The gavel has dropped on another Colorado legislative session.

But first, a quick shout out.

Way to go, Abby's way to come back on Wednesday night to punch a ticket to the Western Conference finals.

Okay, now back to the Capitol.

Lawmakers closed major budget gaps, passed hundreds of bills and sent several measures on to voters this coming fall.

It also marked Governor Polis as final session under the dome.

Our insiders break down the winners, the losers and what it all means for you.

And with the race for Colorado's next governor already heating up, the political focus is shifting fast.

So here we go with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

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

We start with Patty Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword and Sea Lover, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and editor of The Sum and Substance.

Chris work, consultant with work, Media and Ian Thomas Tafoya, community leader, environmental advocate, and a past candidate for Mayor of Denver.

While the legislative session has ended, there is there are still some items that await final say from Governor Polis.

Let's talk about what legislators accomplished over the past.

Well, 120 days.

As of Wednesday, the balanced budget was the biggest, thing that they had to get done, Patty.

But there were still some pretty important things that passed.

It was really.

Fascinating this session.

What did pass?

What just disappeared?

And let's remember what we're going to have to deal with at the ballot in November, because now there is all that jockeying for position.

If it's going to if a bill is going to make it out, how you can fight it at the ballot.

So we're going to see that in November.

I saw that I came out and was signed is the big one.

We talked about that two years ago.

We had the laws of unintended consequences is moving so fast.

That was already a that was a bill that had problems two years ago that it got postponed once, got postponed twice.

I think this one will be really interesting to see where it goes.

We saw the rideshare safety bill, which I've talked about before, really important, so that people can feel safe when they're taking rideshare.

It was vetoed last time by police because Uber threatened to leave the state.

We'll see what happens on that one.

I think he will pass it this time.

So overall a lot of good measures made it through this year.

Ed, I think I'm the story of this session is how many bills passed where the governor and, sponsors brought in people from across the aisle.

And we talk about the AI.

Bill, this is a huge one.

This is still and people said, oh, it got watered down a little.

It's still the toughest bill in the country, still offers more transparency about when AI is helping to make a consequential decision regarding you, and your ability to not only know that, but fix the data that goes into the AI.

This is a really big bill.

Worked across the aisle on that.

The governor also, and on Thursday signed a regulatory reform measure that all of the sponsors were the leaders of their parties and the houses really got across the board by.

And that's going to make state agencies relook at their rules and decide which ones we don't need anymore.

And then you even have something that I think is gonna be huge down the line.

Like House Bill 1317, which is going to consolidate all of the state's workforce development and higher education, programs under one roof.

Now they're under seven different departments at the moment.

That's going to help streamline the workforce development system.

And I think in ten years, when more kids are getting into careers that they are trained for and excited for, we will have that bill.

The thing.

Let's hope so.

Okay.

All right.

Chris, what do you see as a big thing that got done?

Well, the competency law, current law says that if someone commits a crime and they are found to be incompetent to stand trial, they are turned back out on the streets.

It's been putting, dangerous people back out on the street, and there's been a change.

Bill came up pathways for individuals with mental health disorders.

And what it does is it prevents immediate release.

It targets high risk offenders.

Allows retrials, expands treatment options, and, it also expands civil commitments.

It's this is about public safety.

And that public safety means that we don't have people just being spilled out onto the street, that that really should not be there.

The other thing was the a bipartisan transparency bill, brought forth by, Dusty Johnson, Representative Dusty Johnson, she was a sponsor on it.

She what it does is it says government lobbyists have to register their opinions on things that they are lobbying on, just like private lobbyists do, because that has not been happening.

So that is a change.

Now the governor says he will veto that one.

So we'll say, all right, in.

Several bills that have to do with outdoor workers, in particular farm workers.

You know, we have the renaming of Cesar Chavez Day in the wake of what could come out.

But at the same time, they passed a law to restrict the overtime of capabilities and without thresholds for outdoor workers.

We had a bill around extreme temperatures that ended up as a study.

Hopefully, that will lead to real protections for people in the long run.

The Public Utilities Commission was just reauthorized, which is a huge piece of everyone's bills that they pay on a regular basis.

