In January 2025, at the start of the 75th General Assembly, the Senate Republicans unveiled a suite of bills that, if passed, would have given the average Colorado family over $4,500 in annual savings.

The Colorado Senate Republicans, together, took to the West Foyer of the Capitol building and unveiled a striking visual: a tower of 4,500 one-dollar bills, representing the average amount a Colorado family could save every year if our legislative package was adopted.

It was a simple, powerful message: We were there to fight for Colorado families, to ease their financial burden and return more of their hard-earned money back to their own pockets.

Unfortunately, the majority party chose a different path. Rather than standing with us to prioritize the financial wellbeing of the people of this state, they chose to kill our bills, one by one, and prioritize their own political agenda.

The first bill we offered, SB131, would have brought down housing costs by making critically overdue changes to our state’s construction-defects laws, and by cutting crushing regulation that has discouraged new housing construction. It died in committee on a party-line vote.

SB139 would have saved as much as $1,200 in annual savings on grocery and utility-bill costs. It would have cut several costly fees, such as Colorado’s delivery fee, garbage-disposal fee, shopping-bag fee, and electric and gas energy fees. It died in committee on a party-line vote.

Colorado could have expected to save $450 per year on transportation had the majority party not killed SB117. It would have eliminated fees Coloradans pay on fuel, passenger ride-share services, vehicle rentals and tires. It would have lowered the price of gasoline by as much as 20 percent per gallon by using existing funds to create a reformulated gasoline-rebate program. It died in committee on a party-line vote.

My bill, SB156, would have drastically slashed excessive regulations that are crushing Colorado’s economic prosperity. It would have repealed regulations created in SB22-193, SB20-204, and SB20-218, plus HB22-1362 and HB21-1198. And, while all but two testified in support of my bill, it died in committee on a party-line vote.

Our side of the aisle led efforts to reduce taxes for Coloradans and ensure the tax dollars that were being collected were being used efficiently. SB138 would have helped give Coloradans vital relief by reducing their income taxes beginning this year. It died in committee on a party-line vote.

SB136 would have helped our state’s seniors exempt Social Security and state retirement benefits from taxation. It died in committee on a party-line vote.

And SB135 would have created a government efficiency authority tasked with identifying inefficient government practices and making recommendations to the State Legislature to ensure the peoples’ tax dollars were being utilized as efficiently as possible. It died in committee on a party-line vote.

As previously mentioned we also fought to cut regulatory burdens that have stagnated our economy and destroyed our economic vitality. Two examples of this included SB141, which would have revitalized the development of housing in our state by removing the excessive energy codes that small rural communities have been forced to abide by. And SB137 would have equipped Colorado businesses to respond to some of the crushing energy regulations created by the state. Both died in committee on a party-line vote.

While it was disappointing to see the majority party reject the hardships of Coloradans by killing our bills, it was our efforts that did ultimately secure several important and meaningful victories for the people of Colorado – wins that will, in real and tangible ways, begin to ease the burden on Colorado families and businesses. We were sometimes successful in pushing back against some of the most radical proposals that would have been harmful, costly or overly burdensome to Colorado families.

Had we not succeeded in stopping HB1302, Coloradans could have seen an increase in housing costs.

The cost of healthcare, which has reached unprecedented heights in Colorado, would have continued to increase had we not stopped SB198.

And, of course, had we not stopped SB162 and SB285, Coloradans would have been hit with yet another majority-created fee.

House Bills 1119 and 1277 and SB318 would have only further buried Colorado’s economic vitality had we not succeeded in stopping them.

And, of course, thanks to overwhelming pressure from our caucus and Colorado families, House Joint Resolution 1023, which would have used taxpayer dollars to sue the taxpayers — was never introduced in the Senate.

We may not have won every fight this session, but our commitment remains unchanged. We will continue to stand up for the people of Colorado. And we will keep pushing for policies that put you first.

– Sen. Janice Rich, Republican, Colorado Senate District 7