Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

May 26, 2026

Contact: Serena Woods

serena@woods-strategies.com

Coalition Opposing Proposed Initiative 175 grows to 57 Organizations

Hospitals, business groups, higher education institutions, K-12 education advocates, conservation advocates, public transit organizations, local governments, and labor organizations are asking proponents to withdraw Initiative 175

Denver, CO – Today, Keep Kids First Colorado released a letter, now signed by nearly 60 organizations, asking the “Restore our Roads” coalition to withdraw Initiative 175. Proposed Initiative 175 earmarks funding for construction without new revenue, resulting in diverting millions of dollars from Colorado’s general fund and the critical services it funds. If Initiative 175 were to qualify for the ballot and pass, balancing the budget without major cuts to Medicaid, K-12 education, and higher education would be impossible. These three programs constitute approximately 70% of the state’s general fund budget

In April, Keep Kids First Colorado released a poll showing that when Colorado voters know the consequences of Initiative 175, only 34% support it.

The following organizations signed the letter opposing Initiative 175 (listed in alphabetical order):

1. 350 Colorado
2. AAA-the Auto Club Group
3. Alliance Colorado
4. Alpine Homecare, LLC
5. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001
6. The Bell Policy Center
7. Bicycle Colorado
8. Bike Colorado Springs
9. Bike Walk Golden
10. Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections
11. Centennial State Prosperity
12. Children’s Hospital Colorado
13. Cheyenne Village
14. Clare Levy, Boulder County Commissioner
15. Coalition 4 Cyclists
16. Cobalt
17. Colorado Association for Medical Equipment Services
18. Colorado Association of Ski Towns
19. Colorado Center on Law & Policy
20. Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
21. Colorado Education Association
22. Colorado Fiscal Institute
23. Colorado Hospital Association
24. Colorado Nurses Association
25. Colorado Rail Passenger Association
26. Colorado State University System
27. Colorado WINS
28. Community Cycles
29. Commuting Solutions
30. Conservation Colorado
31. Counties & Commissioners Acting Together
32. Craig Chamber of Commerce
33. The Denver Foundation
34. Denver Health & Hospital Authority
35. Denver Streets Partnership
36. Drive Clean Colorado
37. Eleos Services
38. Greater Denver Transit
39. GreenLatinos
40. Henry Sobanet
41. Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado
42. MADD Colorado (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
43. MEAPTA
44. Mountain Mamas
45. Natural Resources Defense Council
46. Northeast Transportation Connections
47. Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs
48. People Centered Colorado Springs
49. PikeRide, Inc.
50. Rangely Hospital District
51. Routt County
52. Sierra Club Colorado
53. Total Care Connections, Inc
54. Vibrant Englewood
55. West Line Corridor Collaborative
56. Western Resource Advocates
57. Womxn From The Mountain

In response to the measure, the legislature passed HB26-1430, which has provisions to offset some of the harms of proposed Initiative 175 if it were to qualify for the ballot, meet the 55% vote threshold required of constitutional amendments in November, and become law. HB26-1430 also established a process where if the proponents withdraw proposed Initiative 175 by June 15, the state would create a Transportation Improvement Advisory Working Group. This working group would provide an appropriate opportunity to find solutions to investing in transportation without drastic consequences to the Colorado state budget.

Proposed Initiative 175 is backed by corporations that stand to benefit financially from more highway construction, and proponents submitted signatures to the Secretary of State for review to qualify for the ballot.

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Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

April 15, 2026

Contact: Serena Woods

serena@woods-strategies.com

Broad Coalition Releases Letter Asking Colorado Contractors to Withdraw Proposed Initiative 175, a $539 million cut from Medicaid, Higher Ed, and K-12 Education

K-12 education advocates, higher education institutions, conservation advocates, public transit organizations, hospitals, labor organizations, and health care advocates among groups opposing Initiative 175

Denver, CO – Today, Keep Kids First Colorado released a letter signed by more than 40 organizations asking the “Restore our Roads” coalition to withdraw Initiative 175. Proposed Initiative 175 earmarks funding for construction without new revenue, resulting in diverting $539 million dollars from Colorado’s general fund and the critical services it funds. The measure would also sweep hundreds of millions of other dollars from critical cash funds, which would likely require additional backfilling from the general fund. The non-partisan legislative council staff estimates the measure could cause $1-2 billion in impact on the state budget.