Whether you're talking about taking a rideshare or you're talking about your water or your energy.

There was an RTD bill that passed that I wasn't in favor of.

I'm not sure that changing the makeup of the board doesn't solve the real problem, which is finances and the regular day people who ride their busses and don't even have a bus shelter or a bus bench for dignity is something that comes up a lot.

Plug in solar is one I'm excited about.

We passed, the second state to pass this along with Utah, so it actually makes it a lot easier.

You literally put a solar panel on your balcony, and you can plug it right into your plug and possibly save up to 20% on your energy costs.

So there are more than 600 bills that were introduced during the session about.

Yeah.

So a lot were defeated or just didn't go anywhere.

Others may still be vetoed.

Speaking of vetoes, just the idea that the governor may veto something, kept some bills from ever moving out the state capitol.

And I'll start with you about what was defeated.

I will tell you.

And it's a great lead in here because one of the bills or two of the bills that I spent a lot of time covering this year were, bills that would have rolled back tax breaks or decoupled Colorado policy from federal tax policy that actually would have cost businesses about $453 million in existing tax breaks.

Just to put this in perspective, the state gets about a billion each year from corporate income tax.

So you're talking about 50% increase in corporate income tax.

Those bills died Monday on the one of the last days of session.

And they did so because the governor had come in and said, okay, well, if you're going to take this much away, I want you to put a portion of those revenues toward lowering the state's income tax level.

The sponsors said, no, we want to put all these to a family affordability credit, which is an extremely noble cause.

It's why so many people rallied around them without thinking, oh, could this actually cost jobs that will make families need this affordability credit more?

I think in the future we really need to cut up our discussions on what's good tax policy and what's good tax break policy.

This was kind of, hey, if you want to help families, you have to do this.

And the governor was the one who stepped in and said, no, no, no, this is not the way to do it.

We need to discuss those separately.

Let's figure out what's a good tax break and what's good tax spending, and not force them into the same conversation.

Okay.

All right Chris.

Well, often towards the end of the session, we see, the majority party try to rush through bills they really want to get through.

And Republicans this year had two great victories.

They were able to stop some from even getting the light of day one was a natural gas bill that would add fees and taxes to natural gas use, and that was, considered to circumvent initiative Colorado Initiative 177, which is described as the right to purchase natural gas measure likely on the ballot this fall.

That would give a constitutional right for consumers to purchase natural gas.

So that bill never saw the light of day.

Another one that was being tossed around talked about was the governor imposing a nicotine and tobacco tax, excise tax syntax to help fund a, tax, the income tax cut and that didn't see the light of day as well.

Okay.

And, Ian, you have talked a lot on the show about the data centers.

Data center bill, two bills that were back and forth all the way through the weekend was working through the weekend on these bills.

You know, at the end of the day, I think people on both sides, it's become clear that there were thousands and thousands of public comments that were submitted directly to legislators.

And I think on the left and the right, people are like, are we really going to subsidize the largest corporations in the globe?

Just to bring them here for jobs and I think that remains to be negotiated throughout the rest of the year.

Some of the things we were advocating for were around renewable energy, ensuring your bills don't go up to pay for the infrastructure to support these.

How much water is being consumed, but also the transparency around chemicals, And so, you know, whether we find a compromise throughout the rest of this year, the status quo remains the same.

They can still come here and build here, but rather other states rolling back their tax incentives.

I think it's still remains in question.

I will also say one that I was paying attention to was the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.

People might be familiar with this.

They wanted to create a program in our own state to be a backstop.

And we've seen this as particularly with the Trump administration, where there's critical federal environmental data and other types of programs that are being cut.

And so, in the absence of that, how do we protect our own people in Colorado?

And so that was one I was watching.

And that didn't make it either.

Did not?

Okay, Patty.

I think in some ways the shocker was that there was nothing that came out about pinnacle.

Now we will see that a pinnacle measure on the ballot in November, so that issue will come up.

But heading into this session that an eye with a big discussion and then databases came in.

But the workers comp, the what could it be privatized.

Could it be sold to make money for the state to help the state coffers?

So that one didn't come?

The surprise that did come in that we talked about so much that had 200 lobbyists swipe fees, that was the surprise, I have to say for me of this session that we had to hear so much about swipe fees.

