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<title>HB 1312: Hastily amended transgender bill a convoluted mess</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/08/house-bill-1312-misgendering-convoluted-mess/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=house-bill-1312-misgendering-convoluted-mess</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ari Armstrong]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2025 17:33:38 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[2025 Leg Session]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ari Armstrong]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Exclusives]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Colorado House Bill 25-1312]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Deadnaming]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Misgendering]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22747</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Colorado deserves better than a bill stuffed with sloppy language, a fake emergency, and too little concern for people's liberties.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/08/house-bill-1312-misgendering-convoluted-mess/">HB 1312: Hastily amended transgender bill a convoluted mess</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Discussing “the sheer volume of bills that we pass every year” in the legislature, Rep. Rebekah Stewart (D-Jefferson County) said during a recent interview (<a href="https://www.getmoresmarter.com/p/episode-235-another-embarrassing">starting at marker 28:25</a>), “I do think that sometimes we try to rush things through and it ends up being messy legislation because we do that.”
Stewart continued, “It feels really urgent in the moment, and there are a lot of things that are really urgent, and, at the same time, I feel like nothing is so urgent that it’s worth passing bad legislation that we have to go back and fix. I think that that’s not a great mindset to get into, and so I wish that we didn’t always have such a deep sense of, well, it’s introduced, and we have the bill title this year, so we just have to pass something, if it’s just not working.”
Interesting then that the first thing to notice about <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1312">House Bill 25-1312</a>, the now-infamous transgender bill, of which Stewart is a primary sponsor, is that the May 6 Senate version of the bill looks almost nothing like the April 6 House version. The bill now is in the hands of Governor Jared Polis.
<h3>A convoluted mess</h3>
Rather than admit the bill is just not working and go back to the drawing board to try to get it right for next year, the Senate saw fit to urgently “fix” nearly every line of the original bill. The result, predictably, is a convoluted mess that will require more “fixing” down the road. That did not prevent the legislature from lying about an emergency to invoke the “<a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/safety_clauses_and_act-subject-to-petition_clauses.pdf">safety clause</a>” to prevent voter review.
From the perspective of crafting clear, meaningful, necessary statutes, this bill makes little sense. But, as a social phenomenon, this bill is not fundamentally about the underlying statutes it enacts; it is a piece of performance art. It is largely about speaking out for transgender people in the face of anti-trans conservatives and the trans-hostile Trump administration. I agree that defending transgender people is a worthy cause, but this bill was not the right pathway.
As I pointed out when <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/04/04/house-bill-1312-censorship-misgendering/">last I wrote about it</a>, HB 1312 tries to do too much in one package. Its distinct elements should have been introduced separately so that the legislature and the public could give each part a serious hearing and lawmakers could vote each part up or down based on its merits. But a large-scale bill on many aspects of loosely related transgender issues makes a bigger statement, which is, after all, much of the point.
Let’s review what the revised bill does as compared with its earlier language.
<h3>Censorship provision cut</h3>
As I noted previously, to me the most concerning part of the bill as introduced was its provision imposing outright censorship.
Originally, March 28, and still by April 6, the bill stated, “It is a discriminatory practice and unlawful to, with specific intent to discriminate, publish materials that deadname or misgender an individual.”
Despite various claims by advocates of the bill and by major-media journalists who covered it (but I repeat myself), this language is not just limited to a public-accommodations setting. It explicitly refers to any sort of publishing. That’s censorship.
The difference between versions is that by April 6 the House had added an exception for any “public entity” when required by law to use an individual’s legal name. In other words, it would be legal, indeed mandatory, for government entities to deadname and misgender people in certain contexts, but illegal for private parties ever to do so, because some people are more equal than others.
Perhaps sensing the absolute unconstitutional disaster of this language, the Senate jettisoned it.
<h3>Public accommodations laws</h3>
The May 6 version of the bill aims squarely to reform the public-accommodations laws to apply to employment, housing, and businesses open to the public.
Existing statutory language protecting “gender expression” is expanded to include a person’s “chosen name and how the individual chooses to be addressed.” This is an indirect reference to pronouns. So the idea here is that, in a public-accommodations context, deadnaming someone (e.g., calling someone “Joe,” as they used to be called, when the person now prefers to be called “Sue”) or misgendering someone (referring to Sue as “he” or “Mr.” or the like) could be considered a discriminatory practice.
But this language is intentionally slippery. As revised, HB 1312 allows any chosen name if it “does not contain offensive language and the individual is not requesting the name for frivolous purposes.” Call it the “Jon Caldara exception.” You may recall that Caldara (head of Independence Institute, which publishes Complete Colorado) <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2024/02/21/caldara-bizarre-bills-from-loony-legislature/">once suggested that students</a> invited to change their names might choose something like “I.M.A. Wiener” or “Homer Sexual.” Or we might get something else crazy like a <a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/candidate-lets-go-brandon-nickname/73-cac3b05d-4d57-4ac6-961c-6d308155e2f6">candidate for public office</a> calling himself “Dave ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Williams.”
There’s just one little tiny problem with the bill’s new language: Who gets to interpret the inherently subjective and largely arbitrary terms “offensive” and “frivolous”? Apparently the same Civil Rights Commission <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece_Cakeshop_v._Colorado_Civil_Rights_Commission">that has gotten itself in hot water</a> with the Supreme Court for its heavy-handed legal applications. What could go wrong?
Indeed, some people regard any suggestion that a biological male is a woman to be offensive and frivolous. Obviously the Civil Rights Commission would disagree. In practice, then, HB 1312 is an open invitation to treat people differently based on their religious and ideological viewpoints.
The problem of interpretation is broader. To take an extreme example, for a time <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_(musician)">Prince changed his stage name</a> to an unpronounceable symbol. Was that “frivolous”? You tell me. When people still called him “Prince” or “the artist formerly known as Prince,” was that “deadnaming”? Again, you tell me.
I’m not saying these sorts of edge cases would be the norm. Usually, we’re talking about something like the case of “Joe” to “Sue.” But the law needs to be written to apply generally, not just to the typical cases.
“How the individual chooses to be addressed” also is quite broad. What if I want to be known as “Ari ‘King of the World’ Armstrong”? Are people obliged to call me that in a public setting, or would my request be “frivolous”? What if I wish to be called “Pastor Ari Armstrong” or “Ari a Man Saved by Jesus Armstrong”? This quickly could get into some tricky waters.
Not only is the revised bill not “Caldara proof,” it is practically an open invitation for critics and pranksters to toy with Colorado’s civil rights laws. That seems bad.
<h3>Rejecting transgender claims</h3>
I have tried my best to convince certain friends of mine that some people genuinely and authentically are transgender. A couple years ago I wrote <a href="https://ariarmstrong.com/dawkins-transgender.html">up a reply to Richard Dawkins</a> outlining my position. I think my position is fairly straightforward and reasonable, but nevertheless I have failed to convince these friends.
