Max's Minute | Blogspot

Colorado families deserve honesty about what is happening inside their state government. This year’s budget is not routine. It is not stable. It is not responsible stewardship. It is a warning signal. The legislature is attempting to close a budget hole between 1.2 and 1.5 billion dollars while still advancing expensive policy priorities that expand government commitments beyond what taxpayers can sustain. That is not fiscal discipline. That is a structural imbalance. I supported slowing the process so the public could see what is happening inside this budget. Colorado taxpayers deserve time to understand decisions that will affect their families for years. Here is what is actually happening. Colorado is spending more than it can responsibly sustain The current budget proposal totals roughly 46.8 billion dollars statewide. Medicaid costs alone are driving massive increases in spending and forcing cuts elsewhere across state government. This is not a one-year fluctuation. It is the resu...

Colorado is no longer drifting. It is being driven - deliberately - down a path that is less affordable, less safe, and less free than the state generations before us built. The data confirms what families already feel. Colorado now ranks among the most expensive states in the nation. Housing affordability is near the bottom. Regulation is among the highest. Property crime, auto theft, and human trafficking are near the top. These are not partisan talking points. They are measurable outcomes of policy choices made under prolonged one-party control. This is not the Colorado we deserve. For several years, legislators like House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell and Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter have been sounding the alarm. Their work has consistently highlighted a pattern: more spending without discipline, more regulation without results, and more centralized control at the expense of local communities and working families. The press coverage is clear. The warning signs are unmistak...

Colorado is facing a staggering budget deficit projected at $750 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year. While some may rush to blame TABOR (Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) or our balanced budget requirements, the truth is far more sobering. This fiscal crisis is not the result of structural limitations - it is the product of irresponsible spending, poor decision-making, and reckless expansion of government programs under one-party rule. The hard truth about overspending is that, in recent years, Colorado’s Democratic leadership has presided over an unprecedented expansion of government spending. Programs and initiatives - many well-intentioned - have been implemented without a sustainable plan to fund them. Instead of prioritizing core services like education, public safety, and infrastructure, the majority party has chosen to pursue policies that push the boundaries of the government’s role, leading to bloated budgets and m...

Governor Jared Polis’s decision to cut funding for critical pediatric behavioral therapy and resources for Colorado children with autism to fund the “Cover All Coloradans” program is a disgrace. This isn’t just bad policy - it’s a blatant betrayal of the very people our elected officials are supposed to serve: American citizens, especially the most vulnerable among us. Let’s be clear: “Cover All Coloradans” is nothing more than a sanctuary city policy wrapped in Medicaid branding. It’s designed to extend taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants, and its costs are spiraling out of control. What started as a program serving 3,700 people at $34 million in 2022 has ballooned to an estimated 15,000 people and $51 million by 2025. Of that, $39 million will come directly from Colorado’s general fund - the same fund now being drained of money that should be used to support children with autism and other developmental disabilities (IDD). Our elected officials, who swore to represent th...