And I can tell you, I think all 200 of those lobbyists sent press releases.

So that was tricky.

I was sorry to see the bill that would have outlawed, marriage with minors in very specific situations go down because we were talking about young women who, if a judge said, okay, might be able to marry a man 26 when they're 16.

So that was a hard fought one.

But it was tricky.

Okay.

Before we move away from the state capital acquittal.

A quick little speed round for you.

Well, Governor Polis has brought a very distinct personality and governing style to the capital.

And this was his final session.

It is complete.

So what stands out to you about his leadership, his legacy?

Start with Patty.

Go around.

How would you rate his final session?

I would say he's stuck.

He is still pretty much of a maverick.

I mean, he is a libertarian in many ways.

He's a Trekkie sci fi kind of guy.

He's a really interesting thinker who is not as predictable as you might think.

Okay.

Polis does two things when he jumps starts ideas, like when he's talking about housing, for example, and really pushing on some of those.

And two, he stops ideas cold.

More than any governor I've ever covered from.

We talked about the tax bills, to his, coming veto, vetoed the Labor Peace Act change, which really shut down, discussion of it if it didn't shut down that bill moving forward to him even getting in and shutting down the bill early this session, that would have, required like stadiums and airports to bring down what they charge for food and drinks.

He controls a lot of bills going through there just by saying yes or no.

Okay.

Yes, I. Think I'm ready for new leadership.

But one thing that highlights for me, his involvement with the Wolf program and, even in the legislature, I know Senator Dillon Roberts did great work for his constituents trying to pull back this program.

The governor clearly has his finger on the scale.

I think we're ready for someone new.

Okay.

And, Ian.

Well, I was actually invited to the state of the state.

And as I sat there and listened, I thought, wow, I've worked on a lot of those things as it relates to the environment.

I think there's been progress in him convening people to get over big hurdles.

I think the oil and gas and environmental compromise, Front Range Rail, the environmental Justice Task Force, that I chaired, some of the housing policy that's move forward.

I mean, for a governor who navigated Covid and his staff that was able to do that.

And now with the dollars drying up and H.R.

one, I mean, it's a lot to navigate, I would say I give him a pass.

Okay.

All right.

Meanwhile, the race to be the next governor of Colorado is really picking up speed.

Democrats in the governor's race are already going head to head.

Republicans, while their top candidates still haven't shared a debate stage, mainly because they campaign.

The one of the top fundraisers in this race continues to avoid that stage.

And we're just six weeks away from the primary.

Chris, I will start with you.

Yeah.

Victor Marx refuses to debate with the other two candidates.

And and it kind of begs the question, what are you hiding?

Can you not talk about policy?

He was on, I think, Fox News over the weekend and and at least indicated somewhat.

He knew a few of the issues in Colorado, but we really haven't seen any ideas from him.

He released a poll which is heavily weighted in his favor.

Was paid for by an AEC.

That shows he's he's close to 60%, in polling and, but the poll left out key counties, especially ones that support Barb, Kirk Meyer.

And you cannot negate the fact that there is within counties favorites.

So, he's been accused of some things like, campaign finance mismanagement, something called smurfing, which is taking large donations and breaking them up into smaller ones through, false, contributors.

There has been some talk about him being involved in spiritual abuse and casting out demons and things of that nature.

I don't think that's going to fly in Colorado.

Colorado is losing its Christian base, as shown by Pew Research, 53% of people in Colorado identify as Christians.

And then the base that is unaffiliated religiously is growing to almost 30%.

So we'll see.

Okay.

In well you asked before we came on the show today about is this a new thing to skip.

On debates.

I don't think it's a new thing.

I think this is something that is deployed by candidates and has been historically.

You pick and choose your battles about where you don't want to get caught on the mic, where you actually be able to accommodate for your own schedule, in particular, when you're doing statewide, debates.

I can recall when Hickenlooper was running the first time, I think he skipped like 30 or something, debates because he just didn't have the name I.D.

and he didn't want to mix it up with the other 12 candidates that were running.

So I don't think it's a new thing.

I think it's just an old tactic that you get to see every single year.