If Initiative 175 were to qualify for the ballot and pass, balancing the budget without major cuts to Medicaid, K-12 education, and higher education would be impossible. These three programs constitute approximately 70% of the state’s general fund budget.

The initiative is backed by corporations that stand to benefit financially from more highway construction.

The following organizations signed the letter opposing Initiative 175 (listed in alphabetical order):

1. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001
2. The Bell Policy Center
3. Bicycle Colorado
4. Bike Colorado Springs
5. Boulder Chamber
6. Transportation Connections
7. Boulder County
8. Centennial State Prosperity
9. Children’s Hospital Colorado
10. Coalition 4 Cyclists
11. Cobalt
12. Colorado Center on Law & Policy
13. Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
14. Colorado Education Association
15. Colorado Fiscal Institute
16. Colorado Hospital Association
17. Colorado Rail Passenger Association
18. Colorado State University System
19. Colorado WINS
20. Community Cycles
21. Commuting Solutions
22. Conservation Colorado
23. Counties & Commissioners Acting Together
24. Craig Chamber of Commerce
25. Denver Health & Hospital Authority
26. Denver Streets Partnership
27. Greater Denver Transit
28. GreenLatinos
29. Henry Sobanet
30. Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado
31. MEAPTA
32. Mountain Mamas
33. Northeast Transportation Connections
34. Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs
35. People Centered Colorado Springs
36. PikeRide, Inc.
37. Rangely Hospital District
38. Routt County
39. Sierra Club Colorado
40. Total Care Connections, Inc
41. Vibrant Englewood
42. West Line Corridor Collaborative
43. Western Resource Advocates

Initiative 175 is currently collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot. Information about the initiative can be found on the Secretary of State’s website.

April 14, 2026

Dear Colorado Contractors Association and Restore Our Roads,

Coloradans can all agree we are sick of deteriorating roads, endless traffic jams, and crumbling bridges. But the consequences of the “Restore Our Roads” initiative are dire, and we respectfully request that you withdraw Initiative 175 from the ballot.

Initiative 175 is a promise to improve Colorado’s roads without raising taxes. The problem is, the measure takes existing sales tax revenue without adding new dollars to the General Fund, diverting funds from important programs that need continued funding, forcing the general assembly to cut other programs in order to free up additional general fund. Should Initiative 175 pass, balancing the budget without major reductions to Medicaid, K-12 education, and higher education would be impossible. Together, these three areas represent nearly 71 percent of the state’s General Fund. According to the nonpartisan Colorado Legislative Council, the measure would also divert $155.8 million from transit-related cash funds and special accounts, and potentially $257.9 million from transportation enterprise fees. This exacerbates pressure on the general fund further.

This measure is being proposed to Colorado voters at a time when Colorado lawmakers are already confronting serious budget challenges. This year, lawmakers are having to make substantial cuts to balance the state budget, and future budget cuts aren’t going away any time soon. The Joint Budget Committee projects a $1 billion shortfall for the 2027–28 budget year.

Health care services would likely be among the most affected. Approximately 20 percent of Coloradans rely on Medicaid for their health coverage. Because Medicaid accounts for nearly one-third of the General Fund, any significant reduction in available revenue would lead to cuts, disproportionately impacting seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities.

K-12 education funding would also be at risk. In 2024, Colorado lawmakers implemented a new school finance formula designed to distribute resources more equitably, particularly for at-risk students and smaller rural districts. The formula is more student-centered, but Proposition 175 threatens this new funding for at-risk and rural students and puts Colorado’s ability to meet constitutional education funding requirements out of reach.

Higher education would also face steep cuts. Colorado already ranks among the lowest states in the nation for higher education funding. Initiative 175 would secure our spot at the bottom. Students at Colorado universities, community colleges, and technical colleges will face higher tuition costs due to Initiative 175.

Initiative 175 decimates Medicaid, K-12, and education funding by design. Colorado absolutelyneeds thoughtful solutions to address transportation challenges. However, steep cuts to healthcare, education, and other essential services are not the answer.

