If only the new Governor’s Competitiveness Council, launched this week, could cure what ails Colorado’s slumping business climate.

Coming so late in the game — after lame-duck Gov. Jared Polis’ last legislative session — the council’s prospects for honing the state’s dulled competitive edge seem dubious. 

Not because the impressive lineup of respected Colorado business and economic-development figures named to its executive committee won’t come up with sound recommendations — but because Polis won’t be around to implement them.

At best, it’s a Hail Mary. More likely, it’s the hastily cobbled-together afterthought it appears to be. 

Maybe it’s also an implicit apology from Polis for presiding over eight years of ever-more-left-leaning legislatures ruled by his fellow Democrats, who turned the screws on our state’s job creators year after year. 

Polis laudably struck some blows against his party’s anti-business wing. But he also signed a host of business-breaking laws, helping drive Colorado downward on every major ranking among the states as a place to invest, do business and live. This month, Colorado’s ranking fell on CNBC’s widely followed “America’s Top States for Business” list, dropping 14 spots this year — from No. 11 to No. 25 — the state’s largest downward shift on record.

As evidence mounts that Colorado’s onetime appeal to business investment is ebbing, the term-limited governor — in the final months of his tenure — is calling in the experts to make repairs.

“The Council will bring together the public and private sectors to analyze the current business landscape and develop a shared vision for the future,” the Polis administration promised in a news release Wednesday.

“The Council will build on work underway to solicit input from Colorado’s business community and economic development partners from across the state in partnership with the statewide Economic Development Council of Colorado,” the release announced.

Colorado’s 8th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans could spare the council the task of reinventing the wheel. The first-term congressman sent Polis a letter this month outlining exactly what’s wrong and needs fixing.

“Under the direction of your administration and Denver’s Democrats, Colorado has become the sixth most heavily regulated state in the country, and small-business owners and their employees in my district are feeling it every day,” Evans wrote. 

Evans cited some of the many bills Polis has signed in recent years that have served to knock Colorado out of the running as a place to do business. Among them are one that levied state taxes on overtime; another that imposed fees on diesel fuel, deliveries and transportation services. There’s a 10-cent fee for plastic bags.

“These laws have harmed small-business owners and prevented regional economic growth,” Evans wrote. “Many employers are now being forced to operate with smaller staff and tighter margins because they simply cannot keep up with the rising costs imposed by your state government.”

In other words, revisit and revise the regulations that imposed burden upon burden on the businesses that historically have created the state’s jobs.

The administration’s news release says the council’s findings and recommendations “will be outlined in a strategic roadmap intended to directly inform the state’s economic priorities and policies so Colorado remains a top destination for business growth, investment, and talent. This report will be shared with all gubernatorial candidates as well as the state legislature.”

But with Polis out of the picture, will anyone in power listen? Will his final handiwork on the subject serve as triage — or last rites — for the state’s business climate?