What I think is really interesting about this is who's investing in digital and who's investing in mailers like, this has played out in particular where Shannon Byrd's race, with Manny Rudy now on CD eight, where I see Shannon Bird really taking the traditional mailers route and the digital being really embraced by the no campaign and also the Marcus campaign.

I think his his reach that he's getting through his digital marketing is a is a big deal.

Well, I think we're also seeing as federal out of state spending that's only about to start pouring in.

We know we have the Emily's list.

I believe that supporting Shannon, the Latino Victory Fund, she's putting a lot of money into right now.

This is going to play out in the why is a race.

We know there's gonna be a lot of out of state money there.

And I guess I'll just close by saying we're on polling.

I never really trust a poll that's conducted by a candidate, which polls are always set up to be in a scenario that hopefully it turns out good for you.

And if you don't, it doesn't see the light of day, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Patti.

The Republican primary is going to be fascinating, which is you've got two ministers and you talk about, yes, the Christian base might be dwindling a little, but they're reasonable Christian people.

And then there are maybe Victor Mark's followers.

And that's how you've got to figure out how many are actually going to go for bottoms or marks, and how many will realize that Barb, Kirk Meyer has been a very effective state legislator.

Whether or not you agree with her politics, she certainly is a good public servant.

She is not managed by demons.

So will.

But will the other to knock her out.

If it was just Victor Marcus against Kirk Meyer, Colorado, the Republicans might have a problem pulling out a reasonable candidate.

In this case, she might squeak by the wiser, but it race is fascinating.

I watched their debate last week and it was kind of like retired, retired debaters come back to high school for their glory days.

It just didn't have the energy you wanted to see.

And I think they might catch fire with a little more time.

But right now they both talk about how they're fighters.

And I guess if they're fighting demons, that will come in handy, but it's hard to predict that one.

We have a theme with this show, don't we?

Had, I've been buried in policy this past week at the legislature.

And it's been really interesting to me to see, you know, you sometimes see candidates and I won't name names who run for office and or in the legislature and decide that legislature thing is just a little bit too much time to worry about.

But Kirk Meyer has been involved in some of the most, you know, wonky debates in the last week and a half.

There she was, the one that really scuttled, for a 40 million fee increase, that was set to be put on insurers, to fund a health insurance enterprise that, frankly, would have all been passed along to, to people, in the state who are insured.

She really pushed the sponsors to find another source for that.

She's been really involved in the debate over 1430, which is the bill that is the kind of workaround, for the transportation funding initiative, trying to find solutions.

Her efforts didn't, didn't come to anything, but really work to try to find some compromise solutions on that.

It's just fascinating to me to see someone who's, you know, theoretically supposed to be out there just talking on a high platform, really working as hard as she has on policy.

And I think this could be a really interesting policy.

Debates come, come the fall.

Okay.

It's kind of interesting.

There's Barbara Kirk Meyer and Bottoms are both on record saying that if Marx wins, they will not support him.

So if you don't have a united party against long odds in Colorado, it doesn't think of boats very well for the Republicans.

Republicans don't like to win.

Okay, we'll move on from that then.

Suncor Energy refinery was back in the spotlight on Monday after dark smoke rose above the plant following a power outage.

Now, this is Colorado's only operating petroleum refinery, and this was the second electrical issue in less than a month.

And now, after an initial wave of attention and assurances from the company that there was no danger to the public and the state saying that their monitors showed no air quality being impacted, the conversation has largely quieted down, except in the neighborhood, right by Suncor.

Ian, I will start with you.

And this is a neighborhood I grew up in where my mom is impacted every day and worked in Commerce City.

She retired from Commerce City Housing.

And so I think about Suncor on a regular basis.

I was getting notifications from the community, an hour before the notification went out from Suncor.

And having worked on the law for the reverse 911 notification system, clearly it needs to be updated.

We also work to get those, monitors in place where they're testing for the most toxic chemicals.

The black smoke is about the small particulate matter, and that kind of stuff really can impact your health.

And there's a lot of evidence about how you can cross the blood brain barrier, impact children.

There's babies in their fetuses and in the wombs.

And so, you know, when it comes to Suncor, we passed a law a couple of years ago.

