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Colorado Democrats delivered results to reduce property taxes, support hardworking families and prevent evictions. With urgent property tax cuts, more rental assistance, and tax relief for working families, Colorado Democrats delivered results during the 2023 Extraordinary Session of the 74th General Assembly to make Colorado more affordable for all. DOWNLOAD IN ENGLISH & ESPAÑOL

House Democrats responded to the most pressing needs of our state, check out our detailed End of Session Reports. Legislative Achievements '25 2025 Legislative Session READ MORE '24 2024 Special Session READ MORE '24 2024 Legislative Session READ MORE '23 2023 Special Session READ MORE '23 2023 Legislative Achievements READ MORE '22 2022 Legislative Achievements READ MORE '21 2021 Legislative Achievements READ MORE '20 2020 Legislative Achievements READ MORE '19 2019 Legislative Achievements

This Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when you use the service and tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. Privacy Policy for Colorado House Democrats Privacy Policy Last updated: July 13, 2022 This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You. We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy has been created with the help of the Privacy Policy Generator . Interpretation and Definitions Interpretation The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. 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< Back Meghan Lukens Chair of the Education Committee Representative Meghan Lukens serves as the Chair for the Education Committee and a member of the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee. Rep. Lukens represents House District 26, which spans Northwest Colorado and includes Routt, Eagle, Moffat, and Rio Blanco counties. A former high school teacher, Rep. Lukens’ legislative efforts have been geared toward education funding, boosting teacher pay, supporting rural school districts and preparing our K-12 learners for a lifetime of success. In addition to her education legislation, Rep. Lukens also championed laws to preserve Colorado’s wildlife, waterways and natural areas for generations to come.

Learn more about the Colorado Comeback Guide and contact the Colorado House Democrats. RESOURCES Powering The Comeback Resource Guide Contact the House Dems

Join our team! Being a legislative Aide at the Capitol puts you in the middle of the state’s most exciting political action. Our 46 House Democrats turned many popular proposals into law. Legislative Aide House Majority Office Colorado House of Representatives Description: Being a Legislative Aide at the Capitol puts you in the middle of the state’s most exciting political action. Our 46 House Democrats turned many popular proposals into law: lowering the cost of health care, building a fair economy, addressing climate change, tackling the opioid crisis, reforming our criminal justice system, and helping hard-working Coloradans make ends meet, even during a pandemic. With a front row seat to action on a wide range of issues, a position as a legislative aide often opens the door for other exciting opportunities in politics, government, and public service. Legislative aides keep the essential day-to-day functions of a legislative office running smoothly. Primary responsibilities include managing the legislator’s calendar, scheduling meetings, responding to constituent emails and phone inquiries, maintaining databases of contacts, drafting and sending newsletters, supporting policy and constituent efforts with social media content, creating fact sheets, conducting research, organizing town halls and other events in the district, and preparing the legislator for bill hearings and meetin gs with constituents, stakeholders, and lobbyists. Aides are held to a high level of professional conduct, as they are expected to represent legislators at the Capitol, in their district, and in the broader community. Qualifications: Strong verbal and written communication skills Highly organized with ability to balance and track progress on multiple projects at once under tight deadlines; excellent time management and attention to detail Motivated self-starter who produces high quality work without daily supervision A high level of confidentiality and discretion High degree of self-awareness, humility, and openness to feedback Flexible and adaptable work style; ability to stay calm in a high stress environment Eagerness to develop leadership skills Commitment to progressive values and policies Preferred Qualifications: Copywriting and/or graphic design skills Experience with event planning and execution Experience and comfort using Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) Experience and comfort managing social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter) Knowledge of Colorado government a plus Compensation: $24.57 per hour. Possible to work a maximum of 40 hours/week during session, depending on the legislator and their needs. Benefits include a PERA retirement account membership and an EcoPass. Health, life, and dental benefits will be available for one Senior Legislative Aide in each office. Start dates depend on the needs of each individual caucus member and the time of year. Most legislative aides work full-time (40 hours/week) during the legislative session, which usually begins in early January and ends in early May. Many legislators request that their aides also work full-time in the weeks leading up to the session in December and the weeks immediately following the session in the second half of May. During the legislative interim (mid-May through December) there is often a need for part-time legislative aides; hours vary by legislator, but are typically around 32 hours/week. How to Apply: When applications are open you can apply using this form . Applications will be considered on a rolling basis as openings become available, and will be filled with qualified applicants along the way. Contact colegislativeaide@gmail.com with any questions regarding the application or hiring process. Colorado House Democrats are committed to hiring a diverse staff. We are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against any applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, membership in an employee organization, parental status, creed, ancestry, military service, or disability. We are committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive organization and strongly encourage candidates with diverse backgrounds and identities to apply.

