We’re past the halfway point in the 2025 state legislative session, folks, which means the days are getting longer and the debates are growing more contentious.
This week promises to be a prominent one for several housing bills. The Colorado House this morning took a final vote on House Bill 1169, the so-called “YIGBY” bill, for “Yes In God’s Backyard,” that would make it easier for houses of worship and educational institutions to build housing on their land. It passed 40-23.
That bill, a land-use reform backed by Gov. Jared Polis, will now advance to the Senate.
Also on the House calendar: House Bill 1004, which seeks to prohibit the use of rent-setting algorithms used by some landlords. Critics argue those algorithms are used to price-fix rents at high levels, and the Biden administration found that many Denver renters pay more than $1,600 in additional rent every year as a result of the software.
One software developer successfully neutered an attempt to ban the algorithms last year, and this year’s version is undergoing changes and faces skepticism from Polis’ office. It still needs a full vote in the House before moving to the Senate, where it effectively died last year.
Other housing bills up for votes this week include House Bill 1207, which would allow tenants in federally subsidized housing to have pets; and House Bills 1272 and 1261, which are parallel — if not fully competing — measures related to construction defects reform.
Another land-use bill — to allow new apartment buildings to have only one stairwell — is also up this week. Along with the two construction defects bills, that measure will be in the House’s Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee on Tuesday.
Here’s what else is happening in the Capitol this week:
Fiscal budget forecast
On Monday, the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee will receive the latest economic forecast from legislative staff and from the governor’s office. The details of the forecast will be key: The state, for the next fiscal year, is facing a shortfall of roughly $1 billion, which has prompted grim discussions of cutting Medicaid or schools, and Monday’s update will provide a final assessment of the hole in the state’s finances.
That’s because the forecast comes days before the budget committee is set to deliver a proposed budget to the full legislature, where it will be debated and passed to Polis. That process is expected — or hoped — to start next week, and the final budget will reveal the full breadth of not just the deficit but the measures taken by lawmakers to close it.
All of this is not happening in a vacuum. Congress must cut more than $880 billion to pay for House Republicans’ tax cuts, a massive reduction that would likely have to include additional Medicaid cuts. More uncertainty from the federal government — which has spent the first weeks of the second Trump administration hacking away at a variety of agencies and state grants — further muddies the water for budget-makers here.
A joint hearing on affordability
On Wednesday, the House and Senate judiciary committees will hold a joint hearing to discuss “the role of states in protecting affordability.” Details are scant, though the hearing is set to include current and former federal officials.
The hearing comes as the Capitol’s majority Democrats and minority Republicans have both professed a commitment to addressing Colorado’s cost of living.
But they’ve prioritized different paths: Republicans have sought to cut legislature-imposed fees that fund state services (and, in some cases, help supply tax refunds), while Democrats have sought to tighten regulations on housing and cost increases. Most Republican proposals have already died, while Democratic proposals are still winding their way through the legislature.
Big bills head to the floor
One of the legislature’s most contentious proposals — Senate Bill 71 — has also been one of its quietest, at least to the outside world. The bill is a hospital-backed proposal to shore up the 430B program, which provides discounted medications to certain hospitals.
Most of the state’s lobby corps has been engaged by either the hospitals or the pharmaceutical industry since last summer, and SB-71 passed its first committee last week. It now heads to the Senate floor for a first vote.
A somewhat competing bill, Senate Bill 124, was also heard in a committee last week, though its vote was delayed. The bill — backed by pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences — would require that most 430B funding be used on patients, not on advertising or pay for hospitals’ boards of directors.
Two other significant bills are also floating above the calendar: Senate Bill 5, a pro-union measure to change a provision in Colorado’s labor law, and Senate Bill 3, which would limit the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons to people who’ve passed certain training and background check requirements. Both measures passed House committees last week. SB 5 now heads straight to the House floor, while SB-3 must clear a third and final committee.
Neither bill is on the calendar yet. House Appropriations — SB-3’s destination — meets on Friday mornings, and House leadership tends to schedule contentious bills on Fridays. With a time-consuming budget debate on the horizon, this week may end with a lengthy debate on one — or both — of the most controversial bills of the year.
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