Dave Young (Colorado politician)

David L. Young is an American politician and the current Treasurer of Colorado. He served as a Democratic member of the Colorado House of Representatives, representing District 50 from the time of his appointment on July 28, 2011 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Jim Riesberg until his term ended and he took office as State Treasurer in early 2019. He won a second term as state treasurer in 2022.

Education
Young earned his BS in mathematics from Colorado State University and his MA from the University of Colorado.

Career
Young was an educator, teaching math and technology in the Greeley Weld 6 School District at Heath Junior High in Greeley from 1975 to 1999. He worked for two years as an information architect with iXL, an international Web design firm, and as a coder for a small programming company in Colorado Springs that performed DoD programming for NORAD. He worked as a senior instructor for the Information and Learning Technologies program at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Colorado House of Representatives (2011-2019)
Young was appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2011 and was elected to a full term in 2012. He represented the 50th district, encompassing Greeley, Evans and Garden City. He was reelected in 2014 and 2016.

After the 2013 September floods, Young was appointed co-chairman of the Flood Disaster Study Committee. Members of the bipartisan committee toured communities damaged by the flooding and created legislation to help homeowners and communities rebuild and recover. Young was the prime sponsor of legislation creating a grant program to repair damaged water and wastewater facilities.

In 2013, Young was one of the prime sponsors of bipartisan legislation creating an Advanced Industries Accelerator program for startup companies in Colorado. In 2014 he was a prime sponsor of a bill extending the program after its successful first year. During 2014 he was also a prime sponsor of a bill creating a tax break for small businesses with less than $15,000 in business personal property.

Young crafted legislation to overhaul the state's Medicaid program.

In November 2014, Rep. Young was appointed by Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst as a member of the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and was named as chair of the House Appropriations Committee. He served in those positions until November 2018.

Colorado State Treasurer (2018-present)
Young ran for Colorado State Treasurer in the 2018 election. He won the Democratic primary versus first-time candidate Bernard Douthit, who ran as a progressive candidate. In the November 6, 2018 general election, Young defeated Republican nominee Brian Watson.

On January 8, 2019, Young was sworn in as Colorado State Treasurer. In June 2019, Young's wife, Mary Young, was appointed by a vacancy committee to serve in his former state house seat following the resignation of his successor, Rochelle Galindo. In the 2022 Colorado State Treasurer election, Young won a second term as state treasurer.

Elections

 * 2012: Young was unopposed for the June 26, 2012 Democratic Primary, winning with 1,494 votes; and won the November 6, 2012 General election with 14,937 votes (60.0%) against Republican nominee Skip Carlson.
 * 2018: Young was the Democratic candidate for State Treasurer, having won the primary election in June 2018.