In the first episode of the new Colorado Chamber of Commerce podcast, “Colorado Chamber Office Hours,” host Ed Sealover discussed the upcoming legislative session with Colorado Senate President James Coleman and bore down on the question of what kind of regulatory reform the session could bring.
Coleman, D-Denver, told Sealover, editor of The Sum & Substance and vice president of strategic initiatives for the Chamber, that he plans to sponsor a bill this year to subject recent state regulations to audit-style reviews to ensure that they are meeting their aim and not placing undue burdens upon businesses. The 10th-year legislator acknowledged that the reform effort could run parallel to bills from other Democrats that seek to boost regulations on certain types of employers or industries, and he said the key to balancing all of those bills is getting data on which regulations are working to protect state residents and which could be more unneeded or even “draconian.”
Coleman also identified the wide-ranging priorities of his caucus, which holds a 23-12 advantage in seats in the upper chamber, and emphasized that Democrats will continue to look at ways to protect the environment further.
And, acknowledging that Gov. Jared Polis vetoed Democrats’ 2025 effort to try to change the Colorado Labor Peace Act to make it easier for private-sector workers to unionize, the Senate president emphasized that he still wants to find a way to move that bill forward after it is reintroduced this year. But also, he believes it may be time to bring together a task force or some sort of official body that could discuss the greater business ecosystem and ensure that everyone — workers, employers and consumers — can prosper in it.
New episodes of Colorado Chamber Office Hours will drop each Monday morning during the legislative session. Here are links to this week’s episode on various platforms:
