Bill Tracker

Meghan MacKillop

Effective January 1, 2026, the bill mandates that local governments adopting or substantially amending their building codes ensure these codes meet or exceed the accessibility standards outlined in the International Building Code (IBC). This requirement extends to the Division of Fire Prevention and Control within the Department of Public Safety, particularly concerning building codes for public schools and health facilities. Additionally, the State Housing Board must ensure that construction and maintenance standards for hotels, motels, and multiple dwellings in areas without local building codes align with or surpass IBC accessibility standards.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill creates the Community Schoolyards Grant Program in the Division of Local Government (DLG) counties and school districts to partner to create park-like environments at schools that provide hands-on programming to students, enhance well-being of students and community members, and address inequities in underserved communities, specifically those affected by minerals and mineral fuels subject to severance tax. Grant recipients are awarded up to $150,000 for planning and design of a community schoolyard and up to $850,000 for the construction of these schoolyards.

$4 million is appropriated from the Local Government Severance Tax Fund for the program. The transfer must come from the portion of the Local Government Severance Tax Fund that is distributed to local governments impacted by mineral fuels and severance taxes. The money is appropriated through FY28-29. DOLA is requesting that $500,000 be appropriated to the department for implementation.

Meghan MacKillop

Under current law, certain public projects and energy sector public works projects must meet apprenticeship utilization and prevailing wage requirements, depending on the type of project, the entity contracting for the project, and the type of construction. The bill allows state agencies to utilize a project labor agreement that includes certain provisions, including dispute resolution procedures, guarantees against strikes or lockouts, and ensuring a reliable source of skilled labor.

Meghan MacKillop

Under current law, a candidate affiliated with a political party may only designate watchers for the primary election. This bill allows candidates to select watchers for general and congressional vacancy elections, and for any recount for the office of United States senator, representative in congress, and any state office or district office of state concern. If a candidate selects watchers for the central counting facility, the political party associated with that candidate cannot send different or additional watchers to the central counting facility. The political party can still send watchers to voting centers and polling locations, as well as to monitor the signature verification process in accordance with current law.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill removes local government authority to regulate open or concealed carry of handguns, including regulations by special districts and governing boards of higher education institutions. The bill also allows individuals 18 years and older, who are legally permitted to possess a handgun under federal and state law, to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. The bill changes the validity of concealed carry permits from five years to a lifetime, automatically converting existing permits (excluding temporary emergency permits) into lifetime permits. 

Meghan MacKillop

House Bill 25-1191 eliminates the vacancy committee process for filling county commissioner vacancies in Colorado. Instead, it mandates a vacancy election, with timing based on proximity to regularly scheduled elections. Candidates must meet eligibility requirements, pay a $500 filing fee, and be registered with the same party as the vacating commissioner (if applicable). Only registered voters in the commissioner’s district, affiliated with the same party or unaffiliated, can vote.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill makes a series of regulatory changes aimed at modernizing Colorado’s marijuana laws and reducing administrative burdens on both the industry and the state. The bill authorizes the use of digital employee ID cards and streamlines the process for criminal background checks, helping to simplify employment onboarding in licensed marijuana businesses. It also adjusts surveillance requirements to reduce compliance costs for licensees and updates record-keeping standards to improve efficiency. It also creates a new regulatory framework for licensed marijuana research and development facilities, enabling innovation under proper oversight. To help cover administrative expenses, regulators are now authorized to charge fees for providing copies of licensing documents. Finally, the bill includes a small reduction in state appropriations related to marijuana oversight, reflecting the expectation that these streamlined processes will generate long-term cost savings. Unless a referendum petition is filed, the law will take effect on August 6, 2025.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill strengthens transparency for metropolitan districts by requiring mailed or emailed notices for annual public meetings, hard copies of nomination forms at in-person meetings, and expanded information on district websites, including board contacts, meeting schedules, and service details. It also mandates a contact system for residents’ inquiries when staff is unavailable. Property sellers in districts formed after January 1, 2000, must provide specific disclosures and an explanation of district operations, regardless of whether the property is newly constructed.

Meghan MacKillop

The act prohibits any person, acting under color of law or otherwise, from intimidating, threatening, coercing, or attempting to do any of those things to an individual for voting, attempting to vote, urging or aiding a person to vote or attempt to vote, exercising powers or duties to administer elections, or their status as a past or present participation in election administration. The act creates a presumption of intimidation by carrying a visible firearm, imitation firearm, or toy firearm. The presumption does not apply to law enforcement officers acting in the scope of their official duties or security guards acting within the scope of their authority. A plaintiff must allege more than the possession of a holstered firearm by a law enforcement officer or security, but their possession of a firearm may be considered. The attorney general, an aggrieved individual, election official, or the secretary of state can enforce the act. An aggrieved individual can recover attorney fees and costs. As part of the relief provided, a court can enjoin a person from carrying a firearm in certain government areas and near polling places, count facilities, and ballot drop boxes. Effective: May 12, 2025.

