Legislature Week 2: Filing Deadlines and Budget Confession
The Colorado legislature spent its second week processing bill filing deadlines while nonpartisan Joint Budget Committee staff finally confirmed what High Country Advocate documented in December: lawmakers created the $850 million deficit by funding ongoing programs with temporary federal pandemic money.
Thursday marked senators’ deadline to file their second round of bill requests. Representatives face the same deadline January 30. Committees organized, staff processed paperwork, and the JBC scheduled Friday meetings on transportation, housing, and agriculture appropriations. Week 2 is what insiders call a procedural week—the unglamorous administrative work keeping the 120-day session moving toward substantive legislative battles that typically begin after filing deadlines pass.
High Country Advocate identified Colorado’s budget crisis and its causes December 16, 2025. “Colorado Enters 2026 With 0.6% Job Growth, $850M Budget Hole, and Costs Running 1,600% Over Estimates” documented how multiple state programs exceeded projections by hundreds of millions while job growth lagged neighboring states, examined the structural problems driving the deficit, and explained why Colorado’s economic performance couldn’t support Democratic spending priorities. When the session opened January 14, High Country Advocate published “Democrats Bury Real Agenda Behind Immigration Headlines,” detailing Week 1 legislation expanding government spending during the budget crisis—union bills Governor Polis already vetoed, price controls on businesses, gun confiscation expansion, and local zoning elimination.
On January 22—more than five weeks after High Country Advocate’s reporting—JBC staffer Amanda Bickel delivered the same analysis to lawmakers. At the height of federal funding in fiscal year 2022-23, the legislature spent $829 million more than its ongoing revenue—nearly matching this year’s $850 million shortfall. The gap dropped to $247 million by last fiscal year, but the structural damage persisted. Bickel identified specific decisions: extending Medicaid coverage regardless of immigration status, boosting provider payment rates, backfilling school district revenue after property tax limitations, and increasing higher education’s budget share.
Democrats and Republicans both voted for most measures. The 2022 Medicaid expansion passed on party lines, but the property tax deal limiting increases passed with bipartisan support during a 2024 special session, as did higher education increases. “We got ourselves into this mess,” said Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican on the JBC. “We’re gonna have to get ourselves out of this mess.” Senator Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat chairing the JBC, defended the spending: “Which things shouldn’t we have done? Should we not have paid off the budget stabilization factor?”
The question misses the point. Nobody disputes whether these programs serve legitimate purposes. The issue is funding ongoing costs with temporary money, then feigning surprise when the math stops working—exactly what High Country Advocate explained five weeks before JBC staff presented their findings to lawmakers who apparently needed official confirmation of what readers already understood.
Democrats control both chambers—43-22 in the House, 23-12 in the Senate. Governor Polis, term-limited and finishing his final year, delivered his State of the State address January 15. The legislature returns Monday for Week 3. Representatives face their bill filing deadline January 30, ending the procedural phase. The JBC will draft the state budget addressing the $850 million shortfall through program cuts, accounting maneuvers, or both. Democrats historically introduce controversial measures in March and April when time constraints prevent effective opposition. The session runs through May 13. The budget debate will reveal whether lawmakers learned anything from creating this crisis or whether they’ll repeat the same patterns with different temporary revenue.
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