I am willing to agree with progressives that people who are “trans-exclusionary,” who deny that an authentic transgender identity is possible and who treat claims to be transgender as some sort of delusion or mental illness, are falling into a sort of bigotry. I also think that in a lot of cases anti-trans activism carries with it bigotry against gay people and deep misogyny (yes, I know about the counter-claims).
But I also have to look out at the world around me and concede that a lot of people just flat-out disagree with me. As much as I think that they’re wrong, they also think that I’m wrong.
Here is my serious question for the Democrats who supported HB 1312: Do you really think it’s a good idea to force transgendered language onto the public when a substantial number of people think the very notion is absurd?
I don’t want to take Rep. Scott Bottoms as representative of public opinion. To be blunt, I think Bottoms is a disgrace to the legislature. Yet it remains the case that Bottoms was elected to the legislature, he’s the pastor of a church, he’s running for governor, and he expresses views that quite a few others share.
So I do want to consider Bottoms’ <a href="https://x.com/ScottBottomsCO/status/1915071331672228167">April 23 remarks on X</a>. Bottoms first complains that “men” (transgender women) used the women’s bathroom in the state capitol building (he does not mention any actual harm this caused). He then asserts, not entirely without cause, that HB 1312 as originally drafted “would take children away from parents” who do not confirm a transgender identity (the language in question subsequently was removed). Bottoms then hysterically describes advocacy of transgender and queer people as stemming from “a Marxist ideology to crush and destroy” (<a href="https://chatgpt.com/share/681beef8-53e8-8013-910e-6abe9f53d620">ChatGPT actually did a pretty good job responding</a>). Finally, Bottoms <a href="https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-lawsuit-fights-for-right-to-misgender-deadname-trans-people-20343734">complains that legislative leadership</a> gaveled him down for deadnaming and misgendering people.
Do we really need to try to force Scott Bottoms and people like him to call other people by their chosen names and pronouns in the relevant contexts?
<h3>The restaurant patron example</h3>
I’ve used the example before of a restaurant. Let’s say a transgender woman walks into a restaurant and asks for a table. Let’s further say that the restaurant owner knows the person is transgender and knows the person’s prior name. If the owner went out of his way to call the transgender woman “Mr.” and “Joe” instead of “Ms.” and “Sue,”and made a stink about it, that really would be discriminatory, comparable to emphasizing the color of a patron’s skin to make the person uncomfortable.
But I think the legislature is going too far toward potentially requiring the use of a person’s chosen name and pronouns. The compromise I propose is to give people such as Bottoms a way to use nongendered language instead.
In the case of legislators, we already have an easy alternative. Members of the House typically are called “Representative So-and-so,” and members of the Senate typically are called “Senator,” regardless of gender. Why can’t we do something comparable in a restaurant setting? Rather than use “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or “Sue Smith,” the restaurant owner could instead call someone something like “Patron Smith” or just “Smith.” Wouldn’t that be good enough?
Misgendering someone is not entirely like, say, calling someone the “N-word.” In the latter case, the person knows full well the “race” or ethnicity of the person in question yet chooses an intentionally demeaning label. But some people, however mistaken, sincerely believe that a transgender identity is not even a real thing. They imagine that calling a biological male “she” is akin to calling a white woman from Boulder the “Queen of Egypt.” They imagine that they are being put in the position of declaring that there are five lights when there are four.
I think trans-exclusionary people are wrong. But, look, people have a right to be wrong in important ways. There really is an important ideological dispute at the base of the controversy. So I think the legislature should be very wary about trying to enforce certain modes of speech in public. To put the matter bluntly, we don’t need the Thought Police.
<h3>Other changes to the bill</h3>
The April 6 version of the bill expended the meaning of “coercive control” in the context of custody disputes to include “deadnaming or misgendering.” Although I do think that some parents can treat their transgender kids cruelly, I also think that some parents approach their child’s claim to be transgender with loving skepticism. The language was stripped from the May 6 version of the bill.
The April 6 version further protected Colorado parents from losing custody of their children, based on the policies of other states, when the Colorado parent agreed to gender-affirming health care for a child. That language was removed. New language was added for May 6 confirming “freedom of choice . . . related to safely seeking health-care services,” including gender-affirming care.
The May 6 version has sections on name changes pertaining to marriage and drivers’ licenses that are not in the April 6 version.
I again suggest that a bill that went through this many changes so late in the legislative session of necessity feels rushed and sloppy.
<h3>Public school provision stays</h3>
The only respect in which the May 6 version of the bill is substantially the same as the April 6 version is in its handling of public school policy. Basically the bill says that schools must adopt a standard policy with respect to any “name that differs from the student’s legal name.”
And the bill says, “The dress code policy must allow each student to choose from any of the options provided in the dress code policy.” So a transgender girl (or a boy) must be allowed to wear a dress, if the school lists a dress in its dress code.
I don’t have any problem with any of this. The public schools are supposed to be for everyone. Even if you think that a transgender girl is “really” a boy, how does it hurt anyone for the child to wear a dress rather than pants? The idea that certain clothing styles are gendered always has been ridiculous anyway.
But the legislature should have run the public-school provisions as a separate bill, not as part of a huge package with very different issues.
<h3>We need a serious legislature</h3>
Rep. Stewart is right. Legislating is serious business. Legislators should treat altering the statutes, which are after all ultimately enforced by people with guns, as a sacred responsibility.
The people of Colorado deserve better than a rushed, over-stuffed, mutated bill with sloppy language, a fake emergency, and too little concern for people’s liberties.
<a href="https://completecolorado.com/author/ari-armstrong/">Ari Armstrong</a> writes regularly for Complete Colorado and is the author of books about Ayn Rand, Harry Potter, and classical liberalism. He can be reached at ari at ariarmstrong dot com.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/08/house-bill-1312-misgendering-convoluted-mess/">HB 1312: Hastily amended transgender bill a convoluted mess</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<item>
<title>Reason Magazine tugs back on Gov. Jared Polis’ ‘libertarian’ card</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/07/reason-magazine-tugs-on-jared-polis-libertarian-card/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reason-magazine-tugs-on-jared-polis-libertarian-card</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2025 17:46:10 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Governor Polis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ari Armsgtrong]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Independence Institute]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jared Polis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nick Gillepie]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Reason Magazine]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22691</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jared Polis’ carefully managed reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/07/reason-magazine-tugs-on-jared-polis-libertarian-card/">Reason Magazine tugs back on Gov. Jared Polis’ ‘libertarian’ card</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[DENVER — Amidst ongoing battles within his own party, and despite recently <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/04/17/governor-polis-takes-veto-pen-to-bill-restricting-access-to-public-records/">vetoing a pair</a> of bills <a href="https://tsscolorado.com/gov-polis-stared-down-legislators-that-sought-social-media-regulation-polis-won/">that concentrated</a> more authority in Colorado state government, Jared Polis’ carefully scripted reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading.