The measure also rewrites the book on transportation funding, sweeping enterprises, defunding important grants, and redefining how transportation dollars would work. This creates further challenges in the budget when we are forced to find additional revenue to backfill these programs.

Please reconsider this proposal and withdraw Initiative 175. Colorado would be better served by a plan that strengthens Colorado’s transportation system without undermining critical services that support children, families, and seniors across the state.

Sincerely,

• Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001
• The Bell Policy Center
• Bicycle Colorado
• Bike Colorado Springs
• Boulder Chamber
• Transportation Connections
• Boulder County
• Centennial State Prosperity
• Children’s Hospital Colorado
• Coalition 4 Cyclists
• Cobalt
• Colorado Center on Law & Policy
• Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
• Colorado Education Association
• Colorado Fiscal Institute
• Colorado Hospital Association
• Colorado Rail Passenger Association
• Colorado State University System
• Colorado WINS
• Community Cycles
• Commuting Solutions
• Conservation Colorado
• Counties & Commissioners Acting Together
• Craig Chamber of Commerce
• Denver Health & Hospital Authority
• Denver Streets Partnership
• Greater Denver Transit
• GreenLatinos
• Henry Sobanet
• Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado
• MEAPTA
• Mountain Mamas
• Northeast Transportation Connections
• Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs
• People Centered Colorado Springs
• PikeRide, Inc.
• Rangely Hospital District
• Routt County
• Sierra Club Colorado
• Total Care Connections, Inc
• Vibrant Englewood
• West Line Corridor Collaborative
• Western Resource Advocates

CC:

• Governor Jared Polis
• Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie
• House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell
• President of the Senate James Coleman
• Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson
• JBC Chair Emily Sirota
• JBC Vice-Chair Jeff Bridges
• JBC Member Judy Amabile
• JBC Member Barbara Kirkmeyer
• JBC Member Kyle Brown
• JBC Member Rick Taggart

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The post Broad Coalition Ask Colorado Contractors to Withdraw Proposed Initiative 175 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: March 31, 2025
CONTACT: Isabel Cruz,icruz@cohealthinitiative.org, 718-483-2305
Katie Reinisch, katie@progressive-promotions.com, 303-653-1009

Consumer advocates celebrate U.S. District Court decision to dismiss lawsuit against Prescription Drug Affordability Board

DENVER – Today, the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative celebrates a U.S. Court judge’s ruling in favor of consumers over Big Pharma. In February 2024, Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board declared the medication Enbrel “unaffordable” and moved to establish an upper payment limit for the drug. Shortly after, pharmaceutical giant Amgen filed a lawsuit against the Board in an attempt to halt its efforts. On Friday,  a federal judge in Colorado dismissed the case, eliminating a hurdle for the PDAB as they prepare to start their first upper payment limit process for the drug.

Etanercept (Enbrel) is a prescription medicine used to treat seven long-term autoimmune inflammatory diseases, including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Around 1.3 million people in the United States have RA; it is not a rare disease or condition. For over a decade, Enbrel ranked among the top 20 drugs for worldwide sales and its wholesale cost has increased 36 times since it was approved by the FDA in 1998. In 2022, it ranked 31, with $4.1 billion in sales. According to the Board’s report from 2024, Enbrel costs $46,772 per patient per year. The out-of-pocket cost of Enbrel for patients with commercial insurance averaged $3,980, although some individuals’ out-of-pocket costs reached as high as $9,990 for a year’s supply. Data from the report indicated that the wholesale price increased 36 times since the drug was approved in 1998, a total increase of 1,582.24%.

“We applaud the court’s decision to dismiss Amgen’s lawsuit against Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board,” said Isabel Cruz, Policy Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “Pharmaceutical companies like Amgen have placed profits over patients for far too long. We look forward to the board’s continued efforts to meaningfully address the harms that the high cost of drugs like Enbrel have on patients. Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them.”

Colorado Consumer Health Initiative is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, membership-based group advocating for equitable access to high-quality, affordable health care. CCHI serves Coloradans whose access to health care and financial security are compromised by structural barriers, affordability, poor benefits, or unfair business practices of the health care industry.

