State Legislatures Grapple With Budget Cuts in Colorado and Wyoming

Two separate state budget developments were reported. In Colorado, the state legislature finalized a $46.8 billion spending plan and sent it to Gov. Jared Polis's desk, following cuts made to address an approximately $1.5 billion budget shortfall, with Medicaid absorbing the largest reductions. In Wyoming, Gov. Mark Gordon delivered his 2026 State of the State address amid a legislative session in which lawmakers proposed cuts to institutions including the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Business Council. In Colorado, House Speaker Julie McCluskie proposed privatizing Pinnacol Assurance, the state's workers' compensation insurer, as a means to raise at least $300 million that could be used to reverse some of the enacted budget cuts; this proposal reportedly lacked committee support as of the report. In Wyoming, Gordon asked lawmakers to restore funding levels he had originally requested in his proposed state budget after the Legislature moved to cut them, though specific dollar figures for the proposed Wyoming cuts were not detailed in available reporting. The Colorado budget has been sent to the governor's desk, but it remains unresolved whether the Pinnacol privatization plan will gain sufficient committee or legislative support to proceed. In Wyoming, the outcome of Gordon's request to restore funding to the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Business Council, and the final shape of the state budget, was not confirmed in the available reporting. These are two distinct and unrelated legislative processes occurring in different states, and no shared timeline or connection between them is established by the sources.