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 city’s public policy focus for housing, public safety, water, and infrastructure in 2025. The committee named the local motor vehicle registration bill as a top public-safety priority and emphasized construction-defect reform and protecting local zoning and building code authority as housing priorities.

Details and committee rationale

State priorities highlighted by staff and committee members included: - Housing and homelessness: construction litigation reform to increase housing supply; oppose preemption of local zoning or local building-code authority; seek continued state funding for the city’s Navigation Center. - Public safety: advancement of the city’s motor vehicle registration bill; exploring weapons-possession and firearm-defacement penalties; consideration of proposals to address street racing and juvenile bed-capacity changes. - Infrastructure: continued push for funding for transit and bus rapid-transit projects and RTD reliability; push for relief from administratively burdensome state reporting requirements. - Water: support for a fix to backflow-tester licensing language (house bill numbered in the transcript as 25‑10‑77), and advocacy on PFAS and other regulatory matters affecting water utilities.

Federal priorities included: continued pursuit of transit and corridor funding (including use of BIL), relief from excessive environmental review costs where feasible, support for military base priorities (notably Buckley Space Force Base requests), housing assistance for military families, and water- and regulatory-related asks such as the Water Conservation Rebate Tax Parity Act.

Bills the committee authorized staff to support

Votes at a glance (committee direction to staff): - Local employee registration / municipal-court amnesty (draft): committee directed staff to support a draft package to improve municipal citation registration and create a judicial-discretion amnesty program. Outcome: support position authorized; staff to report the position to full council for formal adoption and to advocate with legislators. (Motion recorded in meeting; mover/second not specified in the transcript.)

- House Bill 25‑1062 — Penalty for theft of firearms: staff recommended, and the committee authorized, a support position. The bill as described would create a statute criminalizing theft of a firearm by applying a class 6 felony sentencing structure where none specific currently exists. Outcome: support position authorized; staff to report to the full council. (Motion/mover not specified.)

- Senate Bill 2520 — Tenant and landlord enforcement / receivership for multifamily properties: staff recommended support; the committee authorized a support position. The bill would allow municipalities to seek district-court appointment of a receiver to operate multifamily residential properties when there are ordinance violations. Outcome: support position authorized; staff will pursue the position with legislators. (Motion/mover not specified.)

Procedure and next steps

Chair Council Member Angela Lawson moved the item to send the state priorities to the Jan. study session; committee members verbally agreed to advance both state and federal priority packages and the staff bill positions for reporting to the City Council. Staff said these positions will be reported at the Jan. 20 (staff) / Jan. 27 (council) cycle for formal council action; staff will then advocate on behalf of the city where a formal position is recorded.

Other discussion points

- Failure-to-appear legislation: committee members discussed a draft bill (Rep. Soper referenced in staff remarks) that would permit a court to require a cash surety bond only after a number of prior failure-to-appear instances; staff relayed that the draft language then in circulation would allow a monetary bond only after five prior failures to appear, and local court officials urged clarifying language to ensure municipal courts retain appropriate tools. Staff said they are working with IT and municipal courts to gather local data on failure-to-appear occurrences.

- Buckley Space Force Base: staff and the committee discussed base requests including keeping a Space Force headquarters in Colorado, additional mission funding, and assistance on military-family housing. Committee members noted that increases in Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) can result in corresponding local rent increases, complicating affordability for service members.

- Testimony and emergency meetings: staff reviewed council rule D3 provisions allowing the FSIR chair to convene emergency electronic meetings when timely legislative activity requires action; staff also reminded members to make clear when they testify in their personal capacity if their testimony differs from the city’s official position.

Quotes

“We’re about $670,000,000 in the hole,” Peggy said when summarizing the state budget shortfall and its likely effect on lawmakers’ willingness to adopt new programs.

Next steps

Staff will report the committee’s positions to the full City Council for formal adoption and then begin advocacy consistent with the adopted positions. The committee’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Jan. 24 and will be virtual at 11 a.m., per staff.