After sponsor lambastes RFK Jr., Colorado bill aiming to increase vaccine access passes Senate The Colorado Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would expand the list of who can authorize and prescribe vaccines and, in the words of the sponsor, sidestep “the dysfunction coming out of Washington , D.C.” Senate Bill 32 would allow pharmacists to prescribe vaccines independently. It would also authorize the state Board of Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to use immunization guidance from medical professional organizations other than a federal advisory committee that been the focus of controversy. Sen. Kyle Mullica, a Thornton Democrat and emergency room nurse leading the bill, said the measure was explicitly in response to shifting federal policy on vaccines. “Science matters,” Mullica said. “Polio didn’t just disappear. Smallpox did not just disappear. But right now, in Washington, D.C., we have an HHS secretary who does not believe in that science … This bill is about insulating our state from that dysfunction.” Read more Red flag law expansion heads to Colorado House after Senate approves bill The Colorado Senate approved an expansion of Colorado’s red flag law on Tuesday, sending the proposal to the House for consideration. Senate Bill 4 would build off Colorado’s 2019 extreme risk protection orders law, which allows family members, law enforcement, health care professionals and educators to petition the courts to require people to surrender their firearms temporarily. A judge must find the person to be a risk to themselves or others. This bill would expand the list of qualified petitioners to include behavioral health professionals who are co-responders with police or other authorities in emergencies, as well as health care and educational institutions. “Extreme risk protection orders save lives. Red flag laws prevent harm,” Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who supported the bill, said. “These policies, and this bill that we are debating here today, address the public health crisis that is gun violence.” Read more Amid national backlash, Colorado lawmakers pledge more oversight, accountability for ICE agents Days after hundreds of Coloradans held an anti-ICE protest at the state Capitol, lawmakers publicly unveiled a package of legislation Monday intended to better regulate federal immigration authorities, including by emphasizing local police’s ability to arrest agents who commit crimes. “Today, in this very building, we, as legislators, are joining you with solutions that can help protect Coloradans, strengthen our constitutional rights and hold firm against the unlawful attacks by an unlawful agency called ICE,” Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat, said during a rally outside the Capitol on Monday. The bills have been shaped by the first year of President Donald Trump’s effort to mass-deport immigrants without legal status, and they come this month amid a national backlash to Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Minneapolis, where two people have been shot and killed by federal agents. Read more And some bonus election coverage for you this week: Third-party spending will shape Colorado’s Democratic primary for governor. Here’s who’s fueling it. Over the next 10 months, Colorado voters can expect to see millions of dollars’ worth of ads fill airwaves and mailboxes as supporters of candidates and causes — some disclosed, others anonymous — seek to push their point of view. Much of that won’t be directed by the campaigns, either. More than $4 million has been raised by outside committees already in the Democratic primary for governor between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser, offering a preview of what’s to come. Read more One Democratic challenger raised more than 10 times as much as Rep. Lauren Boebert last quarter With less than five months to go until Colorado’s June 30 primary election, the money game came into sharper focus across the state’s congressional races and U.S. Senate contest with last weekend’s campaign finance reporting deadline. Colorado features one of the closest congressional races in the nation — the 8th Congressional District, which covers a stretch of suburbs and farmland north of Denver. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper has attracted a few intraparty challengers to his reelection bid, though he handily outraised them in the final quarter of 2025. In Colorado’s ruby red 4th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert trailed badly in the fundraising game in the last quarter of last year, though the Democrats trying to send her packing have a tough road ahead given the district’s political makeup. Read more Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot. ...read more read less