Gov. Polis calls special session to fill estimated $1.2 billion budget gap
Mackenzie Stafford
Denver, COLO. (KRDO) — On Wednesday, Aug. 6, Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order for the 75th General Assembly to meet in special session, and to take other actions, including a hiring freeze, to address the fiscal crisis.
He says this way, lawmakers can come up with a plan for dealing with an estimated $1.2 billion shortfall. One that Gov. Polis says is the direct result of federal funding cuts.
KRDO13 spoke with a Democratic state senator who says this leaves our local legislators scrambling. Right now, they’re trying to draft up targeted bills to see what they can cut.
But Republicans say this is a problem Democrats created by budgeting for needless spending.
“This is a waste of taxpayer dollars and state resources,” said House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese. “The Governor is using a special session to stir fear about the Big Beautiful Bill when the truth is that the Big Beautiful Bill continues to cover the people it was designed to serve: seniors, single mothers, children, and people with disabilities.”
They say this special session is political theater.
“If you don’t care about them, then maybe you would conclude we don’t need a special session, and this is just political theater. But if you do care, and I do,” State Sen. Judy Amabile continued, “This is what we are here to do, is to make sure that we make the right decisions for the people in Colorado.”
State Senator Judy Amabile, a democrat representing Boulder County, is on the joint budget committee. She says they have a lot of changes that need to happen before the end of 2025.
“We are also looking at some of the tax credits that Colorado offers to our most vulnerable families, being triggered off because our revenue is reduced by so much. Some of the triggers for these refundable tax credits are going to be triggered. And so people are not going to get their refundable tax credit. They’re not going to be able to get SNAP benefits, or they’re going to be it’s going to be harder for them to get SNAP benefits, and then they’re potentially going to lose their health care. So that’s that is part of the urgency of this moment,” explained State Sen Amable.
State Sen. Amable says part of the urgency is the deadline to make changes to tax policy before the next year. She also noted that some of the changes from the federal spending bill will go into effect in October, so she says the state needs to prepare now.
State Sen. Amable says a few things that could be on the chopping block to make up for these funds are SNAP, Medicaid and tax credits. One of the biggest tax credits that could be eliminated is the child tax credit for families with a child under 6.
“We also have a child care tax credit, and that also will be triggered off because of these revenue reductions. So, you know, for our families who are struggling, through no fault of their own, and almost all of these families, people are working, working hard, a lot of them working multiple jobs. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, they are looking at a significant reduction in their ability to make ends meet,” explained State Sen. Amable.
She says rural hospitals in Colorado will also have less money to spend from Medicaid. State Sen. Amable said some are warning of potential closures.
“Rural Colorado is really in the crosshairs of this legislation. And part of it is that any time you take that much money out of the system, it is going to impact everything. It’s going to impact rural hospitals. We heard from a rural legislator that the hospital that he is on the board of is looking at losing a significant amount of funding because of this bill, and will be challenged to even continue operations. And if we start losing hospitals in rural Colorado, that will have devastating impacts on Colorado families,” stated Amable.
In a press release, House Whip Carlos Barron said this was about the broader financial picture.
“This is not a revenue crisis. It is a spending and priorities crisis,” said Rep. Barron. “Instead of asking state agencies to find savings or eliminate waste, the Governor is demanding a blank check from taxpayers. House Republicans believe in protecting the integrity of Medicaid, not growing it into an unaccountable entitlement for noncitizens and those who choose not to work.”
All of these potential changes have to make their way through the legislature before being signed into law.
State lawmakers will head back to the Capitol on August 21.