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Special Session Starts Today; Boulder Investment Policy During Tonight’s City Council Meeting Jack Armstrong
Headlines Thursday August 21, 2025
Special Session Begins Today
The Colorado legislature opens their special session today.
Governor Jared Polis called for the session earlier this month to address a roughly one billion dollar deficit in the state budget, brought on by changes to the federal tax code. The special session is expected to last into early next week.
State analysts say Colorado lost $1.2 billion because of the federal budget. To offset the state budget shortfall, Colorado Planning and Budget director Mark Ferrandino said that all options are on the table.
In the days leading up to the special session, more than two dozen bills have been introduced, according to Colorado Politics, which said that only one of those bills offers specific budget cuts. Western Slope lawmakers are proposing a measure to cut $264,000 from Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program, and reallocate the funds toward health care subsidies.
Another group of bills would fine-tune Colorado’s new AI regulations, due to go into effect next February. The governor signaled he wanted the improvements when he signed the AI regulations into law.
When he announced the special legislative session on August 6th, Governor Polis said his administration has a responsibility to deliver a balanced budget.
Colorado Defies Administration
At the same time, Governor Polis is telling the Trump administration that Colorado has, and will continue, to comply with federal law.
That statement came in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to her letter on August 13th. That letter identified Colorado and Denver as so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” that did not fully cooperate with the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
The reply from Polis to Bondi also said that Colorado is not, in fact, a sanctuary state, and that it, “fully cooperates with federal authorities in identifying, apprehending, and prosecuting criminals — regardless of immigration status.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Mike Johnston said that “Denver is not going to be bullied … by the Trump administration,” or anyone else, and that the city has always followed the law.
Colorado Newsline says that when it comes to non-criminal issues, Denver and Colorado both have laws that limit cooperation between local and state officials, and federal immigration authorities.
Boulder Investment Policy Discussion
The Boulder city council will discuss the city’s investment policy at their meeting tonight. Various activists have urged the city to cancel investments in fossil fuels, in military contractors, weapons manufacturers and companies that commit human rights violations. Some calls for divestment relate to Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
Others have flagged investments in weapons manufacturers. And climate activists want divestment from fossil fuels and insurance companies that underwrite fossil fuel projects.
In 2020, Boulder County made the commitment to screen insurance providers based on their investment and underwriting practices concerning fossil fuels. The University of Colorado Board of Regents has also considered fossil fuel divestment but made no commitment.
DIA Drops Nuke Idea
Officials have dropped a plan to set up a so-called “modular” nuclear power plant at the Denver International Airport.
The Denver mayor and DIA officials unveiled their plan last week. The idea was to put miniature nuclear power plants on airport grounds.
But local advocates, including City Council member Stacie Gilmore, pushed back on the plan, saying among other things that they’d never been consulted on the idea. Gilmore told the Colorado Sun that her constituents are paying attention, and don’t trust either the airport or the administration.
She said that spending money on an expensive and potentially toxic nuclear plant would be a waste of time and resources, especially at a time when the Johnston administration has had to lay off hundreds of city employees because of a budget deficit.
