Nine years ago, one of Silverthorne’s few income-restricted housing properties was sold to a private firm. The sale — at a price that was double the property’s assessed value — raised worries in the high-cost mountain community that the new owner of the Blue River Apartments might lift rent caps that had kept its 78 … Read more
Gov. Jared Polis signed “for-cause” eviction protections into law Friday, making Colorado the sixth U.S. state to enact the policy that’s aimed at blunting displacement of vulnerable tenants. The law, passed by the legislature late last month, effectively gives tenants a right of first refusal to renew their leases. That protection, supporters say, will insulate … Read more
Colorado lawmakers are abandoning plans to overhaul the Regional Transportation District’s governing board and change how its members are selected after transit officials blasted the plan. Reps. William Lindstedt and Meg Froelich said Wednesday that they are still set to pursue other RTD reforms through House Bill 1447. But they said they plan to drop … Read more
Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law Monday that officially eliminates most restrictions on how many unrelated roommates can live together in Colorado. House Bill 1007 prohibits local governments from enacting occupancy limits, which Polis and other critics of the policy have derided as discriminatory and outdated. Roughly two dozen Colorado cities have such … Read more
For the first time in Colorado history, House Democrats passed a bill Sunday to ban the sale, purchase and transfer of so-called “assault weapons” in the state, setting the measure on a collision course with the state Senate. House Bill 1292 passed on a 35-27 vote, two votes past the threshold needed to pass. All … Read more
Colorado legislators are working to launch two commissions that will help shape criminal justice policy statewide into the near future, an effort that’s drawn the praise of policymakers while reigniting the same simmering tensions that helped sink a predecessor last year. Under recommendations issued last month by a working group convened by Gov. Jared Polis, … Read more
Facing a wall of opposition from fire officials, Colorado lawmakers on Wednesday killed a bill that would have allowed taller apartment buildings to be constructed in a single-stair style that’s common in Europe. House Bill 1239, had it passed, would have allowed developers in Colorado to build five-story buildings around a single stairway, rather than … Read more
A bill to allow supervised drug-use sites to open in willing Colorado cities cleared the state House for the second time in two years on Friday, but it faces a significant uphill battle in the face of opposition in the Senate and from Gov. Jared Polis. House Bill 1028 is Rep. Elisabeth Epps’ second attempt to … Read more
State Sen. Faith Winter, a Broomfield lawmaker and the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said Thursday that she has entered substance-use treatment for alcohol abuse after appearing intoxicated at a community event this week. Winter apologized for her behavior at the Northglenn event Wednesday night, where she appeared to slur her words when she spoke … Read more
Colorado legislators will work through Budget Madness Part 2 this week, as the state’s spending plan for next year is set to pass the House on Monday before crossing over and restarting the process in the Senate. The House worked all day and into the night Thursday (before taking Good Friday off) to give initial … Read more