Meghan MacKillop

Under current law, elected county officials in certain counties may elect to receive a salary that is 50% lower than the salary amount for that county official as set by law. This election must be set forth and recorded with the office of a county's clerk and recorder during the month of November. The bill allows elected county officials in any county, including district attorneys, to opt for a reduced salary or no salary at all, with an annual election submitted to the county treasurer. It also reclassifies Mesa County from category I-D to I-A, increasing elected officials' salaries starting January 1, 2029. This change offers flexibility for officials in managing their compensation while adjusting Mesa County’s pay scale to align with larger counties.

Meghan MacKillop

Current law prohibits a person licensed to sell alcohol beverages at the retail level from selling, serving, or distributing alcohol between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. The bill allows these establishments to allow customers to consume alcohol from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. on the licensed premises if they stop selling no later than 2:30 am and stop serving alcohol at 3:00 am. The bill only applies where a local government opts in. 

Meghan MacKillop

The bill modifies the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by consolidating and expanding remedies for individuals facing discrimination, particularly those with disabilities. Specifically, it:

• permits all protected classes to seek attorney’s fees and costs, actual monetary damages, noneconomic damages of up to $50,000, and fines of $5,000 per violation;
• reduces noneconomic damages by 50 percent if a defendant corrects the violation within 120 days; and
• conforms adjudication standards with the federal American Disabilities Act.

The bill also extends the deadline for filing a charge with the Colorado civil rights commission alleging discrimination in places of public accommodation or discriminatory advertising from 60 days to one year after the alleged discriminatory act occurred.

Meghan MacKillop

House Bill 25-1242 revises Colorado’s transparency laws, including the Open Meetings Law, CORA, and CCJRA. It broadens access to peace officer records, mandates public release of internal investigation records within 21 days, and extends CORA response times from 3 to 5 business days. Fees for records retrieval are capped, and additional guidance is provided for records request processes. Public employee communications, including emails, are made more accessible, impacting county governments' records management and response obligations.

Meghan MacKillop

Under current law, counties with populations of 70,000 or more can have a board of county commissioners consisting of either 3 or 5 members. If the board has 3 commissioners, they are elected from 3 districts by voters countywide. If the board has 5 commissioners, the county can be divided into 3 or 5 districts, and commissioners can be elected by district, at-large, or through a combination of both methods. This bill changes the rules for counties with populations of 250,000 or more, requiring them to have 5 commissioners representing 5 districts. These counties must select one of the following three election methods:5 commissioners residing in 5 districts, each elected solely by voters within their district; 3 commissioners residing in 3 districts elected only by voters within those districts, and 2 commissioners elected at large; and 5 commissioners elected at large using the single transferable vote method

Meghan MacKillop

The bill requires employers, including local governments, to implement protections for workers who are exposed to extreme hot and cold temperatures at the worksite, including temperature mitigation measures, rest breaks, and temperature-related injury and illness prevention plans.

Meghan MacKillop

This bill requires that an employer or the employer’s insurer use CDLE's utilization standards when responding to a request for authorization from a treating physician. If the employer or insurer fails to act in accordance with the standards, the division may deem the physician’s services as reasonable and necessary, and require payment for the services by the employer or the employer’s insurer. Additionally the bill requires an employer or insurer to bear the burden of proving that medical treatment recommended by an authorized physician is not reasonable, necessary, or related to the industry, rather than the burden being on the claimant. The bill also repeals the requirement that an employer provide a list of health care providers from which an injured worker may select to attend to an injury, and repeals the related provisions
with respect to geographic location of providers and requirements when the employer is a health care provider that could treat the injury “in house.” Instead, this bill requires that, within seven days of being notified of a workplace injury, an employer or insurer notify the injured employee of the employee’s right to designate a treating physician and where to access the list of Level I and Level II accredited physicians maintained by the CDLE. If the employee fails to designate a primary physician, the employer or insurer may select from the list of accredited physicians.

Meghan MacKillop

House Bill 25-1315, as amended, changes how legislative vacancies in the Colorado General Assembly are filled and alters the structure and operation of political party vacancy committees. The bill expands the number of precinct committeepersons elected during caucuses from two to four. However, newly appointed precinct committeepersons must wait at least ninety-one days before they can participate in filling a legislative vacancy, limiting last-minute appointments meant to influence vacancy decisions.

The bill requires that if a vacancy occurs in the state House or Senate, and the respective central committee fails to appoint a vacancy committee, the default vacancy committee must now include not only the central committee members but also any county commissioners residing in the district who are members of the same political party. This expansion significantly increases the role of county officials in the political appointment process.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill creates a new type of vacancy election for county commissioner vacancies that occur in a county with a population of at least 50,000 and the commissioner is affiliated with a major political party. If a vacancy occurs after July 31 of an even-numbered year, and before July 31 of an odd-numbered year, a vacancy committee selects a candidate to serve until the next odd-year November election. A vacancy election is then held as a part of the district’s odd-year November coordinated election. Only unaffiliated voters and voters affiliated with the vacating commissioner’s political party may vote in the vacancy election, unless the political party votes to open the election to all voters. Candidates for the vacancy election are required to submit a nominating statement and signed petition to their county clerk. The winner of the vacancy election serves until the next November General Election. Candidates in vacancy election are subject to campaign finance limitations and required election disclosures.

