Legislative Priorities

Colorado must build an economy that works for everyone, especially as AI and technological change reshape entire industries. This starts with raising the minimum wage modestly at the state level while making it easier for municipalities to set higher wages that reflect their local cost of living. Current state law creates unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles that make meaningful wage increases nearly impossible - we should eliminate the 10% municipality cap and streamline the consultation process while maintaining stakeholder input. We also need robust funding for the Department of Labor and Employment to ensure swift enforcement when employers violate wage laws, because companies currently know violations carry minimal consequences due to TABOR-imposed resource constraints.

The future of work requires new protections for gig economy and platform workers. We should create a "dependent contractor" classification for workers who depend on digital platforms but aren't traditional employees, giving them data rights, algorithmic transparency, and limited collective bargaining powers. Platform workers deserve access to their performance data, explanations of how algorithms determine job assignments and pay, and meaningful appeals processes for deactivation decisions. As AI disruption accelerates, we must also explore sectoral bargaining approaches that allow workers to maintain union representation even when changing jobs within an industry, ensuring industry-wide standards for AI implementation and worker transition support.

These changes recognize that technological disruption will create both challenges and opportunities for Colorado workers. By strengthening worker protections, ensuring algorithmic fairness, and making it easier to organize across entire sectors rather than individual worksites, we can harness AI's benefits while protecting the rights and dignity of working people. Colorado should lead the nation in developing labor policies that prepare us for the economy of tomorrow while ensuring prosperity is shared broadly across our communities.

Artificial intelligence is transforming Colorado's economy, and we need smart regulations that protect consumers without stifling innovation. As someone who works daily with AI and data analytics, I support a risk-based approach that distinguishes between low-risk applications like code generation and high-risk systems that make life-changing decisions about employment, housing, or lending. High-risk AI systems should face mandatory bias auditing, transparent disclosure requirements, and ongoing monitoring, while low-risk applications operate with minimal regulatory burden.

Developers of AI systems, not the small businesses that use them, should bear primary responsibility for ensuring their products are safe and non-discriminatory. When bias emerges despite good-faith input practices, companies deserve reasonable timelines to remedy complex algorithmic issues, but bad actors who ignore problems must face swift penalties. We must also strengthen consumer data rights, including the right to request complete deletion of personal information from AI systems and explicit consent requirements before personal data is used for AI training.

Colorado should lead the nation in establishing technically feasible AI standards while providing resources to help companies comply. This means creating standardized testing methodologies, supporting small businesses with compliance guidance, and building state expertise to effectively oversee this rapidly evolving technology. The choice isn't between AI and no AI - it's between regulated AI that serves all Coloradans fairly and unregulated AI that may harm our communities.

Climate change poses an existential threat to Colorado's economy, public health, and natural heritage. We must act decisively to protect our environment while ensuring our communities can thrive. Air quality remains our most pressing challenge, with the Front Range classified as a "severe" ozone violator and oil and gas operations contributing 40% of ozone-forming pollution in the Denver area. We need to extend ozone season regulations from May-August to April-September, as monitoring data shows problematic ozone formation throughout this broader timeframe. Enhanced enforcement with significantly increased fines for repeat violators, combined with stricter permitting requirements for new oil and gas projects - including mandatory air quality impact assessments with authority to deny permits that worsen violations - will finally help us achieve federal air quality standards and protect public health.

Strategic conservation efforts must be guided by ecological science. We should protect large, connected wildlife corridors, critical watersheds, and carbon-storing landscapes that provide measurable environmental benefits while using transferable development rights to direct appropriate density near transit and infrastructure. Grid modernization is essential for our clean energy transition, requiring investment in smart grid solutions, streamlined permitting for transmission projects meeting environmental standards, workforce development for electrical technicians and engineers, and research partnerships between Colorado universities and utilities. We must also strengthen environmental agency funding to ensure robust enforcement of air and water quality standards, particularly addressing PFAS contamination that threatens our groundwater.

Water conservation is critical as Colorado River flows decline and our population doubles by 2050. Since agriculture uses 86% of our water, we must help farmers transition to efficient practices by allowing them to lease or sell conserved water while retaining rights to saved portions and providing state grants and low-interest loans for water-saving infrastructure like drip irrigation and precision agriculture technology. Through strategic conservation, investing in clean energy infrastructure, and supporting both agricultural efficiency and strict pollution enforcement, we can build a sustainable economy that preserves Colorado's natural assets for future generations.

Healthcare is a fundamental right, and every Coloradan deserves access to comprehensive, affordable care that includes reproductive health services and mental health treatment. We must not only protect the legal right to abortion, contraceptives, and assisted reproductive technologies like IVF, but ensure these services are easily accessible to all regardless of income, insurance status, or geographic location. This means supporting state funding for reproductive healthcare services, requiring insurance coverage for fertility treatments without discriminatory barriers, and expanding the types of providers who can deliver reproductive care to improve access in rural areas. We must also eliminate Colorado's parental notification requirement for minors seeking abortion care - forcing notification can delay critical time-sensitive care, endanger minors in unsafe family situations, and creates an additional barrier to accessing a procedure that is far less invasive and life-changing than the alternative of continuing an unwanted pregnancy.

Mental healthcare parity must move beyond paper compliance to meaningful enforcement that ensures real access. While Colorado has parity laws requiring equal treatment of mental and physical health benefits, insurance companies continue to pay mental health providers 30% less than other medical professionals, and patients seek out-of-network mental health care seven times more often than for physical health. We need enforcement mechanisms with teeth - requiring insurers to maintain accurate, real-time provider directories with financial penalties for each verified inaccurate listing, establishing quantitative standards for network adequacy including maximum wait times and travel distances, and creating "secret shopper" programs to verify actual provider availability. Healthcare companies should have reasonable remedy periods to address deficiencies, but patterns of non-compliance must face escalating consequences including automatic claim approvals when authorization deadlines aren't met.

