Ninety-nine bills have been introduced in the Colorado legislature in the 2026 session’s first dozen days. This week, legislators will begin debating several of them.
But this morning’s proceedings began first with lawmakers addressing the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, by a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Saturday. Pretti’s parents live in Arvada, and Renee Good — who was shot and killed by an immigration agent earlier this month — also had Colorado connections.
The majority Democrats in both chambers started with comments from the floor criticizing Pretti’s killing.
“We are angry, heartsick and scared,” House Speaker Julie McCluskie said. “Our constituents are asking us, what happens when Colorado is next? Will they be able to exercise their constitutionally protected right to peacefully protest against the government they disagree with, without weighing their life to do so?”
The House adjourned its floor proceedings after McCluskie’s comments. In the Senate, after Democrats made similar statements about the Pretti shooting, two Republicans, Sens. Larry Liston and Mark Baisley, responded. Liston questioned why Pretti was carrying a handgun — which appeared to be removed from its holster by an officer just before the shooting — and Baisley criticized Minneapolis’ local leadership and immigrants without proper legal status.
Democratic Sen. Kyle Mullica then called out that the government needed to stop killing people. That drew a rebuke from Senate President James Coleman, a fellow Democrat.
After the Senate adjourned, Mullica and Baisley were still heatedly discussing the issue in the back of the chamber.
As we noted last week, the first days of the legislative session are dedicated to SMART Act hearings — marathon meetings in which state agencies give presentations and face mild-to-moderate grilling from legislators tasked with scrutinizing them.
Committee hearings about bills will start to spin up this week, albeit at a slow pace than is expected in much of the next three-odd months.
Many of the bills set for committee this week — there are roughly a dozen — are either bipartisan or on the less-controversial side. A notable exception is Senate Bill 4, the first gun bill of the session.
It would expand who can petition a court to temporarily remove people’s firearms if they’re a danger to themselves or others, using the state’s red flag law. SB-4 would add co-responders (think of a social worker who’s working with law enforcement) and various educational institutions and personel to the list. It’s set for a Tuesday afternoon committee hearing in front of the Senate’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
You can check calendars for committee meetings and hearings here. As a gentle reminder, calendars are subject to change, so be sure to keep an eye on them if you’re planning to attend or testify at a committee hearing.
Here’s what else to watch this week:
Today: Secretary of State Jena Griswold and her department will have their oversight hearing with the legislature’s Joint State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. That hearing is typically a contentious affair, as Republicans use it as an opportunity to pepper Griswold — a Democrat who’s a frequent target of right-wing election attacks — with questions.
Elsewhere, state officials are set return to the Joint Budget Committee for a showdown over prison funding.
The purse strings-holding JBC voted to reject $20 million in prison funding requests last week and called on Gov. Jared Polis’ office to come to its members with real solutions to ease overcrowding in state prisons. We’ll see how that goes (and if the discussion takes place today or later in the week).
Finally, Democrats are set to unveil a package of affordability-related bills this morning. We’ll likely have coverage of that.
Tuesday and Wednesday: The legislature’s joint health committees will conduct their oversight hearing with several health-focused state agencies, including the public health department and the agency that oversees Medicaid. Those hearings start Tuesday and will carry into Wednesday.
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