Minority Leader Caldwell Opening Day Speech

Thank you Madam Speaker & Thank you members of the 75th General Assembly. It’s a beautiful thing to see you all here with your families & the People of Colorado.

During the second regular session of this General Assembly and in the year of our 150th anniversary as my first address as the new House Minority Leader I’m going to do something a bit unorthodox. During the interim, we’ve seen our politics here and across the nation reach a level of toxicity that is not just harmful to our discourse but dangerous.

I commend the Majority Leadership on their efforts to work across the aisle to explore how we can lower the temperature while also recognizing that there will still be fierce, but respectable disagreements on policy. It’s important that our sides understand what we believe and why we believe it.

I’ve maintained since I was first elected that no matter our political differences if you bring me a bill that doesn’t violate the Constitution or our foundational principles is good for the People of House District 20 & the People of Colorado I will gladly put my name on it with you. That’s what the people of Colorado want to see from us, and that’s what we owe them.

As 22 elected House Republicans, we represent approximately 2 million Coloradans in our districts alone. In 2024, approximately 45 percent of Coloradans who cast a vote for a House candidate voted for a Republican.

I bring this up as a reminder that while we may be the Minority Party now, we represent the views of a large percentage & wide range of Coloradans all across this great state.

So, What does our Caucus believe and why do we believe it?

We care about affordability. Coloradans are asking us; How are you going to make my life more affordable? How are my children going to have the same opportunities that I once had? Because right now, that's not their reality.

We've noticed that the more bills we pass in the name of affordability, the less affordable Colorado becomes. The Colorado State Budget has increased by nearly 50 percent in the last 7 years and so I ask all of you have our roads, our schools, our safety, or our healthcare gotten 50% better? While we’re facing another billion dollar budget shortfall, we’ll still pass a record setting budget. This is in large part because the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is often side stepped by new enterprises & the fees that come with them.

We are going to HEAR and see a lot of finger pointing at H.R. 1 but the reality is these challenges did not begin this year or with a single federal bill. The issues Coloradans are facing have been building for years as a result of state level decisions.

Overburdensome regulations & unprecedented government growth from this building stifles economic prosperity causes businesses to close or leave and drives up the costs for everyone.

When you're living on the margins paycheck to paycheck legislation that adds a little more to your costs through taxes, fees, or regulations eventually adds up. And we do that here, hundreds of times a session year after year after year.

That fraction of a percent over and over again eventually becomes the difference on whether you can buy a new home whether you can fill up your cart with food at the grocery store whether you can fill up your gas tank to go to work or to take your children to school. Whether you can put money in a savings account or towards your children’s college fund. Whether you can pay a medical bill fix an unreliable vehicle or survive on a fixed income like our Seniors must do. We must slow down the growth of government in order to spur the growth of the People.

We fight for parental rights. We believe that parents have the right to make the best decision for their kids, not the government. As parents we know our children better than any elected or unelected body ever could.

As a dad myself, of two young sons, their lives have changed my entire outlook on the world.

When my first son was born and I stood there in the operating room and looked into his eyes I knew from that moment that whether I lived 50 more days or 50 more years my life would never be the same. I would never Sleep the same Think the same Dream the same Pray the same or Love the same. I felt that, not the government.

When one of our children are hurt and they’re lying in a hospital bed it’s not the government that sits next to their bed holds their hand asks God how this could have happened prays to God for a full recovery or tells their child that if they could, they’d take the pain away & put it upon themselves. That’s what parents do, not the government.

So when we see legislation from this building telling us that the government knows better than us the parents we get mad and we fight for the God given rights as parents to make those decisions without Government intrusion.

We care about the environment after all we all breathe the same air. Many of our constituents are those who depend on a healthy environment. They’re farmers, ranchers, hunters, guides, sportsmen, conservationists, and those just blessed enough to live amongst God and His creation.

In the pursuit of a cleaner future we are putting those most vulnerable in an untenable position. I’ve been poor. I know what it’s like to watch your parents living paycheck to paycheck. When you live on the margin a 10% increase in your electric bill is the difference between paying a bill and missing a meal.