Even <a href="https://reason.com/">Reason Magazine</a>, the national media outlet that has for years has hung its hat on the idea that Polis is more liberty-minded than progressive, is now questioning whether Polis’ moderate temperament is real, with editor-at-large Nick Gillepsie tugging back on Polis’ libertarian card in <a href="https://reason.com/2025/04/14/libertarian-gov-jared-polis-signs-restrictive-gun-law-and-booze-ban/">an April 14 article asking</a> if the “small government Democrat is beefing up state power.”
Reason has long been considered the standard-bearer for libertarian thought and ideas, complete with the tagline of “Free Minds and Free Markets.”
Gillespie notes in the very first sentence that it’s Polis himself who identifies as a “libertarian Democrat.” However, it was also Gillespie — who recently said he was “an admirer” of Polis’ on a Facebook post pitching his latest story — who penned that Polis “might be the most libertarian governor in America,” <a href="https://reason.com/podcast/2022/04/25/jared-polis-the-most-libertarian-governor-in-america/">in a profile story he wrote in 2022</a>.
“I’m not sure that Polis’ <a href="https://reason.com/2014/10/30/vote-democrat-for-real-libertarian-value/">2014 claim</a> in the pages of Reason that ‘Libertarians should vote for Democratic candidates’ because they’re ‘more supportive of individual liberty and freedom’ has held up, but he’s certainly leading by example,” Gillespie wrote at the time, offering numerous reasons why Polis is more libertarian than his “big state Democrat colleagues.”
Yet in his most recent article, Gillespie argues the opposite: “But a couple of new laws he’s signed about guns and booze call his small-government bona fides into question.” Gillespie is referring to Senate Bill 25-003, which creates a costly and time-consuming licensing regime to <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/03/28/senate-bill-3-gun-licensing-broader-than-advocates-claim/">purchase nearly all semi-automatic guns</a> in Colorado, as well as Senate Bill 25-033, which bars grocery stores and big-box <a href="https://www.summitdaily.com/news/colorado-grocery-hard-liquor-law-passes/">retailers from selling hard liquor</a>.
Polis cited broad bipartisan support in the legislature as part of his rationalization for signing SB 33, leading Gillespie to note: “Polis’ willingness to sign a bill simply because the vote for it was lopsided is worrying.”
The magazine has often sung Polis’ praises in <a href="https://reason.com/2022/06/12/jared-polis-wants-to-leave-you-alone/?itm_source=parsely-api">other articles</a> and <a href="https://reason.com/video/2022/05/06/gov-polis-wants-you-to-be-in-charge-of-your-own-life/?itm_source=parsely-api">profiles about</a> the “libertarianish Colorado Democrat.”
<h3>Critics closer to home disagree</h3>
But despite Reason’s years of burnishing Polis’ pro-liberty image, the idea that Polis leans libertarian in any meaningful way has long been disputed by critics presumably more in the know at home in Colorado.
In a 20-page review of Polis’ first-term as governor for <a href="http://thinkfreedom.org">Independence Institute</a> (a free market think tank, as well as the publisher of Complete Colorado), longtime liberty activist and author Ari Armstrong systematically picks apart Polis’ libertarian credentials.
“Although Polis does have a libertarian side, various claims about a libertarian Polis are wildly exaggerated,” Armstrong said in his paper, <a href="https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/Armstrong-Polis.pdf">The Tax and Regulate Reality behind Gov. Polis’ Libertarian Image</a>. “So is Polis a socialist, a progressive, a conservative, or a libertarian? To a degree, Polis is a shape-shifter, happy to appear to be what the person in front of him wishes him to be.”
Perhaps even more evident are comments made by Colorado Libertarian Party Chairwoman Hannah Goodman in an <a href="https://x.com/Hannah4Liberty/status/1913202307270914419">opinion piece earlier this year</a>.
“Through the years, Gov. Jared Polis appears to have welcomed the libertarian label — affixed to him by the news media, political commentators and even some other politicians. It’s almost as if he wants to create a buzz about it,” Goodman writes. “However, a closer examination of what he has done to our state reveals a stark contrast between that label and his actions.”
Goodman goes on to note that while that while Polis supports marijuana legalization and school choice — two important Libertarian Party principles, he fails in the area of reducing government size, civil liberties, and taxation. “Polis, while campaigning as an advocate for lower income taxes, consistently passes and advocates for legislation which increases the tax burden upon Coloradans.”
Goodman also says Polis’ stance on the<a href="http://taboryes.org"> Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights</a> (TABOR) is a big red flag
“The unsuccessful Proposition CC, in which the state would have retained excess tax revenue, was a clear example of his willingness to expand state coffers rather than return money to the people. He has worked to kill TABOR throughout his term, while signing his name to TABOR checks when he is defeated,” Goodman said.
Goodman said Polis’ libertarian rhetoric is more about public image than public policy.
“It demands more than rhetoric; it requires a consistent commitment to reducing government size, scope and power,” she said. “Under Gov. Polis, we’ve seen selective libertarianism at best, and at worst, a continuation of dangerous and cannibalistic government expansion.”
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/07/reason-magazine-tugs-on-jared-polis-libertarian-card/">Reason Magazine tugs back on Gov. Jared Polis’ ‘libertarian’ card</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<item>
<title>The incalculable costs of Colorado’s ‘free’ school lunch scheme</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/07/colorado-free-school-lunch-math-doesnt-add-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=colorado-free-school-lunch-math-doesnt-add-up</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Caldara]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2025 14:46:20 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Columnists]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jon Caldara]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Free School Lunch]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jn Caldara]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Marxism]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22731</guid>
<description><![CDATA[School kids might not understand someone else’s more successful parents paid for their 'free' lunch.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/07/colorado-free-school-lunch-math-doesnt-add-up/">The incalculable costs of Colorado’s ‘free’ school lunch scheme</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[A key part of the planned march toward socialism is, of course, endless propaganda.
It’s not enough just to rely on the politics of envy. We need to take away those dangerous little opportunities where young people might accidentally experience the benefit of the free market in their own fledgling lives. So, how can we teach children to participant in class warfare, punish the productive by taking their stuff, and that property rights and free exchange don’t exist?
Enter Colorado’s oversubscribed, already-broke (as all redistribution schemes become) “free” school lunch program. Who could have ever guessed a $50 million take-from-thy-neighbor scheme <a href="https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/colorados-voter-approved-school-lunch-program-running-out-of-money">would quickly cost $150 million</a>?