Meghan MacKillop

SB25-001 implements provisions of the Federal Voting Rights Act at the state level and adds substantial new components, prohibiting actions that create or intend to create disparities in voter participation, access, or political engagement for protected classes. It bans election methods (including the structure of offices, qualifications for office, and voting methods) that dilute these groups' influence and bars voting qualifications based on gender identity or expression. The bill allows individuals or organizations to file civil suits alleging voter suppression or discrimination, with the Attorney General empowered to investigate or intervene. It requires state-funded disability service providers to display voting notices before elections, mandates multilingual ballots for counties and municipalities, and establishes a statewide election database to collect and maintain election-related data, requiring municipalities and counties to submit post-election information.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill gives authority to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and Department of Law to enforce tenant protection laws and sue landlords over violations of certain state housing laws. The bill similarly empowers cities and counties to enforce tenant-landlord laws, a change from the current law, in which tenants generally must fight court battles on their own when they face substandard living conditions or other violations of state housing laws.

Meghan MacKillop

Effective September 1, 2025, the bill requires a form issued by the state or a local government that requests that the individual completing the form disclose the individual's race or ethnicity to include, in addition to spaces for any other racial or ethnic categories required by the federal office of management and budget, a space to indicate if the individual's race or ethnicity is Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill proposes expanding the definition of obstructing government operations to include the repeated, unjustifiable contacting of public safety emergency call centers or entities after a warning has been issued. This expansion aims to address the misuse of emergency services, ensuring that resources are available for genuine emergencies.

Meghan MacKillop

Current Colorado laws do not always expressly provide whether the laws apply to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe (Tribe). The bill creates a rule of construction that a law does not apply to the Tribe unless the law clearly and expressly states that the law applies to the Tribe. The bill further clarifies that:

• If the general assembly enacts a new or materially amends an existing law that is silent as to its application to the Tribe or to tribally controlled entities; purports to apply statewide; or grants a governmental agency or entity civil, criminal, or regulatory authority, it is presumed that the law does not apply within the exterior boundaries of the reservation to the Tribe, its officials and employees acting in their official capacity, a tribally controlled entity, or to tribal lands; and

• The civil and criminal laws of the state are presumed to apply within a municipality to Indians and persons other than Indians; except that the bill does not limit the concurrent jurisdiction of the Tribe over the conduct of Indians within a municipality.

The bill reinforces these rules of construction do not preclude or limit the authority of the Tribe’s governing bodies from requesting inclusion in legislation pending before the General Assembly, abrogate the sovereign immunity of the state or the Tribe, or affect the rights of the state or the Tribe to pursue legal remedies.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill amends the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) by excluding assistive communication records from the definition of a "public record" and extending response times for most requests from 3 to 5 working days, with possible extensions up to 10 days. It requires public entities to post CORA-related policies and procedures and mandates that custodians provide available records within the response period when the responsible party is unavailable. The bill also allows custodians to flag and charge for requests made for business solicitation, strengthens protections for student information, clarifies fee prepayment requirements, and ensures electronic payment options for public records requests. Additionally, it permits combining similar requests within 14 days for fee calculations.

Meghan MacKillop

This bill proposes several modifications to the management of the Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA) by its Board of Trustees, including ensuring that board meetings are subject to Colorado open meetings laws establishing term limits for both elected and appointed board members, and creating financial transparency requirements.

Meghan MacKillop

The bill proposes several modifications to Colorado's campaign finance regulations under the "Fair Campaign Practices Act." Key provisions include: a year-round prohibition on registered lobbyists from contributing to political campaigns, an expansion of the definition of "electioneering communication", modifying disclosure and reporting requirements for political donations and contributions, and increased transparency for political action committees. 

Meghan MacKillop

This bill aims to reduce state regulation in several state agencies. The bill prohibits state agencies from imposing personal qualification requirements for professions or occupations unless they can prove that such requirements are necessary and narrowly tailored to address a legitimate public health, safety, or welfare concern. By July 1, 2026, agencies must review and determine whether existing occupational regulations should be repealed or amended. The bill also repeals several energy and environment regulatory programs, including the industrial and manufacturing clean air grant program, cannabis resource optimization cash fund, community electric bicycle access program, and school bus electrification grant program. It also eliminates the Energy Code Board, model energy codes, and multiple grant programs created by House Bill 22-1362; repeals the Air Quality Enterprise, created by Senate Bill 20-204; ends certain air quality control penalties established by Senate Bill 20-218; and repeals air toxics fenceline and community-based monitoring requirements for covered facilities, established by House Bill 21-1189.