Colorado legislative Democrats are hoping to offer voters a chance as soon as November to de-Bruce the Colorado state budget, at least temporarily, and to put the money the state remains to areas of need such as transportation, K-12 schools and higher education. House Speaker K.C. Becker, D-Boulder, confirmed the effort Thursday at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce's Colorado Business Day luncheon. Becker said she is still working with elected officials and private-sector leaders to determine exactly what the initiative would say and exactly when statewide voters would be asked to weigh in on it, but she said it's taken a leading position now in the ongoing discussions about how to fund transportation and education after tax-hike initiatives for both areas got killed in the 2018 election. 

When the Senate Finance Committee meets on Jan. 22 to pass a bipartisan bill that would allow the state to develop a program to simplify its byzantine sales-tax system for business owners, it will represent the culmination of five years of discussions on the topic - and yet, it's likely only the start of much more complicated discussions about what truly must be done to aid companies looking to comply with current law. 

The Colorado Supreme Court has revealed an appeal court decision and said state oil and gas regulators were correct not to require that projects prove they wouldn't harm public health or the environment before winning permits. The case pitted the state oil and gas regulator, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, against a group of youth who demanded the agency make health and environmental protection prerequisites for oil and gas development and then sued when the COGCC declined to do so. The state Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled in favor of the COGCC in a decision made public.