DENVER (AP) – Colorado’s skyrocketing cost of living and rising crime are high on the priority list set by Governor Jared Polis and other Democratic leaders who control State House for the session legislative 2022 which begins this week.

After two legislative sessions largely devoted to the emergency of the coronavirus pandemic, Polis and Senate and House leaders said on Monday they would also focus on continuing efforts to contain healthcare costs, throwing out the basics of universal preschool education, investing in mental health services and fighting fires in the aftermath of the devastating Boulder County wildfire.

“You will see that this session is really focused on saving people money,” Polis said during a briefing on Capitol Hill.

An integral part of that effort is to limit or eliminate fees imposed on individual and business taxpayers, ranging from vehicle registrations to small business start-up costs, according to the governor, who was joined by Senate Speaker Leroy Garcia, Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, House Speaker Alec. Garnett and House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar.

Republican lawmakers complained that the focus on fees, inflation and crime stole their own pre-session handbook.

“I didn’t hear that two years ago”, Parliamentary Minority Leader Hugh McKean said Democrats’ pledge to cut fees. “And now we find out, long after the fact, that we really need to pull it all off.”

A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is starting to recede in the minds of Americans and is increasingly overshadowed by financial concerns – especially inflation – topics that could lead Republicans to head for 2020 midterm elections.

Colorado’s inflation rate reached 6.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reflecting a national trend.

Colorado’s unemployment rate improved markedly, reaching 3.9% in December, after peaking at 14.7% in April 2020 as the pandemic hit full force. Polis and others have pledged to replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund, which was depleted during the pandemic, in new ways to spare employers who contribute to the fund.

Colorado, like much of the country, has also seen an escalation in crime. In 2020 and 2021, lawmakers passed a host of police accountability measures following the murder of George Floyd. This year, Democrats said, lawmakers will look to invest in grants to local police departments, recruiting police officers, and preventative measures designed to reduce criminal recidivism rates and in behavioral health.

With the help of federal aid, Democrats hope to create a revolving fund that would quickly finance the construction of affordable housing as well as the use of prefabricated housing to alleviate the housing shortage in the state, Garnett said.

Air quality, the electrification of vehicle fleets and forest fire mitigation are integral parts of upcoming initiatives to tackle climate change, Fenberg said, adding that Colorado is “just the thing. a windstorm, a spark of the next unfortunate tragedy.

The four-month legislative session begins Wednesday.

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