Hon. Jessie Ulibarri

Hon. Jessie Ulibarri is the Co-Executive Director of the State Innovation Exchange (SiX), a national resource and strategy center for state legislators that work to move bold and equitable public policy. As a queer person of color, as a parent, and as someone who grew up in a trailer park, Jessie viscerally understands the demands the progressive movement makes of our elected officials for radical, transformative change. As a former Colorado State Senator, he knows how challenging it is to deliver on those needs, with little institutional support for public leaders in a system that is designed for slow, incremental change. With this dual view, Jessie has dedicated his career to building progressive power from the states outward. Over the last two decades, as a legislator and an organizer, Jessie has passed hundreds of economic, racial, and gender justice policies into state law, including enacting wage theft protections, establishing workplace protections for pregnant workers, curbing police misconduct, modernizing Colorado’s election system, implementing driver’s licenses for undocumented residents, outlawing solitary confinement in state prisons, combatting climate change through clean energy technologies, and making the largest investment in affordable housing in Colorado’s history.