As the dust settles on the recent legislative session, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on our efforts, celebrate our victories, and learn from our setbacks.

While there were certainly bright spots, the outcome of the session was not as glowing as we had hoped. However, through careful review and analysis of our work over the past week, we have gleaned some important takeaways. These takeaways include learning from our losses, celebrating wins, and analyzing a new regulatory landscape for climate and energy policy in Colorado. 

First, despite strong efforts on our priority bills Regenerative Agriculture Tax Credit (SB 152) and Analysis of Universal Health Care (HB 1075), both unfortunately met their end before receiving a final vote. This was not for lack of support for these bills, but rather the political complexities of passing bills in a turbulent legislative session. One key lesson we learned is that success in one chamber does not guarantee success in the other. Our leadership teams for both bills are committed to laying a strong foundation to bring these bills back next year. 

We are celebrating wins on measures to increase transit usage and access to school-based health care. Increase Access to School-Based Health Care (SB 34), championed by our youth program West Slope Youth Voice which was supported by student testimony back in January, will significantly expand opportunities for student health access and services. Methods to Increase Transit (SB 32), is the first step in building a statewide working group to guide the process of increasing public transportation statewide. We are also pleased to see progress in agriculture and land protection with the Conservation Easement Income Tax Credit (SB 126). 

This session was a mixed bag for climate and energy legislation. We were working hard to pass new safety measures for oil and gas pipelines and to end tax exemptions on low-producing wells, but all oil and gas legislation this session ended when Gov. Polis struck a deal with conservation organizations and the oil and gas industry to avoid a costly ballot initiative fight this coming November. The compromise put two new air quality bills forward, SB24-230 and SB24-229 which add some new reductions on emissions from oil and gas operations, and impose new fees on upstream operations which will contribute substantial new funding for public transit and public lands. 

Thankfully, we did make progress on the clean energy front, with the passage of Access to Distributed Generation SB24-207 and Local Govs Renewable Energy Projects SB24-212, which together will support more solar development across Western Colorado. 

While there were certainly challenges this legislative session, it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the victories achieved. We look forward to re-gathering our efforts for the 2025 session. In the meantime, if you have any questions or want more information about any of these bills, please reach out to me at nick@westerncoloardoalliance.org.