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Tom Hesse.

Kyle Harris.

Colorado Springs. May 31, 2022.

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Updated at 12:36 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2026.

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On Thursday, January 15, Gov. Jared Polis delivered his annual Colorado policy address to a joint meeting of the state Legislature in the House chamber. He spoke for nearly an hour and a half, reviewing the highlights of his seven years in office and urging policymakers to work on specific priorities before his time ends.

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This was the governor’s final State of the State address, thanks to term limits. He delivered it to a chamber packed with lawmakers, cabinet members, statewide officials, other elected leaders, Colorado Supreme Court justices and constituents.&nbsp;

The speech comes as the state and country face pressing national and global issues, and Colorado prepares for mid-term elections later this year that will see new leaders take the helm.

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Lieutenant Governor Primavera&nbsp;

Members of the Colorado General Assembly&nbsp;

Secretary of State Griswold&nbsp;

Members of the State Board of Education&nbsp;

Justices of the Colorado Supreme Court&nbsp;

Members of the Executive Cabinet&nbsp;

Southern Ute Tribal Chairman Baker&nbsp;

Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Councilmembers

Your Excellencies Madam Speaker and President Coleman, and Minority Leaders Caldwell and Simpson, thank you, welcome to my final State of the State address. I am truly humbled to be here as your Honorable Governor. It has been such an honor to be your Governor.&nbsp;

To my family, who have been on this journey since day one. Thank you, Marlon, for your unwavering support and for your inspiring work as Colorado’s First Gentleman on animal protection, recycling and composting, voter participation, and LGBTQ rights, and for being an incredible father to our children. I know you’re relieved that we are nearing the end. To my mom and dad, who have been here every step of the way. My sister and brother, who are amazing. To my kids, you should be in school!&nbsp;

To my friend and partner on this long journey, my Lieutenant Governor, Dianne Primavera. Thank you for all you do every single day to serve our state. Your strong moral compass, passion and strength have been an inspiration to our administration and helped us to navigate so many hard issues. Our state is better because of your service.&nbsp;

To my chiefs of staff, Lisa, Rick, Alec, David, thank you for steering the ship with joy, fortitude, and steadfast dedication to our fellow Coloradans.&nbsp;

And to my senior staff, cabinet, and our incredible team across state government who have contributed to my administration, thank you. It is with your expertise and commitment to service that we’ve achieved even bigger and bolder than we could have imagined.&nbsp;

Seven years ago, I stepped up to the plate as your Governor: baseball aficionado, gamer, tech geek, a head mostly full of hair, ever-hopeful Rockies fan, well, hopeful back then.&nbsp;

At the time, I certainly couldn’t have predicted all that we would face as a state and a nation.&nbsp;

There’s all that we planned and worked for to put Colorado ahead of the curve. Shared achievements like:&nbsp;

Delivering on the promise of free kindergarten and preschool, saving families thousands and giving our youngest learners a strong start.&nbsp;

Building out low-cost clean energy for more Coloradans to save money on energy bills, protecting our air and water, and creating good-paying jobs.&nbsp;

Making it easier and more affordable – even free in many cases – to get the skills needed to get a good job.&nbsp;

Breaking down barriers to housing for Coloradans at every budget.&nbsp;

Getting rid of the Budget Stabilization Factor and fully funding our schools.&nbsp;

Cutting income taxes three times and property taxes five times while supercharging the earned income and child tax credits. Establishing the Family Affordability Tax Credit, which helped cut child poverty rates by nearly 41%. Today, Colorado boasts the lowest childhood poverty rate in the nation.&nbsp;

Generating more than $470 million each year in new funding for our roads, bridges, and transit – with the vast majority of that funding going to roads and bridges.&nbsp;

There’s the “pinch me” moments, when we seized opportunity and we called our shot to deliver monumental achievements for Colorado.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.cpr.org/2025/03/27/sundance-film-festival-colorado-bid-decision/">Becoming the new home of the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival</a>. Keeping the Broncos in Denver with the <a href="https://denverite.com/2025/11/20/broncos-burnham-yard-stadium-community-feedback/">revitalization of Burnham Yard</a>.&nbsp;

Standing atop <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2023/07/18/fishers-peak-master-plan-update-trail-work/">Fishers Peak, Colorado’s 42nd state park</a>.&nbsp;

Bringing the M-L-B All-Star game to Colorado, boosting our economy as the world recovered from the pandemic.&nbsp;

Receiving Colorado’s first COVID vaccine shipment, marking a historic scientific achievement and the return to life lived together.&nbsp;

Celebrating President Biden’s designation of Camp Hale as a national monument, an effort I helped begin more than 15 years ago during my time in Congress. First Pup Gia, who is also here with us today, accompanied me to that signing. The Denver Post front page picture celebrating the new monument featured Gia front and center!&nbsp;

Earning national recognition as the epicenter of quantum computing technology.&nbsp;

And then, there’s the curveballs that come with the job. The unforeseen events that altered and shaped the trajectory of our state forever.&nbsp;

