Tuesday, November 5, 2024

It’s Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Today is Election Day. The 2025 Colorado legislative session will convene in 64 days.

 

These updates are curated from multiple news sources and designed to be a “choose-your-own-adventure.” Please read any coverage of interest and skip anything you deem to be irrelevant. Hyperlinks are provided to add additional context. With the 24/7 news-cycle I hope to keep us all in the loop on items we may want to know about or better understand. Please feel free to share if you think someone outside FGMC needs to be aware of this information.

 

Disclaimer – The news and articles contained within this update do not represent any political positions or policy opinions of Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher, LLP. This update is designed for informational purposes only.

 

It’s finally here – Election Day 2024!

 

Ballots are being cast. Votes are being counted. Democracy is in action, and it’s a beautiful thing. Around 80 million voters have already cast ballots, tens of millions more will line up today, and it’s all likely to come down to seven swing states.

As covered in today’s Wake Up to Politics, we should all take a step back and consider the history that’s been made in this election cycle: An indicted nominee. A debate that actually mattered. A president who suddenly stepped aside. A 48-hour nomination process. Not one, but two, assassination attempts. It’s been one heck of an election season.

And it all comes down to this. Voters are choosing between Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump, a decision that has divided and drained the electorate. Nearly every poll in the seven battleground states has shown the race to be a tossup.

 

Across the country, voters will make other choices too — many of them local.  A number of these races and ballot initiatives have resonance outside their region.

 

As the national candidates offer starkly different messages on immigration and crime, some of the most consequential actions will come from mayors, prosecutors, and sheriffs. On housing, controversial policies like rent control and homelessness policing will get a test from state voters on ballot measures. And across various states and cities, voters will answer dozens of questions about the process of voting itself that will affect elections to come, from changing the way primaries work to ranked choice voting.

I will provide a full election report once the dust all settles. Until then take care of yourself and take a deep breath.

 

Today, let’s talk about everything BUT the election. This is for both my sanity and yours. First, today’s Big Three Things-To-Know:

 

1. Denver is set to revamp greenhouse gas regulations for buildings. Denver officials are revising regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from large office and apartment buildings, proposing changes that would make it easier for building owners to meet their targets—especially those dealing with high vacancy rates. These adjustments are part of the city’s ongoing efforts to balance environmental goals with the challenges facing building owners in today’s economic climate. The revisions focus on offering greater flexibility to property owners, allowing them to achieve energy savings without facing penalties. The Energize Denver ordinance, originally passed in 2021, aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% in buildings larger than 25,000 square feet by 2030. Among the proposed changes are increased support services, including energy management tools, a help desk, one-on-one coaching, and rebates for training facility staff and retro-commissioning services. Additionally, the proposed revisions would lower the emissions reduction target from 70% to 42% for some buildings, providing a more attainable goal. The city is also considering postponing or waiving penalties for building owners who miss deadlines for meeting emissions reduction requirements. Any new rules to the Energize Denver Building Performance Policy would be adopted in January. Officials kicked off their engagement process on the proposed changes in October and will continue to take feedback until Dec. 16. A list of upcoming feedback sessions can be found online at Energize Denver’s website.

 

1. A big night at Denver City Council – budget amendments. The Denver City Council voted down eight proposed amendments to the city’s 2025 budget on Monday, including a request to allocate an additional $2.5 million to the Denver Basic Income Project. This program, which is exploring the impact of providing direct cash assistance to homeless or formerly homeless individuals, had already received funding from the city, but the proposed increase was met with resistance. The vote on this particular amendment ended in a 6-6 tie, with Councilwoman Flor Avlidrez absent for the latter part of the meeting. While some council members acknowledged the potential of the Basic Income Project to improve participants’ lives and housing outcomes, they felt that the additional $2.5 million request was excessive. The city had already provided $2 million in federal COVID relief funds to launch the program in 2023 and another $2 million to sustain it through this year. However, Mayor Mike Johnston had previously rejected a council request to continue funding for the project in 2025. Monday night’s lengthy debate and the subsequent rejection of all proposed budget amendments highlight the city’s financial challenges as it prepares for 2025.

 

1. The great American drought. The U.S. is experiencing drought conditions in every state except Alaska and Kentucky — marking the highest number of states affected in history, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. As of this week, more than 45 percent of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and approximately 54 percent of the lower 48 states, are experiencing drought. This represents an increase of two states from last week and three from the previous month. The total area in drought has risen by 71.8 percent since last month and 8.1 percent since last week. Currently, more than 150 million people across the country, including nearly 150 million in the lower 48 states, are impacted by drought, marking a 34.4 percent increase since last week and a 153.5 percent increase since last month. Additionally, over 318 million acres of crops nationwide are facing drought conditions. While this figure has remained steady since last week, it reflects a significant 57.1 percent increase from the previous month.

