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Wheat Ridge staff outline legislative advocacy program; committee to vet 3–5 priority bills for 2025
Summary
City staff presented a four-part legislative advocacy program and legislative committee update; committee met Dec. 3 and will use threshold criteria (alignment with city agenda, CML priorities, city impact and community consensus) to prioritize roughly three to five bills to pursue in 2025.
WHEAT RIDGE — City staff presented a structured legislative advocacy program intended to help Wheat Ridge select and lobby on a small set of high-priority bills during the 2025 legislative session.
Cole, speaking for staff and the legislative committee, described the program as "a four-part program: the legislative agenda, the legislative committee, advocacy position resolutions, and lobbying." The legislative agenda (included in council packets) outlines the types of bills the city would support or oppose and is intended to guide committee recommendations.
The committee met Dec. 3 and will apply proposed threshold criteria — alignment with the city's legislative agenda, Colorado Municipal League priorities, impact on Wheat Ridge and community consensus — to narrow the roughly 50–100 bills that could affect the city each session down to a target of three to five priority bills for active city advocacy. Cole said the committee is also considering focus areas such as affordable housing and transportation to guide selection.
Councilors expressed support for the threshold approach while noting staff bandwidth constraints. "We don't have a ton more bandwidth," Cole said when asked if the city could handle more than five priority bills; staff said they would focus resources on the most important items and work with the Colorado Municipal League's lobby team where appropriate.
Councilors also highlighted outreach opportunities, including hosting state legislators locally to present the city’s priorities and build relationships before the session. Staff said the legislative agenda will be brought forward in 2025 for council consideration and that advocacy position resolutions would follow if the committee recommends specific bills.
The presentation was informational; no council action was requested that evening. The committee will return recommended priorities and any advocacy-position resolutions to the council during the 2025 session for formal consideration.
