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Local Control Matters Because Your Community is Not the Same as Someone Else's

Coloradans believe in something simple and important. The people who live in a community should help decide what that community becomes. That principle is called local control. It is not a technical concept. It is a promise. It means your neighborhood is shaped by the people who live there, raise families there, and invest their lives there. That promise is being tested at the State Capitol. In recent sessions, the legislature has passed and proposed a series of housing bills that override local zoning authority across Colorado. These include mandates eliminating local parking standards, forcing higher density development near transit corridors, requiring approval pathways for housing on church and school property, and allowing certain housing developments to bypass local zoning entirely. More recently, the HOME Act allows public institutions, transit agencies, housing authorities, and nonprofits to construct housing projects on qualifying land regardless of local zoning rules. These p...
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Defending the Second Amendment While the Legislature Expands Government Seizure Power

This week at the Colorado General Assembly , I opposed the expansion of Colorado’s red flag firearm seizure authority because it represents another step away from the constitutional structure that protects the rights of every Coloradan. SB26-004 has now passed the legislature and is headed to Jared Polis . The bill expands who may petition courts to remove firearms from citizens who have not been convicted of a crime. It adds institutional actors such as certain health care facilities, behavioral health treatment facilities, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities. That change increases the number of pathways through which the state can suspend a constitutional right based on allegation rather than adjudication. That is not a technical adjustment. It is an erosion of due process protections. The Second Amendment exists to limit government authority. It does not exist to make firearm ownership conditional on whether institutions believe a citizen should retain that right. When t...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Why Weakening the Labor Peace Act Is a Mistake for Colorado Workers

For decades, Colorado has maintained a careful balance between the right of workers to organize and the right of individuals to control their own paycheck. That balance is embodied in the Labor Peace Act, a law that has governed labor relations in our state for more than eighty years. Unfortunately, legislation moving through  the Colorado General Assembly would dismantle one of the most important safeguards in that law. Under current law, workers must approve two separate votes before unions can collect mandatory dues or fees from every employee in a workplace. The first vote determines whether employees want union representation. The second vote determines whether that union can require every worker to financially support it. That second vote is not a technicality. It is a protection. If a union wishes to compel financial support from every employee in the workplace, it should have to demonstrate strong and clear support from the workforce. The Labor Peace Act recognizes this sim...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Law Enforcement Must Never Be Turned Against Law Enforcement

There is something deeply wrong and deeply dangerous about a mayor using the machinery of city government to place law enforcement in tension with law enforcement. That is exactly what is happening in Denver. Let me be clear. I am 100 percent pro-law enforcement. I support the men and women who put on the badge, take the oath, and step into danger so the rest of us can live in peace. That includes local police. It includes deputies. It includes state officers. It includes federal officers. A civilized republic cannot survive without respect for lawful authority and the officers charged with carrying it out. What it cannot survive is political leadership that deliberately pits one branch of law enforcement against another for ideological theater. Mayor Mike Johnston has crossed into reckless territory. His Executive Order 152 does not read like the work of a mayor focused on public safety. It reads like the work of a politician determined to obstruct, posture, and inflame. It bars ...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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A Home That Feels Like Home: Rep. Brooks’ Commitment to Colorado’s IDD Community

For many Coloradans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), housing is not simply hard to find. It is hard to find the right kind of housing. Housing that is safe. Housing that is stable. Housing that supports independence while keeping people connected to their community. HB26-1061  exists because people with IDD deserve more than “best effort.” They deserve a clear pathway to real homes in real neighborhoods, with real opportunities to belong. This bill is designed to strengthen community integration housing by aligning Colorado’s affordable housing tax credit process with projects that intentionally serve the IDD community. HB26-1061 focuses on practical outcomes. It creates a targeted priority in Colorado’s administration of affordable housing tax credits for “community integration housing” that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It requires setting aside at least 10 percent of the state’s annual competitive federal Low-Income Housin...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Colorado Gun Rights, Dialogue, and Next Steps After HB26-1021 Fails in Committee

The HB26-1021 Second Amendment Protection Act was killed in committee on a strict party-line vote. Despite the setback, the hearing produced strong debate and opened doors for future discussions about gun rights, constitutional limits, and policy direction. The fight over firearm law reform in Colorado is far from over. HB26-1021 aimed to repeal a large number of Colorado firearm regulations. These included background check requirements for private transfers, safe storage mandates, age limits and waiting periods, permitting requirements for dealers, local ordinance authority, magazine restrictions, gun show rules, and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The bill’s sponsors and supporters argued that many of these laws have not demonstrated effectiveness in reducing criminal gun violence. The bill was defeated in the House Judiciary Committee by a 7-4 vote along party lines. Opponents framed it as a threat to public safety because it would have repealed nearly all of Colorado’s g...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Law, Compassion, and the Proper Role of the Pulpit and the People

Recently, a post by Douglas County Watch criticized a sermon delivered by Pastor Bryan Fields of Grace Chapel Castle Rock and suggested that his message on immigration made its way into the Capitol through my remarks in the well of the Colorado House of Representatives. Let me begin with this. I am proud to be part of the Grace family. Grace Chapel provides spiritual leadership that calls us to lead in love and to stand firmly in truth. Pastor Fields’ sermons challenge me to grow in character, humility, and conviction. I value that influence. I embrace it. Faith should shape the moral compass of any serious leader. At the same time, there is an important distinction between the pulpit and the well of the House. A sermon calls people to spiritual transformation. A legislator speaks within a constitutional framework. When I rise to speak in the well, I do so under oath. My words are governed by the Constitution, statutory authority, and the duty I owe to every constituent, regardless of ...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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