Source: Steamboat Pilot & Today
As Colorado lawmakers prepare to convene in January for the upcoming legislative session, Routt County commissioners sat down Monday with Rep. Meghan Lukens and Sen. Dylan Roberts for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on budget shortfalls, rural health care, education funding and transportation safety.
The meeting, held during the commissioners’ weekly work session, served as both a legislative preview and a chance for officials to compare notes on challenges facing Northwest Colorado as the state braces for another austere budget year.
Roberts — who, along with Lukens, represents Routt and Moffat counties — said the legislature will again enter the session facing heavy cuts. After trimming roughly $1.2 billion from the state budget last year, lawmakers are now expecting to cut another $700-$800 million to comply with Colorado’s balanced-budget mandate.
“Medicaid, education and transportation — those are the big three areas that are mostly on the table for cuts,” said Roberts. “There is pretty bipartisan agreement to … hold the line on K-12 education and not make cuts in that space, but that does direct us toward likely cuts within Medicaid, probably continued cuts within (the Colorado Department of Transportation) and then other various departments throughout state government.”
Lukens called the budget “the dark cloud over everything that we’re doing.”
“One of the directives that we’re getting is that any bill that we bring needs to cost zero dollars,” she said, noting the School Finance Act as an exception. “So that certainly is a limitation as far as legislation that we can pass.”
Rural healthcare concerns
Both Roberts and Commissioner Tim Redmond voiced concern about the financial fragility of rural hospitals in Northwest Colorado. Redmond described a troubling trend of “babies being born on the side of the road outside Hayden” as maternity care units disappear throughout the state.
Roberts acknowledged that closures, including Memorial Regional Hospital’s maternity ward in Craig in 2020, have become increasingly common.
He warned that the impending expiration of federal Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, intertwined with Medicaid eligibility cuts tied to federal legislation dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” could push a significant number of Coloradans off insurance rolls over the next two years.
“Whether you get your insurance from your employer or elsewhere, it’s going to impact everybody’s prices,” said Roberts, “because the amount of uninsured folks in Colorado — particularly in western Colorado communities — are going to increase, which increases uncompensated care at health care facilities and hospitals, which will then increase the cost of care for everyone else.”
“With the expiration of these tax credits, we’re going to see a family of four in Routt County … go from maybe $400-$600 a month, to $2,500-$3,500 a month to get insurance for their family of four,” he continued. “What that means in practicality is that a lot of people just aren’t going to get insurance this upcoming year.”
Colorado’s Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise, a state fund meant to offset rising costs, received a $120 million boost during the special session in August, but Roberts said that money covers only about 20% of the families losing federal aid and is only a “one-year solution.”
Roberts said he expects a bill in the nearing session to create a long-term solution to fund the affordability enterprise.
He also noted an initiative created under the “Big Beautiful Bill” called the Rural Health Transformation Program, which allocates $50 billion to rural hospitals and clinics across the nation.
Roberts, however, expressed unease — which he said was shared by MRH CEO Jennifer Riley — about the state’s ability to draw its fair share of those funds, fearing the federal administration may steer money toward states that supported President Trump in the 2024 election and away from those, like Colorado, that did not.
Housing, road safety and the Public Utilities Commission
Roberts noted an upcoming bill, requested by Summit County commissioners, that would allow counties to use ad valorem tax revenue for affordable housing projects.
He also outlined two road safety measures with clear local relevance. One would create a “super-speeder” law stiffening penalties for repeat speeding and illegal passing on double-yellow lines — a major safety concern on U.S. Highway 40.
“If you get a certain number of speeding violations within a short amount of time, then the penalties would increase,” explained Roberts. “Then we’re going to direct the increased fine amounts of those penalties into either a road safety fund or a fund for EMS professionals that have to respond to these crashes.”
The second would boost funding for wildlife crossings by adding $5 to the popular Keep Colorado Wild state parks pass, offered to residents when they register their vehicle, building on an earlier proposal that fell short in the Senate last year.
“It obviously saves animal lives, but it also saves human lives and helps people save money by not crashing their cars and having to get them repaired, and it brings down everybody’s insurance costs,” he said.
Commissioner Sonja Macys, who has long championed wildlife corridors, said Routt County has already worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and CDOT to identify data-backed crossing points.
As chair of the Colorado Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, Roberts said he’ll continue focusing on water issues and the ongoing Colorado River negotiations. He isn’t expecting sweeping policy changes this session but wants to maintain funding for local water projects through severance tax and sports betting revenue.
He also flagged another key debate on the horizon — the state’s “sunset” review of the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates energy transition policies. Roberts acknowledged that “some of the decisions of the PUC are presenting challenges for our community” and said the process provides a chance to push for reforms benefiting coal transition communities like Hayden and Craig.
Education and workforce priorities
Lukens, who chairs the House Education Committee, told commissioners she will carry the 2025 School Finance Act and again work to preserve K–12 funding, even as the state grapples with limited resources.
Lukens, an educator herself, said her top priority remains supporting rural schools. One proposal this year will order a study on whether active educators — not just retirees — could join the PERACare health benefits program, an idea sparked by South Routt Superintendent Kirk Henwood.
Other education-focused efforts include expanding work-based learning opportunities through partnerships between state agencies and higher education institutions, and tightening background check procedures for school employees through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Beyond education, Lukens said she’s working on legislation to designate emergency medical services as an essential service — a move without direct funding but meant to lay groundwork for future state investment.
Macys also updated lawmakers on Routt County’s “celebrations,” including voters’ passing of both the lodging tax and the Yampa Valley Regional Transportation Authority, the county’s debt-free status and County Manager Jay Harrington’s recent recognition as County Manager of the Year.
Near the end of the meeting, Commissioner Angelica Salinas asked about immigration enforcement, noting increased ICE activity in rural mountain towns.
Lukens said she had heard of a forthcoming bill that would ban ICE agents from wearing masks and reminded commissioners of last year’s Senate Bill 25-276, which restricts local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration operations.
“A lot of this is from the federal government, so there’s only so much we can do,” admitted Lukens. “But unfortunately, it’s a very difficult situation.”
The commissioners and the two legislators agreed to stay in contact in the coming months as the legislative session unfolds.
