The Colorado legislature Tuesday finalized the state’s $48.6 billion spending plan, sending next fiscal year’s budget and dozens of related bills to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk after paring back programs and services to address a roughly $1.5 billion shortfall.
Medicaid took the brunt of the cuts to address a gap between how much money state lawmakers had to spend and how much it costs to continue current government offerings. The healthcare program for people with lower incomes and disabilities is a leading cause of the imbalance.
The Joint Budget Committee — the six-member, bipartisan panel that drafts the budget — tweaked the spending package, which takes effect July 1, after debate in the full legislature earlier in the month.
Here are the biggest changes made by the committee, and some of the changes they rejected.
Cover All Coloradans
The biggest questions facing the JBC after the legislature debated the budget involved Cover All Coloradans, the program providing healthcare to children and pregnant women whose immigration status prevents them from otherwise receiving Medicaid.
The initiative, which took effect in 2025, is costing six times more than projected this fiscal year, and thus the JBC proposed a series of cuts and caps on its spending.
But Democrats in the House pushed back, passing an amendment to block about $6.6 million in cuts. Instead, the House proposal would have cut the same amount from prisons in order to pay for the immigrant healthcare program.
“Cover All Coloradans is a program that saves lives,” said state Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat who led the push to reject the JBC’s reductions.
State Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Adams County, speaks to reporters on Feb. 10, 2025. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)However, a similar amendment failed in the Senate.
Ultimately, the JBC decided to move forward with its original proposal, including a limit on new enrollment in the program and a cap on the dental benefits that enrollees can receive, though that was increased to $1,100 per enrollee per year, up from $750 as planned.
“This bill has been a place where I have shed a lot of tears,” said state Rep. Kyle Brown, a Louisville Democrat who sits on the JBC. “The nature of our budget is horrible. We are forced to make some of the worst decisions that I have ever had to make.”
The changes JBC accepted
The most consequential budget tweak made by the JBC adds $7.7 million to the budget to let children with disabilities who get 24/7 medical care automatically continue getting that care as adults.
Originally, the panel had planned to end that automatic enrollment on July 1, but agreed to extend it for six months through Jan. 1, 2027. Without automatic enrollment, when kids become adults they are forced onto a waitlist that’s expected to double to 14 years due to budget cuts.
Additionally, the JBC exempted maternal and neonatal caregivers from a Medicaid reimbursement reduction.
The JBC also made a change to transportation funding.
The panel wanted to permanently eliminate the annual, $10.5 million transfer from the state’s general fund into a pool of money that pays for transit projects. After pushback from the full legislature, the panel decided to cancel the payments for three years only.
State Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, listens as legislative economists Greg Sobetski and Amanda Liddle speak to the Colorado legislature’s Joint Budget Committee about the state’s finances on March 19, 2026. (Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance)The committee also relented somewhat on its planned cuts to a program that pays for high schoolers to stay enrolled for a fifth and sixth year and take college-level classes that train them to be teachers. The JBC wanted to end the program, which is set to expire in two years, but instead agreed to keep it going for one more year.
The final version of the budget also adds a directive to the governor’s office that any remaining wolf-related money in the state budget should be used to manage Colorado’s existing wolf population and not to introduce new wolves into the state.
The changes JBC rejected
The JBC rejected a number of other budget amendments sought by their colleagues in the legislature. They include:
An effort to prevent the state’s Medicaid program from recovering payments made to healthcare providers who are found to have made mistakes with documentation or technical compliance as long as services were provided Taking $400,000 from the fund used to manage the governor’s mansion in downtown Denver and send it to a program that aims to prevent kids from using drugs, alcohol and tobacco and to keep them from dropping out of school Transferring $3.5 million from information technology services to forgo a 56-hour cap on the time family members who care for people with severe disabilities can be reimbursed for Reducing housing assistance for people battling addiction by $4 million and redirecting those funds to Medicaid Taking $300,000 from the Office of Film Television and Media and redirecting those funds to the state’s veterans’ treatment courts. Instead, the JBC found money elsewhere to send to the courts.Pinnacol Assurance’s future remains uncertain
Even though the budget is headed to the governor’s desk to be signed into law, a few outstanding questions remain.
The biggest one is around Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s quasi-governmental workers compensation insurer of last resort, which a group of lawmakers wants to privatize. The idea is to raise at least $300 million from the privatization to reverse some of the cuts made in the budget.
House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, is leading the effort and has drafted a bill alongside Republican state Rep. Rick Taggart of Grand Junction and Democratic state Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder.
Taggart and Amabile sit on the JBC. But there wasn’t enough support on the six-member panel to route a Pinnacol privatization through the committee, as was the governor’s wish.
Rep. Kyle Brown (from left), Sen. Judy Amabile and Rep. Emily Sirota listen as legislative economists Greg Sobetski and Amanda Liddle speak to the Colorado legislature’s Joint Budget Committee about the state’s finances on March 19, 2026. (Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance)If the bill passes, the revenue it generates would be used to halve the planned Medicaid provider rate cut to 1% from 2%, refill $40 million taken from an affordable housing fund to balance the budget, increase wages for higher education staff, and put $100 million into a fund for K-12 schools.
Money from the privatization would also go toward repairing state buildings, supporting workforce readiness and expansion efforts, and buying a new hospital to care for people accused of crimes who are deemed incompetent to stand trial.
Finally, $100 million from the privatization would go toward the state’s rainy day fund, which is being depleted to balance the budget.
“We’re giving Pinnacol until June 30, 2027, to extend an offer and hopefully complete the entire process,” McCluskie said.
It remains unclear, however, if there are enough votes in the legislature to pass the bill. Democrats have been wary of privatizing Pinnacol because of what it could mean for workers, and unions are highly opposed.
“We are opposed to Pinnacol privatization, as we have been for the last two decades,” said Dennis Dougherty, who leads the Colorado AFL-CIO.
McCluskie’s proposal seeks to assuage critics by ensuring Colorado still has a workers compensation insurer of last resort moving forward. It just wouldn’t be government-controlled under her bill.
The legislative session ends May 13, so time is running out for lawmakers to take on the Pinnacol question.
The final vote on the budget was 40-21 in the House and 23-11 in the Senate.
Hence then, the article about colorado legislature sends 48 6b state budget to governor s desk after final round of tweaks was published today ( ) and is available on Colorado Sun ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Colorado legislature sends $48.6B state budget to governor’s desk after final round of tweaks )
Also on site :