I was just talking about the Environmental Justice Act.

The recommendation said, hey, we need to investigate Suncor more.

So they went, did it.

The states actually releasing they released a report about ten days ago.

And of the 170 so refineries in the country, Suncor is in the top ten worst in a lot of categories and in the top one and 2 in 2 of the categories for chemicals that they're releasing.

It lays out a scenario in which we can have another rulemaking to rein them in.

I'm really surprised, as you know, that we haven't seen the business community speak out on such a company that's been such a bad actor and taking so many hits, for the community.

We have a report for my day job, Green Latinos.

It's also laying out that we've done a lot of community engagement about what comes next.

And I just want to say it once again, I've said this a lot of times on the show, if we want to have the largest airport in the world that's supplying jet fuel from this refinery, we have to have a conversation about what is the future for supplying the resources we need to our airport.

If we want to close down this facility or upgrade it in a way to be productive for our community, they both matter.

Okay.

Patty.

Right.

Supplying 33% of our gas to the only refinery in the state.

And if you drove by I think it was Speer and Federal today when all of a sudden you are Speer and Colfax.

Maybe gas is over $5 depending on where you are.

So it is a time to talk about our resources and not just let them spew let factories spew pollutants, but how we need to monitor them, how we can make things more safe, what we need to do for our future.

You know, this was going to be the area very close to data.

You know, another there already is a data center, but more data centers, too.

And the people in Globeville, Elyria, Swanson, Swansea, a commerce city, have put up with a lot over the years.

And at the very least, they should be able to have timely, accurate communications of problems, because it was actually the third problem in a month.

And also, why are we having these outages, which says, let's bring in the discussion of Excel also and the PUC, and what kind of monitoring are we really getting?

If we only have one refinery, we should be able to know what's going on there.

Okay.

And so as far as the business community speaking out, I'll just say that one of the big things is that there's a lot of regulation going on.

Very specific to Suncor.

You mentioned the toxic air contaminants rulemaking.

That's something that just happened in April.

And Suncor is going to have some specific rules that's got to follow regarding benzene leaks as part of that rulemaking that's going to be going on.

Suncor was also part of what's called the Gen two rulemaking a couple of years ago, that looked at just the 18 largest manufacturing facilities in the state and put new requirements on them to bring down their emissions.

The reports have shown that the Gen two facilities are paying down their emissions far more than was expected at this time already.

And finally, you mentioned the refinery report that just came out that's going to lead to more regulations of refineries in the state.

Oh, I'm sorry, not refineries.

We only have one, that's going to lead to more regulations.

Very specifically of Suncor.

So, yes, I mean, obviously people worry and, and and everybody worries when you see things like this.

But this state is taking a lot of steps to rein in Suncor right now.

And, and that's why I think you're not seeing as much as speaking at home.

Okay.

All right.

Well, oddly enough, as this was all going on, Suncor came out with its earnings report and, it was very strong due to higher production and refining performance.

The company posted net earnings of about $2.1 billion, significantly up from 1.6 billion last year.

Like I said, the production is up.

But it was interesting, however, because on Tuesday, as we're all wondering about the smoke, their stock definitely took a hit.

As for the issues that Ed brought up regarding regulatory, the control, it's going to mean higher costs for them.

It's going to mean they're going to have to face tighter operating constraints over time.

And really, reputation wise, this is really going to impact them as they have continued embeds.

Oh, I just want to be clear.

They've had more than 10,000 violations just in just a few years.

We're actually actively in the Clean Air Act lawsuit that's moving through the appellate court.

These $10 million fines aren't doing anything to a company making billions a quarter.

And I just want to point out around Jim, two of the 17 of 18 facilities, one dropped out.

So you have 15 of 17 facilities.

All of them reached goals early except for Suncor, who just wants to buy credits instead of changing their behavior.

Shall we go around the table and talk about some of the highs and the lows of the week.

Let's start on a low note and we'll end on a high note.

Patty.

Well if you are a single anti-vaxxer you've got a big event coming up at the end of the month.

There's going to be an anti-vax gathering that's a group out of Hawaii, but it's got chapters now across the country.

