It has been an interesting year for the Colorado Legislature. After a brutal year for property owners last year, this year was not as bad with no huge bills impacting property owners. We can thank Governor Polis for putting business interests back at the negotiating table. What bills did the Governor veto? With the recent primary election of Phil Weiser, what does this mean for next year?
What bills failed in the 2026 Colorado Legislative session
The Governor was busy this session vetoing 6 high priority progressive bills. The two biggest bills for businesses were the labor peace act and the pricing bill. These two bills would be a huge issue for businesses in Colorado.
- Labor Peace Act (HB26-1005): Rejected a bill that would have eliminated the second election required for forming certain private-sector union security agreements, a move similar to his 2025 veto of the same legislation.
- Algorithmic Pricing (HB26-1210): Vetoed legislation that would have prevented corporations from using personal surveillance data to set individual prices, citing concerns that it would disrupt everyday personalized discounts and loyalty rewards.
- Lobbying Transparency (SB 147): Struck down a bipartisan bill requiring the governor’s legislative liaisons to publicly disclose their positions on bills, stating it would restrict a governor’s ability to independently evaluate legislation.
- Social Media Threats (HB26-1255): Vetoed a measure—partially inspired by the Evergreen High School shooting—that would have required social media platforms to notify law enforcement of certain flagged content within 24 hours, citing First and Fourth Amendment concerns.
- Automated Vehicles (HB26-1286): Rejected a bill requiring heavy self-driving vehicles (over 26,001 pounds) to have a human commercial driver present at all times.
- Video Game Tax (HB26-1418): Vetoed a proposed 5% fee on in-game purchases meant to fund youth mental health programs.
Why should we care about bills that failed in the Colorado legislature?
Whether you like Governor Polis or not, I would put him in the moderate Democratic bucket. Being a businessman he was sympathetic to some business concerns and understood how the huge legislative changes would impact business owners. Fast forward to the next election and it is almost 100% that another Democrat will be in the Colorado Governor seat next year based on the hard left that the front range has taken in recent elections. After the most recent primary, this almost guarantees Phil Weiser as the next governor of Colorado which means all the bill that were vetoed will be easily passed in the next legislative session.
Three bills that will pass next year in Colorado that will have huge impacts
Even though many bills were vetoed this year, as the state tilts further left especially in Denver and along the front range the three bills below will have huge implications.
- Labor Peace Act (HB26-1005): Rejected a bill that would have eliminated the second election required for forming certain private-sector union security agreements, a move similar to his 2025 veto of the same legislation. Under the proposed law, it will be considerably easier for unions to organize and require all employees to pay union dues whether they support the union or not. Essentially this makes Colorado join the ranks of Oregon with unions. Employers in Colorado will look to other states with more favorable business climates for new relocations and additional head count. We can already see this with Southern states grossly outperforming states like Colorado.
- Algorithmic Pricing (HB26-1210): Vetoed legislation that would have prevented corporations from using personal surveillance data to set individual prices, citing concerns that it would disrupt everyday personalized discounts and loyalty rewards. The pricing legislation is another headache for businesses and will lead to huge cost increases for consumers. For example a business might see that someone is a great customer and give them a coupon based on their past purchases. This would be outlawed under the new law as it essentially says that businesses can not target offer unique pricing to consumers. Think of banks or airlines or any other business; data is driving decisions and if Colorado passes laws like this one, companies will focus on other states.
- Abritration: Another bill that was vetoed would have basically eliminated most arbitration giving a huge win to litigation attorneys. Arbitration is used by businesses to control costs of excess litigation. For example, your insurance company likely has an arbitration clause so that if there is a disagreement then an arbitrator can decide the outcome based on the facts. With this new law, arbitration is basically no longer useful in Colorado which means litigation costs will skyrocket. The first place we will all feel the effects are in considerably higher property and auto insurance. Companies will have to pass on the costs of the litigation and potential litigation to all customers raising the costs for everyone.
Colorado legislative session is a warning to businesses
Although this legislative session in Colorado was not as bad as last year for businesses, the win is short lived. Look for a huge session next year that will tilt further left and likely pass labor reform, pricing controls, and eliminate arbitration. All three of these laws will have huge impacts on all Coloradans in the form of much higher prices on everything from Groceries to insurance. Unfortunately we saw in the primary a huge surge left which will lead to increasing anti business sentiment. We have already seen a shift in the legislature, but with the new governor look for the anti business sentiment to ramp up even further. The shift in the legislature and governor will ultimately drive more employers out of Colorado and costs up for every Coloradoan.
Additional Reading/Resources:
- https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1236
- https://coloradohardmoney.com/13k-jobs-lost-colorado-population-declines-business-leaders-ring-alarm-bells/
- https://coloradohardmoney.com/one-co-town-proposes-to-tax-employers-for-hiring-workers/
- https://coloradohardmoney.com/denver-surpasses-tampa-with-fastest-falling-prices-is-the-sky-falling/
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Glen Weinberg personally writes these weekly real estate blogs based on his real estate experience as a lender and property owner. He is the owner of Fairview Commercial Lending. Glen has been published as an expert in hard money lending, real estate valuation, financing, and various other real estate topics in Bloomberg, Businessweek ,the Colorado Real Estate Journal, National Association of Realtors Magazine, The Real Deal real estate news, the CO Biz Magazine, The Denver Post, The Scotsman mortgage broker guide, Mortgage Professional America and various other national publications.
Glen resides in Colorado, lends in Colorado, owns property in Colorado, and services loans in Colorado which provides a unique real estate prospective of what is actually happening on the ground both in Denver and throughout Colorado. My goal of this real estate blog is to provide an honest assessment of what I see happening in Colorado real estate and how it will impact real estate owners, buyers, realtors, mortgage professionals, etc…
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