His platform was three pronged: cut taxes, repair Colorado's aging infrastructure, and continue school accountability reforms.

Called TRANS, the $1.7 billion bonding initiative accelerated future federal transportation dollars on 28 road projects across the state.

Through an innovative design-build concept that greatly reduced construction times, T-REX was finished in less than five years, and came in under budget.

[6] Owens based his education reforms on expanding and empowering the already-established Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP), which had been created during the administration of Democratic predecessor Roy Romer.

Owens won reelection in the 2002 governor's race by defeating Democratic nominee, Boulder businessman Rollie Heath, 64%–32%—the greatest majority in Colorado history.

[8] Many western slope residents blamed Owens for driving away tourists with the press's truncated version of the quote ("All of Colorado is burning").

The referendum failed to win a single county in the state, as opponents successfully savaged the measure as a "blank check".

Owens angered some conservatives by working with moderate Republican and Democratic legislators to craft and endorse what became known as Referendum C, essentially a 5-year timeout from TABOR's spending restrictions.

National conservative leaders such as Grover Norquist and Dick Armey publicly criticized the measure and Owens’ support thereof.

He debated public policy in person including well publicized debates with Democratic Chair Howard Dean on the Patriot Act before the ACLU National Convention in San Francisco; with Dr. Larry Summers at the Aspen Institute; with former Illinois Governor George Ryan on the death penalty at Michigan State University; with ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero on the Patriot Act at Northwestern State University; and with Justice Adrian Hardiman, the former Chief Justice of the Irish Supreme Court on the death penalty at the University College Dublin, Ireland.

Owens was a regular participant and panelist at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, appearing in 2005 on a panel debating U.S. foreign policy with Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd.

Owens currently serves as a senior director at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP where he works on public policy and regulatory issues.

[10][11] Owens formerly served as chairman of the board for Credit Bank of Moscow[12][13] (MOEX:CBOM), but stepped down on February 27, 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.