The post Consumer advocates celebrate U.S. District Court decision to dismiss lawsuit against Prescription Drug Affordability Board appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

MEDIA RELEASE
February 25, 2025
Contact: Adam Fox, afox@cohealthinitiative.org, 303-563-9108
Katie Reinisch, katie@progressive-promotions.com, 303-653-1009

DENVER – Republicans in Congress just pushed through a rushed budget resolution, one of the first major steps towards passing the Trump Administration’s fiscal agenda. It includes deep cuts to Medicaid — at last word, approximately $880 billion — from a program that serves more than 70 million people nationwide and 1.1 million in Colorado. Nearly 1 in 5 Coloradans receive their health care from Medicaid. Six of every 10 Coloradans in nursing facilities rely on Medicaid, and Medicaid is vital for providing in-home care to help people with disabilities and aging adults live independently. Over 34% of Colorado children are covered through Medicaid. The cuts would undermine Colorado’s hard work to expand coverage, essentially ending Medicaid expansion and ripping that expanded coverage from roughly 400,000 Coloradans.

Statement from Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative:
“You can’t cut hundreds of billions from Medicaid without taking healthcare away from millions of seniors living in long-term care, children, and people with disabilities. Rushing these cuts will hurt those who can least afford care – and won’t do anything to lower our healthcare costs for the average Colorado family. At a time when our state budget already faces a $1 billion gap, these cuts will devastate our state’s economy, threatening 300,000 healthcare provider jobs, while perhaps pushing teetering rural providers over the cliff. They are going to strip health coverage from countless Coloradans and tank our economy all in the name of creating tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.”

Statement from Stephanie Felix-Sowy, President of Service Employees International Union Local 105, uniting over 8,000 property services and healthcare workers across the Mountain West, and the largest healthcare union in Colorado:
“House Republicans’ budget proposal is a direct threat to over a million Coloradans who rely on Medicaid. Slashing healthcare to fund tax breaks for billionaires will devastate working families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities across our state. This is just another example in the long list of actions taken by Republicans to favor billionaires over the rest of us. These cuts won’t just take healthcare away—they’ll force clinics to close, overwhelm hospitals, and put frontline healthcare workers out of jobs. Instead of making life more affordable, this plan will create more hardship for Coloradans already struggling. Our communities deserve better.”

Statement from Hunter Nelson, Small Business Majority’s Colorado director:
“Any changes that make healthcare more expensive could have a potentially devastating impact on Colorado’s small businesses. After payroll, healthcare coverage is already the highest cost for small firms. If Congress and the Trump administration make drastic cuts to Medicaid and eliminate premium tax credits that help make healthcare coverage purchased on Affordable Care Act marketplaces more affordable for many small business owners and their employees, insurance that is now very costly but within budget would become unaffordable. This could mean many entrepreneurs are forced to go work for someone else just to have access to health insurance, or that employees of small businesses would seek jobs at larger companies mainly for stronger benefits. The result of that migration would be that much of our small businesses community would no longer exist.”

Statement from Phyllis Albritton, Colorado Safety Net Collaborative:
“While many of our members do not serve people with Medicaid, some do. Medicaid is an important safety net for so many people in low-wage jobs so that they can keep working and providing for their families. Let’s not take that away as the economy worsens. It will just increase healthcare costs for everyone else and keep people from working.”

Statement from Amanda Boone, Co-Founder of Cystic Fibrosis United:
“Many individuals living with Cystic Fibrosis and other Rare Diseases depend on the Colorado Medicaid program to access critical care. From children and families benefiting from the waiver program, to those enrolled in the Medicaid Buy-In and traditional Medicaid. Should the state lose any federal funding, patients would lose access to essential care, jeopardizing their ability to live healthy, fulfilling lives, potentially forcing them to seek emergency care. We urge our members of Congress to protect our community from these cuts and approach the budget with careful consideration to ensure that those who rely on these services are not left without the care they need.”

Statement from Heather Tritten, President/CEO of The Colorado Children’s Campaign:
“Hundreds of thousands of Colorado families have access to health care, food to eat, or support for their basic needs because of federal funding for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF. Cutting funding would have direct, often devastating impacts on children’s lives and futures. We call on our representatives in Washington to support children across Colorado and to create a responsible budget that invests in our communities.”

