Meet the Gatekeepers: The People Actually Running the Colorado Senate in 2026

The Bottom Line

This isn't a new tax, a zoning regulation, or a sweeping mandate—it's the internal housekeeping resolution that officially hires the staff for the Colorado Senate. If you've ever wondered who actually reads the bills aloud, guards the chamber doors, or analyzes the state budget behind the scenes, this roster is your definitive cheat sheet to the hidden machinery of our state government.

What This Bill Actually Does

Senate Resolution 26-002 is the legislative equivalent of turning the lights on and unlocking the doors at the Capitol. At the start of the Second Regular Session of the 75th General Assembly, the Senate must formally appoint and employ the people who keep the legislative process moving. Lawmakers may be the ones casting the votes, but without this specific list of nonpartisan clerks, partisan policy analysts, and security personnel, the entire lawmaking apparatus in Colorado would immediately grind to a halt. This resolution is simply a roster—an official sign-off on the names and job titles of the individuals tasked with operating the Senate floor and advising its thirty-five elected members.

To understand this bill, you have to look at the two distinct sides of Capitol staffing it authorizes. First, there is the nonpartisan front desk staff. Led by the Secretary of the Senate, Esther van Mourik, this team is responsible for the strict, neutral mechanics of passing a law. You have the Reading Clerk, Justin Shofler, who literally reads the bills and amendments into the official record. You have the Journal Clerk and Calendar Clerk, who ensure every motion, vote, and schedule change is documented with absolute precision. Crucially, the resolution appoints Enrolling Clerks, whose job is to meticulously proofread passed legislation to ensure the final document perfectly matches the amendments adopted by the lawmakers.

Second, the resolution formally hires the partisan staff and chamber security. It appoints the Chief Sergeant-at-Arms, Ted Abad, and his deputies, who maintain physical order in the chamber, manage public gallery access, and enforce the rules of decorum during heated debates. On the political side, the resolution lists the Chiefs of Staff, Communications Directors, and Policy Analysts for both the Majority and Minority parties. These are the specialized researchers who digest 500-page property tax bills or complex criminal justice reforms, distilling them into actionable briefs so the elected Senators actually know what they are voting on when the buzzer sounds.

What It Means for You

You might be wondering why a regular Colorado resident should care about a list of internal state employees. While this resolution doesn't change your income tax rate or fix the potholes in your neighborhood, it maps out exactly who to talk to when you want those things fixed. If you are a parent frustrated by school funding, a commuter angry about transit, or a citizen advocating for your civil rights, understanding this organizational chart is your biggest advantage. When you call your state senator's office, you rarely speak to the lawmaker directly. You are far more likely to get the Constituent Engagement Manager—a role officially authorized in this very document.

Furthermore, the people listed in this resolution are the ultimate guardians of governmental transparency. If you have ever streamed a legislative hearing online or watched from the gallery, your experience was entirely managed by the individuals appointed here. The Sergeant-at-Arms is the person who will guide you to the microphone when it is your turn to testify on a bill you care about. The Docket Clerk is the reason you can log onto the state website and see exactly which committee is hearing a bill and when. Their efficiency dictates whether the public is actually kept in the loop or left in the dark during the rapid-fire lawmaking process.

Finally, it comes down to the simple concept of getting what you pay for. The nonpartisan clerks listed in this resolution, such as the Chief Enrolling Clerk, are your last line of defense against sloppy legislating. If a lawmaker makes a mistake in drafting a bill—perhaps accidentally changing a criminal penalty from a misdemeanor to a felony through a typo—it is this team of readers and clerks who catch the error before it becomes the law of the land. They ensure that the chaotic, highly political debates on the Senate floor are translated into accurate, legally binding text that won't result in endless lawsuits for the state.

What It Means for Your Business

For Colorado business owners, contractors, and industry advocates, this resolution should be taped to the wall of your office. It is the definitive organizational chart of the people who actually draft, analyze, and finalize the regulations governing your industry. While lawmakers grab the headlines, the Senior Budget & Policy Analysts appointed in this bill are the ones actually writing the amendments that could either exempt your small business from a costly new reporting requirement or pull you directly into its crosshairs. Lobbyists and trade associations spend the vast majority of their time educating these specific staffers, not just the elected officials.

Consider the mechanics of how commercial legislation evolves. When a massive overhaul of state labor law or commercial zoning is debated, it gets chopped up, amended, and rewritten on the fly. The Enrolling Clerks and Assignable Clerks authorized by this resolution are responsible for stitching that Frankenstein monster of a bill back together. If an amendment delays the effective date of a new corporate tax by one year to give you time to prepare, you are relying entirely on the precision of these clerks to ensure that date is accurately recorded in the final statute. A single clerical error in a tax bracket or compliance deadline can cost the Colorado business community millions of dollars before it can be fixed in the next session.

This roster also highlights the vital strategic divide between the Majority and Minority staffs. Depending on which way the political winds are blowing, a savvy business owner needs to know who is running policy for each faction. By officially naming the Policy Director - Minority and the Chief of Staff - Majority, this resolution gives you the exact names of the gatekeepers. If you are trying to propose a pilot program, secure a state contract, or push back against what you view as overregulation, you need to engage these specific analysts before a bill even reaches a committee hearing. By the time a bill is being read aloud on the floor, the policy analysts have already made their recommendations.

Follow the Money

Because this is an internal administrative resolution rather than a new statewide policy, it does not come with a standalone fiscal note that impacts local governments or requires a new tax hike. The salaries and operational expenses for the staff listed in this bill—from the Print Shop Clerk to the Secretary of the Senate—are already baked into the state’s annual Legislative Appropriation Bill, which funds the legislative branch out of Colorado's General Fund.

Ultimately, this is the baseline overhead cost of maintaining a functional democracy in Colorado. While the state government employs tens of thousands of people, this relatively small, highly specialized group of clerks, analysts, and sergeants represents the core infrastructure required to draft, debate, and pass the state’s multi-billion dollar budget. Investing in competent, full-time professional staff ensures that our elected officials aren't forced to rely exclusively on outside special interests or corporate lobbyists to read and analyze complex legislation, saving taxpayers significant money by preventing poorly drafted laws and the costly litigation that inevitably follows.

Where This Bill Stands

SR26-002 is currently In Committee. The latest official action came on 01/15/2026: 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.