Gov. Jared Polis set a personal record for issuing vetoes in a single legislative session this year — and, potentially, made history as the first Colorado governor to veto a bill that passed the General Assembly unanimously.
The 11 vetoed bills touched on a raft of issues: social media regulations, new rules for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft, criminal justice reforms, health care, the Colorado Open Records Act and several more.
Some, such as his veto of a bill that would have made it easier for unions to negotiate dues, were telegraphed well ahead of time.
Others surprised the bill sponsors, chiefly a proposed ban on surprise charges from ambulance rides — a proposal that had passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Supporters of the bill believe it is the first time a governor has vetoed a bill that had no votes against it.
Sponsors were hesitant to read much into Polis’ slightly more frequent use of his veto pen than in prior years. The 11 vetoes — up from Polis’ previous high of 10 in 2023 — nonetheless underscored the adage that every bill must pass by clear threshold to become law: 33 votes in the House, 18 votes in the Senate and one vote from the governor’s office.
During a news conference near the end of the signing period following the 2025 session, which officially ended Friday, Polis said he reviews each bill individually before determining if “it’s in the best interest of Colorado.”
The vetoes don’t mean the ideas behind the bills are totally dead, Polis said. He cited one law he signed this year regarding heating, ventilation and air conditioning in schools and another to combat wage theft that arose from bills he vetoed last year. Lawmakers tried again, winning his approval.
Colorado’s recent governors have reached for their veto pen to varying extents. Polis’ predecessor, now-U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, did so less often — in part because split control of the legislature’s chambers at times kept partisan measures from reaching the Democrat’s desk. His single-year record was nine vetoes, during his final year in office in 2018.
But Gov. Bill Owens vetoed bills more often, especially during the Republican’s second term after Democrats won majorities in both legislative chambers. He vetoed nearly four dozen bills in 2005 and, the next year, he vetoed 18 bills in a single day.
Is Polis ‘out of step’ with Democrats?
This year, Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat, saw Polis veto three of the bills he sponsored, the most of any individual lawmaker.
Senate Bill 5 was aimed at making it easier for unions to negotiate dues. House Bill 1004 sought to ban the use of algorithms by landlords to, in effect, coordinate rent prices. And House Bill 1147 would have prevented local governments from instituting harsher penalties than state sentencing guidelines.
Mabrey chalked up Polis’ high veto total as a response to what lawmakers passed, rather than some change in how the governor approaches veto power in his second-to-last session as the state’s chief executive. Polis, who is term-limited, will leave office after the 2026 session. Democrats will have controlled both legislative chambers throughout his tenure.
State Rep. Javier Mabrey leads a news conference at the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. A group of Democratic legislators unveiled three bills — one to limit price gouging, another to target so-called “junk fees” and a third to limit the use of algorithms in rental housing. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)But, Mabrey said, “each of the bills of mine that he vetoed were targeted to help people who are poor and struggling.” The vetoes, to him, show Polis is “out of step with the mainstream of his party.” In particular, he cited Polis’ veto of the union bill.
Nationally, Democrats have been ceding union support to Republicans, a loss that proved pivotal to President Donald Trump’s election in November.
The 2024 election results should be a “five-alarm fire” for Democrats, showing they need to show they support the working class, Mabrey said.
“Democrats in the legislature did step up, but the governor prevented us from standing on the side of working people in that fight,” Mabrey said.
Kelly Caufield, the executive director of the Common Sense Institute, a nonpartisan, free enterprise-oriented think tank, said she saw in Polis’ vetoes a focus on the broader economy and secondary effects of some of the bills.
On the union bill, for example, a CSI study found that the most union-friendly states tend to have a higher cost of living, biting into union workers’ higher wages, and higher youth unemployment.
“The through line, for me, is (that) the governor is focused on the data, facts and economic consequences in a state where we’re seeing a decline in overall competitiveness,” Caufield said.
Polis has made affordability central to his administration, even if his definition of it may differ from some in the legislature. In his veto of the union bill, for example, Polis said he is “pro-union, pro-worker and (has) worked throughout my career in public service to protect the right of workers to organize.”
But, he wrote in the veto letter, there should be “a high bar” to set mandatory dues for union shops, “particularly at a time when hardworking Coloradans are concerned about the cost of groceries, the economy, and their job security.”
His veto on that bill was also cheered by business groups.
Loren Furman, the president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that the bill would have “threatened our statewide business climate at a time when we should be fostering a competitive economy,” and the veto “preserves the unique labor laws that set us apart from other states.”
Gov. Jared Polis was set to sign three bills into law on his 50th birthday at the Governor’s Residence at Boettcher Mansion in Denver on May 12, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)Veto leaves sponsor ‘incredibly disappointed’
Polis’ concerns about direct costs also resulted in perhaps the most surprising veto of the year: House Bill 1088.
The bill sought to eliminate so-called surprise billing when a person with health insurance is transported in an ambulance and gets charged because the emergency service wasn’t part of their network. It faced no opposition among lawmakers.
Rep. Karen McCormick, a Longmont Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said she hadn’t gotten any indication the governor would veto the measure. She recalled reaching out to the governor’s team at the end of April, before the bill’s final votes, and not hearing back on any suggested amendments. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on that timeline.
Polis’ May 29 veto left her “surprised, incredibly disappointed (and) confused.”
“The folks who vote no on everything voted yes on this,” McCormick said in an interview. “I’m still kind of shocked about that. That lets you know this was a sensible consumer protection, non-cost-raising measure. This, to me, kind of fits right in on the governor’s mission of saving people money on health care.”
In his veto letter, Polis wrote he worried about potential premium increases of 73 cents to $2.15 per person per month on a health insurance plan.
“A family of four would likely pay as much as one hundred dollars more per year in insurance premiums if I were to sign this bill; by every estimate, this bill raises costs for consumers,” Polis wrote. He also said the bill had “several drafting issues that render it unimplementable in its current form.”
McCormick disputed both counts.
Several other states, including some on the opposite side of the political spectrum like Texas and Oklahoma, have implemented the change without meaningful changes in insurance costs as a result, she said. And lawmakers have worked on the issue for two years, with legislative lawyers reviewing bill language along the way.
McCormick said she had asked for evidence that the bill would drive costs higher and was told Polis heard it from health insurance companies, like Anthem and UnitedHealth Group, and the Colorado Association of Health Plans, an industry group.
Kevin M. McFatridge, the trade group’s executive director, said in a statement that his members “appreciated” the veto.
“Our members’ priority is to maintain affordability for their customers,” McFatridge wrote. “This bill would have mandated drastic price increases for ground ambulance services which would have led to higher healthcare costs for Coloradans.”
He added that the bill would have put enforcement under the Colorado Department of Insurance, which does not have jurisdiction over group ambulance providers.
But he, like Polis, said the industry wants to continue working on the issue.
McCormick, having run bills aimed at eliminating surprise billing the past two years, said she planned to file the bill again next year — after she takes a breath and tries to understand better why this attempt was vetoed.
“I guess the people of Colorado are just going to have to wait,” McCormick said. “This would have helped their finances and made it so folks weren’t scared of calling 911.”
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