Polis competitiveness council hands his successor a six-part roadmap to win back business momentum

The Governor's Competitiveness Council gave its roadmap to Polis and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade on Wednesday, three months after the governor formed the 27-member public-private group as criticism mounted that the state's business climate had slipped from nation-leading to middling. The Sum and Substance, the Colorado Chamber's news outlet, reported the council called for more predictable rules, faster permitting and new investment in workforce and housing.

The council's findings, as OEDIT summarized them, set out short, medium and long term recommendations in six priority areas: regulatory reform and execution, tax and fiscal policy, capital and scale, talent and workforce, affordability and housing, and infrastructure and site readiness. Polis said he would review the work and look for ways to use it to, in his words, "support homegrown businesses, attract new companies to Colorado" and strengthen the state economy.

The work behind the report was broad by design. OEDIT says the council and the Economic Development Council of Colorado held seven listening sessions across the state with more than 490 participants from 60 industries and all 14 of Colorado's economic development regions. More than 80 percent of the participating businesses were small to medium sized, about half represented rural communities, and more than half of the private sector attendees were primary employers. The Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder analyzed leading economic indicators to identify the state's advantages and its emerging constraints.

On regulation, the council started where this year's new law on agency rule reviews left off. The Sum and Substance reported the group urged a concierge system to coordinate the most complex permitting needs, timely permitting reviews by state agencies, and clear requirements for what counts as a completed application. On tax policy, it proposed that officials judge new fiscal proposals not only one by one but by their cumulative, layered effect on existing law, and that the state keep simplifying its sales and use tax system.

Housing sits in the middle of the plan. The council emphasized building more affordable housing through an incentive-based local permitting framework with established review timelines, and it said the legislature should strengthen the state's existing laws meant to limit construction defects lawsuits. It also said state officials should review the tenant protections signed in recent years to determine whether they are working as intended or adding significantly to housing costs.

The boldest proposals concern the ground itself. The council argued the state should act earlier to develop transmission lines, substations and large-load grid capacity, the kind of infrastructure data centers, electrifying homes and vehicles, and advanced manufacturing plants all need. It suggested a single coordinated review pathway for major investments, incentives for them, a requirement that they prove a statewide benefit, and a possible Statewide-Importance Zone designation to prioritize the projects larger employers weigh when they decide where to expand or relocate.

Timing shapes what happens next. Polis is term-limited and gives way to a new governor in early January, so the 44-page report functions largely as a letter to his successor. OEDIT says the council will share the report with all gubernatorial candidates as well as the state legislature. The Sum and Substance noted the same hand-off, and council members from organizations ranging from the Colorado Chamber and OEDIT to the University of Colorado and CoorsTek said they hope state leaders move quickly on the parts that can move, before Colorado slips further in the competition for good-paying jobs.