Colorado’s special session is teeing up a political buffet and calling it fiscal discipline. In “Colorado special session bills: What you need to know,” Thelma Grimes at the Denver Gazette runs through what lawmakers plan to jam through when they convene to patch a nearly $800 million hole. Only a few of the early measures actually touch the deficit, while Democrats pin the blame on Trump‑era federal moves and Republicans point to years of state overspending. Published August 20, 2025, it is the pregame program for Colorado’s latest budget circus.
Grimes then catalogs a pile of bills: a four‑way AI food fight, tweaks to health insurance subsidies and HSAs, dueling vendor‑fee plans, overtime‑tax cleanup, and a symbolic nibble at wolf funding that lawmakers will pretend is a steak. If you wanted clarity, sorry. If you wanted politics, pull up a chair.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The setup: Lawmakers arrive with an $800 million shortfall and a lot of finger‑pointing. Democrats say D.C. did it. Republicans say Denver did it to itself months ago. Translation: everyone found a scapegoat that votes well.
- AI cage match: One bill delays and narrows the 2024 AI law, another slaps consumer‑protection rules on AI use, a third repeals the whole thing, and a fourth mostly re‑ups SB205 with tweaks. That is not a roadmap. That is a demolition derby with laptops.
- Health costs two‑step: A new HSA credit equals 25 percent of contributions, capped at $500 single and $1,000 joint, while another bill narrows who can get state‑subsidized coverage. Affordability talk meets eligibility scissors.
- Taxes and taps: Republicans want to double the retailer vendor‑fee cap to $2,000. Democrats propose eliminating vendor fees entirely. Another bill would stop Colorado from taxing federally excluded overtime, while other measures tighten corporate tax games and keep the QBI add‑back humming. Pick your poison.
- Mascot money: The “we did something” line item trims $264,268 from the wolf program and punts it back to the general fund. Symbolism is cheap. Wolves are not.
My Bottom Line
This “special session” looks like an all‑you‑can‑eat buffet of half‑measures. The Capitol crew blew the budget, so now they are speed‑running ideology cosplay. One faction wants to nanny AI. Another wants to salt‑the‑earth and call it innovation. “Affordability” means credits for some, cuts for others, and a roulette wheel for taxpayers. Slicing a quarter‑million from wolves while waving at an $800 million crater is like tossing a Tic Tac at a dumpster fire and calling it breath control. Pass the extinguisher and a real plan.