COVID was unlike anything we’d ever faced before. While the world plunged into uncertainty, we came together to support our brave and dedicated doctors, nurses, and frontline workers, and charted a path forward to chart hospital capacity.&nbsp;

At the height of the pandemic, we held three press conferences a week to help explain to Coloradans frankly what we knew – and what we didn’t know, too. Leading with data and science, we shared the most up-to-date information to empower Coloradans to make informed decisions, weigh their risks, and choose how to best protect themselves and their families.&nbsp;

And when Washington told states to figure it out for themselves, we all stepped up for Colorado. We quickly expanded life-saving tests, PPE, and when they were finally available, thanks to President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, vaccines too. and pushed hard to be one of the first states to safely get our schools and economy back up and running.&nbsp;

With the expertise of our Department of Public Health and Environment Director Dr. Jill Ryan and her team, and my then Chief of Staff Lisa Kaufmann, Colorado led the country in wastewater testing, and made it easier and quicker for Coloradans to get a COVID test. I am proud we had among the quickest vaccine uptakes of any state.&nbsp;

In the middle of it all, we came together to deliver on the promises we made long before the pandemic hit. Democrats, Republicans, and my Administration all worked together to keep Coloradans safe while at the same time, passing free preschool and historic transportation funding. When we work together, we do big things.&nbsp;

And because 2020 was the year that kept on giving, we also faced the three largest wildfires in the history of our state. The next year, we faced the Marshall Fire, the most destructive fire in Colorado history. I want to recognize and thank Department of Public Safety Director Stan Hilkey, Director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention &amp; Control Mike Morgan, Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Kevin Klein, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol Matt Packard, Colorado National Guard Adjunct General (and now-acting CPW director - thank you for coming out of retirement) Laura Clellan, and the many, many more Coloradans involved for their steady, skilled leadership through Colorado’s most trying times.&nbsp;

We witnessed horrific mass shootings at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, Club Q in Colorado Springs, King Soopers in Boulder, and most recently at Evergreen High School. We endured a horrific antisemitic attack on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.&nbsp;

And grief has also struck right here in our State Capitol, with the sudden and tragic passings of our colleagues <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2025/12/05/faith-winter-memorial-colorado-capitol/">Senator Faith Winter</a> and <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2022/11/10/hugh-mckean-memorial-service/">Minority Leader Hugh McKean</a>.&nbsp;

To honor their legacy and all we’ve lost, the work continues. As Faith would say, we will “lift as we rise.”&nbsp;

For all of us here, we’re going to bat for Colorado’s future, to leave our great state even better than we found it.&nbsp;

Seven years ago, some thought our bold goals were far-fetched.&nbsp;

I’ve got the receipts, I mean headlines, doubting if I’d be able to get it all done.&nbsp;

From 2019: <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2019/03/20/will-polis-get-full-day-kindergarten-or-will-colorado-give-another-flaky-promise/">Will Polis Get Full-Day Kindergarten, Or Will Colorado Give Another Flaky Promise?</a> One year later, headlines read: <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/01/23/colorados-free-full-day-kindergarten-boosted-enrollment-by-nearly-25/">Colorado’s Free, Full-Day Kindergarten Boosted Enrollment By Nearly 25%</a>.&nbsp;

In my first year, the intrepid reporters at the Colorado Sun published a tracker of my campaign promises. 9News even wrote a song about it!&nbsp;

Now, I appreciate their help holding us accountable for our bold goals. Although, I did notice they stopped keeping track because it’s not as exciting when we keep delivering on our promises.&nbsp;

But for me, it’s always been about delivering real results, not headlines.&nbsp;

To me, politics is simple: you say what you’re going to do, and then you do it.&nbsp;

We posted a transparent dashboard to share month-by-month updates with Coloradans on our progress delivering wildly important goals – what we call WIGs – for each agency. We are bringing ease and convenience to government services with mobile DMV offerings and the myColorado app, used by nearly 2 million Coloradans.&nbsp;

And when it comes to turning my bold agenda into a better daily life for Coloradans, we haven’t always succeeded on our first try. But we’ve always stepped back up to the plate – because that’s what we do in Colorado.&nbsp;

The Moment We’re In&nbsp;

We are in this work to make life better, more affordable, safer for all Coloradans.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, over the past 12 months, it seems Washington is in it to break it all down. To make life harder and less affordable. To make Americans feel more fearful, more belligerent, more vulnerable.&nbsp;

In the last month alone, the Trump administration has threatened over $1 billion in funding for Colorado, and is making life more expensive and more difficult across our state.&nbsp;

Mean cuts target short-term support for the most basic and essential needs for Colorado families and threaten child care support that Colorado families and child care centers rely on. The President denied two major disaster relief requests for the Lee and Elk fires and devastating flooding in Western Colorado, hurting Coloradans and our recovery efforts, and went on to veto Lauren Boebert, Michael Bennet, and John Hickenlooper’s unanimous, bipartisan bill to finally complete the pipeline providing clean water to rural Colorado, a project first promised under JFK. All while threatening to dismantle NCAR, a global leader in weather and global sciences, and a crown jewel of American scientific achievement.&nbsp;

