort of the ball.

Okay.

All right.

A graying Colorado was a headline that caught my attention in Colorado politics this week.

How can this be for our active states?

Is the person who is aged over the last 29 years that I've lived here?

Colorado is experiencing significant aging population, increases.

and I guess between 2010 and 2020, we are became the second fastest aging state.

And if you stand back a bit, this has a lot of implications for how our state will run over these next many years.

I'm going to start with the one of the youngest people at the table currently over there.

appreciate that.

Not quite.

But, you know, from a workforce development and economic development standpoint, it's not great news.

fewer working age adults and a shrinking talent pipeline mean that their, it's just getting harder for employers to find the people that they need to fill jobs.

And that impacts us overall.

economically, older populations tend to not spend quite as much.

we see that our local governments are really driven by sales tax revenue, so we likely see an impact there as well.

and so there are a lot of areas where we can see this, hit a little bit on another hand, also housing.

So Colorado is a place that people tend to age in place.

So we don't necessarily move to go to Florida or somewhere else when we retire.

So that means that there's less turnover in our housing stock.

and personally, I will bring up one last one child care in the state is prohibitively expensive.

And until we find a way to solve for that, that's also going to contribute to an environment where we are having a hard time either recruiting or retaining those younger populations.

Let's look at another positive, much bigger audience for Colorado inside out.

People will stay home Friday night and watch.

Good.

It's an unusual problem because people like Colorado, people who've lived here a long time or ten years, 15 years, which is not as long in some some cases they want to stay.

They can't imagine moving to Florida or Arizona or California.

They like Colorado.

They like the lifestyle.

They're still more active.

So it's it's not a bad audience to keep because they are involved.

They care about the state.

They're willing to push and vote for things that will improve the state.

What we need to do is work on downtown, on the amenities and the things that drew people to Colorado in the first place.

Besides the beautiful outdoors.

But when we were the top city in the country 15 years ago, for millennials moving here for people, the creative class moving here, we've lost that.

And we need to bring those people back.

Okay.

All right.

Adam, your thoughts?

Yeah, I think this is sort of a good statistics point for some of this stuff.

So as you know, Colorado is one of the fastest aging states.

from 2010 to 2018, the number of people age 65 and over grew by 45%.

By 2030.

Around 1 in 5 people in the state will be over 65. it is also, you know, an equity issue in some ways.

So this is from the Population Reference Bureau, which is a private nonprofit out of the DC.

so there's economic disparities among aging adults and racial disparities.

so you have, people 65 and over 17%, 18% of those identifying is Latino and black, respectively, respectively, lived in poverty in 2022, more than twice the rate of those who identified as non-Hispanic or white at 8%.

So we have an aging population, largely more in poverty based on racial demographics, which is going to alter costs, potentially.

and it is a big concern.

But I also am hopeful that America will learn to adapt and we will find new ways to work, and we will find ways to take care of people like we've done in the past.

So while the statistics can be sort of startling and you a little bit, I still find optimism that I do think we will find a solution to this.

I do think given the data, all the data you just gave.

Right.

How are we being creative about solving for it?

And I think there's right that the overall issue is how do we reduce cost burden.

Right.

Because you associate an aging population with increasing cost.

I think there's a couple of things.

One, I think we need to redesign our suburbs.

I think, Patty, somebody mentioned downtown, how are we how is downtown going to contribute to solving this problem?

It's a great 15 minute city if we choose to invest and we choose to make some smart moves around transit for our downtown, I think our suburban redesigning those suburbs to allow people to age in place, maybe not in the exact same home, but allow for middle missing middle housing where they can go into smaller units, and still be in the community that they have raised, their children have their careers, etc.. let's, let's flip this on this head and figure out how to make it work it to our advantage economically.

I like that.

Okay.

Now let's go down the line and talk about some of the highs and the lows of the week.

We'll start on a low point so we can end on a happy note.

And Patty you're up first.

By all accounts, Mesa County has cleaned up its election office with.

But we still have the ongoing Tina Peters a tragedy with Donald Trump weighing in on Monday.

And then you have people who stole votes in Mesa County getting convicted.

Who knows why.

You know, a handful of ballots, but they took them, leading to more discussion of election deniers.

So everybody just calm down and let's be clean things up, okay?

So the dust is settling on the legislative session as we talked about hundreds of new bills.

The thing that stuck with me most in the final weeks was Jeff Bridges, who was the Joint Budget Committee chair, made a comment essentially to the fact of you think this year was bad on the budget, wait till next year.

it's going to be as bad, if not worse.

Trump suggested eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, which is, a huge loss nationally And it's just we're starting to see the real implications of what's happening at the federal government, in, in our community.

And that's not okay.

Carly.

Coming out of the session and seeing the dust settling, I'm going to steal a favorite line from a good friend within the chamber and say, Milo is Colorado's increasing litigious environment.

We saw 43 bills proposed this year that would have created new ways to sue a business.

Last year, there were 37.

Not all of those passed, but a handful of them did.

And we're seeing a compounding impact year over year that's really costing businesses a lot and creating a lot of uncertainty.

Okay.

All right.

Something good.

Patty.

Well, we do need some high notes after this conversation.

Mothers everywhere, especially my mother.

So happy Mother's Day to all.

Yes, absolutely.

Adam.

May is mental health awareness month.

as you know, I love talking about addiction and mental health.

And so just a reminder to everyone that, you know, you matter, I matter, we all matter.

So if you know someone struggling or if you're struggling, talk about it and reach out to someone, okay?

Right.

Poet signed an agreement with Union Pacific to continue the, mountain, Rail and passenger mountain rail, which, not only to Granby, which we do as on the ski train, but also moving that into the summer months, potentially into Crag and Steamboat Springs.

And I think that kind of refreshing thought about how do we move, and provide access into the, into our mountains from, from our city front ranges is a really great start.

So I appreciate that.

Okay, Carly.

Back to the legislature again.

I think every time I've been on this show, I've mentioned the $7 million that my building, at the chamber is facing to comply with state requirements around building energy performance standards.

This year, we saw legislation go through and actually make it all the way through.

That provides some meaningful relief.

There doesn't 100% solve the problem, but it provides some real off ramps and some real alternatives that can help ease the, the pain that I think a lot of buildings are feeling around how they'll possibly comply with the laws as they stand.

Okay.

And my high is a grateful shout out to all who watch, listen to our podcasts, like our social media posts, and support Colorado, Inside Out and this station, PBS 12.

On this show alone, we bring together our experts to offer context to all the news content that's out there, along with different perspectives.

We all want what is best, but our ideas on how to get there may differ a little bit.

At PBS 12, we want to get you thinking, no matter how old you are about what's happening around us, what happened before us, and what's possible in the future.

Thanks to everyone who engages with us, and a special note of gratitude to those who took their support, even further by committing, some donations in public media giving days, which were last Friday and Saturday.

it was a noticeable and very appreciated boost.

So thank you.

Thank you panel.

We made it through the session.

Well, thank you so much for helping us kind of sort through what we need to know.

And also I should mention one of our panelists, Alton Dillard is going to be sitting in this chair for me over the next couple of weeks.

I'm taking some happy family time off for hitting an engagement party than Mother's Day with my 91 year old mom.

And then my oldest daughter is graduating from college, so I will see you at the end of this month, everyone.

Until then, take good care.

Colorado.

Tb12 believes in the power of original local programing.

Help us bring more shows like the one you just watched by donating at PBS's World Dawgs Program support today.