The Insider email thread started around 8 o’clock on the morning of this week’s taping of Colorado Inside Out. I logged into my computer to see if our panelists were awake, alert and suggesting new stories and topics to add into our show. I love that enthusiasm which grew even stronger by the time the cameras turned on. And yes, we got a lot squeezed into our 28-minute show… here’s a recap:

Colorado Congressional Delegation Headline-Making Activity:

• CD3 Rep. Jeff Hurd introduced The Productive Public Lands Act which calls for the cancellation of Biden administration directives on millions of acres of federal land in Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon and Montana. Rep. Hurd wants to get rid of restrictions on oil and gas production. There are concerns about what this could mean for wildlife, including existing habitat protections for the Gunnison Sage Grouse and other species. Westword Editor Patty Calhoun said: “What is with the Project 2025 playbook? He has just announced the rape and pillage of public lands in Western Colorado.” Colorado Politics reporter Marianne Goodland countered: “I’m here with a compliment for our Western Slope Congressman… and it has to do with water. We found out this week that money that was going to come to the Shoshone Power Project, which is going to put a million acre feet of water permanently into the Colorado River as a way of sustaining it for agriculture and recreation and all the things that people on the Western Slope rely on the river. This, like most things in the Trump Administration, got put on hold and Hurd is doing his best to advocate for it.”
• The Insiders applauded CD7 Rep. Brittany Pettersen who is making progress in her petition process to force a vote in the House of Representatives to allow proxy voting among members who are new parents, who can’t attend votes in-person. This week, 218 House members signed on; that’s the number needed to get this discussed after the spring recess.
• CD4 Rep. Lauren Boebert is not backing down on a comment she has made publically, which led to a fellow leader in the House calling for her censure. Patty Calhoun expressed her frustration: “Lauren Boebert, with her reference to Al Green and his ‘pimp cane,’ which she said once on television, repeating something someone had tweeted… [was a] cheap shot, bad behavior.” The 77-year-old Congressman raised his cane while yelling out and protesting during the President’s recent Joint Address to Congress.
• Will Senator Michael Bennet run for Governor? Axios Denver Reporter Alayna Alvarez had this to say: “Bennet jumping into the Governor’s race, which we expect him to do, is going to shake things up significantly here in Colorado…. and, I personally haven’t heard of a frontrunner yet to replace Bennet in the Senate if he does decide to run. It would be up to Governor Jared Polis, which is interesting because that’s how Bennet ended up in his Senate seat in the first place, when former Governor Bill Ritter appointed him when Ken Salazar left the seat.” Patty Calhoun added that “he doesn’t have to resign in order to run for Governor.” And Marianne Goodland finished with, “If he stayed in his Senate seat and wound up winning Governor, he would appoint his own successor. So, there’s another wrinkle that you have to look at.”

Big Discussions that Occurred at the State Capital This Week:

