Purplish

Mar 20 2025 152 ep. 23 mins 677

Purplish Podcast artwork

Purplish is CPR News' weekly podcast about state politics, state government, Colorado policy, and political identity. This season the show is hosted by public affairs reporters Bente Birkeland and Andrew Kenney. Each week while the legislature is in session, they'll break down the latest developments, look ahead to what's next, and dive into the bigger picture of what it all means.

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Some Colorado cities plan to ignore new housing density laws

Mar 20 2025 29 mins

Cities of a certain size in Colorado have to allow more density, because of a suite of new state development mandates. But several cities, like Westminster, Colorado Springs and Arvada, are pushing back. In some cases, they have said, flat out, that they do not intend to comply with some of the laws. Historically, local governments in Colorado and across the nation have had domain

Colorado lawmakers hit halftime at the State Capitol

Mar 14 2025 31 mins

Colorado lawmakers are just past the halfway point of this year’s legislative session. That means it’s crunch time, with plenty of big, controversial bills still in play on guns, labor, housing and other topics. And on top of all that — the biggest task before lawmakers is finding more than $1 billion in budget savings in order to keep state spending in balance. It’s been

The human toll of Colorado’s sexual assault evidence backlog

Mar 07 2025 22 mins

As of late February, 1,407 people in Colorado are waiting for DNA results from their sexual assault cases -- some of them for more than a year. Without those results, criminal investigations can stall out and victims are left in a difficult state of limbo. Colorado lawmakers have taken up the issue this legislative session — and one of their own is a part of this backlog. CPR’

Vacancy appointments get lots of lawmakers to the capitol. Is it time for a change?

Feb 28 2025 26 mins

A lot of Colorado lawmakers got their foot in the door at the statehouse not through the ballot box, but through a side door, a vacancy committee. State lawmakers leave office early for all sorts of reasons — some get new jobs or retire, occasionally people resign amidst scandal. This session, roughly 25% landed their House and Senate jobs that way. But in recent years, there’s

Life as a new state lawmaker

Feb 21 2025 35 mins

Nearly a third of Colorado's 65 House members are new to the statehouse this year. They come from all walks of life and bring a variety of experiences to their new jobs, which, in the end, will likely shape the policy proposals they bring to the chamber floor. It’s a demanding job, with a steep learning curve. On this episode, CPR’s Bente Birkeland and KUNC’s Lucas Brady Woo

The billion-dollar budget hole

Feb 14 2025 20 mins

Here's a mystery: Colorado's economy is healthy. It's unemployment rate is low and its tax collections are healthy. So why are lawmakers looking at a recession-sized budget gap? And just as importantly: where are they going to find the savings to close it? CPR's Bente Birkeland and The Colorado Sun's Brian Eason explore the colliding circumstances that got Colorado into this situa

An assault weapons ban by any other name...

Feb 07 2025 21 mins

Democratic lawmakers say they're getting serious about enforcing Colorado's ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. But their solution would take a wide range of firearms off the shelves of gun stores statewide, including some of the most popular varieties of semi-automatics. Past efforts to ban so-called assault rifles have failed, but this year's bill debuted with an unpreced

The embattled Labor Peace Act

Jan 31 2025 25 mins

Colorado was once the scene of guerilla warfare over labor organizing. This year's fight at the State Capitol isn't as bloody, but it could have far-reaching consequences for Colorado workers. At issue is an 1943 law that makes it harder for workplaces to fully unionize. The last attempt to repeal it died in a surprise veto from a Democratic governor. Is this year's effort headed

What are SMART Act hearings?

Jan 24 2025 19 mins

Before they can get to the fun stuff -- passing laws and debating policy -- Colorado's legislators spend the start of each session sitting through hours (and hours, and hours) of presentations from all the departments and agencies they oversee, going into exhaustive detail on the work they do. A lot of times, these hearings are long on slide decks and short on answers. but lawmak

New Congress, old normal (for now?)

Jan 17 2025 31 mins

From cute kids and ceremonial photos to the peaceful democratic transfer of power, the opening weeks of the 119th Congress have managed to avoid the drama that marked the start of the 117th and the 118th. But that's not to say there's not a lot going on. Colorado has three new congressmen trying to settle in, at the same time one of its congresswomen is working to change how the Ho