Aurora FSIR committee adopts 2025 state and federal priorities, backs three state bills

The Aurora City Federal, State & Intergovernmental Relations (FSIR) Committee approved its 2025 state and federal legislative priorities and voted to direct staff to advocate support positions on three state bills, the committee’s chair said.

The priorities file a list of local goals the city will press this year, including Aurora’s pending motor vehicle registration bill, construction litigation reform to increase housing supply, funding for the Navigation Center for people experiencing homelessness, changes to HUD program rules, and water- and infrastructure-related policy and funding requests. The committee also approved staff to support three draft state bills: (1) a local employee registration and municipal-court amnesty/judicial-discretion package, (2) House Bill 25-1062 to create a criminal penalty specifically for theft of a firearm, and (3) Senate Bill 2520 enabling courts to appoint receivers to operate multifamily properties with ordinance violations.

Peggy, a state legislative representative for the city’s lobby team, told the committee that the state budget shortfall will shape lawmakers’ appetite for new programs. “We’re about $670,000,000 in the hole,” she said, adding that fiscal notes attached to bills will make passage difficult this session. Laurie, the city’s federal legislative representative, gave an overview of Congress’s early activity and told the committee that Congress is operating under a continuing resolution through March 14 and that lawmakers plan to work on an omnibus appropriations package and a reconciliation package this year.

Why it matters: the priorities and the positions direct city staff and lobbyists on which bills and administrative changes to push, and they set the…