The free lunch program taxes Coloradans who make “too much money” to purchase a one-size-fits-no-one, state-delivered school lunch. The successful are castigated so a group of elites can decide what other people’s children should consume.
Now, that’s serving up a slice of Marxism in every meal.
<h3>Teaching dependency</h3>
It’s a tiny step toward the addictive dependency state so small it’s barely perceivable. It’s right up there with outlawing plastic straws and stealing gasoline taxes to feed transit. It is the very definition of creeping socialism.
Now, school kids might not understand someone else’s more successful parents paid for their free lunch. They’ll still think there is such thing as a free lunch. But they will be trained in the joys of equal outcome. All their peers are also eating basically the same soggy, bland meal.
As Winston Churchill observed, “The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery.” Is there any better example of that than the wilted lettuce and greasy pizza of a public-school lunchroom?
The young get indoctrinated to governmental rations. Some committee of bureaucratic busy-bodies calculate what’s just the right formula for their hungry little brains. Gets them used to government-run everything. It will make waiting for months and months to get an MRI more palatable when they grow up.
By contrast, you might remember the loud Wall Street trading floor that was your childhood school’s cafeteria. Since all parents run their kitchens differently, what was found in lunch boxes were also wildly different.
Recall trading your peanut butter and jelly for your neighbor’s ham and cheese? A Hostess Twinkie could start a bidding war; three Oreo cookies might win over a slice of chocolate cake.
Since each kid values things differently, they use their powers of property rights and free trade to improve their individual positions. And everyone won. You wouldn’t make a trade you didn’t want.
<h3>Teachable moments</h3>
There’s a college economics classroom exercise I’ve seen performed by Colorado economists Paul Prentice and Penn Pfiffner. The “economic wizard” teacher magically improves all the students’ lives.
The teacher has a supply of, let’s say, four edible items — candy bars, potato chips, apples and granola bars. All the students declare how much they like each item on a scale of 1 to 10. Then, like a good government planner, the teacher passes out the items to the students as he believes is best. You look like you need an apple. I think you should have a granola bar, etc.
Then given the scoring system they each individually created, they add up a cumulative class score from each student’s satisfaction value.
Then the economic wizard says, “All right, I’m not saying anything for the next few minutes,” and shuts up completely. Without prompting the classmates start trading their items like kids used to in the school cafeteria.
After the trading is done, they rescore their satisfaction with the item that they have now, which could be the same if they chose not to trade. Again, they add it up for a new cumulative satisfaction score.
Lo and behold! Satisfaction, what economists call utility (because economists hate being understood), has collectively skyrocketed! No governmental planning, no interference, no regulation. Most everyone is much more satisfied and absolutely no one is less happy. And it didn’t cost a damn thing. Magic!
This is the economics lesson that won’t be organically taught in Colorado public schools as more and more families opt for “free” lunches.
And the lessons of free enterprise, property rights and liberty take another small loss, another incalculable cost of “free.”
Nothing’s more expensive than “free.”
Jon Caldara is president of the <a href="http://thinkfreedom.org">Independence Institute</a>, a free market think tank in Denver.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/07/colorado-free-school-lunch-math-doesnt-add-up/">The incalculable costs of Colorado’s ‘free’ school lunch scheme</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<title>Putnam’s ‘social capital’ key to connecting across Colorado’s political divide</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/06/social-capital-organizing-bridge-political-divide/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=social-capital-organizing-bridge-political-divide</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ari Armstrong]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2025 11:49:28 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Ari Armstrong]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Barry Fagin]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Bowling Alone]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Join or Die]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Robert Putnam]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22709</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Put your phone down and talk with people, including people with different backgrounds and ideas.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/06/social-capital-organizing-bridge-political-divide/">Putnam’s ‘social capital’ key to connecting across Colorado’s political divide</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[Children who hawked New York newspapers <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsboys%27_strike_of_1899">went on strike in 1899</a> to protest their higher costs of buying papers. This May Day, appropriately, my family viewed the idealized play based on that history, “Newsies,” performed by children through the Arts Hub in Lafayette.
As my family recently had watched the documentary “Join or Die” based on the work of political scientist Robert Putnam, I was struck by how the play, produced by a nonprofit club to tell a story about union organizing, doubly illustrates Putnam’s themes of the importance of social groups to generate what he calls “social capital.”
As the documentary reviews, Putnam started working on the idea of social capital when, in Italy, he found that robust social engagement predicted healthier regional democratic governance. What about the United States? Putnam started finding troubling trends of declining social engagement such as in clubs, unions, and churches.
Putnam wrote up his findings in an article titled “Bowling Alone,” a reference to the decline of bowling leagues. Then, partly in response to critics, Putnam, working with a team of researchers (an interesting counterexample to the theme of his work), Putnam expanded his research for the 2000 book “Bowling Alone.” More recently, Putnam looked at earlier trends of more-robust social engagement in the book “The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again.”
<h3>Crossing the social divide</h3>
I don’t need to tell you that our society has become dangerously polarized. Many Republicans, including the president, have excused the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Many demonize and seek to scapegoat immigrants and transgender people. Even as they proclaim the Constitution, they erode the principles of free speech, due process, and cruelty-free punishments. Meanwhile, many Colorado Democrats also <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/concerned-parents-trans-kids-compared-hate-groups-colorado-dem-wouldnt-ask-kkk-opinion">demonize their political opponents</a>, cozy <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/04/29/mass-murder-nostalgia-colorado-socialists/">up to dangerous zealots</a>, and trample<a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/02/25/amended-colorado-semi-automatic-ban-harasses-gun-owners/"> our basic liberties</a>.
Putnam points the way toward healing our social divides and creating healthier communities: Join quality groups and spend more time socializing face-to-face. Turn off the television, even if one day a week. Put your phone down and talk with people, including people with different backgrounds and ideas. Cut down on social media (often more aptly called antisocial media) and even delete it from your phone. And join a club or informal group; shake more people’s hands; have more meaningful conversations face-to-face; and work together to fix things, help people, and solve problems.
I’ve felt the difference of more interaction. I’ve attended initial meetings of YIMBY North Metro Denver, a new group devoted to expanding housing. We talk about housing, and we also talk across ideological divides to find the broader values that connect us. At homeschool events, while the kids play, parents discuss education, personal hobbies, career or life challenges, and politics. I started playing in free poker leagues again after a long absence, and I’ve seen how such groups foster friendships and even romance, generate fundraisers, and bring together people of diverse backgrounds.
Benjamin Franklin organized <a href="http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/junto-club/">the Junto Club</a> to discuss ideas and improve the community. Today we need more Franklin-style societies to promote self-improvement through knowledge, friendly society, and good works.
