Speaker Julie McCluskey and Minority Leader Rose Pugliese addressed the House on opening day to outline their priorities for the 75th General Assembly, touching on budget shortfalls, education finance, water and natural‑resource concerns, housing and immigration.

Speaker Julie McCluskey said the legislature would need to ‘‘trim nearly $1,000,000,000 from our state budget’’ while protecting safety‑net services and the bipartisan investments the House has made in early childhood and higher education. She pledged not to restore the budget stabilization factor and said the state would implement the new equitable school finance formula on time. She also flagged water resources and drought as threats that may require defensive measures and commended farmers and ranchers for conservation efforts.

McCluskey highlighted actions on housing, saying the House would pursue construction‑defects reform, measures to reduce rent‑raising algorithms, regulatory relief for religious institutions building on their land, and incentives for modular home construction. She also touted prior cost‑reduction steps such as reinsurance and the Colorado Option, and took note of the state’s investments in transit, mountain rail and air‑quality work.

Minority Leader Rose Pugliese framed her caucus priorities around affordability, parental choice in education and public‑safety concerns. She emphasized protecting the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and said her caucus would press for transparency and accountability in education funding and for policies she described as strengthening family control over medical decisions for children. She repeatedly urged bipartisan cooperation on affordability measures and said mothers, fathers and grandparents are best suited to decide what children need.

Both leaders invoked civil discourse and free‑speech protections within the chamber. McCluskey said each voice in the House matters and that there was ‘‘no place for censorship in this house,’’ language echoed by Pugliese in pledging that minority speech should be protected while she advocated policy differences.

Their remarks mapped out areas where the two caucuses may align and where they are likely to clash: education funding and school‑finance timing drew bipartisan support for completion, while budget‑cut choices and policy approaches to immigration, housing and parental‑control issues were among the topics that may generate debate during the session.