Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance reviews issues to watch in 2024

LOVELAND — Lobbyists representing businesses in Northern Colorado expect “more of the same” at the upcoming legislative session. And when it comes to business issues, “it often comes down to one vote in one committee” in order to get issues passed or killed.

Sandra Solin, CEO of Capitol Solutions, which represents the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance, and Rachel Beck of the Colorado Competitive Council both spoke at the annual Regional Issues Summit. The event was hosted Thursday morning at Blue Arena by NCLA and the Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley area chambers of commerce.

The pair listed multiple issues for businesses to watch in the upcoming session.

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Property taxes

Beck said that the remedy provided by the special legislative session this fall did not go far enough as it provided only temporary relief and only to residential property owners. “There’s a longer-term solution on the agenda,” she said, which will likely include relief for commercial property owners. In addition, a couple of ballot issues will likely be raised that could cap increases at 4% a year or, in another case, resetting property values to 2020 levels and then limiting increases to 2.5% per year.

Air quality

Solin said that an interim committee is discussing further limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and the NCLA is working to “assure that science is leading the discussion.”

She said the focus is shifting beyond the oil and gas sector, which has made progress in “producing the cleanest molecule of oil and gas in the country,” Solin said. Other sectors that will receive attention in the coming session will be the lawn and garden sector, where two-cycle motors contribute significantly to air pollution, and the transportation sector. 

“Investments in express lanes and mobility hubs reduce the number of idling cars, which have a big impact on emissions,” she said.

And when it comes to idling cars, investments need to be made in regional roadways. “(U.S.) Highway 34 comes to mind,” she said.

Land use and housing

Beck said she expects affordable and attainable housing to again be a focus of the Legislature, because it is a major issue for employers looking to recruit workers and for people in controlling their costs of living. She said bills to be presented may include those addressing accessory dwelling units (aka “granny flats”), zoning, and encouraging greater density of housing near transit hubs.

Construction defects

Related to the cost of housing issue is the still-unresolved construction-defects liability, which limits the willingness of developers to build for-sale condo and townhouse units. “NCLA is an active participant in construction defect reform,” Solin said.

Front Range Rail 

A passenger rail line extending from Cheyenne to New Mexico along the Front Range is a high priority of Gov. Jared Polis, Solin said. A route will be recommended as soon as next week and a funding mechanism — a taxing district — could make the ballot in November 2024. A decision on whether to put a rail tax on the ballot will come by April next year.

To be determined is whether Weld County will remain in the potential taxing district, because the potential location for the passenger rail line will be the BNSF Railway line that follows U.S. highway 287 in Northern Colorado. Weld usage of that line might be limited by distance, Solin said.

Insurance

Beck said that business lobbyists are closely watching efforts to tap into unemployment-insurance reserves for purposes other than what was intended by those reserve funds. “We (Colorado) took out a $1 billion loan from the federal government during the pandemic (to shore up the unemployment fund) and are still trying to pay that back. Last year, we saw six bills attempting to tap into the unemployment reserves, and we expect to see more this year,” she said.

Health insurance is also an issue that bears watching, Beck said, because carriers are trying to avoid taking on new customers. Efforts to remove caps on medical malpractice also may be coming to the legislature or ballot next year. Removing caps on pain and suffering, she said, will “do a lot to medical insurance costs and business costs,” Beck said.