This story by Sara Wilson appeared on Colorado Newsline on January 11, 2024.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, as expected, underscored housing and affordability priorities during his annual address to the General Assembly on Thursday, repeating similar themes and goals from legislative leaders’ remarks the day before.
“Together, we can create more housing for all Coloradans and increase access to convenient and low cost transit opportunities, improving our quality of life and making the future of our state even brighter and our state more livable,” he said toward the start of his 56-minute State of the State speech, delivered in front of a joint session of the House and Senate with a packed gallery of guests.
There were plenty of jokes — including a reprise of last year’s Yoda impression — as Polis outlined his goals for a stronger, more affordable Colorado this year.
Here’s a one-hour video of the speech.
The 2024 legislative session is set to have an emphasis on housing and cost of living policy, just as the session did last year. There is a renewed effort among Polis and lawmakers to enact meaningful laws to boost the state’s affordable housing supply, tweaking some unsuccessful ideas from the past.
Last year, an ambitious, comprehensive land use reform bill failed, and later on voters rejected a Democrat-penned ballot measure to cut property taxes by adjusting the state’s revenue cap — two major Polis-backed plans. Polis is a Democrat, and Democrats enjoy large majorities in both legislative chambers.
This year, the goal is the same: Lay the groundwork for more housing and incentivize development near transit corridors.
“Simply put, we must create more housing in our state that Coloradans at all income levels can rent or buy in the communities where they want to live, near job opportunities that pay well,” Polis said, later adding that there is a “sense of hopelessness and despair” when it comes to housing among young people who cannot afford mortgage payments, business owners who are unable to recruit employees, and professionals who live far away from work in search of cheaper living.
Polis spoke about his support for an expected bill to make it easier for homeowners to build an accessory dwelling unit on their property, giving a shout-out to a homeowner in the audience who was able to build an ADU that now houses a family of four.
The financial impact of a housing-related bill will determine his support for it this session.
“This session, I will be supportive of bills that reduce the cost of housing and encourage innovative approaches like new financing strategies, easing parking restrictions, tackling liability costs for multi-family condos, reducing the cost of fire insurance … and I will be very skeptical of bills that would increase the cost of housing,” he said.
He praised cities like Arvada and Fort Collins, where downtown development is centered on the intersection of businesses, transportation and housing.
“Transit-oriented and connected communities can create a better future for our state and drive our prosperity and enjoyment with less traffic, more housing people can afford and better air quality. We want to provide the tools our communities need to make this happen,” he said.
That vision can only exist, however, if the state encourages efficient transit that actually works, he said. At the state level, that means continued investment in statewide bus systems, passenger rail and promised transit systems such as the FasTracks plan to connect Denver and Boulder. It also means enabling local and metro transit organizations to build out their own systems.
There were few instances when every lawmaker stood in support of a line in Polis’ speech. They came during praise for law enforcement, a call to make the senior homestead exemption portable, celebration of an expected fully-funded public education system and a condemnation of the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia following the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“We called on this body to help protect nonprofit organizations and religious institutions, like temples and mosques, that are facing a heightened risk of targeted violence,” Polis said, noting the Joint Budget Committee’s recent approval of $1 million meant for security measures at those types of institutions.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators briefly interrupted House work on Wednesday, but there were none in the gallery during Polis’ speech. At times, the cheers of protestors outside the Capitol building were audible inside the building.
The entire chamber stood toward the end of his remarks when he urged productivity and civil collaboration.
“We share the same goals for a stronger Colorado, so let’s use these next four months to really work together, to disagree better, to show the nation how it’s done — the Colorado way,” he said.
There was a notable moment when just the Republican lawmakers stood in support of Polis’ words, a reverse of the usual dynamic. That occurred when Polis lent support to reducing the state’s income tax rate, which he said is the most effective way to further Colorado’s economic growth. He said he wants to see an income tax cut as part of progressive reforms to how refunds are issued under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and through measures like the earned income tax credit and child tax credit.
There is already a bill this session to cut the income tax rate from 4.4% to 4%, introduced by three Republican lawmakers.
“The governor, consistently in all of his State of the State speeches, talks about reducing the income tax, but has yet to be a leader to actually get 20 or more Democrats to join us to support this bill and move it forward,” House Assistant Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican, said following the speech. “What I do agree with him on is that TABOR surpluses mean that people have less money in their pockets right now while they wait for government refunds. They are being overtaxed.”
There’s weak support from the Democratic caucus for a simple rate cut.
“We have some of the lowest taxes in the country. So it doesn’t mean (income tax reduction) is off the table, but it means it has to be part of a much larger, broader conversation around tax rates,” Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, said. “He acknowledged that there’s an interest and benefit to doing progressive tax reform. He would like it to be paired with income tax reduction. It’s a conversation that has to happen, and frankly one we’ve been having every year.”
The legislative session runs until early May.
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