{"id":97,"date":"2026-05-08T20:36:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=97"},"modified":"2026-05-08T20:36:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:36:34","slug":"live-updates-gov-jared-polis-signs-the-state-budget-as-legislature-enters-final-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=97","title":{"rendered":"Live updates: Gov. Jared Polis signs the state budget as legislature enters final stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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The Colorado General Assembly is in the final stretch of the 2026 legislative session, which is set to adjourn next Wednesday. On Friday, lawmakers are set for floor votes and hearings to advance legislation, and the governor is signing more bills into law \u2014 including the state budget for the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Read more A \u2018rogue\u2019 Colorado cop was fired for dishonesty. He kept his badge despite state reforms.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story will be updated throughout the day.<\/em><\/p>\n

1:40 p.m. update: <\/strong>Gov. Jared Polis signed into law the final state budget of his tenure this afternoon, a $46.8 billion spending plan that required some $1 billion in cuts to make up for changes to federal tax code and exploding costs in must-spend areas like Medicaid.<\/p>\n

Polis hailed budget writers for preserving education funding despite making steep cuts for the third time in two years, but he chuckled when talking about healthcare cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare costs cannot go up at 10, 11% year to year, \u201c Polis said. \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous, and what I\u2019ve been kind of talking (about) is it\u2019s especially ridiculous because it\u2019s not like health outcomes are getting better at 10 or 11% (increases). And when health outcomes are the same, it\u2019s just idiocy to spend more money. When you get the same for less, you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis, who is term-limited from seeking reelection, did not take questions from the media at the bill-signing ceremony.<\/p>\n

Members of the budget-writing committee described lost sleep and tears as they wrestled with cuts, specifically those to Medicaid that would result in less coverage for low-income children. People with children and family members with severe developmental disabilities worry that cuts to their supports will mean they can\u2019t afford to care for their loved ones.<\/p>\n

The budget includes $17.4 billion in general fund dollars, which accounts for most of the state\u2019s direct tax collections and its most flexible spending. The general fund increased by about $212 million compared to last year, which is less than the rising costs in Medicaid alone \u2014 meaning the state had to cut specific programs within Medicaid and elsewhere to make up the difference.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis year was incredibly difficult and challenged each of us in a myriad of ways that put our values to the test,\u201d said Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who chairs the Joint Budget Committee. \u201cIt\u2019s a zero-sum game. A dollar here means a dollar less over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rep. Rick Taggart, a Grand Junction Republican on the committee, described \u201ca lot of tears,\u201d particularly when lawmakers listened to testimony from children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will go down for me as one of the hardest days I\u2019ve ever had. I dropped my head so many times because I couldn\u2019t wipe the tears out of my eyes,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was a tough budget, and nobody won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican on the JBC who\u2019s running for governor, highlighted a secondary bill that will require a deep dive into the state\u2019s healthcare programs. Colorado Medicaid serves more than 1 million state residents. She called the state\u2019s rising healthcare costs \u201cthe No. 1 that we have to consider\u201d in any budget year.<\/p>\n

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While Polis and others celebrated that the state kept education funding at constitutionally mandated levels, Sen. Jeff Bridges pointed to a pair of studies that showed the state was still billions of dollars short when it came to education funding. \u201cI don\u2019t love this budget,\u201d said Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, and he called the cuts \u201cextraordinarily painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he also praised the work of the committee and staff for the thoughtful approach to the cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have done the least harm that is possible to do through the cuts that we have been required to make, through changes at the federal level and restrictions that we have here in place in our own constitution,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cThat said, this has been the possible outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more What to know about the predictions for a potentially record-breaking El Nino<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Colorado legislature is in the session’s final days, and on Friday lawmakers are set for floor votes and hearings to advance legislation. Gov. Jared Polis is signing the state budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nLive updates: Gov. 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