This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The summery weather that settled over Denver this week was the only significant heat under the golden dome as the 2026 legislative session ambled toward an unusually quiet conclusion on Wednesday. With lawmakers constricted by an exceptionally tight budget and a lame duck governor, any fierce political battles that might have fueled high drama were resolved well before the final day.
“All the money that we have left has been allocated,” said Republican House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell of El Paso County. “Now it's just a matter of going through and finishing up.”
State lawmakers spent the last four months debating and passing hundreds of bills on topics as wide-ranging as transit to K-12 schools to workers rights and elections. Gov. Jared Polis signed the state budget, which made spending cuts to Medicaid to help balance a $1.5 billion shortfall.
Heading into the final day the Legislature had passed nearly 200 bills. More bills are awaiting final votes and 142 bills either failed or were postponed indefinitely, which is the same as killing a proposal. Other bills are likely to die on the calendar.
“In a largely bipartisan way, we managed to pass many, many bills that will help make Colorado more affordable," said Democratic Sen. Jeff Bridges, the vice-chair of the Joint Budget Committee.
Even in an overwhelmingly blue legislature, a strong — some may say strong-arming — moderate wing of the Democratic caucus largely kept the excesses of progressives in check. That arguably prevented deep divisions from boiling over, and fostered cooperation between the parties.
“I think we found bipartisanship on certain things that we really need to fix that were concerns for the legislature and for the governor,” Caldwell said.
But it also meant progressives struggled to get their priorities through even a Democrat-controlled legislature. Flagship progressive issues from worker and immigrant protections to affordability measures faltered in committees. Democrats also failed to pass regulations on data centers.
“This session was pretty rough actually,” said Democratic Rep. Yara Zokaie of Fort Collins. “A lot of bills that I thought would make it across the finish line did not. There were a lot of mixed opinions within the Democratic caucus that led to that. And then at the backdrop of that, we had an illegal war that affected me personally, and it just was a very busy, difficult session and now it's kind of tapered off.”
Democratic Rep. Brianna Titone, said she was also disappointed that some of the Democratic bills designed to push back against the Trump administration didn't come to fruition. Titone is in her last session due to term limits and said regardless of all the differences and disagreements, the Legislature feels like a family.
“This is a dysfunctional family that you never asked for. And sometimes you're a dysfunctional family, you can't stand them, but you still have fun with them sometimes,” she said.
Lawmakers will leave the Capitol and head into a busy political season. Many are running for re-election to their current offices, others are seeking other offices from governor to secretary of state to Congress. The top two Democratic leaders in the House will not be back in the chamber due to term limits.
It also marks the final legislative session for Polis, who is term-limited after eight years. A theme in Colorado politics in recent years has been Democratic lawmakers versus Polis, and this session was no different. Democrats passed at least one bill they know he’ll veto — a proposal to make it easier for unions to organize. He vetoed a similar bill last year. Lawmakers in both parties also overwhelmingly passed a bill that would require some of his staff to register as lobbyists. His office called the measure absurd.
But Polis got some significant wins this session, including a proposal to try to lower homeowners insurance costs and facilitate more people purchasing hail resistant roofs. Lawmakers rejected a similar bill in a different form last year. He was also able to negotiate a deal over new safety rules for Uber and Lyft, with the main Democratic sponsor. Polis’ AI working group also helped reach a compromise on a new AI disclosure bill to inform people when AI is used to make consequential decisions about their lives from banking to hiring to education and healthcare.
