Politics & Government
Jared Polis Lays Out Policy Goals: Free Kindergarten A Priority
New governor focuses on education, health care and climate change in State of State speech. Here are 7 takeaways.
DENVER, CO – By Alex Burness for The Colorado Independent. Like the man himself, Jared Polis’s first-year agenda for Colorado is ambitious.
Fixes to a sputtering education system. Addressing climate change. Lowering health care costs. Reforming the tax code.
On Thursday on the floor of the Colorado House of Representatives, Polis outlined his goals in these and other areas during the State of the State speech — his first policy address since being sworn in Tuesday as the state’s 43rd governor.
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“The state of our state is solid. It is strong. It is successful. It is daring. And it is bold,” Polis said during his 55-minute address. “We overcame tough economic times to build one of the strongest state economies in American history.”
He added, “Despite all of our progress, far too many people are either barely getting by or falling behind,” and focused much of his speech on ways he thinks Colorado can close various gaps. The state must help workers and shareholders alike thrive, he said.
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Polis offered very little in the way of specific proposals to pay for his many big ideas, and Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert slammed the governor over pricetags in a statement after the speech.
“We note that Governor Polis, as a Member of Congress for the last decade, is coming from a place where a dollar isn’t a dollar and where balanced budgets haven’t existed for years,” Holbert said.
“We hope that Governor Polis will exercise restraint and will listen carefully to the concerns of the bipartisan Joint Budget Committee. The people of Colorado have given us a constitution that requires us to operate within the dollars they provide and no more.”
As a gubernatorial candidate, Polis adopted a more moderate tone than the one that defined his congressional tenure. While Republicans tried to paint him as an “extreme” liberal, he tacked to the middle consistently on issues ranging from oil and gas to reproductive rights.
But he’s not campaigning anymore, and, in many ways, it showed in his State of the State address, which won the plaudits of progressive legislators.
READ MORE at The Colorado Independent
Image: Gov. Jared Polis, who was sworn into office earlier this week, gave his first State of the State address today. (Photo by Alex Burness)
