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CML Continues Call for Partnership Not Preemption
Executive order redirects wide range of multi-purpose grants by requiring local adoption of state-mandated land use policies
DENVER, Colo. – Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025 – Today, Gov. Jared Polis issued Executive Order D 2025 0011, an unprecedented expansion of executive authority that redirects state and federal funds from their legislatively intended purposes. The order conditions critical grant funding for Colorado’s municipalities on the administration’s arbitrary view of municipalities’ compliance with so-called “Strategic Growth Laws” that in many cases have no direct connection with the threatened funding programs. The Colorado Municipal League (CML) is concerned by the Governor’s decision to unilaterally reshape funding eligibility without legislative approval or transparent rulemaking.
“We are reviewing the legislation included in EO 2025 011 in detail to see if they are, as we suspect, inconsistent with the mandate of the General Assembly in directing funding to Colorado’s local governments for specific purposes,” said Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League. “The Governor lacks any authority to rewrite laws restricting funding to only so-called ‘pro-housing’ jurisdictions or to implement a strategic growth plan that has not been endorsed by the legislature.”
The Executive Order directs state agencies to establish scoring criteria that could disqualify Colorado’s municipalities from 34 grant programs - spanning housing, transportation, and infrastructure – based on subjective compliance assessments, beyond what was contemplated by the laws establishing the programs. This undermines the General Assembly’s intent in allocating funds to local governments and risks punishing communities for exercising their home rule authority.
“We trust that the administration will comply with Colorado law regarding administrative rulemaking to ensure a public and transparent process in establishing the frameworks and guidelines mandated by this order,” Bommer said. “Changing eligibility requirements without legislative approval for these programs rejects the extensive legislative work that created those programs and is counterproductive to achieving the General Assembly’s goals in enacting the programs. The governor’s actions appear to us to be unconstitutional and will unfairly obstruct key projects across the state.”
CML will closely review the order's legal and practical implications, including potential conflicts with statutory funding mandates.
Colorado Municipal League (CML) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established in 1923 and represents the interests of 271 cities and towns. For more information on the Colorado Municipal League, please visit cml.org, call 303-831-6411 or stay connected on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Media Contacts:
- Kevin Bommer, executive director, kbommer@cml.org
- Bev Stables, interim legislative advocacy manager, bstables@cml.org