The Colorado Senate worked through a large batch of supplemental appropriations, with the most contested debates centering on a DOC bed-capacity increase, a Medicaid provider rate cut paired with ballooning 'Cover All Coloradans' spending, cuts to higher education, and departmental mismanagement at CDPHE and HCPF. Multiple Republican amendments to redirect spending toward Medicaid provider rates, higher education, and CBI DNA testing were defeated on party-line voice votes.
+ 14 more actions
Senator Bridges argued approving the DOC supplemental (HB 26-1151) was necessary because the alternative was 100 inmates placed in a gym on sled beds, an unsafe situation for inmates and staff, and that jails cost more per day than prison beds. Senator Wallace countered that the DOC and Parole Board are 'failing to responsibly manage the population already in custody,' called it a 'budget mismanagement issue,' and urged a no vote. Senator Gonzalez stated it remained 'pretty opaque' why the prison population grows when crime is going down and noted that Colorado WINS, the union representing DOC staff and employees, came out in opposition to the supplemental request.
+ 4 more controversies
“The average cost to incarcerate somebody in the Department of corrections is $60,000 a year to build a new prison, if we were ever hypothetically to do that. Capital cost $350,000 to $600,000 per bed, depending on the custody level to which the facility is constructed. Level 5. More barbed wire, more concrete, you know, more double doors, more money. Unsurprisingly, $60,000 is approximately a teacher salary.”
+ 3 more quotes
Subscribe to see all key actions, controversies, quotes, and what's next.
Sign in to subscribeBright. Carson. Carson. Catlin. Cutter. Danielson. Doherty. Excuse. Exum. Excuse. Obie's right there. Frizzell. Gonzalez. Henriksen. Judah. Kip. Kirkmeyer. Kolker. Linstead. Liston. Marchman. Mullica. Pelton, B. Pelton. Rich. Roberts. Rodriguez. Simpson. Snyder. Sullivan. Wallace. Wallace. Weissman. Zamora. Wilson. Senate District 20. One vacant. Mr. President. Let's do this. The morning roll call is 33 present. Zero absent, one excused. One vacant. We have a quorum. Senator Danielson, will you please lead us in the Pledge of allegiance? Thank you, Mr. President. Please join me for the Pledge of. Of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. For all. Approval of the Journal. Senator Liston. What you got today, brother? All right, listen up, everybody. Listen up. There once was a Senate so keen, with a calendar tidy and clean, that they gave it the sign. Everything is fine now. The session can roll like a dream. Isn't that great? And with that, Mr. President, I move the Senate journal of February 18, 2026 be approved as corrected by me. I mean by the secretary. I feel like that's really going to get to them this time.…
Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and search across all Colorado committee hearings.
Sign in to subscribe