Democrats’ priority bills on taxes, unions are up for key votes this week in the Colorado legislature



Democrats’ priority bills on taxes, unions are up for key votes this week in the Colorado legislature

Welcome back to the Capitol, where Colorado lawmakers will pass the midpoint of the 2026 session later this week.

That threshold — the 60-day mark — will hit Saturday, when lawmakers will (likely … hopefully) be home for the weekend. Before that happens, legislators in the House will vote on several bills that have been tabbed as priority measures by the Democratic lawmakers who have near-supermajority control of the statehouse.

Today, the House is set to vote on House Bill 1005 and send it to the Senate. The bill would repeal a unique provision of Colorado’s labor law, which requires that newly formed unions pass a second vote before they can begin negotiating the collection of union dues.

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The bill is almost certain to pass the House today and the Senate later this session. It’s a priority for the unions that form a significant part of the Democratic base, and a similar version of the bill passed last year.

From there, though, HB-1005 is likely to run into the same end that met its 2025 version: a veto at the hands of Gov. Jared Polis.

Elsewhere today, the House Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on three Democratic measures that would limit several business-friendly tax incentives. The state would direct the savings from the bills toward a new tax credit, which would go to lower-income families with children, mirroring another credit that’s run into trouble. The measures are House Bills 1221, 1222 and 1223.

Here’s what else to expect this week, with schedules subject to change.

AI task force recs

For the radar this week: Polis’ latest artificial intelligence task force, which has been tasked with rewriting Colorado’s artificial intelligence regulations, is finally nearing its last hours. The task force is expected to vote at some point soon on a framework that can then be sent to the legislature for consideration for a new AI bill.

Tuesday

The House’s Judiciary Committee will vote on Senate Bill 11, which seeks to expedite how quickly social media sites and other tech companies respond to search warrants. That bill has already cleared the Senate.