Unfortunately, the first place they decided they would bestow their wonderfulness upon decided they could not put up with the blowback that had come up.

And they had no idea just how big this was going to get.

So if you want to host an anti-vaxxer singles group, they are looking for a location.

I would suggest maybe some car parking lot.

And it is always tough when a community loses a community hub.

I live in Wheat Ridge and for 13 years now, Colorado Plus has been one of those hubs.

It's closing down at the end of May.

And it's just it's always tough to see businesses go down that have supported the smaller communities around Denver.

And I want to call that out.

Okay.

All right.

Chris.

Okay.

The US Drought Monitor says that 82% of the state is in severe drought and snowpack is 14% of median at this time.

That is devastating to the state.

You know, I'm trying to be judicious in watering my lawn, but, those are really bad numbers.

Now, the good news is California, Nevada and Arizona have decided to make temporary cuts through 2028 and their water usage.

It's about 3.2 million acre feet.

Okay.

All right.

And and my bad news takes us to the border and the border wall where the Trump administration bulldozed over a Native American archeological site.

Condit and Taglio very similar to a NASCAR line in Peru that you see from the sky, a thousand years old in the base up here at the National Wildlife Refuge, and then went and blasted critical jaguar habitat in the Coronado National Monument, also sacred to two tribes.

And you just think we're just we're just mowing over a thousand year old sites.

It's just appalling.

It was probably the worst thing I've heard in a long time.

Wow.

Okay.

All right.

Something good.

Patty.

Well, speaking as an aging edifice and talk about historic sites.

Really happy to see the awards that were given by Colorado Preservation Inc., the Dana Crawford Awards last night and some great Colorado institutions.

And next weekend, Memorial Day weekend.

We've got the mighty Argo opening up in Idaho Springs.

It's got the gondola, it's got the rate, it's got the bike.

Great.

Bike routes.

It's going to be wonderful.

And my conflict of interest, Worlds of Wonder View Tower in Genoa is also opening Memorial Day weekend.

Your conflict of interest.

You can mention any time.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

I want to go back to the legislative session here.

I think one of the bills that flew under the radar, even in a budget shortfall year, was a bill that continues a, tax credit that can be given to people who donate to childcare facilities, childcare facilities and boys and girls clubs say this has been incredibly important in them continuing to operate.

And the state is one of the most expensive places right now.

To get childcare.

We need to see more of these efforts, if we are going to make this affordable for families.

And this is a great start continuing in this tax credit okay.

All right.

Chris, Saturday mornings I like to go thrifting very early in the morning and went to the Littleton, Ark.

Thrift store.

And outside they had a big planter with signs on it saying do Not disturb.

And that's because a mother goose was in there tending her eggs.

Well, those eggs have finally hatch and we have goslings.

And I'd like to congratulate Lloyd Lewis, who's the CEO of Ark and his staff for helping these young, young goslings get a good start.

And.

Oh, I love that.

All right.

While the week is, now, it's something that I campaigned on that you don't have to win to get big projects done.

West tracks or public transit for Red Rock starts next Saturday the 23rd.

You can start at the Jefferson County Government Center and Golden Station, so take the W line there or park and ride there from nine and nine in the morning.

We're going to start with remarks.

There's going to be a band and some music and activities, and then the stops will include Matthews, Winter's Park, the Discovery Center at Dinosaur Ridge, which is opening a brand new exhibit that same day, the Red Rocks Trading Post, Downtown Morrison and the Morrison Natural History Museum.

More than 2 million people will get access throughout the summer.

We have funding for the next three years, hopefully phasing into music, so we want people to use it because transit only works if you use it.

That's great though.

That's great.

I can't believe nobody mentioned for hire the week.

What made everyone in Colorado happy this week?

The avalanche win for come from behind on Wednesday night when everyone thought oh no.

So my high is just the avalanche and can't wait for the Western Conference finals.

I think it's so exciting.

Thanks to all of you who are watching at home, and especially who have followed along during the legislative session, thanks to our insiders have kind of done a great job recapping all of it.

And thank you for going there every day and writing your really long article this week about it.

You can always check us out online, on YouTube, or on our podcasts.

I'm Kyle Dyer, I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

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