Colorado legislative session kicks off with affordability bills, resolution changing governor's title from "His Excellency"

State lawmakers reconvened for the 2026 legislative session with both chambers and both parties focused on cost of living.

"I think affordability is top of mind for all of us right now," said state Rep. Yara Zokaie.

Zokaie is sponsoring a bill that cracks down on price gouging by -- among other things -- capping the price of products where you have no other option.

"Think about your $20 beer at a Nuggets game," she said.

State Rep. Javier Mabrey is going after companies who engage in surveillance pricing. His bill would prevent companies from using your online searches to charge you more.

"You might Google an obituary and then an airline can see that you are trying to buy your plane ticket to go to a funeral and then so you might be willing to spend more on that ticket," he said.

Home affordability is the subject of several bills, including one by state Sen. Jeff Bridges that would use interest from an education fund in the Colorado Treasurer's Office to build housing for teachers.

"There's so many teachers who can't afford to live in the districts where they teach," he said.

First responders face the same issue. A bill by state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer would give them access to low income loans.

Kirkmeyer is also bringing a bill to remove the state tax on overtime pay.

"We're looking at how do we cut taxes, not increase taxes," she said.

State Sen. Ty Winter wants a 48 hour tax holiday for some back-to-school purchases.

"Parents will be able to, for 48 hours, go to stores and be able to buy their kids' school clothes with no state tax," Winter said.

Not only kids, but adults would have access to free therapy under a bill by state Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet. She says it would be funded with a fee of 25 cents a month on internet service.

"Six free sessions, you get to pick your own therapist, English and Spanish," she said.

Energy is also a top issue this session and a bill by state Sen. Cathy Kipp would require utilities to provide a certain amount of electricity at cost to certain Coloradans.

"We give them basically a government-granted monopoly. And this is just one of those things we feel they should do in exchange for that monopoly," she said.

State Rep. Matt Soper is bringing a different utilities-related bill to address notice of planned power outages.

"Ways to warn consumers and make sure there are battery backups on key medical devices," he said.

The bill comes after a woman in Delta, which is in Soper's district, died when she lost power to her oxygen tank.

In addition to bills aimed at saving Coloradans money, there will be more 50 criminal justice bills aimed at making the state safer. They include measures to increase penalties for vehicular homicide and human trafficking, and a bill by Senate Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell that would address a shortage of treatment facilities for defendants who are found incompetent to stand trial because of an intellectual disability.

"If we don't have somewhere to put them, they get released back on the street," he said.

Among the controversial bills this session are measures regarding union fees, artificial intelligence regulation and a bill to tax pot based on its potency.

The session got off to a bipartisan start in the House, where a resolution eliminating the title "His Excellency" when referring to the governor passed almost unanimously. In the State of the State speech on Thursday, Gov. Jared Polis will instead be introduced as "the Honorable" Gov. Jared Polis.