Start of the 2025 Colorado Legislative Session 

Colorado’s 2025 legislative session kicked off on Wednesday, January 8th, and will continue for 120 days until May 7th. Key issues that are top of mind for the Colorado life sciences ecosystem include preserving funding for the Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Programs run by Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade and ensuring the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program is benefiting the patients it was intended to help. CBSA has been educating legislators and briefing media organizations about these important issues.  

Recent news coverage highlighting CBSA’s concerns around these topics includes:  

CBSA’s Policy + Advocacy Leadership: CBSA’s Policy + Advocacy team works with partners and policymakers to advance CBSA’s Policy Priorities and support a collaborative, pro-innovation environment to advance Colorado as a leading hub for health impact.  

We encourage you to attend CBSA’s 2025 Day at the Capitol on February 4th and to learn more about CBSA’s 2025 Policy + Advocacy Priorities

The Legislature: Although Democrats retained strong majorities in both chambers after the 2024 election, after some prolonged recounts, Republicans managed to end the supermajority that Democrats held in the House the past two years. Going into the 2024 election cycle, 46 Democrats and 19 Republicans held House seats, but now House Democrats hold a 43-22 edge. Senate Democrats once again have a 23-12 margin, leaving them one vote short of supermajority status. 

Budget Shortfall: The September revenue forecast showed the budget was starting at a deficit of $921 million – nearly a billion-dollar deficit. Based on that forecast, the Governor submitted his budget proposal at the beginning of November that included drastic cuts, some of which have been drawing much criticism from members of the Joint Budget Committee (JBC). Newer revenue projections lowered the budget deficit to $672 million. The Chair of the JBC explicitly invited major changes to the Governor’s proposal based on the significant concerns voiced by members of the powerful committee regarding various parts of the proposal. 

Opening Day Speeches: In the Senate, President Coleman began this year’s session with a speech to Senate colleagues focused on their common goal of building a Colorado where everyone can thrive. Among challenges for the upcoming year, Coleman mentioned affordability, housing, healthcare, and the highly controversial Labor Peace Act Proposal. In the Senate Minority Leader’s speech, Minority Leader Lundeen called on his colleagues to repeal policies that overregulate or create “fees disguised as taxes”. This will be Senate Republicans’ priority for this year’s session. In the House, leadership from both sides of the aisle called for a focus on affordability and reducing the cost of living for Coloradans. In Speaker McCluskie’s speech, the state’s budget deficit was acknowledged, and McCluskie also mentioned the impact of the incoming Trump Administration’s policies on immigration. Minority Leader Pugliese also touched on these issues, as well as parental rights. 

State of the State: On January 9th, Governor Polis delivered his seventh State of the State address. Although Polis acknowledged the budget deficit situation, he didn’t go into much detail on his proposal to balance the budget. Similar to the speeches from Republican leadership in both chambers, Polis called on lawmakers to cut regulatory policies that have become burdensome for Coloradans. Polis also mentioned his goals of increasing affordable housing, saving Coloradans money on healthcare, and encouraged compromise in the anticipated labor issues this year. With respect to pharmaceuticals, Governor Polis said:  

“We have been very serious about taking on the hard fights to lower the cost of health care and living for Coloradans since day one. We’ve made lifesaving progress: capping the price of insulin, passing bipartisan reinsurance that has reduced rates by nearly 25%, the landmark Colorado Option and nation-leading price transparency legislation. But we also know there’s a lot more work to be done… 

And we’ll continue to call on the FDA to approve our prescription drug importation plan. We don’t always find ourselves on the same side of an issue as Florida. But as the only two states taking much-needed and long overdue steps to cut the costs of prescription drugs by importing them from Canada, our patience is wearing thin for the FDA slow-walking our well-qualified application to import lower cost prescription drugs and pass the savings along to our fellow Coloradans. 

We can and we should take additional steps to save people money on prescription drugs, which is why I support the work of Senators Janice Rich and Dafna Michaelson Jenet to protect and expand prescription drug discounts to better serve our most vulnerable. 

And we’ve learned through our nation-leading policies to increase hospital pricing transparency that Coloradans and employers are still paying far too much for hospital services… 

Now is the time for us, alongside Representative Kyle Brown and Senator Jeff Bridges, to take real action to deal with excessive hospital pricing and protect our safety-net providers.” 

To get involved with CBSA’s advocacy efforts or talk about your concerns or perspective, please contact CBSA’s Vice President and Counsel for Policy + Advocacy, Amy Goodman

Special thanks to CBSA’s lobbyists at Colorado Legislative Strategies for their contributions to this blog. 

Categories: CBSA News