< Back Majority Leader Esgar: Celebrate Pueblo Pride - but don’t forget the work yet to come Aug 25, 2022 See more The following op-ed was published in the Pueblo Star Journal. Happy Pueblo Pride! It’s time for another year of celebration for the LGBTQ community here in Pueblo. We take time every August to celebrate the achievements we’ve made as a community and to remember the work we still have ahead of us. As an integral part of Pueblo, the LGBTQ community’s presence has grown over the past two decades and our voices are louder than ever. We’ve worked hard to achieve all that we have, but we haven’t done it alone. I’m also so proud to say that Pueblo is home to many allies – allies who continue to show up year after year. In the early 2000s, I was working as a barista at Wireworks coffee house when a small but proud group of folks attended a modest gathering of solidarity and called it Pueblo Pride. Fast forward to this year, when the festival encompassed the majority of Mineral Palace Park with close to 100 vendors, a day full of entertainment, and thousands of folks attending. The event has grown every year thanks to the all-volunteer board of the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance, southern Colorado’s LGBTQ advocacy organization. I was proud to join the SCEA board shortly after coming out in the mid 2000s. It was a way to connect with our community and begin the work I have made the focus of my life. While serving on the board, we re-started the LGBTQ youth group OutFront and grew the Pride event. OutFront was necessary because at the time there were no gay-straight alliances in a Pueblo high school. OutFront continues to exist today and I’m incredibly proud of our youth in this town. Many GSAs have started in our local high schools since. Pueblo PULP was a monthly independent newspaper full of local articles written by an amazing group of people who cared about this town. I was humbled when I was asked to write a monthly column called Inside Out to be sure our LGBTQ voices could be heard. Through this medium, I was afforded the privilege to share my experiences from the LGBTQ community with anyone who wanted to read about them. The column helped folks understand that we are here, in many different parts of the community, and we deserve to be treated as equals. Before marriage equality was being debated at the state level or became the law of the land in the United States, in Pueblo I helped lead one of the first campaigns to help city employees achieve same-gender domestic partner benefits for health care coverage. A group of LGBTQ folks and our straight allies fought City Council and won this benefit for our city employees. We even managed to stop a petition designed to take away our victory. In 2013, when civil unions passed at the state level, our local county commissioners and county clerk helped the SCEA organize a mass ceremony for those seeking that right. Bo Ortiz was one of the first county clerks to offer marriage certificates to couples in Colorado before the Colorado Supreme Court cleared the way for full marriage equality in our state in 2014. Pueblo has a history of acceptance and allyship for our LGBTQ community, but we also have a strong history of pride and perseverance when it comes to the rights we’ve had to fight so hard for. When we take a moment to celebrate those wins at the annual Pride event, it’s well deserved, but we must also continue the work we’ve done as a queer community and the allies who love us. Our transgender family is attacked, even murdered, in this country and is fighting every day for the rights they deserve. And with the fall of Roe vs. Wade, we know, because Justice Clarence Thomas wrote so, that the Supreme Court is looking to end marriage equality next. We can’t afford to sit back and rest. Our allies will continue to be called on to help us keep the rights we all deserve. State Representative Daneya Esgar is the Majority Leader of the Colorado House of Representatives. She is wrapping up her fourth and final term serving Pueblo County as the Representative for House District 46. Born and raised in Pueblo, Esgar is the proud granddaughter of steelworkers, a product of Pueblo City Schools, and a graduate of Colorado State University Pueblo. She lives in Pueblo with her wife, Heather, daughter, Marlo, and their two dogs, Bella and Huck. Previous Next

< Back Naquetta Ricks Chair of Business Affairs & Labor Rep. Naquetta Ricks is the Colorado State Representative for House District 40 and the first Liberian-American to be elected to a US State Assembly. She is the co-founder and President of the African Chamber of Commerce of Colorado, USA and the founder of the African Economic Development Center (AEDC). In 1980, Representative Ricks fled a bloody military coup with her mother and sister and settled in Aurora, Colorado. She knew the value of education when she arrived in America and worked hard to achieve her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She also received her Masters in Business Administration from the University of Colorado Denver. She is a graduate of Leadership Denver and Leadership Aurora. Representative Ricks has been recognized by the Colorado Black Round Table, the historic National Council of Negro Women, and the Colorado Black Educators Association receiving various accolades including the "Salute Award." Representative Ricks is fighting for policies that expand the quality of life for Colorado residents by expanding apprenticeships, continued access to education, and affordable housing. Her goals are to grow businesses, make healthcare more equitable, and be a voice for the marginalized. She is also serves as the Chair for the Business Affairs & Labor Committee and a member of the State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee. When she is not doing legislative work, Representative Ricks is running her successful mortgage brokerage business.

