Behind the Curtain: Who Actually Runs the Colorado Capitol (And What They Get Paid)

The Bottom Line

This is the state legislature's internal HR and housekeeping blueprint for the 2026 session. You should care because it pulls back the curtain on the exact staff—from $25-an-hour legislative aides to senior policy analysts—who are actually reading, researching, and shaping the laws that affect your life and livelihood.

What This Bill Actually Does

Every business needs an organizational chart and a payroll budget before it can open its doors, and the Colorado General Assembly is no different. HJR26-1001 is what Capitol insiders call a 'housekeeping resolution.' It doesn't create new laws for the public, change your taxes, or alter speed limits. Instead, it officially authorizes the hiring of the specialized staff needed to keep the 2026 legislative session running. Pursuant to Section 2-2-305 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the legislature has to legally outline exactly how many clerks, sergeants, analysts, and aides they are allowed to employ, along with their specific pay grade classifications.

Let's pull back the curtain on what this actually looks like. The bill strictly details the staffing limits for both chambers. In the House of Representatives, it authorizes heavy-hitting administrative roles like the Chief Clerk, the Assistant Chief Clerk/Calendar Clerk, and the Reading Clerk/Bill Status Clerk (the person you hear reading bills out loud at lightning speed on the floor). It also staffs the political offices, granting the Majority party a Chief of Staff, a Media Relations Director, and four Policy Analysts, while authorizing a parallel—though slightly smaller—staff for the Minority party, including three Policy Analysts and a Digital Communications Advisor. Security and decorum are handled by authorizing one Chief Sergeant-at-Arms and eight regular Sergeants-at-Arms.

The Senate side mirrors this structure with the Secretary of the Senate, a Journal Clerk, and various policy and communications directors for both parties. But the bill isn't just about job titles; it sets very specific parameters for the rank-and-file workers who keep the wheels turning. For example, it caps the hiring of Legislative Aides to exactly 1,800 hours per Representative and Senator, locking their pay rate at $25.34 per hour. It even authorizes a flat $25.00 per visit for the chamber Chaplains who give the opening prayers. Finally, the bill ensures continuity by legally retaining the Chief Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate through the interim period until January 2027, ensuring the lights stay on when lawmakers go home.

What It Means for You

At first glance, a bill about government staffing might seem like inside-baseball that doesn't affect your daily life. But if you've ever called your state representative about a pothole, a property tax issue, or a new school policy, you haven't actually been talking to your elected official—you've been talking to their Legislative Aide. This bill is the exact document that funds that aide's paycheck. By capping their time at 1,800 hours per lawmaker and their pay at $25.34 an hour, this resolution dictates the level of customer service you receive as a constituent. If you factor in the grueling 60-plus hour weeks during the 120-day legislative session, those 1,800 hours get eaten up incredibly fast, which explains why your local representative might seem tough to reach by late summer.

This resolution also provides a rare, transparent look at the machinery of your state government. When a massive, 500-page bill regarding healthcare or criminal justice is introduced, the 100 elected lawmakers aren't analyzing every single word in a vacuum. They rely entirely on the army of staff authorized in this document. The Majority Senior Budget Policy Analyst and the Minority Policy Analysts are the unseen forces who actually read the fine print, flag unintended consequences, and write the briefing memos that tell politicians how to vote. When you understand this org chart, you understand who actually wields influence at the Capitol.

If you are a student, a recent graduate, or someone looking to transition into public policy, this document is literally your job board. It lays out the exact classifications for every gig in the building, from Front Office Information Clerks and Visitor Aides to the sole Print Shop Courier shared between the House and Senate. It's a reminder that beneath the partisan shouting you see on the evening news, the state government is fundamentally just a mid-sized employer relying on clerks, aides, and secretaries to function smoothly.

What It Means for Your Business

If you are a business owner, a real estate developer, or a contractor, you likely keep a close eye on the regulations coming out of Denver. But if you or your industry's lobbyist are trying to stop a bad regulatory bill or advocate for a helpful one, knowing the elected officials is only half the battle. This resolution acts as your tactical map of the 'Invisible Capitol.' It identifies the exact staff positions that serve as the gatekeepers for your industry's concerns.

For example, if you are bidding on state contracts or worried about a new corporate fee, your lobbyist is going to be spending a lot of time talking to the Senior Budget & Policy Analyst for the Majority or the Budget Analyst for the Minority. These are the specific, authorized employees who analyze the fiscal impact of legislation on the state—and by extension, your industry. Similarly, understanding that there is an entire apparatus of Enrolling Clerks (two in the House, two in the Senate) is crucial. These are the people responsible for ensuring the final text of a bill is perfectly accurate before it goes to the Governor. In the high-stakes world of business compliance, a misplaced comma or a typo in an enrolled bill can cost an industry millions of dollars. These clerks are your final line of defense against sloppy legislating.

From a purely operational standpoint, this resolution is also a useful benchmark for the local labor market, particularly if you run an administrative, temp, or professional services firm. The state has officially set the baseline rate for entry-level policy and administrative work at $25.34 an hour (roughly $52,000 annualized, though hours are capped). If you are hiring administrative assistants, paralegals, or junior researchers in the Denver metro area, you are directly competing with the legislature for that talent pool. Furthermore, the bill explicitly authorizes the Speaker of the House and the Senate President to hire 'session-only employees' and interim replacements. If your business provides contract staffing, security, or administrative support, understanding these hiring cycles and limits helps you anticipate when hundreds of sharp, highly organized workers might be entering or exiting the temporary job market.

Follow the Money

While this resolution doesn't raise your taxes or appropriate new grant money, it is fundamentally a spending document. It authorizes the personnel budget for the legislative branch for the year. We can do some basic back-of-the-napkin math based on the hard numbers in the text: With 100 lawmakers in the General Assembly (65 in the House, 35 in the Senate), and each authorized to hire aides for up to 1,800 hours at $25.34 an hour, the state is committing over $4.5 million just to the base salaries of legislative aides.

Beyond the aides, the resolution outlines the pay grades for roughly 80 specialized staff members across both chambers. The alphanumeric codes next to the job titles (like H1B5, G3A6, or 160SES) correspond to the state's internal human resources compensation bands. The funding for all of these positions—from the Chief of Staff down to the Print Shop Courier—comes directly out of the state's General Fund. This is the baseline cost of maintaining a functional, transparent democracy in Colorado, ensuring that there are enough hands on deck to read the bills, secure the building, and keep the public record accurate.

Where This Bill Stands

HJR26-1001 is currently In Committee. The latest official action came on 01/21/2026: Signed by the President of the Senate.

That means the bill is still in the committee stage. To keep moving, it would need to clear committee and then survive floor votes in both chambers.