The post Republican Congress Chooses Cuts to Health Care for Seniors, Children, and the Disabled to Pay for Tax Breaks for the Ultra-Wealthy appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

(Via AP Storyshare)

For those seeking treatments for autoimmune diseases, relief in the form of more affordable drug treatments may be on the way. At a July 3 meeting, Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board voted unanimously to proceed with setting price caps for two prescription drugs: Stelara and Cosentyx.

The board members reviewed separate reports that found both drugs to be both essential and unaffordable for Colorado patients. The investigation found that the average out-of-pocket costs for patients with commercial insurance on Stelara and Cosentyx were $5,875 and $2,801 per year respectively. For a patient without insurance, Cosentyx costs an average of $46,948 per year.

Both Stelara and Cosentyx are used to treat chronic autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and plaque psoriasis. Neither drug is a quick fix. They are long-term therapies that patients often remain on for years.

According to Megan Purdy, an emergency medicine resident at Denver Health and an ulcerative colitis patient herself, steep prices come with a hidden cost.

“Many of my patients will be on these medications and oftentimes they do come in having missed doses — unable to get insurance coverage for these medications, unable to afford them,” she said.

Cosentyx and Stelara have been on the board’s radar since last summer, when it selected five pharmaceuticals from a list of 604 potentially unaffordable prescriptions. The board’s decision starts a process that will solicit more information from doctors, industry stakeholders and patients before setting price limits on the drugs.

Since 2019, eight U.S. states have established prescription drug affordability review boards and five have included a process for setting upper payment limits. So far, no states have moved passed the affordability review step. Colorado could be the first to establish an upper payment limit for a specific drug.

In February, the board initiated its first ever price-capping process for the arthritis drug Enbrel. The drug’s manufacturer, Amgen, sued the state of Colorado in federal court the following month. The company argued that a state-mandated price interferes with numerous laws and constitutional clauses designed to protect businesses and patent-holders. It called for the state to end the process and dissolve the review board. The case is pending, and oral arguments are scheduled for October.

Advocates expect similar lawsuits from Johnson & Johnson, the patent-holder of Stelara, and Novartis, the patent-holder for Cosentyx.

“It’s a pretty common tactic from pharma to sue when they are faced with price controls,” said Priya Telang, a spokesperson for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “We expect a lawsuit coming from them soon.”

Though no litigation has been filed so far, some opponents are already making their voices heard. At the July 3 meeting, public commenters, including a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson and a Maryland-based pediatric rheumatologist, spoke out in frustration.

“I have come to realize over the last month or so that it honestly doesn’t really matter what I say, patients say, or other organizations say, if we are receiving funding from pharmaceutical companies,” said Tiffany Westrich-Robertson, the CEO of the International Foundation for Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Arthritis.

Westrich-Robertson and others argued that insurers would maintain the same out-of-pocket costs for the drugs and pocket the savings. Board members were receptive to that concern, but they also expressed optimism that they could figure out how to hold insurers accountable.

“We don’t know for certain what the effects of setting an upper payment limit would be,” board member Gail Mizner testified. “Hearing from insurers is really going to be a key part of the upper payment limit process.”

Under the state law that created the board, insurers will be required to submit an annual report documenting how savings from price caps were passed on to consumers. Advocates argue that the board is working to ensure that guardrails are in place to protect consumers from profiteering.

“The board is approaching this really cautiously and carefully,” Telang told KUNC.

In the coming months, the board will research the cost of manufacturing Stelara and Cosentyx to calibrate its eventual price cap. Though the July 3 meeting set the motion in process, the board could still decide to end its deliberations at any time and forgo a payment limit.

In its next meeting, scheduled for Friday, July 19 at 10 a.m., the board will meet with the Prescription Drug Affordability Advisory Council, which includes representatives from various stakeholder groups including drug companies, pharmacists and labor unions. The meeting is open to the public, and you can register to attend at this link.

This story was updated at 10:32pm on July 23, 2024 to reflect that Tiffany Westrich-Robertson’s appeared at the July 3 meeting of the Prescription Drug Affordability Board as a representative of the International Foundation for Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Arthritis.

Gabe Allen, KUNC

The post Colorado moves forward with price caps for unaffordable prescriptions despite possible litigation appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.