County commissioners on Sept. 9 reviewed a CCAT (Colorado County Affairs Trust) survey and provided the board’s positions and priority rankings on a slate of potential 2026 legislative issues.
The survey asked counties to prioritize issues for CCAT engagement; commissioners discussed and assigned rankings to items including Prop 1/2/3 cleanup, a bill they referred to as the “God’s backyard” religious‑use exemption (House Bill 25‑1169 as discussed), statewide land‑use legislation, a proposed county excise tax for recreation, homeowners‑insurance solutions for uninsurable properties, elections issues for large counties and ranked‑choice voting.
On the religious‑use exemption item—framed by commissioners as pre‑creating exceptions to local zoning and density—the board decided to request CCAT engagement in opposition, and several commissioners said they considered it a high priority because they viewed it as creating loopholes that could permanently alter local zoning and density. One commissioner said the proposal could “permanently blow up our zoning and our density with structures” and gave it a top priority ranking.
On proposed statewide land‑use legislation, commissioners said they opposed measures that would reduce local control over land use and many ranked that item highly. Commissioners split over ranked‑choice voting: some supported studying it while others said it would impose an unfunded local mandate and create administrative complexity; the board’s responses logged “not at this time” for CCAT‑level engagement on ranked‑choice voting.
Other items received mixed responses: commissioners asked CCAT to monitor public‑health and human services issues but said CCAT staff time should be focused elsewhere; they expressed interest in homeowners‑insurance measures but questioned the policy design; and they suggested abstaining or declining to spend CCAT staff resources on large‑county election efforts that primarily affect more populous jurisdictions.
Commissioners noted limited CCAT staff capacity and agreed to prioritize a short list of items CCAT should engage on and to refrain from asking the statewide group to pursue all proposals. The clerk will submit the board’s ranked answers to CCAT.