Colorado No Kings Act Could Cost Taxpayers

CBS Colorado, in a report by Shaun Boyd, says Democrats at the Capitol have introduced the so-called “No Kings Act” with just weeks left in the legislative session. The bill would allow anyone who believes their constitutional rights were violated to file a civil suit in state court against any public official, and its sponsors, Sens. Julie Gonzales and Mike Weissman, say the goal is to create a remedy where they believe existing law falls short.

The article makes clear, though, that the bill’s practical effect may land nowhere near the lofty branding. Gonzales and Weissman say the measure is aimed primarily at federal officials, but critics argue federal employees are the least likely to feel any real pain from it because they still have substantial protections. As Jessica Dotter of the Colorado District Attorneys Council told CBS, state and local officials are the ones more likely to get dragged into the mess.

That tension is the whole story. Sponsors insist they are not expanding liability beyond what already exists under federal law and say they only included state and local officials because they could not legally single out federal employees. Opponents say that is nice theory, but in practice the bill will unleash chaos, force public entities to defend a flood of lawsuits, and leave taxpayers holding the bag for settlements and legal costs.

The Bullet Point Brief

The “No Kings Act” would let people sue public officials in state court for alleged constitutional violations. Because apparently Colorado needed one more activist-lawyer feeding trough before adjournment.
Gonzales and Weissman say the bill is mainly about federal officials and the lack of remedies against them. Cute pitch. The article also explains why federal officials may be the least exposed in the real world.
Jessica Dotter of the Colorado District Attorneys Council says state and local officials would be the ones paying the price, with taxpayers potentially on the hook for millions. There is your plot twist. The people supposedly targeted may not be the ones who bleed.
Critics warn the bill could trigger a wave of litigation against everyone from the governor and attorney general to teachers, health officials, and librarians. Nothing says “good governance” like making government spend half its life in court.
Gonzales and Weissman insist the bill preserves immunity defenses and does not create new liability beyond existing standards. That sounds reassuring right up until the first swarm of lawsuits arrives and everyone discovers how expensive “not really expanding liability” can be.

My Bottom Line

Just when you thought we were too late in the legislative session for one more flourish of sanctimony, Gonzales and Weissman, the Virtue-Signalers-in-Chief under the Gold Dome, serve up this little gem. It is legislative performance art disguised as constitutional heroism.

This thing reads like a chef’s kiss of a gift to activist lawyers who can now chase the whim of a payday at massive taxpayer expense. That is what makes it so maddening. The rhetoric is all about noble remedies and rights, but the likely result is more litigation, more public defense costs, more settlements, and more government officials spending their time lawyering up instead of doing their jobs. And who pays for that circus? Not the sponsors. Not the 501(c)(3) outrage machine. The taxpayers.

That is the grift at the heart of so much of modern Democratic lawmaking in Colorado. They package it as justice, equity, accountability, or some other morally polished word. Then the real output is predictable: more process, more lawsuits, more bureaucracy, and more public money sluiced into the ecosystem of liberal nonprofits, consultants, and cause-lawyers who always seem to end up mysteriously well-fed.

And let’s be honest about the politics. The Democrat base will eat this up. The activist class will cheer. The liberal 501(c)(3)s will find fresh work. Everybody in the performative resistance choir gets a little treat. Meanwhile, regular Coloradans get stuck funding another taxpayer-paid grift dressed up as courage. Under the Gold Dome, that probably counts as a win.

Source: CBS Colorado