Colorado special session bills: What you need to know

Colorado legislators have begun proposing bills for Thursday’s special session, when they will need to figure out how to plug a nearly $800 million budget shortfall.

Only a handful of the measures introduced so far directly deal with the deficit.

Some Democrats — their party holds the majority of the Colorado General Assembly — have pointed to President Donald Trump’s federal budget as the culprit for the state’s budget deficit. They have in, particular, noted Medicaid reductions and changes to the federal tax code.

Republicans, who make up the minority in the General Assembly, have countered that Democrats’ spending is just as much to blame, noting that even before Congress adopted the federal budget, Colorado already faced a $1 billion deficit during the regular 2025 legislative ses