<h3>Social clubs in Colorado</h3>
Appropriately, last year the <a href="http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/junto-club/">Denver Metro South Rotary Club</a> sponsored a screening of “Join or Die.” Recently the Rocky Mountain Harvard University Club also organized a screening <a href="http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/junto-club/">at the Denver Press Club</a>. The Denver Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation will host a screening this summer. Such events illustrate increased interest in rejuvenating America’s social fabric.
Colorado, like all places, has a rich history of social clubs (ChatGPT <a href="https://chatgpt.com/c/6814f880-a308-8013-86ef-35cfa9549154">generated a quick list</a> of examples). The <a href="https://denverfortnightly.com/">Denver Fortnightly</a> Club for women, organized in 1881 and still active, aims “to organize a society for mutual benefit in study and thought.” The Owl <a href="https://theowlclubofdenverinc.com/">Club of Denver</a> continues to promote African American community and honor the achievements of young women. I’ve discussed the black <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/02/11/photo-exhibit-presumptions-black-gun-ownership/">Gun and Rod Club</a>. A search for “club” in the <a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=q&hs=1&r=1&results=1&txf=txIN%7CtxCO%7CtxTA&txq=club&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxCO%7CtxTA--------0------">Colorado historic newspaper</a> archives generates over two million results (not all relevant) with mentions of the Douglas County Cricket Club, the Papoose Club, the Colorado Mountain Club, the Elks Club, a coalition of women’s clubs to preserve Mesa Verde, 4-H, <a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD18991029-01.2.201&srpos=12&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-club-------0------">and countless others</a>.
Social organizing can have a dark side. I’ve written <a href="https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/11/26/armstrong-a-century-ago-coloradans-elected-a-klan-governor/">about the rise of the</a> KKK in Colorado a century ago. More recently, a tightly-knit group of white supremacists <a href="https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/12/03/armstrong-the-order-recounts-racism-fueled-murder-in-denver/">murdered Denver talk radio host Alan Berg</a>. Even in the case of the “newsies” strike, some participants engaged in violence. If people can promote empathy and thoughtfulness in groups, they also can spread hatred and lies. So we need to approach our social efforts with reflection and integrity.
I hope that America’s best days are ahead. You and I can play a role in building a better future. Let’s join.
<a href="https://completecolorado.com/author/ari-armstrong/">Ari Armstrong</a> writes regularly for Complete Colorado and is the author of books about Ayn Rand, Harry Potter, and classical liberalism. He can be reached at ari at ariarmstrong dot com.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/06/social-capital-organizing-bridge-political-divide/">Putnam’s ‘social capital’ key to connecting across Colorado’s political divide</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<title>The lowdown on making the Trump tax rate reductions permanent</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/05/making-the-trump-tax-rate-reductions-permanent/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-the-trump-tax-rate-reductions-permanent</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Rosen]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2025 18:18:18 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Columnists]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[National]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mike Rosen]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[President Trump]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22705</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When a department store seeks to increase profits it doesn’t raise prices, it holds a big sale and cuts them.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/05/making-the-trump-tax-rate-reductions-permanent/">The lowdown on making the Trump tax rate reductions permanent</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<audio class="wp-audio-shortcode" id="audio-22705-1" preload="none" style="width: 100%;" controls="controls"><source type="audio/mpeg" src="http://completecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/050225-Rosen-Trump-Tax-Cut.mp3?_=1" /><a href="http://completecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/050225-Rosen-Trump-Tax-Cut.mp3">http://completecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/050225-Rosen-Trump-Tax-Cut.mp3</a></audio>
  
President Trump’s most significant first-term accomplishment was the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). It reduced tax rates across all income levels and doubled the standard deduction to $12,000 for single filers ($24,000 for married filing jointly). Consequently millions of lower- and middle-income Americans no longer pay federal income taxes. According to the latest IRS figures, Americans with adjusted gross incomes below $50,000, accounting for 50% of the 161 million tax returns filed pay only a combined 3% of total individual income taxes collected. Most of them pay nothing and some, who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), actually get a “refund” check from the IRS (of taxes they didn’t pay).
Democrats feign outrage that “the rich “ benefited from the tax rate cuts, too. Duh? That’s because upper income Americans pay the bulk of all individual income tax revenue. The top 5% pay 61% of that total, while the top 1% pay 40% of income taxes collected. These are the geese that lay the golden eggs. In return, Democrats would ring their necks.
In their endless pursuit of class warfare and the politics of envy, a constant Democrat tactic is to muddy the waters between reductions in tax rates and tax revenues. Reductions in tax rates do not automatically produce a reduction in tax revenues. It’s often quite the opposite. The TCJA tax rate cuts for all boosted the economy with the prospect of higher after-tax incomes on work and investments, leading to increased federal tax revenues. These same incentives inspired Ronald Reagan’s economic boom driven by fiscal policies that cut tax rates for all and produced an increase in tax revenues. Similarly, JFK cut the top marginal tax rate of 90% down to 70% in the 1960s. Increased tax revenues followed that too.
When the TCJA was passed in 2017, some of its provisions were scheduled to expire after 2025. Fortunately, one provision that was made permanent was the reduction in the top corporate income tax rate from 37% to 21%, matching the European average. That stemmed the tide of corporations moving their headquarters overseas to avoid crippling U.S. taxes and brought many businesses back home, resulting in the doubling of business tax revenues.
The centerpiece of Trump’s proposed “One Big Beautiful Tax Bill,” which congressional Republicans seek to pass, would likewise make permanent the existing TCJA tax rates for individuals. Opposition Democrats are trying to block that, calling them “tax cuts” that will reduce tax revenues (omitting the operative word “rate,” of course). And they’re not tax cuts, they’re just an extension of the same tax rates we’ve had for the last eight years. Democrats would replace this with a tax rate increase, especially on “the rich” and corporations, in line with their inbred socialist obsession.
But the tax rate increase Democrats propose won’t automatically increase tax revenues. It will more likely discourage productive incentives and lead to an economic downturn. It’s the nature of progressive Democrats to prefer incentives that encourage people not to work but rather to become dependent on government handouts instead. This ignores the economic maxim that “what you tax you get less of and what you subsidize you get more of.”
Analogously, when a department store seeks to increase its profits it doesn’t raise prices, rather it holds a big sale and cuts them. The same concept applies to income taxes. Businesses, investors, and individuals care about their after-tax income. Higher tax rates are a disincentive and a price increase on productive work and investments.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) serves Congress in preparing and analyzing the federal budget. Its staff is officially described as “non-partisan” but it tends to lean left, especially when the Democrats are in power. When the CBO scores (or prices) a presidential budget request it prefers a “static” econometric model that assumes reductions in tax rates automatically reduce tax revenues. This is a mathematical assumption, not an economic one.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), serves the president and his budget policies. Under a Republican president, OMB prefers a “dynamic” econometric model that assumes lower tax rates may raise incentives, stimulate economic growth, and produce greater tax revenues. When you hear Democrats and the liberal media mock “trickle-down” economics and falsely claim Trump and Republican policies will reduce tax revenues and widen the deficit, keep that in mind.