That’s before you get to the devastating impacts HR 1 had on our state, gutting our state budget by $1 billion overnight, eliminating Coloradans’ TABOR refunds, and <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2025/12/04/medicaid-colorado-budget-impact/">slashing Medicaid</a> and <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2025/11/14/food-pantries-strain-government-reopens-snap/">SNAP</a>.&nbsp;

All the while, tariff taxes on Coloradans are driving up costs on everything from groceries to medicine. Trump’s tariffs alone are expected to cost Coloradans on average $1,700 for a single year. Tariffs hurt all of us, and make it unaffordable to live.&nbsp;

Since day one, we’ve worked together to save Coloradans money. To strengthen international trade and make our state the best place to start and grow a business.&nbsp;

Four years ago, I stood here and sang about finding 50 ways to save Coloradans money, and we went on to deliver over 100. We’re saving the average Colorado family of four over $600 dollars a year on income and property taxes, and last year Colorado taxpayers saved nearly $2.5 billion.&nbsp;

Just as we came together during the <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2025/09/03/colorado-tax-code-impact-small-businesses/">special session to close corporate tax loopholes</a>, I am hopeful that we can come together again to cut the income tax rate.&nbsp;

We are fighting – hard – to protect every federal dollar owed to Colorado. In partnership with Attorney General Weiser, the state has successfully defended nearly $900 million.&nbsp;

But there’s over $1 billion more lost or at risk from illegal Trump administration cuts.&nbsp;

Washington Republicans – once the self-proclaimed party of states’ rights and small government – today are too often the party of socialism, overreach, and intrusion into people’s daily lives in ways wholly out of the scope of government. Picking corporate winners and losers, co-opting capitalism with cronyism. It often feels like Big Government is in our wallets, our doctor’s offices, in our homes, bullying businesses of all sizes.&nbsp;

Driving up costs with tariff taxes is not the Colorado Way.&nbsp;

Ripping away critical food and health access is not the Colorado Way.&nbsp;

Tearing families apart with a costly and cruel immigration agenda is not the Colorado Way.&nbsp;

Today, nearly 75% of people held in immigration detention centers have no criminal history. In America in 2026, a culture of fear and chaos means families debate going to work or sending their kids to school out of fear they won't come home. The words on the Statue of Liberty beckoning those who come to “breathe free” ring hollow against the cruel realities we are facing today.&nbsp;

Since day one, I’ve worked to build a Colorado for All.&nbsp;

It’s a mission that reflects our shared commitment to a compassionate, kind Colorado for everyone, and one that I hope and trust will continue well beyond my administration.&nbsp;

In the words of Aurora Smoky Hill High School graduate Bowen Yang, “the only way forward is to be joyous and to celebrate each other.”&nbsp;

At a time when Washington is peddling the illusion that America somehow isn’t for everyone - that somehow there’s only room for some – some people, some beliefs, some love, some prayer – I want to make it clear:&nbsp;

In our Colorado for All, there is room – and opportunity – for all of us.&nbsp;

In our Colorado for All, we welcome immigrants and refugees who seek to build a better life here, who strengthen our economy and enrich our communities under the shelter of our democracy.&nbsp;

In our Colorado for All, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.&nbsp;

In our Colorado for All, we safeguard our fundamental freedoms, protecting the right to be who you are, marry who you love, and choose when or if to start a family.&nbsp;

There is space in our great big hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagonal state for all of us. We are a state of adventure seekers chasing mountain peaks and fresh powder, of wide-eyed entrepreneurs, artists, devout Coloradans of faith, poets, vegans, soccer moms and ultimate frisbee dads, hunters and union workers, farmers and ranchers, and yes, immigrants and refugees.&nbsp;

We respect our differences, and we are stronger and better off because of our rich diversity. In our Colorado for All, hope and kindness are part of our DNA.&nbsp;

The legacy of Jane Goodall, who had a special place in her heart for Colorado, lives on, as we take inspiration from her words, “hope does not deny evil, but is a response to it.”&nbsp;

Hateful and divisive rhetoric rarely stops at just words. We are seeing online vitriol spill over into horrific violence, including right here on our doorstep.&nbsp;

We refuse to sit idly by as a culture of targeting our fellow human beings festers in this country that we love.&nbsp;

In words and actions, we must reject the politics of division and the poison of blind hatred by doubling down on respect, kindness, compassion, and truly learn to disagree better.&nbsp;

These are the values that also guide our solidarity with those around the world fighting for freedom as we speak, in Iran and Venezuela, and in solidarity with the brave Ukrainian people in their continued fight against Russian aggression.&nbsp;

In my first State of the State address, I shared a story of a conversation Marlon and I had with our kids. Our then-6 year-old wanted to know the difference between the various political parties. And at the end, he went over to his four year old sister and asked, “What political party are you in?” And without missing a beat, she answered, “the Happy Birthday Party.”&nbsp;

Colorado’s kids are wise in ways that we could all use a little more of.&nbsp;

This year, we will celebrate our state’s 150th birthday, and our country’s 250th. Let’s come together and honor these historic milestones, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as the Happy Birthday Party.&nbsp;

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