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Colorado’s HB25‑1250 shifts gun conversation into schools—what could go wrong with teachers filing ERPOs?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s HB25‑1250 shifts gun conversation into schools—what could go wrong with teachers filing ERPOs?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project HB25-1250’s required materials for schools are now online A bill passed into law in the regular legislative session this year required, quoting the bill’s fiscal note from the first link below “The bill requires the Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to post or link to certain materials on its website for local education providers, including school districts, boards of cooperative services, district charter schools, institute charter schools, approved facility schools, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.”It also requires that, again quoting the fiscal note, “local education providers must distribute these materials to caregivers of elementary and ...
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When the prosecutor is also the judge: Colorado’s due process problem under Griswold’s watch
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

When the prosecutor is also the judge: Colorado’s due process problem under Griswold’s watch

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I wouldn’t blame someone for thinking the fix is in at a Colorado Administrative Law hearing (especially in the SOS’s Office). If you break one of our state regulatory agencies’ copious rules, the process for our state’s administrative hearings bears little resemblance to a real trial. I recently did some looking into the state’s administrative hearings process, and was disappointed in what I found.The idea of this being a hearing in front of an independent, nominally-impartial, and disinterested judge is decidedly NOT what the process looks like.This goes, as you might imagine for an office run by Jena Griswold, double for the Secretary of State’s Office.More in the op ed below.https://completecolorado.com/2025/09/22/p...
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Worried about what your child is reading at school? You’re not alone
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Worried about what your child is reading at school? You’re not alone

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Substack Worried about your school requiring books that might conflict with your values? I am signed on to the Independence Institute’s newsletter. One installment last week had the following blurb written by Pam Benigno of their education policy center, quoted here at length and with links left intact:“Last week, I spoke at a women’s club about how Colorado’s Social Studies Academic Standards have been hijacked by those trying to shape young children’s hearts and minds by exposing young children to literature intended to “disrupt” their understanding of gender identity. Bringing some good news, I explained how Mahmoud v. Taylor, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, requires elementary schools to provide n...
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Progressive tax proposal targets Colorado employers while 3.5% already pay most corporate taxes
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Progressive tax proposal targets Colorado employers while 3.5% already pay most corporate taxes

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The progressive tax scheme and Colorado Business Your 2026 ballot may have a proposal on it to change Colorado’s current flat tax to graduated (aka progressive) income tax rate. That means when you earn more, you pay a higher percentage of tax.The actual ballot proposal is linked first below. I am not aware of it hitting the Secretary of State’s tracker page yet, but I know it’s on the legislature’s and that is what the link is for.This would, quoting the press release pushed by the groups supporting this measure (linked second below), “... lower taxes for 98 percent of Coloradans, while raising taxes on individuals and corporations making more than $500,000 a year.”At a later point, that same press release says the fol...
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Governor’s mansion doubles as free soapbox for First Gentleman’s animal agenda
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Governor’s mansion doubles as free soapbox for First Gentleman’s animal agenda

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The First Gentleman's lecture series -- who's footing the bill? A couple weeks back, I noticed an article about a talk at the governor's mansion about wolf reintroduction involving the First Gentleman and his guests for the evening. The article is linked first below if you'd like to give it a read.If you know anything about the First Gentleman, you know he is a dedicated animal rights activist. Has been for a while. It should therefore not shock anyone that the guests at this talk were also animal rights/wildlife advocates.I won't go into the details of the talk. I'll leave it to you to read up if you'd like.The First Gentleman has the same First Amendment rights as anyone else. He's welcome to have an opinion and expre...
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Colorado Democrats push ‘progressive tax’ while low-income families already carry heavier burden
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Democrats push ‘progressive tax’ while low-income families already carry heavier burden

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Progressive tax myths vs. reality. There's been a lot of noise about a bunch of progressive groups pushing a ballot measure to change our income tax structure from a flat tax (where all income brackets pay the same percentage) to a progressive one (where you pay more income tax as a percent and in absolute terms if you earn more).If you want an example article and some context, see the Sun article linked first below.I wanted to offer you a couple resources from a fiscally conservative (and frankly reality-based) perspective to counter what will likely be a blitz on the topic in the media and elsewhere. A couple resources to help you better advocate against this wrongheaded policy.There are two Complete Colorado op eds l...
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Board of Education clash over science standards reveals how politics steers Colorado classrooms on climate change
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Board of Education clash over science standards reveals how politics steers Colorado classrooms on climate change

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Politicizing climate change Let me start with a quote from the CPR article linked at bottom. The article is about how the Colorado State Board of Education recently amended science standards. "The board’s lengthy discussion reflects how a topic the scientific community agrees on — that human activities cause global warming — can become political outside of scientific circles." The article then proceeds to detail how conservative/Republican members of the Board of Ed sought amendments to some of the science standards around global warming. There is, conversely, little to nothing about the liberal/Democratic board members, save for some snappy comebacks included by CPR's Brundin. As for the Republican members, th...
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Colorado’s climate agenda: Not about emissions but about ending fossil fuels
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s climate agenda: Not about emissions but about ending fossil fuels

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The point of climate change is to shut down fossil fuels, not deal with emissions. I don't know the full story, but apparently someone (or some entity) proposed a nuclear power reactor be sited at DIA. The idea, per the Sun article at bottom, was quickly quashed. I am loathe to speak with too much conviction about the DIA saga since I'm not too familiar with all the dynamics. What is pretty obvious from the article that there are multiple concerns residents had. Quoting the article: "...Why waste money on an unproven, enormously expensive, extremely toxic nuclear power plant, with no place in the nation accepting the eventual radioactive waste, in a spot with hundreds of thousands of neighbors and 100 million visi...
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CDOT’s speed cameras flip justice on its head in Democrat-run Colorado
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

CDOT’s speed cameras flip justice on its head in Democrat-run Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project CDOT warned you, now they're going to start taking your money. Per the CPR article linked first below, CDOT (granted the authority by a 2023 bill which you'll find a link for embedded in the article) is going to start issuing citations instead of warnings for their automated speeding cams. This is for a section of HWY 119 between Longmont and Boulder. As part of reading the article, I went back on some of the links to CDOT's websites, and found the one where CDOT lists the areas where they are using their automated cameras. That site is linked second below. If you're on the highways often and want to avoid getting a ticket, keep that one handy. In looking over the CDOT sites on this speeding enforcement, what y...
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