2026 Legislative Preview Puts Colorado’s Budget in the Spotlight

Back-to-back state budget deficits drive conversation during seventh annual community event 

The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) welcomed its largest crowd to date at the 2026 Legislative Preview on Jan. 12. Now in its seventh year, just under 200 alumni, faculty, staff, community members and leaders attended the annual event as legislators and lobbyists addressed key concerns and issues heading into the upcoming legislative session. 

For the second year in a row, the state’s budget challenges drove the conversation. Coming off a deficit that required $1.2 billion in cuts last year, Colorado is looking at a continuing shortfall for fiscal year 2026-27, currently projected at just under $850 million. 

After a welcome from UNC President Andy Feinstein, the event featured remarks from a panel of northern Colorado legislators, including Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, Sen. Scott Bright and Rep. Ryan Gonzalez. Industry and education lobbyists from Aims Community College, Chamber of Commerce, Greeley-Evans School District 6 and UNC also provided updates from their respective areas. 

Lawmakers were direct as they kicked off the panel discussion speaking to key issues — including what Bright described as “Colorado’s epidemic” of the lack of affordable childcare programs for low-income families, and Gonzalez’s concerns about the increasing taxes and regulations putting pressure on small businesses. 

Kirkmeyer, who also sits on the Joint Budget Committee and is running in the Republican primary for governor, spoke bluntly about Colorado’s budget and the fiscal impacts of what she described as the state’s spending problem and ongoing structural deficit. Noting the state is $400 million under their reserves and starting the 2026-27 fiscal year with a significant deficit, she indicated that while she didn’t expect cuts to basic K-12 funding — hospitals, counties and higher education were not safe. 

UNC lobbyist Kayla Tibbals said that while it’s encouraging the governor’s October budget proposed level funding for higher education, the amount reflects last year’s funding after the unexpected $12 million mid-year cut in September.  She also noted two additional cuts that, if implemented, will further impact UNC, as well as K-12 and medical education. 

The first is a proposal from the Department of Higher Education to cut $1.2 million from the Rural Teacher Recruitment and Retention Program. The cut would effectively defund the Center for Rural Education, which is housed at UNC, and its related programs, eliminating critical teacher recruitment and retention efforts in rural communities across the state. Tibbals said the proposal would remove resources for 146 rural school districts, 16 rural Board of Cooperative Educational Services and hundreds of school executives — and is in conflict with the state’s priorities for K-12 education, workforce development and affordable college access. 

The second is a proposal to eliminate about $20 million currently spent on medical education funding that goes toward hospital residency programs for medical students. Because the state currently gets a 66% federal match on those dollars, Tibbals said the proposal would equal a $44 million loss in matching federal funds and would indirectly impact the availability of residency placements in rural communities for students in UNC’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. 

Aims lobbyist Tonette Salazar highlighted expected legislation this session that will create a task force to consolidate what she referred to as the state’s fragmented postsecondary workforce training system into a single department. The task force will spend the next year defining the scope and administration of the new department which will oversee two- and four-year institutions, area technical colleges, workforce centers, the state apprenticeship agency, regional talent development initiatives and all adult education skills training programs.  

According to Salazar, the end goal is a clear pathway for stackable credentials, as well as improving the credit-for-prior-learning for individuals coming into various systems in Colorado. 

In addition to the state’s budget constraints, Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Sandra Hagen Solin said she expects significant conversation around energy in the upcoming session. In particular, one area she mentioned that could present a challenge from a consumer cost perspective is the governor’s desire to close out his administration by advancing the achievement of his green energy goals from a previous target of 2050, to 2040. Hagan Solin said the acceleration of those goals will likely result in significant increased costs for both residents and businesses. 

Hagen Solin also said she expects conversations during the session will focus on creating incentives for investment in data centers — something she said Weld County is well-positioned . While acknowledging the significant energy required to run the centers, she said there is opportunity in the form of increased tax income and a more competitive tech industry.  

District 6 lobbyist Anne Barkis noted issues she’s watching in response to changes at the federal level. One key area where she anticipates legislation this session involves the enforcement of 504 plans, which are specific learning plans for students with unique learning needs. These plans are primarily enforced by the U.S. Department of Education, but interest groups have expressed that if there are changes or reductions in those federal enforcement processes, a state process should be in place. Barkis said there is concern in creating a parallel state process as it could lead to duplication of effort and confusion for parents and school districts in navigating both systems.  

The Legislative Preview was organized by UNC in partnership with Aims Community College, the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce and Greeley-Evans School District 6. It is one of three community advocacy events co-hosted by UNC, alongside Greeley Day at the Capitol and the Legislative Wrap up. Feinstein created the event series to improve community relations and collaborative advocacy at the state capitol.