News and Insights

A Knot of Benefits In part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in part due to a political push to provide enhanced minimum benefits for workers, the federal government, the Colorado legislature, and, most recently, Colorado voters have approved multiple leave benefit laws that apply to the majority of Colorado employees. While the many different […]

UPDATE: On June 1, 2020, Governor Polis issued an updated Executive Order, linked here, that extended the Safer-at-Home phase of the states COVID-19 pandemic response for thirty (30) days. That Order now only recommends rather than directs employers to accommodate employees with childcare needs or that live with a Vulnerable Individual. That Order also encourages Coloradans […]

Article IV, Section 2 of the Colorado Constitution states that “The supreme executive power of the state shall be vested in the governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Perhaps no other time in recent memory has this authority been wielded more rapidly, widely, and with such impact to members of […]

May 15, 2020Highlights from Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act)By Brian L. Allard, Associate On May 12, 2020, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, introduced a $3 trillion bill, titled the HEROES Act, to provide further assistance to individuals, state and local governments, and public and private businesses impacted by […]

April 17, 2020 Grant Funds Available to Local Governments and Nonprofits by Adele L. Reester, Shareholder School and special districts throughout Colorado continue to make adjustments in conducting business operations and educating students during the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, expending funds in response to the numerous public health orders and school closures.  Following the federal and state emergency […]

Record Retention

School and special districts, along with other governmental entities, are governed by many federal and state laws, including Colorado’s state laws related to public records and their record retention periods.  Section 24-80-101, C.R.S. and following, provide the statutory framework for the legal requirements for school boards of education and special district boards of directors to […]

What is the Gallagher Amendment?

In 1982, Colorado voters passed the Gallagher Amendment to the Colorado Constitution.  The Amendment got its name from Dennis Gallagher, the state legislator that proposed the action.  The primary concern of the Gallagher Amendment was to set a specific policy for determining actual value and assessed value of property in relation to the collection of […]

Election Spending and Local Government

Many local governments have determined within the past few weeks to send a ballot issue or question to their voters in the November 2016 election.  This act of setting the ballot language for the issue or question triggers the application of the Colorado Fair Campaign Practices Act (“FCPA”) (§ 1-45-117, C.R.S.)  For the local governments, […]

On February 18th, Governor Hickenlooper signed into law the much anticipated Local Government Election Code, legislatively known as HB-1164.  HB-1164 was crafted to resolve several inconsistencies between special district election requirements and the new election provisions created by the passage of HB-1303 last year.  HB-1164, codified at Section 1-13.5-101 et seq., C.R.S., applies to any […]