The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 28 that a city in Oregon can ticket homeless people for sleeping in public spaces, a decision expected to impact how the lawsuit challenging the City of Boulder’s camping ban plays out.
Johnson v. City of Grants Pass claimed the city violated the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment by giving homeless people citations for sleeping outside in public when there wasn’t shelter available. Justices voted 6-3 in favor of Grants Pass.
Earlier this year, Boulder County District Court Judge Robert Gunning paused the ACLU’s similar case challenging Boulder’s camping ban, saying the Grants Pass ruling would be “of great precedential value.” While the Supreme Court’s ruling doesn’t guarantee a certain outcome in the local suit, it’s expected to have significant implications for how cities like Boulder address camping in public spaces.
“The City of Boulder will address the Grants Pass decision in our filings with the court in our own camping ban lawsuit,” City of Boulder spokesperson Shannon Aulabaugh wrote in an email to Boulder Weekly in response to the ruling.
In a press release, executive director of ACLU Colorado Deborah Richardson said the organization expects “the Colorado courts to come to the correct conclusion under our state Constitution.”
Xcel submits wildfire mitigation plan
Xcel Energy submitted a $1.9 billion 2025-2027 wildfire mitigation plan to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on June 27 to reduce risk associated with its electrical equipment. The company proposed a series of investments like adding weather stations near power lines, tripling the number of AI cameras for smoke detection, burying certain power lines and growing its internal wildfire risk team.
The plan comes after the utility preemptively shut off power to 55,000 customers in the Front Range in early April, including to people in Boulder County, for the first time in Colorado history because of wildfire risk.
The PUC will review the plan and the public will have the chance to weigh in. If approved as submitted, a typical residential bill would increase by about $9 per month starting Jan. 1, 2028 to pay for the plan.
In other news…
• A district judge rejected requests from Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy to dismiss a lawsuit filed by multiple local governments, including the City of Boulder and Boulder County, that seeks to hold the companies responsible for the costs of climate-related harms like floods and wildfires. The ruling represents one of the first times a climate accountability case survived a motion to dismiss, as CPR reported more than 20 state and local governments have filed similar lawsuits. The case will now go to trial.
• The infamous 23-foot-long hot dog called the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile visited a Boulder Safeway last Friday, the Daily Camera reported.Shaped like a hot dog on a bun with wheels, these vehicles have been cruisin’ around the country since 1936. The vehicle will wrap up its time in the Centennial State on July 4 in the Park Hill Parade. Track the Wienermobiles: bit.ly/wienermobiles
• Officials are temporarily banning fires on public lands in unincorporated areas of western Boulder County ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend due to lack of moisture and high temperatures. Fires are still allowed on permanent fire pits, like those within certain established campgrounds or private land. The restriction will remain until fire-prone conditions have changed.
