Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Common Sense Institute

Amendment 83 would enshrine Colorado hunting and fishing after 17 attempts to change the law
No Comments
GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Amendment 83 would enshrine Colorado hunting and fishing after 17 attempts to change the law

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com The Common Sense Institute (CSI) just published an analysis of the economic impact of hunting and fishing in Colorado, to help inform debate on a November ballot measure called Amendment 83. It would enshrine in the state constitution the right of the people to hunt and fish. As one of the report’s co-authors, I attended a forum where we were asked, “Why not just eliminate hunting and fishing and let nature take over?” Many Coloradans may not fully understand what the absence of hunting and fishing might look like. It is a scenario they do not want. Amendment 83 appears simply to restate existing laws and processes. It would amend the Colorado constitution to make hunting and fishing a right for Colorado’s 874,000 fishing licen...
Read More
Prop NN supporters say the money is guaranteed and K-12 only. The law says otherwise.
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Prop NN supporters say the money is guaranteed and K-12 only. The law says otherwise.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The official campaign for Proposition NN tells Colorado voters the measure "requires a minimum 2% annual funding increase" for local school districts. The Yes on NN campaign tells voters the measure "requires a minimum 2% annual funding increase directly to local school districts." Source: Yes for Colorado Kids The state's largest teachers union goes further. On its campaign page, the Colorado Education Association says the money "is limited to K-12 only and cannot be used for anything else." The Colorado Education Association's Prop NN campaign page, captured Sept. 20, 2026. Source: Colorado Education Association Neither statement matches the law voters will be asked to approve. Prop...
Read More
Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Medicaid covered about 510,000 fewer people in an average month in fiscal 2025 than it did two years earlier. Estimated spending still climbed. That is part of the puzzle a new legislative commission has been handed.  When the state unwound the pandemic-era rule that kept people continuously enrolled, average monthly enrollment fell roughly 30 percent between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2025. Common sense says a program covering far fewer people should cost less. Colorado's cost more.  A September brief from the Common Sense Institute puts the increase at an estimated $2.09 billion, a 15 percent jump. Fewer members. Higher costs. Less room to move. What the state pays per person The clearest w...
Read More
New Study Finds Government Taxes and Fees Add Tens Of Thousands To Colorado Home Prices
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

New Study Finds Government Taxes and Fees Add Tens Of Thousands To Colorado Home Prices

By Peter Lifari | Commentary, The Denver Gazette Colorado’s economic competitiveness is slipping, and housing affordability is one of the most important reasons why. Policymakers have more control over this than they might think.   A new report from the Common Sense Institute details tens of thousands of dollars in housing-construction costs created not by land or water scarcity, labor costs, materials costs, market conditions or interest rates — but by nothing more than policy.  Housing affordability is as much an economic development and competitiveness issue as it is a social one. That matters in a state tracking business establishment losses and domestic migration losses.  This is a relatively new development for Colorado. For years, the ...
Read More
Colorado’s new insurance fee enterprise can lower or stop collecting to stay under Proposition 117
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s new insurance fee enterprise can lower or stop collecting to stay under Proposition 117

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The signed law says the enterprise will collect less than $100 million in five years. The Legislature's fiscal note puts the figure at $99.6 million. New Colorado enterprises that want to collect more than $100 million in their first five fiscal years have to ask voters first. That's what voters approved in 2020 with Proposition 117. One created this year is projected to collect $99.6 million. The fee that funds it gets cut by more than half after the first year. Premiums grow every year in the state's own projection. The rate drops anyway. Gov. Jared Polis signed SB26-155 into law on June 4. The measure creates the Strengthen Colorado Homes Enterprise within the Division of Insurance and takes effect Aug. 12. Sens. Kyle Mullica...
Read More
Colorado Crime Still Among Nation’s Worst Despite Drop in Auto Theft
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Crime Still Among Nation’s Worst Despite Drop in Auto Theft

By: The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Denver Gazette The Polis administration’s announcement the other day touting a drop in Colorado’s nationally notorious rate of auto theft was welcome news — as long as it lasted. As The Gazette reported, the state Department of Public Safety released data late last month showing auto thefts were down this year by 36%, from January through May, compared with the same time frame last year. Then came the bad newS. Not one, but two people were shot to death in apparently separate incidents in Denver — both while trying to stop the theft of their cars — within days of the announcement. Yes, motor vehicle theft still poses a very serious threat in our state. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise.  Accordin...
Read More
Initiative 195 would raise taxes on Colorado’s top earners. A new report asks whether they’d stay.
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Initiative 195 would raise taxes on Colorado’s top earners. A new report asks whether they’d stay.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The income tax on a Colorado household earning under $25,000 would fall by $9 a year under Initiative 195. A filer reporting between $2 million and $5 million would pay about $13,914 more. Both figures come from the measure's certified ballot title. The Common Sense Institute, a free-market policy group in Greenwood Village, says that second household is also the one most likely to pack up and leave Colorado, and that the state would lose part of the revenue the tax is supposed to bring in right along with it. Initiative 195 would end Colorado's flat income tax. The state taxed income on a graduated scale for its first 50 years, then switched in 1987 to a single rate, now 4.4 percent, that applies to every earner.  In its place, 1...
Read More
Denver Public Schools Grows Bureaucracy While Student Population Declines
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Public Schools Grows Bureaucracy While Student Population Declines

By: Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette Meanwhile, the district employs 262 fewer teachers compared to 5 years ago. Denver Public Schools (DPS) has operated with thousands fewer students than its peak enrollment in 2019 but it has grown its administrative ranks back to nearly their pre-pandemic level, a Denver Gazette analysis of state staffing data shows. This finding mirrors a statewide trend identified in a report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) that found Colorado school districts continued to grow their administrative staff despite declining student enrollment. In the past five years, districts across the state have added more than 250 administrators, a 13.1% increase, according to CSI. State data shows Colorado has lost more than...
Read More
Colorado Growth Slows as Population Gains Concentrate in Fewer Counties
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Growth Slows as Population Gains Concentrate in Fewer Counties

By Mark Samuelson | The Denver Gazette Population growth in Colorado, which had helped drive the region’s burgeoning economy over recent years, has slowed markedly. In metro Denver, the growth areas are concentrated in only a handful of counties, according to a new report. From 2024 to 2025 the state added just 33,151 residents, marking one of the lowest annual growth cycles it had posted over the past decade, according to a study issued last week by the Greenwood Village-based Common Sense Institute. That recent total shows Colorado’s annual population growth having slipped by some 60% from 2015, a summary of the study concluded. During the span of 2015 to 2016, Colorado saw a population increase of 83,036, the study said. Meanwhile, although recent data show t...
Read More
New Federal Tax Credit Could Expand Colorado School Choice Options
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, Commentary, State

New Federal Tax Credit Could Expand Colorado School Choice Options

By Brenda Dickhoner | Commentary, The Colorado Sun State lawmakers made the right move to postpone legislation that would have created barriers for the program. Colorado lawmakers have been working to close a budget gap of more than $1.5 billion, and programs that students and families rely on are under pressure. At the same time, a new federal tax credit gives Colorado a chance to bring substantial philanthropic dollars into education without drawing from the state’s general fund. The Education Freedom Tax Credit allows taxpayers to receive a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 annually for charitable contributions to scholarship-granting organizations that support K-12 students. Essentially, the program encourages private giving to step in where public fun...
Read More