Colorado needs an economic turnaround | OPINION

Colorado’s current economic trajectory is unsustainable, and the early signs in this new year are that policymakers are determined to continue to walk down the same failed path. That’s why business leaders have launched a new coalition of job creators that will unapologetically work to resurrect a vibrant economy that creates opportunity for all.

It was not many years ago when Colorado Democrats and Republicans often found common economic ground, working together to ensure our state was a magnet for entrepreneurs and job creation. This hard-fought partnership included efforts to increase protections for the environment and the workforce, while keeping red tape and the cost of doing business in check. 

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The days of reasonable, balanced and effective laws and regulations have been replaced with an ideologically driven agenda that rejects common sense economics and business regulations rooted in the real world. The result has been a barrage of policies that needlessly increase the cost of doing business, stifle innovation, dampen ingenuity and actively discourage the creation and retention of quality jobs. Too often, Colorado businesses have been the target of false, damaging narratives spun by extremists aiming to derail entire industries. 

The results from this war on jobs and job creators are clear — and stark. 

According to the non-partisan Common Sense Institute, since 2018, Colorado businesses have seen costs rise by more than $2 billion annually in taxes and fees linked to just seven pieces of legislation related to labor and employment and the environment. According to an August 2023 report in Forbes, Colorado ranked as the 11th most expensive state to live in the nation, just behind Oregon and Connecticut.

Since 2018, when our state’s economy was among the top-10 in the nation, Colorado’s status has steadily declined. 

For example, Colorado ranks:

• 32nd in 2023 for best economy (CNBC)
• 38th in the cost of doing business (CNBC)
• 48th in opportunity for its residents (U.S. News & World Report)  

The message from these and other statistics is that other states are surpassing Colorado as hubs for job growth and business formation.

If there were ever a time for a policy U-turn, 2024 is it. 

That’s why we have launched the Colorado Strong Business Alliance (CoSBA), a consortium of business leaders committed to restoring Colorado’s status as one of America’s most vibrant, job-friendly state economies. 

CoSBA will be an aggressive and assertive voice for what works, and a dogged, principled opponent of what does not. In this legislative session and beyond we will propose and endorse policies that promote economic growth, provide opportunity for workers and families and attract high-quality jobs to Colorado.   We will also eagerly call out bad ideas, false narratives and frivolous anti-business actions. 

This year, we will pay special attention to ongoing efforts to damage entire industries, including agriculture, energy and manufacturing through measures that often lack sound scientific bases. In some instances, the technology does not yet exist to achieve the results legislators and regulators have prescribed. This is policy by sound bite and social media post, not reality-based legislating, and it must be stopped. 

When necessary, CoSBA will turn to the courts to reverse overreaching, frivolous and illegal legislation, and regulation. 

But a new course for Colorado includes proactive, positive policies as well.

For example, Colorado workers need legislation that incentivizes businesses to create programs addressing workforce shortages through training, innovation and free-market approaches. Let’s encourage private-sector initiatives that are more efficient, effective and cheaper than those run by government. 

Smart moves in 2024 would also include common-sense policies that encourage and support innovation, focusing on the hundreds of Colorado small science, technology and manufacturing companies that are the backbone of the state’s economy. Reforms to permitting programs would help restore balance between protecting quality energy jobs and strong, science-based environmental protections.

Putting Colorado back on the right track, and restoring our rightful place as a welcoming, supportive home for job creators requires a recognition that the state’s current policy prescriptions are failing workers, families, communities and our future. At the Colorado Strong Business Alliance, we believe this is a fight worth waging — and winning.

Kristi Pollard is the executive director of the Colorado Strong Business Alliance (CoSBA), a project of Advance Colorado.