 

***Bonus Story – Antarctic ozone hole measures the seventh smallest size in decades. The ozone hole over the Antarctic could fully mend by 2066, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The hole, which opens annually over Earth’s southern pole, was relatively small this year. It ranked the seventh smallest on record since recovery efforts began in 1992. Smaller doesn’t mean small, however. At almost 8 million square miles, the monthly average ozone-depleted region in the Antarctic this year was nearly three times the size of the contiguous U.S., the NOAA said in a news release.

 

And now, more news…

 

From Denver…The latest on Energize Denver.

 

According to DBJ, Denver officials are revamping regulations that require owners of large office and apartment buildings in the city to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, proposing changes making the rules easier to meet — especially for landlords struggling with high vacancy rates in their buildings.

 

With changing economic conditions and ongoing workforce and market challenges, the proposed revisions to the city’s requirements aim to provide greater flexibility for building owners so they can achieve their energy saving targets without incurring penalties, officials said. The Energize Denver ordinance, approved in 2021, has a target to eliminate 80% of greenhouse gas emissions emitted by buildings larger than 25,000 square feet by 2030. Any new rules to the Energize Denver Building Performance Policy would be adopted in January. Officials kicked off their engagement process on the proposed changes in October and will continue to take feedback until Dec. 16. A list of upcoming feedback sessions can be found online at Energize Denver’s website.

 

You can read more from DBJ here.

 

Also from Denver…Denver City Council rejects eight amendments to city’s tight 2025 budget

 

As reported by The Denver Post, the Denver City Council voted down eight proposed amendments to the city’s 2025 budget on Monday night, including rejecting a request to give another $2.5 million to the Denver Basic Income Project, a program that is gauging the impact of providing direct cash assistance to homeless or formerly homeless Denverites. The final vote on that proposed change was a 6-6 tie with one member, Councilwoman Flor Avlidrez, absent for the latter part of the meeting.

 

Even some council members who felt the project showed promise in improving participants’ lives and housing outcomes felt that the ask was too much. The city had provided $2 million in federal COVID aid money to seed the program in 2023 and another $2 million to keep it going this year before Mayor Mike Johnston rejected a council request to continue the city’s participation in 2025.

 

Monday’s amendment — sponsored by the council’s three most progressive members in Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez — would have drawn the additional $2.5 million from the city’s strategic reserves or otherwise forced Johnston’s administration to move money around to protect those reserves.

 

You can read more from The Denver Post here and Axios here.

 

From Denver courts (and yes, I guess election related)…Denver judge weighs fallout of passwords leak as Secretary of State Jena Griswold promises investigation.

 

According to The Denver Post, a Denver judge declined Monday night to rule immediately on a lawsuit seeking to force the hand-counting of ballots in more than half of Colorado’s counties as the fallout from an accidental leak of voting equipment passwords continued in the final 24 hours of the election.

 

District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes heard four hours of testimony in a hearing called in a lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party of Colorado. The leak had been reported separately last week by the state Republican Party and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. A lawyer for the Libertarian Party argued that the leak, discovered by a prominent 2020 election denier, compromised the election’s integrity. The suit also seeks the destruction of affected election equipment.

 

You can read more from The Denver Post here.

 

From City Council…Denver OKs $29M in bonds for office-to-residential conversion.

 

Via DBJ, a project converting a four-story office building into affordable housing could receive up to $29 million in public funding after the Denver City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution to issue bonds.

 

The 124,000-square-foot building at 4340 S. Monaco St., rezoned by the council over the summer, sits on 13 acres in the Southmoor Park neighborhood office Interstate 25 near the Denver Tech Center. California-based developer Shea Properties’ vision is to create 143 apartments for rent in an adaptive reuse of the building.

 

Monday’s council vote signaled the city’s intent to issue Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds to support the acquisition, construction and equipping of the affordable housing project, according to council information. The measure will return to the council in the first half of 2025 for the bond ordinance approval and a committee presentation.

 

You can read more from Denver Business Journal here.

 

More from the city…Denver backs DIA land trade for parcel on Tower Road.

 

According to DBJ, the Denver City Council gave its initial approval Monday for a land swap between the Denver International Airport and landfill operator Allied Waste Services of Colorado. The deal will allow Denver’s Department of Aviation to exchange 25.33 acres west of the E-470 toll road in Adams County for an approximately 18-acre parcel west of the airport fronting Tower Road in Commerce City. The land is owned by Allied.

 

The move is intended to trade the remote parcel in Adams County for one “in a rapidly developing corridor,” city council information shows. The undeveloped land will help accelerate growth of DIA’s “2nd Creek Campus commercial district,” which the airport has offered for commercial development.

 

You can read more from Denver Business Journal here.

 

Around the metro…Arvada launches national search for new city manager.

