Despite Colorado’s $1.2 billion budget deficit, increasing regulatory woes, and a souring economic outlook, the state legislature continues to proliferate new legislation that promises to increase government size and spending.

The 120-day 2025 legislative session is beyond the halfway point, and Colorado’s 35 senators and 65 representatives have introduced over 500 bills so far, with several containing significant fiscal impacts.

Using data from the Legislative Council Staff’s Fiscal Note Reports, I consolidated bills into interactive charts to display the proposed legislation’s impact on government employment, the General Fund, and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in FY2025-26. .

Growing government 

According to the data, all proposed legislation thus far in 2025 would add over 300 full-time equivalent (FTE) hires to the state’s payroll, reduce General Fund revenue by over $900 million, and reduce funds subject to TABOR by over $1.3 billion.

Of course, legislators will not pass all these bills, and some bills with significant fiscal impacts have already been rejected.

As previously reported in Complete Colorado, the lack of political competition in Colorado’s legislature has ushered in an unprecedented era of ballooning government expansion, and that extraordinary growth is now coming home to roost.

But this year’s budget shortfall did not appear out of thin air.

As I previously explained, Colorado’s billion-plus dollar budget hole was caused by government overspending and the shirking of fiscal responsibility and accountability.

In short, the government spent one-time federal money for COVID relief on ongoing programs, inflation continues to cool (slowing government growth as allowed by the state constitution), the cost of Medicaid continues to increase, and the legislature continues to expand special interest tax breaks.

This is while resisting transparency and accountability and instead deflecting blame onto TABOR, which progressives blame for holding back the state’s ability to offer essential services.

In reality, TABOR just reasonably limits the growth of government, forcing the state to be more efficient, effective, and responsible when spending Coloradans’ money.

Click (HERE) to read the rest of this article at Complete Colorado!