(The Center Square) - Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the state’s $46.8 billion budget for 2026-27.
The bill arrives largely along party lines with the legislature's Democratic majority forced to make significant cuts to Medicaid and other spending programs after a $1.5 billion shortfall for the state.
“Every year that I have been on this committee I have said, ‘I have no idea how we are going to do this,’ and then we always do,” said Joint Budget Committee Chair Emily Sirota, a Democratic member of the state House, at the JBC Tuesday meeting. “It is pretty remarkable.”
The JBC’s short Tuesday meeting finalized the state’s $48.6 billion spending plan for 2026-2027, House Bill 26-1410, or the Long Appropriations Bill. Once signed, the budget will be put into effect July 1 and run until June 30, 2027.
The six-person committee is tasked with drafting the state’s budget, before the House and Senate vote on the bill. With both chambers having approved the bill, it is expected to be signed by the Democratic governor in the coming days.
“Federal actions cut $1 billion in our revenue, erasing our TABOR [Taxpayer's Bill of Rights] surplus and [threatening] our ability to keep property taxes low for seniors,” said Rep. Kyle Brown, D-12th District (Boulder and Broomfield counties), during the bill’s final House vote earlier in April. “Our Medicaid budget has continued to grow unsustainably. The average growth rate over the last four years has been 19% annually.”
TABOR is a constitutional cap on tax revenue the state of Colorado can collect. Any surplus revenue is refunded to taxpayers, unless voters approve it to be otherwise spent.
The state has had to cut down on spending across a variety of sectors to make up a $1.5 billion budget shortfall that has largely come about from low estimates on the cost of programs.
Some of the largest price shocks came from Medicaid programs, including $104.5 million for pregnant women and children whose immigration status means they would not otherwise be covered by Medicaid. The original estimate for the Cover All Coloradans program was $14.7 million, according to the Colorado Sun.
“Being opposed to this budget is not a matter of unappreciation of the work that was involved,” said Rep. Ken DeGraaf, R-22nd District (El Paso County), during the bill’s final House vote. “It’s not a matter of being cold and heartless. It’s a matter of, when something can’t go on forever, it does not … We have a collision of reality versus ideology.”
DeGraaf argued the state was overpaying for services and should be more thoughtful with its spending. He specifically named Medicaid, housing construction and overregulation. “These are self-inflicted injuries, not headwinds.”
The point outlined a largely party-based divide within the Colorado legislature, where Democratic members have argued the state’s issues stem from unforeseen costs and federal cuts and mismanagement, while the Republican minority has argued the state has recklessly overspent.
One point nearly all legislators seemed to agree on was that the budget process has been difficult.
“This budget, as my colleagues have already said, was extremely difficult to develop,” Rep. Rick Taggart, R-District 55 (Mesa County), told the House members of the drafting issues the JBC faced. “It challenged each and every one of the six of us in our value systems, almost on a daily basis.”