We must also strengthen protections for Medicare and Medicaid by improving reimbursement rates to encourage provider participation and streamlining enrollment processes. Insurance accountability requires transparency - companies should publicly report claim denial rates by category, with maximum allowable denial rates for certain types of claims and mandatory external review processes. Healthcare coverage must include comprehensive mental health services, ensuring access to both therapy and psychiatric medication management. By creating enforceable standards rather than aspirational goals, we can build a healthcare system that truly serves all Coloradans' physical and mental health needs.

Colorado has built strong civil rights protections, but we need permanent constitutional safeguards that can't be rolled back by future political winds. I will champion constitutional amendments to permanently enshrine LGBTQ rights, voting access, and government transparency. This includes automatic voter registration, explicit protections against voter suppression, and a constitutional right-to-know that prevents elected officials from exempting themselves from accountability. These fundamental rights belong in our constitution, not just in statutes that can be easily changed.

Press freedom serves as democracy's essential watchdog, and we must strengthen reporter shield laws to better protect journalists and their sources from government overreach. Equally important is defending families' right to make private medical decisions for their children. Medical care for transgender youth involves deeply personal decisions made carefully by families with their doctors - government has no place interfering in these intimate family choices. We'll strengthen shield laws protecting Colorado families seeking gender-affirming care from out-of-state investigations and political persecution.

Civil rights laws without enforcement are just suggestions. Colorado must give our anti-discrimination protections real teeth through meaningful accountability measures. I support allowing the state to bring pattern-and-practice lawsuits against employers who repeatedly discriminate against people with disabilities, ensuring serial violators face serious consequences rather than treating discrimination as a cost of doing business. We'll also implement mandatory reporting for disability discrimination complaints, creating transparency that helps identify systemic problems. The goal isn't punishing good-faith employers - it's stopping bad actors who think they can discriminate without consequences.

Colorado's growing population demands a transportation system that works for everyone, whether you're commuting to work, getting to medical appointments, or visiting family. We need infrastructure that connects our communities safely and reliably, regardless of how you choose to travel. Too many Coloradans lack reliable transit options, especially in growing communities like Broomfield and Thornton that have been underserved by current routes and schedules. Public transit is already affordable – the real barriers are poor coverage and unreliable service that make it impossible to plan your day around. I will push for increased service frequency and expanded coverage in underserved areas, while modernizing RTD's technology infrastructure to provide real-time arrival information that actually works, giving riders the basic tools they need to make transit a viable alternative to driving.

Front Range Passenger Rail represents a generational opportunity to transform how Coloradans travel between our major cities, but we cannot let this critical project get delayed or defunded. I will work to ensure the state meets its 2029 target for Denver-Fort Collins service and continues building toward the full Pueblo-to-Fort Collins corridor. This means supporting dedicated state funding, facilitating productive negotiations with freight railroads, and ensuring local communities have the transit connections needed to make passenger rail successful. We must also prioritize safety improvements across all transportation modes – from protected bike lanes and pedestrian infrastructure to strategic police deployment during peak transit times at problem locations. The goal isn't just moving people – it's creating transportation options that make our communities safer, more connected, and more accessible for everyone.

Colorado's Zero Fare for Better Air program demonstrates how smart policy can address multiple challenges simultaneously – improving air quality while removing transportation barriers for residents. I will continue supporting this successful program while pushing for broader transportation solutions that reduce emissions and give Coloradans more mobility choices. This includes supporting transit electrification efforts, expanding active transportation infrastructure like bike lanes and safe walking paths, and ensuring our transportation investments help us meet our climate goals while building stronger, more connected communities. Transportation infrastructure isn't just about getting from point A to point B – it's about economic opportunity, environmental stewardship, and ensuring every Coloradan has access to the mobility they need to thrive.

Colorado's students deserve a world-class education, but our schools have been systematically underfunded for decades, leaving us billions of dollars behind where we need to be. We cannot continue to balance the state budget on the backs of our students and teachers. I will fight to fully fund our public schools, address the teacher pay crisis that has Colorado ranked 49th in the nation for educator compensation, and ensure every student has access to the resources they need to succeed. This means repealing TABOR restrictions, finding sustainable revenue solutions, and making education funding a true priority in our state budget. Our teachers shouldn't be forced to choose between serving different student needs because of budget constraints, and our students shouldn't have to attend school four days a week because their district can't afford five.

Educational equity means recognizing that not all students learn the same way and ensuring every child has access to quality education that meets their needs. Through my work on the founding board of the Grove by Bal Swan, I've heard from parents whose neurodivergent children weren't thriving in traditional settings, and that families struggle because the classical model can be challenging for kids learning English as a second language. I support both well-funded traditional public schools and innovative charter schools as public education options that serve different student needs. What I don't support is vouchers for private schools – public money should stay in public education, funding schools that are accountable to families and communities. When schools have adequate resources for special education, English language learners, smaller class sizes, and support staff, teachers can focus on what they do best: teaching every student who walks through their door.

I stand with educators and support their right to organize and collectively bargain for fair compensation and working conditions. Teachers are professionals who deserve to be treated and paid as such. Colorado's teachers make 36% less than other professionals with similar education levels. Supporting our teachers means competitive salaries, adequate classroom resources, professional development opportunities, and the respect they've earned. When we invest in our educators and give them the tools and support they need, our students succeed.