Colorado Politics’ Marianne Goodland digs into the Fiscal Rockies series with a straight-up diagnosis: Colorado’s business climate is getting crushed by regulatory layering, and the tab lands on workers, families, and anyone trying to build or hire. The piece opens with a Colorado Business Roundtable word cloud where one term towers over the rest: regulations. That sets the tone for pages of data and first-hand accounts that explain why our economy feels slower and pricier than it should.
Goodland reports Colorado now ranks as the sixth most regulated state, with nearly 200,000 state rules on the books and about 45 percent categorized as duplicative or redundant. The chamber’s analysis links a 10 percent regulation increase to an estimated loss of 36,000 jobs and 9,000 firms, and pegs the drag on growth at 2 percent a year. Meanwhile, site selectors flag energy uncertainty and a PUC hostile to adding firm baseload as red flags for future investment.
On housing, fees and new codes are piling costs onto new construction. The Home Builders study cited here says roughly 10 percent of a home’s price is fees, with the wildfire resiliency code alone adding about $38,000 to $48,000 to a typical home. Labor mandates and programs like FAMLI stack more carrying costs on top. The restaurant industry calls it “death by a thousand cuts,” and Denver has lost hundreds of restaurants in recent years.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Sixth most regulated: nearly 200,000 state rules, with 45 percent duplicative, and a measurable hit to jobs, firms, and growth. That’s not a vibe. It’s math.
- Every 10 percent surge in regs correlates with 36,000 lost jobs and 9,000 shuttered firms statewide. That is a kitchen-table statistic.
- Site selectors are spooked by energy uncertainty and a PUC seen as allergic to adding baseload. Translation: fewer groundbreakings.
- Housing: about 10 percent of a home’s price is fees; wildfire code changes tack on $38,000 to $48,000 per house. Affordability doesn’t survive that.
- Restaurants: labor mandates and compliance time are crushing mid-priced, full-service spots. “Death by a thousand cuts” isn’t a metaphor. It’s a ledger.
My Bottom Line
Credit where it’s due: this series is outstanding and overdue. Finally, some honesty in Colorado media about what has happened since Governor Polis ascended to the throne. The regulatory state didn’t just grow; it metastasized. And the bill shows up as higher prices, slower projects, and employers kicking tires in Texas.
Normie translation: when rules multiply, paychecks shrink. You don’t fix affordability with mandates that make everything more expensive to build, power, and operate. You fix it by cutting friction and letting people work.
Weld County will keep modeling that approach. Clear rules. Fast answers. Respect for energy that actually runs in January. If the Capitol wants a turnaround, start with a regulatory freeze, mandatory sunsets, and a top-to-bottom permit audit. Undo the thousand cuts and Colorado will remember how to grow.
Source: Colorado Politics
