DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis offered an evenhanded approach to dealing with the coming administration of President-elect Donald Trump during his annual State of the State address Thursday, while criticizing parts of Trump’s deportation plans and outlining an agenda that includes more housing and transportation reform.

“My principle is always: I will work with everyone and anyone when it’s good for Colorado,” Polis said, “and I will oppose anyone and everyone when it hurts our people and hurts our state.”

Polis’ late-morning speech sought to focus his and the legislature’s attention on Colorado first. He repeatedly refered to the state as “the free state of Colorado” during his remarks.

As he began speaking, Polis asked for a moment of silence for former President Jimmy Carter, whose funeral was Thursday in Washington, D.C. All members of the legislature rose to their feet to honor him.

His address returned to familiar policy priorities: additional land-use and housing reform to incentivize more development, as a balm to the state’s housing shortage; boosts to public transit as a path to the state’s environmental goals; and a call for an examination of the state’s existing “laws and regulations” to weed out the unnecessary.

He previewed new housing reforms, including one to allow more development on land owned by religious organizations and another to allow for taller buildings with single stairwells to be built. (A similar bill died in the legislature last year after fire chiefs opposed it.) He called for another fix to the state’s construction defects laws — critics have argued that state laws have frustrated condominium construction — and continued his advocacy for factory-built homes.

Polis also acknowledged a coming legislative fight that his office is already embroiled in: Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday to reform a provision of Colorado’s labor law that doesn’t exist in any other state, requiring a second union election related to dues. A Polis spokesperson previously said the governor was “deeply skeptical” of the idea, which is backed by labor unions but opposed by business groups.

On Thursday, he reiterated his hesitation and his desire for a compromise.

He relaunched calls to reform the Regional Transportation District, which has weathered criticism for its governance and sagging ridership in metro Denver.

“My administration has sought to partner with RTD to support RTD with new funding from some of these new efforts,” he said. “But we also need to continue to push for better governance, for more budget transparency, for accountability, and, ultimately, a district that’s laser-focused on getting more people where they need to go.”

Lawmakers are expected to bring another RTD reform bill in the coming months, albeit without the proposed reforms to the district’s governing board that triggered intense pushback last year.

As he has in the past, Polis linked housing and transportation reform with achievement of environmental goals, broadly without hampering the oil and gas industry. And he referenced a deal reached last year between that industry and environmental advocates.

Two years left in office

The address was Polis’ penultimate annual speech to the legislature. He delivered it as a bleak state budget picture is set to dominate debates during the 2025 legislative session, which opened Wednesday.

The governor has typically used the speech to highlight successes and present his legislative agenda for the coming term. This year, it comes at something of a crossroads, both for Polis’ tenure and for the state’s future.

With two years left in his second term, Polis has succeeded in passing his suite of land-use reforms through the Capitol, his priority since his 2022 reelection. He highlighted recent efforts to improve public safety in the state and called for additional work — including by tightening penalties for firearm theft and by preventing youth crime — in the coming year.

He also hit on a familiar theme, both for him and legislative leaders: the cost of living. Polis backed more reforms to lower hospital costs, while seeming to side with hospitals in a coming legislative fight between the facilities and the pharmaceutical industry over a discounted drug program.

This year, the legislature faces a stark budget shortfall of roughly $700 million that, lawmakers have warned, will force uncomfortable cuts to core state services. Polis has submitted two budget proposals to lawmakers in recent months that seek to close the gap, proposals met with varying degrees of lukewarm response from key lawmakers.

Polis acknowledged those concerns Thursday.

“This is going to be hard,” he said, and told the audience to hug a member of the Joint Budget Committee, the group of legislators who draft the budget.

Sen. Robert Rodriguez then put a hand on the shoulders of two JBC members, Democratic Reps. Emily Sirota and Shannon Bird.

Polis also walked a tightrope on school funding. He said the state would not return to its history of balancing the budget on the back of an underfunded school system. But he also referenced a plan to change how schools calculate their enrollments and determine their funding — which would likely result in cuts for districts with drooping enrollment.

Posture toward Trump

Along with a dire budget situation, Polis’ final two years coincides with the second Trump administration. After the Democrat prominently backed Vice President Kamala Harris for president during the campaign, Polis has adopted a more openhanded posture toward the incoming Republican administration.

He’s spoken positively about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist whom Trump has nominated to be the top health administrator in the country. He’s also tried to banter with Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk, the leaders of an amorphous group charged with studying potential cuts to the federal budget.

In a nod to efforts by Trump allies to cut federal spending, Polis said Thursday that he wanted to make “government more efficient” — and floated eliminating the use of the penny as an example. He called on lawmakers to examine state law and regulations “to unleash small businesses and drive economic growth.”

He suggested that he didn’t want to pick fights with the Trump administration. But he called Colorado the “permanent” home to U.S. Space Command — whose headquarters location could be upended by Trump — and said he opposed Trump’s planned tariffs.

He also said the state doesn’t “support efforts to deport American citizens, target those on pending legal status (or) to break up families” — a reference to Trump’s desire to mass-deport undocumented immigrants.

“I truly hope that President-elect Trump and Congress can work together quickly to secure the border, stop human trafficking and stop the illegal flow of guns and drugs,” he said. “As a state, we welcome more federal help to detain and deport dangerous criminals. I also hope Congress finally provides legal pathways for ‘Dreamers’ and those who seek to come out of the shadows to help make Colorado greater.”

He said the state would support businesses reliant on immigrant labor, and he described a woman named “Sofia” — a pseudonym given to a Colorado nurse and undocumented immigrant who’s been in the state for 20 years. A seat was left empty for Sofia in the House’s gallery overlooking the chamber.

Polis’ posture stands in some contrast to members of the state’s overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. Lawmakers quickly formed working groups to prepare for Trump’s move to the White House, along with the regulatory and immigration shifts that he has promised.

That dynamic was again on display Thursday: Most Democratic lawmakers stayed seated during Polis’ comments about securing the border, while Republicans stood and applauded. But when Polis described Sofia, Republicans stayed seated while Democrats stood to clap and cheer.

They stood again during Polis’ closing lines, when he declared that, “in the free state of Colorado, diversity is a strength, not a threat.”

_____

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.