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now <a href="https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/?s=MIke+Rosen">writes for</a> CompleteColorado.com.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/05/making-the-trump-tax-rate-reductions-permanent/">The lowdown on making the Trump tax rate reductions permanent</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<title>The case against federal tax dollars funding Colorado public media</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/05/case-against-federal-funding-colorado-public-media/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=case-against-federal-funding-colorado-public-media</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Rob Natelson]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2025 14:21:15 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Constitutional Law]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rob Natelson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Colorado Public Radio]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[public broadcasting]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[rob natelson]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22702</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dishonest advertising such as CPR's usually is a sign of a bad product.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/05/case-against-federal-funding-colorado-public-media/">The case against federal tax dollars funding Colorado public media</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[I’m a classical music enthusiast. Colorado Public Radio (CPR) offers <a href="https://www.cpr.org/classical/">classical music programmin</a>g. So I was listening recently when an ominous announcement came over the air: It said that unless we sign a petition to Congress to continue federal funding for CPR, the classical music will stop! We won’t have it any more!
But this self-promoting ad was deeply dishonest.
For one thing, it clashed with the claim of the public broadcasting complex that federal dollars comprise <a href="https://www.distractify.com/p/how-much-federal-funding-does-npr-receive">only a small portion</a> of their budgets. Well, if that is really so, then why will ending federal subsidies cause the classical music to stop?
The ad also was dishonest because it ignored the fact that there are myriad other ways we classical music devotees can feed our habit. For example: I have an “on demand” subscription to the Metropolitan Opera. Those who subscribe to Sirius XM have free access to two classical stations. YouTube offers scads of free classical content. And you can download classical offerings for little or nothing. Then there are CDs and other media. You can listen to classical music 24 hours a day at little cost if you are so inclined.
So why the dishonesty? I don’t know. But dishonest advertising usually is a sign of a bad product.
And in this case, the product—continued federal funding for mass media—is pernicious:
* A very long history confirms that government funding tends to corrupt the arts. That’s one reason public broadcasting’s “news” coverage is so heavily biased in favor of the leftists who support their funding. Employing public funds to generate more public funds is yet another example of corruption.
* When the federal government amplifies its voice in the mass media, it undercuts the free debate protected by the First Amendment. (National Public Radio’s <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/pbs-npr-blast-blatantly-unlawful-trump-executive-order-halting-public-funding-vow-challenges">claim</a> that President Trump’s effort to stop funding is an “affront to the First Amendment” has it precisely backwards.)
* The federal government has an enormous annual budget deficit, which is feeding a debt monster <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S">larger than</a> the entire American economy.
* Expenditures on public broadcasting are regressive—that is, the relatively wealthy CPR listener gets content at the expense of poorer taxpayers.
Two additional points are worth further exploration. First, CPR funding illustrates the federal government’s current fiscal trap. Second, the damage from federal funding of programs like CPR are social as well as fiscal.
<h3>The fiscal trap</h3>
The Constitution created a federal government with an extensive, but still limited, list of powers. A few powers were broad enough to encompass some promotion of the arts. Thus, the Constitution authorized congressional copyright laws and it permitted Congress to subsidize the arts in federal territories and in Washington, D.C.
Otherwise, however, the Constitution mandated that art was solely a concern of individuals and private associations, state and local governments.
Obviously that is not the situation today. During the Great Depression the Supreme Court came under enormous pressure to bypass the Constitution’s limits on federal spending. In <a href="https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/1936-spend-us-v-butler.pdf">United States v. Butler</a> (1936) and <a href="https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/1937-tax-spend-HELVERING-v.-Davis.pdf">Helvering v. Davis</a> (1937), the court—hiding behind a figleaf of legal doctrine—announced that it would stop enforcing most of the Constitution’s limits on federal expenditures.
In my series of essays entitled “<a href="https://i2i.org/1937-1944-complete-series/">How the Supreme Court Re-wrote the Constitution</a>,” I described the fiscal consequences:
“Before those decisions, Congress usually balanced its budget or ran a surplus. In the 85 years since, Congress has rarely balanced its budget, and the size of the deficits continues to accelerate.
“Furthermore, as Justice Butler predicted [in a dissent] . . . these decisions enabled Congress to bribe states with their citizens’ own money. This undermined state independence and weakened a check in the constitutional system.
“Removing limits on the federal spending power also created a mob of special interests that pursue federal dollars irrespective of the public interest. Because those special interests fund congressional re-election campaigns, cooperative members of Congress can remain in office for decades.”
Unlimited federal funding also has become a fiscal trap. As the dishonest CPR advertisement illustrates, federal dollars create special interests that lobby for more federal dollars. And those special interests enjoy great lobbying advantages over ordinary citizens.
Hence, our government’s seemingly irreversible fiscal spiral into bankruptcy.
<h3>Undermining traditional culture</h3>
My “Re-wrote” series identified another consequence of removing constitutional limits on federal spending:
“Since the 1960s, moreover, the federal government has used its unfettered spending authority to create dependency, fund favored political causes, promote fringe social theories, and undermine traditional culture.”
Again, CPR may serve as an example: It has been an outspoken supporter of Gay Pride Week—an event largely irrelevant to its classical music programming. CPR seems not to care that it lives in part off of taxpayers who are not fans of publicly-flaunted homosexual conduct. Quite apart from the merits of homosexual activism is the fact that observant Catholics rank “pride” as one of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/seven-deadly-sins">the Seven Deadly Sins</a>.
Yet many recipients of federal arts spending seem to have an irresistible urge to attack the values held by those who pay their salaries.
I saw a similar phenomenon while serving on a state university faculty: Money raised at the expense of conservative taxpayers was deployed to promote causes those taxpayers abhorred.
The revelations of the kinds of projects formerly supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (US AID) confirm the phenomenon in spades.
<h3>The lessons</h3>
One lesson from this experience—and from the experience of other debt-laden Western democracies—is that the sooner we correct fiscal dysfunctions the better. Drastic action is far better than no action. In fact, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Unfinished_Business.html?id=bVDXNAAACAAJ">experience tells us</a> that only drastic action has a chance of working.
I have been pleasantly surprised to learn that the Trump administration understands this.
Another lesson is for social conservatives: In my experience, they often overlook the damage done by government spending programs. In many cases, they prefer prescriptive remedies (“You can’t spend money on this”) over the more complete solution of defunding agencies entirely. But prescriptive remedies can be evaded, weakened, and reversed. Only defunding works well and is relatively permanent.