< Back Jamie Jackson Jamie Jackson is a dedicated leader committed to equity, community empowerment, and effective governance. As COO of The Naloxone Project, she expands access to life-saving overdose prevention resources. With a background in nonprofit leadership and policy advocacy, Jamie previously served as COO of the Colorado Children's Campaign and has worked to advance social justice, healthcare equity, and community-driven solutions. She is Vice President of Colorado Black Women for Political Action (CBWPA) and chairs the Criminal Justice Committee for the Aurora NAACP. Jamie is committed to policies that uplift working families, protect vulnerable communities, and expand access to equitable healthcare. She brings a people-centered approach to governance, ensuring that House District 41 residents have a strong voice at the Capitol. Rep. Jackson serves on the Transportation, Housing & Local Government and Energy & Environment committees.

Initiative 144 and 145 will reduce pet care in Colorado < Back Rep. McCormick: As a veterinarian and a lawmaker, please don’t let big businesses undermine Colorado pet care Jun 12, 2024 See more This story was originally published in the Denver Post here . Initiative 144 and 145 will reduce pet care in Colorado Forty years ago I swore a lifelong oath when starting my career as a veterinarian. Part of that oath affirms that I will use my scientific knowledge and skill to benefit society through the protection of animal health and welfare. It is with that oath, and my lifetime of service to animals and people that I must now sound the alarm to all Coloradans. There are two ballot initiatives being circulated collecting signatures for the fall ballot. These initiatives are being driven by big corporate interests from outside of Colorado. They are Initiative 144 and 145 and are being misleadingly sold to voters as a way to “increase access to veterinary care.” The General Assembly worked very hard this spring in a bipartisan, collaborative way, to develop a robust approach to how best to utilize tele-technologies like video calls in veterinary care. That bill was signed into law by the governor earlier this year, and it passed the House of Representatives unanimously. It is widely supported by veterinarians, veterinary technicians, farmers and ranchers, shelters and humane societies and animal caretakers. The bill strengthens and clarifies that veterinary telemedicine should supplement and not replace in-person care. We absolutely should use telehealth more and this law will make sure it is done right to protect pets. Initiative 144 also has to do with Veterinary Telehealth, but is a danger to pets. 144 would dismantle that well-structured law the governor just signed and eliminate the need for a doctor to ever see your animal in person. The ballot question essentially eliminates the most important tools your veterinarian has to get to the bottom of what is going on — their hands, eyes, ears, and nose. 144 would not benefit people or their animals and would create real safety concerns. It would only help corporate entities focused on profits, allowing them to push medicine to animal owners via online platforms. Animals would be the ones suffering in this situation as they would not be getting accurate care. The second ballot initiative, 145, also funded by outside corporate interests, will allow creation of a new animal health position called a veterinary professional associate or VPA. TA VPA is not licensed to practice medicine, has not gone through an accredited veterinary education program, has not passed a national exam, will not have sufficient liability protections, would not be able to prescribe medicines due to federal law, and will be under-trained through primarily an online master’s program. These VPAs would then be allowed to actually practice veterinary medicine on your pets, including surgery, diagnose diseases, interpret lab test results and prescribe a treatment plan, all without a license. Corporate interests want VPAs to practice medicine without the consumer protection safeguards that exist for licensed veterinarians. If this sounds crazy to you then you can understand my grave concern for the animals of our state for whom we are responsible. Skilled veterinary technicians are already more qualified than this contemplated VPA. They have comprehensive training, take a national exam and are regulated by the state. We passed another strong bipartisan bill to elevate and extend the skills of veterinary technicians with House Bill 1047. There has been over $633,000 granted to Colorado State University by Petsmart Charities to develop a veterinary mid-level position master’s degree. This degree program is not looking to be accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) who is responsible for accreditation of every single College of Veterinary Medicine in the country, including CSU’s, and for every school that graduates Veterinary technicians. In order for this master’s degree to work for Petsmart, who partners with Mars,Inc./ Banfield vet clinics, would need ballot initiative 145 to get on the ballot and pass. There has been over $255,000 contributed toward the effort to get these Initiatives on the ballot by the Issue Committee called ‘All Pets Deserve Care’ registered with the Secretary of State. This entity received its largest single donation of $250,000 from Denver Dumb Friends League. The details into DDFL’s financials to know where the $250,000 came from is not publicly available. Mars, Inc. who owns Banfield and VCA veterinary hospitals across the nation have funded studies in the past that have fed a narrative that the U.S. needs to create a new veterinary position in order to keep up with the demand for veterinary care. These studies have been disputed by many reputable veterinary economists since. But the narrative has taken off and is fueling this push to create a new veterinary worker who in reality won’t be prepared to help animals. We need more veterinarians and more veterinary technicians. Let’s focus on solving that problem. Karen McCormick is a state representative for House District 11. Previous Next

