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Newsletter — Issue 10 — May 18, 2026
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This newsletter has been published by Engage Colorado.
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Thank You, Colorado Politicians, for Measures to Reduce Administrative Burdens (SB26-137)
This Engage Colorado Newsletter was written by Dan Caruso with the support of the Caruso Ventures team. The Ensuring Colorado's Innovation Future Coalition did not review and has not endorsed this Engage Colorado Newsletter.
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SB26-137 is a meaningful step in the right direction — and it deserves a thank-you before anything else.
On Thursday, Governor Polis signed Measures to Reduce Administrative Burdens into law. The bill requires every state agency to review its regulations at least once every five years, asking honest questions: Is this rule outdated? Duplicative? Is it cost-effective? Does the burden it imposes on Coloradans, businesses, and the agencies themselves still justify the public benefit it produces?
These are exactly the questions Coloradans across the political spectrum have been asking for years. SB26-137 makes asking them a recurring, structural part of how Colorado governs itself.
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A bipartisan moment worth celebrating.
The bill was sponsored by all four legislative leaders:
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House Speaker Julie McCluskie (D)
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Senate President James Coleman (D)
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House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell (R)
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Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson (R)
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It passed the two chambers by a combined margin of 90 to 8 — and the Senate passed it unanimously, 35-0.
In a session that produced its share of party-line votes, that level of agreement is rare — and it sends a signal: there is broad, durable consensus in Colorado that the quality of our regulatory system matters as much as the quantity of it, and that reviewing the rules we already have is a basic act of good government, not a partisan project.
To Speaker McCluskie, President Coleman, Leader Caldwell, Leader Simpson, the legislators who voted for it, and Governor Polis: thank you. This is the kind of work Coloradans of every political persuasion can be proud of.
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Now, the encouragement — to the people who can make this matter.
A law on the books is not yet a regulation reformed. SB26-137 is a tool. Whether it changes anything depends on who picks it up and uses it. Three groups now have that opportunity.
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State Agency Leaders and Rulemakers
Every principal department in state government now owes Coloradans an honest review of its rulebook every five years. We hope you will resist the temptation to treat the review as a paperwork exercise — to confirm that every existing rule is still justified, file the report, and move on. Honest reviews will identify rules that no longer earn their keep. The agencies that lead — that propose the elimination of outdated rules, that simplify duplicative ones, that streamline burdens on the people you regulate — will set the standard for the rest. We are rooting for you to lead.
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The Colorado General Assembly
This bill puts powerful tools in your hands: audits, sunset reviews, and follow-on legislation triggered by what the agency reviews surface. The bill is only as effective as your willingness to use those tools. We will be watching to see which committees take this seriously and which let the reports gather dust. The committees that engage will be the ones doing the real work of governing.
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Coloradans, Business Leaders, and the People Who Live Under These Rules
The reviews work best when the people affected participate in them — submitting comments, identifying duplicative rules, proposing specific eliminations. SB26-137 creates a recurring opening every five years for your voice to matter. Use it. Don't wait for someone else to make the case. If a rule is hurting your business, your nonprofit, your community, or your family without commensurate public benefit, the agency reviewing it needs to hear from you directly.
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A small step, taken in the right spirit.
SB26-137 will not, by itself, transform Colorado's regulatory environment. But every long course correction is built from steps like this one — bipartisan in sponsorship, broad in support, structural in design, and signed into law without delay.
The sponsors found common ground. The legislature voted overwhelmingly. The Governor signed promptly. And now agencies, legislators, and Coloradans themselves have a clock that resets — every five years — until the work is done.
That is real progress. We are grateful for it. And we are encouraged by it.
To everyone who now holds the responsibility to make SB26-137 matter in practice: the door is open. Walk through it.
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Engage Colorado Stands For
Engage Colorado makes the case for pragmatic, balanced, and competent leadership — leadership that puts the long-term prosperity and well-being of every Coloradan ahead of the divisive extremes of either national party. That is the editorial standard of this publication, and it is the standard by which every endorsement is made.
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