Why does defunding work well? Because, as the late <a href="https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/H._L._Richardson">H.L. Richardson</a>—long-time California senator, national columnist, and political humorist—used to say: “I never met a bureaucrat who worked for nothing.”
CPR has many donors and dedicated listeners. It’s time for the station to pull its snout from the federal trough.
Robert G. Natelson, a former constitutional law professor who is senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver, authored “<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-original-constitution-robert-natelson/1026762475">The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant</a>” (3rd ed., 2015). He is a contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Guide to the Constitution.”
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/05/case-against-federal-funding-colorado-public-media/">The case against federal tax dollars funding Colorado public media</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<title>Senate gives up on overriding Polis veto of open records restrictions</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/03/senate-gives-up-on-overriding-polis-veto-of-open-records-restrictions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=senate-gives-up-on-overriding-polis-veto-of-open-records-restrictions</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2025 15:37:57 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[2025 Leg Session]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Transparency]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[colorado Senate Bill 25-077]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Governor Polis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[transparency]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22680</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There was no discussion on the Senate floor as to why the override was abandoned.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/03/senate-gives-up-on-overriding-polis-veto-of-open-records-restrictions/">Senate gives up on overriding Polis veto of open records restrictions</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[DENVER — The Democrat-dominated Colorado Senate on Friday abandoned an effort to override a <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/04/17/governor-polis-takes-veto-pen-to-bill-restricting-access-to-public-records/">veto by Governor Jared Poli</a>s, laying over Senate Bill 25-077, a measure giving preferential treatment to journalists when it came to the length of time it took to fill open records requests. The layover was for after session ends, effectively keeping in <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/04/17/governor-polis-takes-veto-pen-to-bill-restricting-access-to-public-records/">place the governor’s veto</a>.
The bill drew criticism from dozens of media outlets, non-profit organizations, and private citizens who manage their own government watchdog sites. Sponsored by Sen. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb25-077">the bill would have</a> given state and local government entities more time to fill Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests, from the current three working days law to five, as well as extending the time for “extenuating circumstances” to 10 days from the current seven.
It also allowed government entities to treat multiple requests by the same person within a 14-day period as one request if the request contained content that was similar. That would have resulted in reducing the amount of free research to just one hour rather than one hour per request.
Most disturbing to those who opposed to the bill, however, was a clause that exempted government-approved news media from the new response times, defined in Colorado law as: “any publisher of a newspaper or periodical; wire service; radio or television station or network; news or feature syndicate; or cable television system” and “any member of the mass media and any employee or independent contractor of a member of the mass media who is engaged to gather, receive, observe, process, prepare, write, or edit news information for dissemination to the public through the mass media,” respectively.
However, the determination of who fits that criterion would have been left to the government entities receiving the records requests.
There was no discussion on the Senate floor as to why the override attempt was abandoned, but sources close to the issue say the sponsors lost previous supporters of the bill and did not have the votes to override the governor, despite strong bipartisan support initially.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/03/senate-gives-up-on-overriding-polis-veto-of-open-records-restrictions/">Senate gives up on overriding Polis veto of open records restrictions</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<title>State rep. calls out majority ‘mean girls’ as Colorado legislature winds down</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/02/state-rep-ousted-from-committee-calls-out-mean-girls/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=state-rep-ousted-from-committee-calls-out-mean-girls</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2025 20:32:41 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[2025 Leg Session]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Gold Dome]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Faith Winter]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[James Coleman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Julie Gonzales]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mean Girls]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rebecca Keltie]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ty Winter]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22674</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Rep. Keltie said this was not her first time being targeted by Democrat 'mean girls.' 
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/02/state-rep-ousted-from-committee-calls-out-mean-girls/">State rep. calls out majority ‘mean girls’ as Colorado legislature winds down</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[DENVER — As the regular 2025 Colorado legislative session winds down for the year, it appears that “mean girls” behavior — as one female state representative calls it — is on full display with a pair of majority Democrat state senators trying to kick two GOP state representatives out of a recent contentious Senate hearing.
In a video obtained by Complete Colorado, Denver Democrat Sen. Julie Gonzales, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told El Paso County Republican Rep. Rebecca Keltie, that she should go back to her own chamber.
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Although Gonzales starts out with a comment that appears to be welcoming by saying “I know and appreciate that we are being joined by a member of the House,” her demeanor changes quickly.
“Doesn’t the House have House things to go House about,” she said while making a “shooing” motion with her hand. “Can you please send over our bills? Thank you. Bye!”
Keltie told Complete Colorado, she felt completely disrespected by Gonzales and after her comments, which Keltie called “extremely condescending,” Democrats in the room began laughing and disrupting the proceedings to the point that the Sergeant at Arms had to go quiet them down.
“They come to ours all of the time,” Keltie said. “Gonzales is in and out of the Joint Budget Committee. At first, I looked at her and thought she was joking, but there was no smile and the flick of her hand just got to me.”
Keltie who is a freshman legislator and one of three Republicans to win back seats held previously by Democrats — the very seats that ended a Democrat super-majority in the House — immediately went and found the Assistant Minority Leader, Southern Colorado Republican Ty Winter, to find out if she did something wrong.
“I’m a freshman legislator,” she said. “I didn’t know if maybe I missed a rule that said I couldn’t be in there.”
There are no rules that prohibit a legislator from one chamber from being present in the other chamber. In fact, the House had concluded its business for the day and Keltie went into the <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1312" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Bill 25-1312</a> committee hearing because a friend of hers was waiting to testify on House Bill 1312, that prior to amendments would have given courts the ability to remove children from their homes if parents did not support a child’s wishes to transition to another gender.
More than 700 people signed up to testify on the bill, including Keltie’s friend.
“I went over there to take her some snacks,” Keltie said. “She had been sitting there all day.”
After Keltie questioned Winter about the policy, the two went back to the Senate hearing, where, according to Keltie, Sen. Faith Winter, D-Adams County, then attempted to kick Ty Winter out as well.
Keltie said this was not the first time she has felt like she was being targeted by majority Democrats, calling it the “mean girls” attitude.
Keltie said she is just ashamed by the actions of Democrats in the final weeks of the session.
“I’m so grateful that one of the individuals was recording it, otherwise no one would have believed me this could happen,” Keltie said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. It was embarrassing. I was there because these are my people, and I’m not going to turn my back on them. I have every right to be here.”
