Short narrated tours of Colorado Works Better, one per topic. Every figure spoken is read off the page it shows, with the label the page gives it. Each one runs about a minute.
Chapter 1 · 0:52
What Colorado Works Better is, and the Honesty Framework
The script
Colorado Works Better is a free public site.
It shows what the State of Colorado spends this year, and where every $100 of it goes.
The state's enacted budget is $49.6B, about $8,243 for every Colorado resident.
Every figure carries a label: FACT with its source, or CALC with the formula shown.
When the state has not published a number, the field stays blank, on purpose.
A plausible number with no source is worse than an empty field.
Read it yourself, on a phone or a laptop, at colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 2 · 1:25
Follow Your Dollar: ZIP 80202, sources, then uses
The script
Follow Your Dollar estimates what one household pays the state, and where it lands.
Type a ZIP code and the page names the county.
ZIP 80202 is Denver County.
Nothing you type is sent or stored. The math runs in your browser, and nothing leaves it.
The income starts at the Colorado median, $97,113, a FACT from the Census.
Say this household files jointly and has three cars.
That household pays in about $3,467 a year, or $289 a month.
Most of it is the flat 4.4% income tax, $2,887; then sales tax, gasoline and vehicle fees.
Where it lands: $1,437 of it goes to health care, the largest line at 41.45%.
Move the numbers yourself, at colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 3 · 1:37
The statewide view: the budget, the $100 receipt, who pays, the map and I-70 Floyd Hill
The script
The state's whole budget is $49.6B: about $8,243 per resident, or $136 million every day.
Of every $100 the state spends, Health care takes $41.45.
K-12 education takes $15.87, and Higher education takes $13.23.
Who pays for it: General Fund 35.0%, Federal funds 31.0%, Cash funds 28.2%.
Every state project over $10 million has a pin here; the largest circle is I-70 Floyd Hill.
I-70 Floyd Hill Improvement Project: $905M, underway, source grade A.
First estimated at $700M in 2020; the 2025 estimate is $905M, up $205M, or 29%.
Every figure links to its record, at colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 4 · 0:59
Follow a project, and rate it
The script
Open a project record and two things are yours to do. First, follow it.
Enter an email, and a confirmation link comes first; one click unsubscribes.
We keep your address and the fact that this is followed, and nothing else about you.
Second, rate it. How well does this project use public money?
Five answers, from wasteful to essential, and room for a comment.
Your rating is stored without your name or any identifier, and counted into a total.
No rating and no total is published here. Comments are grouped into themes for leaders.
Follow the projects that matter to you, at colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 5 · 1:07
What the state does not publish: a blank, a day count, and a records request
The script
Some fields on this site are blank. This one is spend-to-date.
The state does not publish spending per project, so the field is left blank, not estimated.
It fills when the state's own expenditure records can be matched to projects.
At the ZIP-code level the box stays empty: the state publishes nothing at that grain.
The state's own transparency system, TOPS, was last updated Nov 18, 2022.
Colorado Open Records Act requests, filed by interested parties, are the only other way to obtain that data.
The rule is on the Honesty Framework page: blank, on purpose, with the reason on file.
Until the state publishes it, the gap itself is the finding. colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 6 · 1:27
Before It's Law: one bill, its cost, and the roll call
The script
Before It's Law lists 7,310 Colorado bills and has read the fiscal note on 7,078 of them.
Filter by session, by outcome, by subject, or by whether the estimate moved.
Or type a bill number, and the list narrows to one.
HB26-1113: Modifications to Elections, 2026 Regular Session.
The fiscal note read $0 at first, and $10,000 at the last revision.
Each fiscal note is dated and linked, so you can open the note itself.
Your ZIP is looked up in your browser. Nothing is sent or stored.
Type it, and the page marks your own House and Senate districts.
Your districts, and the ones this ZIP also reaches, are marked in the roll calls below.
Then the roll call: every member, and how each voted on every recorded vote.
Look up a bill you care about, at colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 7 · 1:48
Questions: one fact in context, a labeled answer, and Ask WB
The script
Questions people ask about Colorado, each with one labeled answer.
Is anyone out of work right now? Colorado's unemployment rate was 3.9% in May 2026.
The questions narrow to one topic. Switch to education.
Do kids still graduate? 85.6% of the class of 2025 graduated in four years.
That is just under the last published national figure, 86.6%, from 2022.
The chip says FACT, and the source is named right beside it.
Share it: WorksBetter writes the post, the link and the card, and you pick the platform.
Ask WB lists hundreds of measures by subject, every one sourced, for you to explore.
Find the one that matters to you, at colorado.worksbetter.org
Chapter 8 · 1:00
The weekly brief, and your county
The script
Every Thursday, a short brief reports what changed in the public record that week.
If little changed that week, the brief says so. It never pads a quiet week.
The three most recent briefs are on the home page; every earlier one is a link away.
Pick your county, add an email, and one report a week comes built around it.
Every brief stays up, at the address it was published at.
Type your ZIP, and this week's changes narrow to your county.
Denver County: the brief now leads with what moved there.
Watch your money where you live, at colorado.worksbetter.org