• Anti-Transparency Measures: Concerns are growing about several bills moving through the statehouse that could reduce government transparency. This follows a previous bill from last year (Senate Bill 157) that exempted the General Assembly from parts of the open meetings law which allowed for legislators to hold meetings in secret and wouldn’t allow reporters to cover meetings when they were talking about the property tax.
• Marianne Goodland, this week’s expert on all-things legislative: “There was a bill introduced to try and walk that back but that died in committee. But, there will, in all likelihood, be a ballot measure to make some improvements to the open records and open meetings laws.” Marianne also mentioned a bill that would increase the cost for those making open records requests. She also brought up House Bill 1041, which would allow public universities to pay student athletes but keep the amount of money in the contracts confidential. “They’re carving out a new exception to the open records law with this bill.  While this isn’t taxpayer money, this is public money. And I think people do have a right to know what’s going on.”
• Senate Bill 3, Semiautomatic Firearms & Rapid-Fire Devices Bill: Alayna Alvarez: “It would mark one of the biggest changes to Colorado’s gun policies in state history. And that’s true even after it’s been diluted with over a dozen amendments. Colorado’s capital is under Democratic control, so this bill is on track to reach the Governor’s desk, and it’s expected to be signed by him. But that’s because Governor Polis struck a compromise on the bill which carved out certain weapons from it and allowed purchases of some of those weapons if a buyer passes a training course.” Chris Rourke added: “The fascinating part for me is the mandated safety training courses so that you can buy these firearms… we’ve seen with these gun laws, they do not stop violent offenders. Violent offenders do not take hunter safety courses. Eventually, I think this this legislation will end up in the courts.”
• Minimum Tipped Wage Bill: This is another heavily amended bill under consideration, with intense debate and strong opinions on both sides. House Bill 1208 calls for a change to the state’s existing guidelines around minimum wage for tipped workers, and a lowering of that minimum wage for tipped workers in order to give restaurants financial relief. It is set for another hearing next week. Patty Calhoun: “If you think the gun discussion is ugly, nothing has beaten this restaurant discussion.”
• Education and Potential Financial Cuts: On Thursday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined attorneys general from 20 other states in a lawsuit to block the dismantling of the Federal Department of Education.
• The lawsuit argues that dismantling the department is reckless and illegal, as Coloradans rely on federal funding for various programs, including special education, student loans and rural teacher training. This is particularly urgent given Colorado’s billion-dollar deficit and potential cuts to schools. Alayna Alvarez questions this move: “President Trump is essentially promising to abolish this department that he really needs to carry out his sort of MAGA vision for American public schools, cracking down on this wokeness that he perceives around race, gender, sexuality. And we see him using the Department of Education as a weapon right now, even here in Denver. He is having the Department of Ed investigate Denver Public Schools for transforming a girl’s bathroom at East High School into a non-binary bathroom. So, it’s kind of a counterintuitive dichotomy that’s going on right now.”
• Marianne Goodland brought up the cuts in funding that could come to Colorado’s rural teacher program. “This program has put 121 teachers over the last couple of years into rural schools, which have had a shortage of teachers. This is a program that works. There are 77 student-teachers in the pipeline. They are hiring these students before they’re even out of school. They have found something that works.”
• Chris Rourke focused on the need in the legislature to address funding issues in Colorado, separate from federal government funding and mentioned there could be a future ballot measure asking taxpayers to assist with school funding. Previous attempts to raise education funding through tax initiatives have failed. Chris added: “In regards to a tax initiative for education, that idea has failed three times in the State of Colorado since 2011.”

Supreme Court to Hear Colorado Conversion Therapy Case:
The Supreme Court will take on a Colorado case challenging the state’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children, raising questions about the balance between free speech and freedom of religion along with the regulating of licensed profession while protecting minors from harmful practices.

• At issue before the Supreme Court: can state and local governments enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ plus children?
• The case will be heard in October 2025 so a decision is not expected until Summer of 2026.
• A Christian therapist from Colorado Spring is the one challenging the ban, arguing that it infringes on her ability to speak to voluntary clients about their sexuality and religious concerns.
• The state argues it is regulating conduct, not speech, within a licensed profession.
• There is strong evidence and consensus from professional organizations that conversion therapy is harmful and ineffective. Marianne Goodland: “Cornell University did a review of 47 peer reviewed articles on ‘Is conversion therapy helpful? Is it harmful?’ They could not find a single one of those 47 studies that said, ’yes, this works.’ Cornell and the American Psychological Association have come out strongly against it.”
• However, Alayna Alvarez looked back on past rulings by the Supreme Court which were in favor of free speech, specifically in Colorado cases involving a web designer and a baker who refused services to same-sex couples. “If history is any indication, it would seem like the court might rule in favor of the Christian therapist Kaylee Chiles … because of free speech.”

We wrapped up this show talking about some of the fun festivities on tap for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration this weekend. Most interesting to me was the that Colorado is hosting a delegation of individuals from the Irish government, including the President of the Irish Senate and the Attorney General of Ireland.  Sláinte!