This morning, Gov. Jared Polis issued Executive Order D 2025 009, convening the Colorado General Assembly in an extraordinary legislative session to begin on Aug. 21, 2025. The governor has this power under Article IV, Section 9 of the Colorado Constitution. The scope of the legislature’s work during the special session, as outlined in the governor’s proclamation, is limited to the following topics:
1. Budget Cuts and Statutory Reserve Requirements: Gov. Polis is pushing the General Assembly to make significant cuts to the state’s General Fund spending and allow for the use of state reserve funds to backfill federal cuts.
2. Tax: The General Assembly will consider changes to the tax code in response to the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) to either decouple or align with changes at the federal level. Included in the call are the following:
- Issue Deferred Tax Credits
- Decoupling of the Qualified Business Income Deduction
- Reductions to the Regional Home Office Rate Deduction
- Expanding the foreign jurisdictions listed as tax havens.
- Reductions to the Sales Tax Vendor Fees.
- Decoupling of the Foreign-Derived Intangible Income Deduction.
3. Health Care: The proclamation includes a push that the legislature provide funds for the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise to mitigate potential cost increases of plans on the individual health insurance market. The governor’s call also includes a push to ensure that Planned Parenthood can continue to receive state funding without risk of federal recoupment.
4. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: In response to federal cuts, the Governor will press the legislature to make SNAP programs an eligible recipient of funds under the Healthy School Meals for All program authorized under HB25-1274.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Gov. Polis is pushing for changes to Colorado’s current statutory framework around AI, either to the policy itself or for a delay of the current February 2026 implementation date.
6. State Hiring Freeze: The call includes a directive from Gov. Polis to state executive branch agencies to immediately implement a hiring freeze as a cost control measure and urges other state-level elected officials to do the same.
The full text of the executive order can be found here.
Over the coming weeks, in advance of the Aug. 21 start date, legislators and stakeholders will be actively negotiating the parameters of legislation that fits within the scope of the call. The Brownstein Colorado Government Relations team is available to answer any specific questions related to content or process, but the General Assembly’s Office of Legal and Legislative Services has also put together a helpful memorandum responding to frequently asked questions regarding extraordinary legislative sessions. That memo can be found here.