 

From Colorado Politics, the City of Arvada has launched a national search for its next city manager.

 

The move comes four months after City Council accepted the resignation of then-City Manager Lorie Gillis on July 1, 2024. Sacramento-based CPS HR Consulting, a leading national executive search firm specializing in public sector employment, is assisting the city with the search. The application period for the position opened Nov. 1, according to a news release from the City of Arvada.

 

You can read more from Colorado Politics here.

 

Around the state…Colorado home weatherization program gets boost from IRA climate funding.

 

Via Colorado Newsline, a state program that offers no-cost energy and appliance upgrades to low-income Colorado residents is getting a boost from federal funding authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

Colorado’s Weatherization Assistance Program, which provides free services to improve home energy efficiency, served nearly 4,000 people over the last year, according to the Colorado Energy Office. Depending on the results of a home energy audit, applicants may receive no-cost installation of HVAC upgrades, improved insulation, high-efficiency appliances and more.

 

CEO announced Wednesday that Colorado will become the first state to augment its weatherization program with $7.6 million in funding from the federal Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate program, the first phase of a larger rollout of over $140 million in home energy rebate funding awarded to the state as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

You can read more from Colorado Newsline here.

 

More from Colorado…Colorado AG, local governments file Supreme Court briefs opposing Utah oil railroad.

 

According to Colorado Newsline, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a dozen Colorado local governments and a group of high-ranking congressional Democrats are among the parties urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a lower court decision vacating the approval of a controversial oil-by-rail project in eastern Utah.

 

Colorado’s Eagle County and five environmental groups have sued to block the 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway, a multibillion-dollar proposal to connect Utah’s largest oil field to the national rail network. The plaintiffs alleged that federal regulators conducted an insufficient review of the project’s environmental risks, and in a ruling last year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed, finding that the railway’s approval contained “numerous” and “significant” violations of federal law.

 

The decision remanded the case back to the federal Surface Transportation Board for a fuller analysis of the project’s risks. But the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, a group of Utah county governments backing the rail project, instead appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court and have asked it to impose strict limits on what kinds of risks can be studied in the reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

 

You can read more from Colorado Newsline here.

 

From regulation-land…Xcel Energy ordered to remove investor relations and executive salaries from costs passed on to Colorado consumers.

 

As reported by The Colorado Sun, Colorado utility regulators — using the mandates in a 2023 law — are looking to carve lobbying fees, trade association dues and investor relations costs from Xcel Energy rate requests. In a current gas rate case, more than $775,000 in such costs were disallowed.

 

The figure in the future could be a lot higher based on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission decision in October ordering Xcel Energy to remove all investor relations costs — including a portion of executive salaries — from its calculations of costs passed on to customers. “There is an inherent tension between customer benefits and investor benefits,” said Joseph Pereira, deputy director of the Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, which represents residential and small commercial customers before the PUC. “Customers shouldn’t pay to boost the share price.”

 

In the wake of soaring utility bills in the 2022-23 winter, when the average gas bill rose 52% for residential customers of Xcel Energy’s subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorad

 

You can read more from The Colorado Sun here.

 

Around the country…Boeing union votes to end strike.

 

Via WSJ, Boeing’s machinists ratified a new labor deal, ending a paralyzing strike after nearly eight weeks and clearing the way for the plane maker to restart its factories. Workers voted in favor of a contract that delivers a 38% wage increase over the life of the four-year deal for 33,000 machinists in the Pacific Northwest who build most of Boeing’s jets.

 

The walkout has strained the finances of a critical American manufacturer that has been hobbled by quality problems and deep losses in its commercial and defense operations. Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg is cutting 17,000 jobs and raising more than $24 billion in equity to keep the company afloat. The end of the strike promises to bring some relief to Boeing’s sprawling supply chain and airlines that rely on 737s, such as Ryanair and Southwest Airlines. Some have had to curb schedules or curb financial targets as they await delayed Boeing planes.

 

You can read more from The Wall Street Journal here and Axios here.

 

From Washington…Employee group urges centralized response to increase in doxxing and threats against federal workers.

 

According to Government Executive, an employee association within the Justice Department is urging departmental leaders to take new steps to combat the recent uptick in instances of doxxing and threatening federal employees on the Internet.

 

Doxxing refers to the malicious publication of a person’s personal information, such as home address, phone number and other contact information, and as such is often closely tied with an uptick in online threats made against the practice’s target. Officials at the Department of Justice Gender Equality Network, an employee group representing nearly 2,000 Justice Department workers, said the workforce has seen an uptick in both doxxing and online threats against individual employees as federal law enforcement began investigating and prosecuting cases in relation to the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

 

You can read more from Government Executive here.

 

On the environment…Record number of states facing drought conditions.

