Legislative Kick Off

Colorado lawmakers are returning to the State Capitol today, beginning the four-month legislative session. Every year, the General Assembly addresses many policies affecting the business community which have the potential to impact both Republicans and Democrats. As a bipartisan communications firm, it is our job to help businesses keep their stakeholders engaged and bring different viewpoints to the conversation around the issues that shape Colorado’s business climate.

Colorado lawmakers are expecting the 2022 session to be a very busy year. At the Business Legislative Preview hosted by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Democrats Senate Majority Leader Stephen Fenberg and Speaker of the House Alec Garnett represented Democrats, while Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert and House Minority Leader Hugh McKean spoke on behalf of Republicans. Although they all mentioned focusing on very similar housing and health care affordability issues this year, both parties have vastly different solutions proposed.

The 2022 session will be the third year affected by the pandemic, and, this year, the state has about $3.6 billion in federal COVID relief to spend. Lawmakers are hoping to put the money towards a complete transformation of government services. At the legislative preview, the issues discussed included greater access and affordability of education, housing, health care and behavioral health issues. Other concerns include energy and wildfire mitigation following the destruction from the Marshall Fire in Boulder County and surrounding areas.

While we let the lobbyists do their job inside the Capitol, our team works hard to fight in the court of public opinion by reaching critical audiences and combining media relations with legislative communications to share your message with businesses and the Denver community.

Whichever bills and legislation are affecting you and your organization, we are ready to help control the narrative and advocate for issues that matter to businesses. We do this by creating strategic social media communications, sponsoring posts to inform stakeholders and get information out to the public. Additionally, we work with our clients to understand context surrounding the issue, and ballot language that impact the organization. We have experience fighting on issues such as early childhood education, transportation, school choice, rent control, property taxes and more.

The Novitas team is excited to kick off legislative session this week, and work to advocate for clients to ensure that their message is being heard and help pass bills (or prevent bills from passing). We want Colorado to thrive as a great place to live and work and help contribute to a strong economy and business landscape.