Gov. Jared Polis touts affordable housing, calls for end to "threatening and bullying" ahead of Colorado legislative session

The Colorado State Legislature heads back to work in three weeks and Gov. Jared Polis is once again laser focused on affordable housing. He says Colorado is the sixth most expensive state in the country for housing. His plan last year failed and his new one looks a lot like the old one.

While many local governments may not be on his side, he suggested Coloradans are.

"On every poll that you see of Coloradans, housing costs and affordability are front and foremost. And our yardstick will be does a particular bill increase or decrease housing costs? If it decreases housing costs, we're for it. If it increases housing costs, I'm extremely skeptical of it," Polis said on Tuesday.

Among the policies that the governor says increase costs are occupancy limits, bans on accessory dwelling units and costly lawsuits over construction defects. More multi-family housing near reliable transit hubs, he says, would decrease costs.

"There's a number of areas that the legislature can act to help reduce the cost of homes by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars," Polis says.

But while Democrats are in control at the capitol, the Israel-Hamas war has created deep intra-party divisions. A Democratic lawmaker attended a pro-Palestinian rally the day of the attack, the democratic Black and Latino Caucuses then issued pro-Palestinian statements, and yet another Democratic representative lashed out at Jewish colleagues during the special session.

Polis -- who is Jewish -- said his own temple in Boulder had a bomb threat over the weekend.

"There should be a discussion around every issue that we differ on, including peace in the Middle East and how we can achieve it, but we don't get there by threatening or bullying other people."

Two Democratic lawmakers have resigned in the last few weeks citing the increasingly hostile nature of politics in part. The governor says hateful rhetoric in general is increasing and everyone, he says, plays a role in shutting it down.

Polis and Utah's Republican governor have started a campaign called Disagree Better that's aimed at improving political discourse.