Lawmakers aim to expand NIL direct payments for athletes to CU, CSU and other Colorado schools Student-athletes at Colorado colleges and universities could soon be paid directly by their schools under a bill in the state legislature that would build on their ability to profit from their name, image and likeness. The proposal, House Bill 1041, reflects the seismic shifts running through college athletics since the NCAA’s authorization of name, image and likeness, or NIL, payments in 2021. That landmark decision, forced by a California law, allows college athletes to be paid after years of strict prohibitions on them profiting from their talents. But it also initially restricted the source of compensation to outside entities instead of schools themselves — until the landscape in the multi-billion dollar college sports industry shifted again with another landmark decision last year. Read more Arapahoe County Democrats select activist to fill Aurora legislative vacancy An Aurora activist who helps run an overdose prevention group was elected to the state House by a Democratic vacancy committee Wednesday night. Jamie Jackson beat two opponents to represent Aurora’s House District 41. She succeeds now-Sen. Iman Jodeh, who won a separate vacancy appointment to the state Senate in early January. Jackson will serve essentially a full term in the House and will be up for a full election in 2026. Read more Contentious labor bill in committee, marathon oversight hearings in the Colorado legislature this week Welcome to the third (and short) week of the 2025 Colorado legislative session. A handful of early bills are set to hit the House floor in the next few days as lawmakers settle in for more marathon oversight hearings and the first contentious committee hearing of the year. That hearing is for Senate Bill 5, which would eliminate a unique provision of Colorado law. It requires unions to pass a second election (after the first vote that formally creates the union) before workers can negotiate a key piece of their union contract with employers. The hearing is set for Tuesday at 2 p.m. in front of the Senate’s Business, Labor and Technology Committee in the Capitol. Read more Coalition of Colorado unions hopes to tackle climate change and spur higher-paying jobs at the same time Since elementary school, Aidan Boyd has learned about how climate change will reshape Colorado’s future — how aridification will dry streams and summers will become increasingly hot. Now 24, he hopes that training to be an electrician will help him be part of the solution to the environmental challenges that he believes are the most critical problems society faces. He also wants to continue his parents’ legacy of union membership. “I’d like to someday start a family and own a home, and I’d like to be able to do that with a career that can make a difference,” said Boyd, who is waitlisted to begin training as an electrician apprentice at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Joint Training Center in Denver. Read more Colorado lawmakers back bill targeting price gouging, especially in grocery stores Colorado grocery stores and other sellers of “necessity” goods would be prohibited from “unfairly or unconscionably” raising prices on their products under new legislation proposed by state lawmakers. The measure, House Bill 1010, is part of a push by lawmakers of both parties this year to address Colorado’s high cost of living. The bill would expand a state law prohibiting price gouging during disasters to more broadly bar the raising of prices on certain products by 10% or more in a 90-day period. Doing so could constitute a deceptive trade practice, and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office or local district attorneys could then investigate to determine the cause of the price hike. Read more In tribal address, Southern Ute leader calls on lawmakers to pass child sex abuse amendment The head of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe called on the Colorado legislature to support a state constitutional amendment aimed at rectifying decades-old cases of child sexual assault during tribal leaders’ annual address to lawmakers Thursday. That proposed amendment was defeated in a partisan vote last year, but Democratic lawmakers plan to bring it back for fresh consideration. Melvin J. Baker, the chair of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, called the crisis particularly important to the tribes. Indigenous children suffer sexual abuse at a rate three to four times higher than the general population, he said, and it has “plagued Indigenous youth for generations.” American Indian and Alaska Native children suffer the highest rate of abuse in the country, according to the National Children’s Alliance. Read more San Luis Valley dispute over billionaire’s fence sparks legislation clamping down on large projects State lawmakers are wading into a conflict over a massive fence between the billionaire owner of a historic ranch property and local communities in southern Colorado. Lawmakers last week introduced a bill that requires local government approval of large fencing projects on Sangre de Cristo land grant properties. The bill aims to halt further expansion of a controversial 8-foot-tall fence topped with barbed wire that the owner of Cielo Vista Ranch is building in the San Luis Valley. The construction of the fence — which locals estimate spans at least 20 miles of the ranch’s border — enraged some locals. They said it prevented wildlife movement, eroded the land and intimidated local residents, some of whom had legal access to the land grant. Read more Uber sues Colorado over new laws, saying pricing transparency for drivers violates its free speech rights Uber alleges in a new lawsuit that two Colorado laws aiming to improve transparency for delivery and ride-hailing app drivers will violate its right to free speech. Senate Bill 75, which was signed into law last year, mandates that ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft show their drivers how much a customer will be charged and detail how much will go to the driver, versus the company. House Bill 1129, also named in the lawsuit, prohibits delivery companies from decreasing the amount they pay a driver based on the consumer’s tip, and mandate companies pay drivers the entire tip amount. “The acts do not just compel speech, they compel Uber to shout the state’s message,” according to the lawsuit, filed Saturday by San Francisco-based Uber Technologies. Read more Related Articles Politics | Lawmakers aim to expand NIL direct payments for athletes to CU, CSU and other Colorado schools Politics | Arapahoe County Democrats select activist to fill Aurora legislative vacancy Politics | Contentious labor bill in committee, marathon oversight hearings in the Colorado legislature this week Politics | Coalition of Colorado unions hopes to tackle climate change and spur higher-paying jobs at the same time Politics | Colorado lawmakers back bill targeting price gouging, especially in grocery stores Colorado lawmaker sues Lyft over sexual assault by a driver, calling for more protections for riders A Colorado state lawmaker is suing the ride-hailing company Lyft and a local transportation outfit after she says she was sexually assaulted by her driver on a ride last year. Rep. Jenny Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, spoke about the new lawsuit during a news conference in the state Capitol on Tuesday. She said she was sexually assaulted in February by a man “using someone else’s profile” and who “wasn’t the driver presented to me by the Lyft app.” Her suit accuses Lyft of failing to ensure its drivers pass required background checks and don’t share profiles. It alleges that Lyft rolled back safety protections the company announced after media outlets reported several years ago on the extent of sexual assaults by drivers on rides arranged through the apps of Lyft and its main competitor, Uber. Read more Colorado lawmakers seek to allow takeovers of rundown housing in wake of Aurora apartment saga Colorado cities and counties would be able to wrest control of dilapidated apartment complexes from their owners temporarily under new legislation inspired by several notoriously troubled buildings in Aurora and Denver. Senate Bill 20 was introduced last week on the first day of the state legislature’s 2025 session. Backed by Aurora and Denver Democrats, the measure would allow local officials or the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to ask a judge to place apartment complexes with unfixed problems under the temporary authority of a court-appointed caretaker for at least six months. The caretaker would then use rental payments to fix problems at the property before turning it back over to the owner. Read more Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.