 

As reported by The Hill, the U.S. has droughts in every state except Alaska and Kentucky — the greatest number in history, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

 

According to the tracker, just more than 45 percent of the U.S. and Puerto Rico and about 54 percent of the lower 48 states are in drought this week. The 48 states experiencing moderate drought or worse this week is an increase of two states since last week and three since last month, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is up 71.8 percent since last month and 8.1 percent since last week.

 

More than 150 million people in the country and 149.8 million in the lower 48 states are affected by drought this week, a 34.4 percent increase since last week and a 153.5 percent increase since last month. More than 318 million acres of crops in the country are experiencing drought conditions, the tracker showed. While this doesn’t reflect any increase since last week, it is a 57.1 percent uptick since last month, the monitor showed.

 

You can read more from The Hill here.

 

More on climate…Antarctic ozone hole measures seventh smallest size in decades.

 

Via The Hill, the ozone hole over the Antarctic could fully mend by 2066, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The hole, which opens annually over Earth’s southern pole, was relatively small this year. It ranked the seventh smallest on record since recovery efforts began in 1992. Smaller doesn’t mean small, however. At almost 8 million square miles, the monthly average ozone-depleted region in the Antarctic this year was nearly three times the size of the contiguous U.S., the NOAA said in a news release.

 

The recent improvement is the result of declining chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a chemical that’s harmful to the ozone and was phased out by the Montreal Protocol. The measure was signed in 1987 to phase out CFC-based products and processes by 2010.

 

You can read more from The Hill here.

 

In world news…Russia suspected of sending incendiary devices on US- and Canada-bound planes, Wall Street Journal reports.

 

From CNN, incendiary devices that ignited in Germany and the United Kingdom in July were part of a covert Russian operation that aimed to start fires aboard cargo and passenger flights heading to the US and Canada, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday, citing Western security officials.

 

In July, device explosions at DHL logistics hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, UK, kickstarted a race to find the suspects, WSJ reported. When asked about the incidents, a spokesperson at DHL Express told CNN the company is “aware of two recent incidents involving shipments in our network,” adding they are “cooperating with the relevant authorities.”

 

You can read more from CNN here.

 

In global politics…Blinken urges Israel to increase Gaza aid as U.S. deadline looms.

 

Via WaPo, the Biden administration on Monday pressed Israel to take additional steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, more than three weeks after the United States warned it would consider restricting weapons transfers to Israel if more assistance did not enter Gaza soon.

 

On a call with Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Secretary of State Antony Blinken “reviewed actions Israel has taken to date and urged further actions to substantially increase and sustain humanitarian aid — including food, medicine, and other essential supplies — to civilians across all of Gaza,” according to a State Department readout.

 

In an Oct. 13 letter to senior Israeli officials, Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that Israel had 30 days to take steps to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza — including by allowing in at least 350 aid trucks per day and enacting humanitarian pauses to enable aid deliveries — or it could face consequences, such as suspension of military aid.

 

You can read more from The Washington Post here.

 

More from around the world…In some areas of military strength, China has surpassed America.

 

This from The Economist, whoever succeeds Joe Biden in the White House on January 20th will receive the same simple message from all 18 of America’s intelligence agencies: Russia may be causing mayhem in Europe, but only China has the wherewithal to mount a global challenge. “Beijing is accelerating the development of key capabilities,” said the coordinating body for American spies last year. Those capabilities, it added, are ones that China “believes the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) needs to confront the United States in a large-scale, sustained conflict”.

 

The PLA is still far from being ready for war with America. China’s official aim is to “modernize” its armed forces by 2035 and make them world-class by 2049. But the PLA has already undergone an extraordinary transformation, from a poorly trained and ill-equipped force two decades ago to a regional power today. The old image of China’s armed forces as focusing on quantity over quality is increasingly outdated. In recent years China has improved the effectiveness of its arms to such an extent that, in some areas, it has already matched or surpassed America.

 

You can read more from The Economist here.

 

And let’s end with this…We all want to feel like we belong.

 

From Today, one teenager’s overjoyed reaction to being invited to a birthday party is going viral.

 

Macy is a 15-year-old high school freshman and she has Down syndrome. Her mom says she can “count on one hand the amount of birthday parties” Macy has been invited to since she started kindergarten.  “Yesterday Macy got in the car and showed me an invitation to a birthday party for a friend at school who is also in the life skills program,” Macy’s mom, Heather Avis, began an Instagram post.

 

In the video, Macy’s excitement is contagious as she waves the invitation in the air for her mother to see.

 

You can read more from Today here.

 

That’s all for today! Happy voting and have a great day!

 

Best,

 

Fostergraham.com	Adam J. Burg Senior Policy Advisor
	Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher, LLP 360 South Garfield Street | Suite 600 Denver, CO 80209 Main: 303-333-9810 Fax:   303-333-9786 aburg@fostergraham.com

 

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