Newsletter | September 2025

As the hiring freeze across state agencies begins, we need to talk about what that means for state workers, and all the Coloradans we serve every day.

In case you haven’t heard, the hiring freeze kicked in on August 27th and will last through December 31st. There are a number of exemptions to this hiring freeze already, and Colorado WINS is working hard to create pathways for new exemptions based on necessary specialized skills and critical staffing levels.

This hiring freeze isn’t coming out of nowhere: it’s a direct response to the $1.2 billion shortfall in Colorado’s budget created by the federal budget, called H.R. 1. 

This past week, the State Legislature also reconvened for a special session to address this shortfall. You’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve protected the raises we’ve won: they will not be impacted by the budget shortfall.

However, as this hiring freeze takes effect, state workers have a role to play: making sure that state services aren’t shortchanged as inefficient, when in reality, we’re struggling with massive staffing shortages that slow down state service.

This is the strategy of those who see public servants as the enemy: They want to whittle away the resources state workers need to do their jobs, then blame them when the quality of services suffers. This is all in service of eroding public services out of existence to profit big businesses.

State workers in every corner of the state need to speak up about why Colorado needs state workers. If you’re ready to share your story, let us know here.