In 2025, the Levin Center conducted a study of all 50 states to examine how legislatures ensure government programs work effectively for citizens. Factors such as legislative oversight committees, routine engagement with executive agencies, collection of casework data, digital transparency tools, and user-centered policy evaluation were of particular importance. The full report can be found here.
State Summary #
Colorado’s SMART Act “provides the framework for a customer-focused approach to the delivery of government goods and services.” It uses performance-based budgeting in which most state entities include a performance plan with their budget request and are subject to routine monitoring of performance and progress toward goals by the Legislature.
The state of Colorado also has several, highly active oversight committees with most committee hearings allotting dedicated time to receiving public testimony. They also prominently feature a link on the Legislature’s homepage for “public testimony options”. Here, users can choose one of three options for providing input: in person, remotely via Zoom, or submit written testimony. Once users choose their preferred method of communication, they are taken through a step-by-step process to submit their input. In addition, both the House and Senate websites have a link under “Information for the Public” called “Participation in Legislative Hearings” that gives users directions to get to where meetings take place and describes the registration process for providing testimony. Despite the several links regarding testimony available, there does not appear to be a place to register for in-person testimony online. The omission of online registration is a possible explanation for why only half of the oversight committees surveyed had evidence of in-person public testimony occurring in the allotted time on each agenda.