< Back Manny Rutinel Representative Rutinel is an environmental attorney, entrepreneur, first-generation American, and the proud son of a single mother. He represents House District 32, which includes the great people of Commerce City, Welby, and other unincorporated areas of Adams County. Rep. Rutinel's priorities are environmental justice, affordability, and civil rights. Rep. Rutinel received his J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, he was an Attorney for Earthjustice, fighting to hold corporate polluters accountable. Before law school, Rep. Rutinel was an economist for the US Army Corps of Engineers, where he also served as a First Responder in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He holds an M.S. in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Florida.

Colorado Democrats worked hard to reduce property taxes and support hardworking families < Back Rep. Tisha Mauro: Delivering for Coloradans: A post special session debrief Dec 17, 2023 See more This op-ed was published in the Pueblo Chieftain on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. Rising property values have led to many Coloradans facing unaffordable property taxes, especially for those on fixed incomes and our most vulnerable communities. In Pueblo, residential home values have risen nearly 40% . During our four day special session in mid-November, Colorado Democrats delivered short-term, residential property tax relief while protecting funding for schools, fire districts and libraries and without using any of the state’s TABOR surplus that must be refunded to taxpayers. Overall, this new law provides more than $430 million in residential property tax relief. Specifically, we increased the property value exemption for multifamily and single family residential properties from $15,000 to $55,000 and decreased the residential assessment rate from 6.76% to 6.7% for the 2023 tax year. This means that you can now deduct $55,000 right off the top of your home’s value before the application of the newly lowered residential assessment rate and local mill levies. For a residential property worth $350,000 – slightly higher than the median home value in Pueblo – a homeowner will save $246 on their property taxes. This is in addition to $200 in cost savings from bipartisan legislation passed in the last two years to address rising property taxes ( SB22-238 and SB21-293 ) for a total of $446 of property tax savings for 2023 from legislation passed at the state capitol. While immediate property tax relief took center stage, we also championed legislation to develop more long-term, robust property tax solutions. The Commission on Property Tax will be composed of legislators, a property tax administrator and different local government and community leaders to map out long-term solutions to property taxes that have been rising since Coloradans voted to repeal the Gallagher Amendment in 2020. In addition to property tax relief, the legislature also ramped up support for hardworking families. After paying rent, groceries and gas, we know many Coloradans’ budgets are squeezed. As we continue to tackle our state’s affordability crisis, three more bills we passed during the special session will put more money back into the pockets of families who need it the most. SB23B-003 increases TABOR refunds for hardworking Coloradans by issuing refunds in equal amounts of $800 per single filer or $1,600 for joint filers for all tax filers. If we had not taken action, the wealthiest Coloradans would have gotten much larger refunds, and the rest of us would have gotten less. Under this new law, nearly 60% of Coloradans and everyone making under $100,000 will receive a larger refund. In Pueblo, nearly 90% of our residents will receive a larger TABOR refund, which taxpayers will see added to their state tax refund this spring., Colorado Democrats also doubled tax relief for low-income working families to 50% of the federal earned income tax credit, which will provide $185 million in targeted tax relief to low-and-moderate income Colorado families. Nearly half of Pueblo’s population could be eligible for this increased tax relief. To make sure vulnerable children don’t go without food this summer, we also ensured access to an additional $35 million in federal funds to expand the Electronic Benefits Transfer program, which helps families purchase groceries from SNAP retailers during summer months when child hunger is the most severe. Eligible Colorado families will receive $40 per child per month beginning in 2024. As evictions across our state rise, the need for emergency rental assistance is more dire than ever before. Emergency rental assistance works in two ways – it protects landlords from financial losses and prevents Coloradans from losing their homes. Coloradans facing eviction often have nowhere else to turn which leads to cycles of poverty, homelessness and myriad other life disruptions. During the special session, we stepped up to invest $30 million into emergency rental assistance, raising statewide assistance to $65 million this year. From Grand Junction to Denver and Pueblo and Fort Morgan, Coloradans statewide on the brink of eviction or late on their rent can take advantage of emergency financial assistance. We know this law will keep thousands of Coloradans housed in their communities and help many get back on their feet. Together, Colorado Democrats worked hard to champion thoughtful, impactful legislation that prioritizes our hardworking families while providing much needed property tax relief now. With the 2024 legislative session on the horizon, we are already gearing up, preparing legislation and working alongside community members to bring forward new ideas that will make Colorado a more affordable place for everyone to call home. Representative Tisha Mauro represents House District 46 which spans the majority of Pueblo County, including Avondale, Beulah, Colorado City and Rye. Previous Next