State budget crisis could break union contract

Plus: King Soopers strike’s impact on Girl Scout cookie sales, bill would force insurers to lower premiums after mitigation work and more

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Feb 12, 2025 - 09:04
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State budget crisis could break union contract
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Good morning, Colorado.

If one thing is for certain, it’s that it’s cold today. Wherever you are, I hope you’re bundling up.

Now, let’s get to the news, ideally while you have a warm beverage on hand.

P.S.❤️ Roses are red, violets are blue. What does Colorado mean to you? Send a valentine to our state by telling us what you love about Colorado. We’ll share some of our favorite reader responses. TELL US

BREAKING NEWS ☀️ Oil and gas advocate from Colorado named to lead Bureau of Land Management. Kathleen Sgamma, a Denver resident, has been the head of the Western Energy Alliance since 2006, working to protect the interests of oil and gas producers amid an international embrace of cleaner energies.

Skip Miller, then-president of Colorado WINS, the state employees union, speaks at a news conference at the Colorado Capitol on Jan. 10, 2019, announcing legislation that would allow state employees to collectively bargain. (Moe Clark, The Colorado Sun)

⬆︎2.5%

Across-the-board raises owed to state workers next budget year

$60 million

Amount those raises would cost the general fund

$1 billion

Estimated budget shortfall lawmakers are working to close

“Literally everything is on the table,” Joint Budget Committee Chair Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, told The Colorado Sun about the state’s budget shortfall. And as Brian Eason reports, to close that gap the JBC could consider not approving the raises agreed to during last year’s contract negotiations and send the union and the governor back to the bargaining table.

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Girl Scout Troop 66493 cheers for cookie customers at Peak Kia in Littleton. The troop was originally set to have a booth at a King Soopers, but a union workers strike forced them to relocate. (Girl Scouts of Colorado photo)

Colorado’s Girl Scout troops along the Front Range are getting an early experience with labor negotiations as King Soopers canceled cookie-selling booths in front of stores being picketed by striking workers. Tracy Ross reports on how troops are adjusting sales tactics as negotiations continue.

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A Boulder Rural Fire Department firefighter approaches a burning home in Louisville on Dec. 30, 2021. (Jeremy Sparig, Special to The Colorado Sun)

⬆︎57.9%

Average increase in property insurance premiums in Colorado between 2018 and 2023

House Bill 1182 is the legislature’s first crack at helping homeowners with the increasingly expensive cost of property insurance, requiring insurance companies to not only tell homeowners of ways they could reduce wildfire risk, but directly lower premiums when that mitigation is complete. Jesse Paul reports.

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Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from bookstores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Explore Booksellers in Aspen recommends:

Read what the bookstore staff had to say about each. Pick up a copy and support your local bookstores at the same time.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Stay warm.

— Danika & the whole staff of The Sun

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Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.

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