When Colorado’s 2025 legislative session begins on January 8, lawmakers will have 120 days to get their bills across the finish line. Democrats no longer have a supermajority but continue to hold the majority in both the state House and the Senate.
State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco (D-Glenwood Springs) will serve as the vice chair of the House Energy and Environment Committee for the 2025 session. She says in light of record-breaking temperatures across Colorado this summer, protections for people who work outside are top of mind.
“The people that die on the job continue to be our working families that are working outside,” she said. “So we just want to make sure that everyone can go to work and come back home safe, and that is environmental justice.”
She says the state-level protections are shaped by federal OSHA guidelines approved this summer, though some advocates worry that a second Trump administration could overturn the new rule.
Natural disasters will be another key topic for lawmakers. Colorado had a busy wildfire season this summer, with several big fires impacting the Front Range and smaller fires on the Western Slope. Velasco chaired the interim Wildfire Matters Committee. She says lawmakers want to make sure local fire protection districts are fully funded, especially with changes to the property tax structure.
“We know that the cost of emergency response continues to increase, and the size and severeness of incidents continues to increase,” she said. “And our fire districts need the funding and the support to continue to keep our community safe.”
Velasco says lawmakers are also working with the state’s public utilities commission on issues surrounding power outages during natural disasters, wildfire resilience, and carbon-free sources of energy.
Another topic for lawmakers will be support for economic diversification for communities that rely on extractive activities, like oil, gas, and especially coal. Colorado has pledged to cease coal production by 2030, and big utilities like Xcel Energy have agreed to plans to help meet that goal. Velasco says the Polis Administration’s roadmap to 100% renewable energy by 2040 would likely shape this session’s priorities.