We can work towards a cleaner environment but we must do it pragmatically. We must not do it at the expense of destroying our lower and middle class Coloradans turning away new industries that require a reliable electrical grid or killing good paying blue collar jobs many of which are trade union jobs made up of pipefitters, electricians, plumbers, truck drivers, rail workers, gas workers, & coal miners. We will one day have the innovation and infrastructure to have entirely clean energy but our current trajectory is Activism on a collision course with Reality.

Our climate policies are leading to unaffordable utility bills removal of affordable natural gas options base load facilities closing prematurely and the very serious potential for rolling blackouts in some of our largest cities if we do not slow down and take a little more time to transition. Let California make the mistake of rushing to their own destruction, not Colorado.

Public safety is a top priority for the Minority Caucus. Law and order is a cornerstone of any functioning society. Coloradans must feel safe to go about their daily lives and businesses must be able to operate without constant crime. And if crime does happen they all must be assured that the criminal will be punished to the full extent of the law. Redemption & second chances for those committing crimes should be a part of our policy however the innocent people not committing crimes must come first. We must put the needs of the innocent before the wants of the criminals. And our brave law enforcement officials must know we support them.

We believe in school choice. A school that may be amazing for your children may NOT be the right choice for mine. A child should not be confined to the building they just so happen to live closest to. A child who struggles in one school may flourish in another. Parents should have the choice to send their children to the school that best fits their needs whether it’s a district run public school, charter school, private school, or homeschool period.

We believe in protecting Life. Whether that’s the life of our vulnerable children while they attend school or the life of the innocent still in the womb. We hear a lot about life lessons & lived experiences and how lucky are we to have the chance to experience such things. We feel so passionately about our 2nd Amendment rights for that very same reason.

We carry our firearms to protect the lives of our families, ourselves, and those around us, whether they agree with us or not. Restrictive gun laws do nothing to stop the criminals committing the crimes instead they make it more difficult for the law abiding to exercise their God given right to defend themselves and their families.

And lastly but most importantly our faith in God guides not only how we raise our families and live our lives it also guides our foundational principles when representing our constituents. These very same principles are those shared by virtually all of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence & of those who ratified the US Constitution which laid the foundation to create the greatest country to ever exist in the history of the world. We cannot legislate morality. And the further we stray away from those founding principles the further we should expect our society to decay with broken homes, substance abuse, crime, and suicide.

And so you can imagine our shock and horror during the interim when we watched someone many of us admired a young father, husband & Christian Charlie Kirk be murdered in front of the entire world simply for his willingness to debate those biblical values on a college campus. It was troubling watching so many in the public many in positions of trust mock the murder of a young man that left a wife husbandless & two children fatherless. As many of us share those same Christian beliefs with Charlie we viewed the celebration and mocking of his murder as a justification for our own deaths.

We find solace in scripture like Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you.”

To Charlie, I say this: May we all be so persuasive in our arguments, so just in our actions, and so righteous in our convictions, that the devil dances on our graves when we die.

So… how now shall we live?

Do we accept Colorado being ranked nationally as the 3rd most expensive state to live in?

Do we accept being ranked 48th in housing affordability or 48th in Cost of Living or a D+ grade for our roads?

Do we accept being the 6th most regulated state for business, with approximately 45% of our regulations being excessive or duplicative?

Do we accept being ranked 49th out of 50 for public safety? Or 7th overall in Violent Crime?

Do we accept being ranked #2 nationally for property crime? Or 4th in auto theft and the top 10 for retail theft? Do we accept being ranked in the top 10 for human trafficking? Or one of the worst states for fentanyl a poison that has robbed so many families of loved ones many of them children.

I don’t believe that anyone in this chamber feels this is acceptable. And our caucus has warned for many years that this would be the outcome of misguided policies. So let this session of our 150th anniversary as a state be a turning point where we come together as Coloradans ask us to do and change the course.

In 2026, we have a very unique opportunity to improve the lives of our constituents and ensure a prosperous future in Colorado for another 150 years.

God Bless you all. God Bless Colorado. And May God Bless America.