Complete Colorado has reached out to both Gonzales and Senate Majority Leader James Coleman for comment, but had not heard back at press time. We will update the story as necessary.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/02/state-rep-ousted-from-committee-calls-out-mean-girls/">State rep. calls out majority ‘mean girls’ as Colorado legislature winds down</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<item>
<title>RTD board action adds extra no-cost hour to most open records requests</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/02/rtd-extra-no-cost-hour-open-records-requests/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rtd-extra-no-cost-hour-open-records-requests</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Nicholson and Kathleen Chandler]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2025 16:45:59 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Exclusives]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Transit]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Transparency]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Transportation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Chris Nicholson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Denver Regional Transportation District]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Kathleen Chandler]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[RTD]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[transparency]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22670</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Transparency doesn’t begin with a press release or a promise. It begins with access.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/02/rtd-extra-no-cost-hour-open-records-requests/">RTD board action adds extra no-cost hour to most open records requests</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[When public agencies charge citizens to access public records, the message is clear: such information may be public in name, but not in practice. That’s why the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) new policy to waive the cost of an extra hour of processing time for records requests that serve the public good is more than just a procedural tweak—it’s a real step forward for government transparency.
Beginning July 1, RTD will waive an additional hour of staff time for open records requests made for journalism, academic research, community advocacy, or by everyday citizens trying to understand how their government works. Most requests are fulfilled in under two hours, meaning this simple change will make the vast majority of inquiries free of charge.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
These records are created with public dollars. Taxpayers fund the salaries, software, and systems that produce them. Asking the public to pay again—especially when the request is meant to inform others or improve services—is an unnecessary hurdle that discourages engagement.
This new policy doesn’t throw open the doors to abuse. RTD is not eliminating all fees; requests made for commercial reasons will still be charged. The agency is simply removing a modest obstacle for those needing public records. Examples of this use may be the person whose car was stolen near a light rail stop and RTD has the video evidence that aids in apprehending the suspect. Real-world examples show the value of this change. 

Over the past year, Coloradans have indeed requested RTD records to track down stolen cars, investigate safety concerns, and evaluate how transit services serve their neighborhood. These efforts weren’t political stunts—they were attempts to get real answers and solve real problems.
Unfortunately, the cost of obtaining those records has too often been a roadblock. Students, independent researchers, and community volunteers frequently don’t have funding to cover the fees. Requiring payment to access public information discourages participation and leaves too many voices unheard. We should empower transit riders and taxpayers, by restoring trust between the public and the agency.
It is important to know that RTD has had the ability to waive these fees under state law and now we are simpley codifying it. The <a href="https://coloradofoic.org/open-government-guide/#Colorado_Open_Records_Act">Colorado Open Records Act</a> (CORA) allows agencies to reduce or eliminate costs when requests serve a public purpose. RTD’s new policy takes that discretion and turns it into action, offering a limited but significant benefit to those working in the public interest.
This is a pilot program, set to run through the end of 2026. RTD will monitor how the policy is used and ensure it’s not being misused. But the intention is clear: make it easier—not harder—for people to see how their government functions.
In an era where trust in public institutions is fragile, making information more accessible is one of the most powerful tools we have. RTD’s move is a reminder that transparency doesn’t begin with a press release or a promise. It begins with access.
Chris Nicholson was elected to the RTD Board of Directors in November 2024 and represents District A, comprising the neighborhoods of Central Denver south of Colfax Ave, Capitol Hill, Upper Downtown, and the city of Glendale.
Kathleen Chandler, a fourth-generation native of Colorado, represents District F on the RTD Board of Directors, compromising large portions of Aurora as well as unincorporated Arapahoe County. 

The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/02/rtd-extra-no-cost-hour-open-records-requests/">RTD board action adds extra no-cost hour to most open records requests</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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<title>School officials urge Colorado Senate to reject ‘misgendering’ bill</title>
<link>https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/01/colorado-school-officials-urge-senate-against-misgendering-bill/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=colorado-school-officials-urge-senate-against-misgendering-bill</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2025 16:21:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[2025 Leg Session]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sherrie Peif]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Colorado House Bill 25-1312]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Misgendering]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://completecolorado.com/?p=22650</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The group said HB 1312 puts roadblocks up to ensuring safe and supportive learning environments.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/01/colorado-school-officials-urge-senate-against-misgendering-bill/">School officials urge Colorado Senate to reject ‘misgendering’ bill</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[COLORADO SPRINGS — Just one week after a group of school administrators and board members from across the state sent a letter to the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/04/25/chsaa-biological-boys-girls-sports/">urging them to comply</a> with a federal directive and disallow boys from competing in girls’ sports, another group of school officials has sent a letter — this time to Colorado’s state Senators — urging them to reject <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1312">House Bill 25-1312</a> “Legal Protection for Transgender Individuals.”
The highly contentious bill, which already cleared the Democrat-controlled House, would essentially remove parents’ rights from making medical decisions for their children, regardless of age, as it pertains to gender-affirming care, and it allows courts to make custody decisions based on parents’ positions on their children’s desires to transition from their birth sex to another.
It also places restrictions on schools restricting how they create policy concerning chosen names and dress codes.
An amended version of the bill passed out of it’s first Senate committee hearing on Wednesday.
The bill “includes provisions that would classify ‘deadnaming’ and ‘misgendering’ as discriminatory acts under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and as forms of ‘coercive control’ in child custody proceedings, reads the letter, which is signed by more than 90 school board members, principals, teachers and other school officials. “Additionally, the bill mandates that schools with chosen name policies include transgender students’ preferred names and prohibits gender-specific dress codes.”
Many of the officials on the letter represent private and public charter schools where dress codes that include skirts for girls and slacks for boys may exist. Signatories include many public-school districts from El Paso County and around the state, such as the Brush School District, Pueblo 70 School District, Delta, Elizabeth and Montezuma-Cortez school districts, among others.
The school officials say the bill will:
<ul>
<li>Undermine parental rights and family dynamics;</li>
<li>Undermine local control;</li>
<li>Create ambiguity and compliance challenges for school districts;</li>
</ul>
 
The group said by putting them in the middle of contentious legal and social debates puts roadblocks up to meeting their goals of ensuring safe and supportive learning environments.
“The bill’s requirements regarding chosen names and dress code policies undermine our districts’ ability to create policies that align with the needs and values of the communities we serve and represent, the letter continues. “…Implementing chosen-name policies across diverse school systems may conflict with existing record-keeping standards or parental notification policies, creating confusion for educators and administrators. Furthermore, the prohibition on gender-specific dress codes may limit schools’ ability to maintain clear and equitable standards for student conduct and attire.”
The entire letter is <a href="http://completecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/HB-1312-School-Board-Member-Letter.pdf">available here</a>.
The post <a href="https://completecolorado.com/2025/05/01/colorado-school-officials-urge-senate-against-misgendering-bill/">School officials urge Colorado Senate to reject ‘misgendering’ bill</a> appeared first on <a href="https://completecolorado.com">Complete Colorado</a>.
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