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) in the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). The grants are for local education providers, boards of cooperative education services, and tribal organizations 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, particularly 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. Recipients of construction funds do not need to have received a planning and design grant if they provide appropriate documents in their application.

$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

This bill introduces new requirements for apprenticeship participation in public construction projects. The bill also mandates that contractors and subcontractors performing mechanical, electrical, plumbing work, or employing construction laborers on covered projects must participate in a registered apprenticeship program that meets specified graduation requirements. Notably, the bill allows counties to opt into the state’s apprenticeship utilization and prevailing wage requirements. 

Meghan MacKillop

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

House Bill 25-1209 modernizes marijuana industry regulations, including digital employee ID cards, streamlined criminal background checks, and updated surveillance standards. It permits promotional events at licensed stores, increases purchase limits for retail marijuana from one to two ounces, and establishes a process for marijuana research and development facilities. Additionally, the bill revises record-keeping and allows the collection of fees for licensing document copies.

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

House Bill 25-1225 defines and prohibits actions intended to intimidate, threaten, or coerce individuals involved in election-related activities, including voters, election workers, and officials. It establishes a rebuttable presumption of intimidation when firearms are visibly displayed during election-related interactions. The bill provides enforcement mechanisms through civil actions by affected individuals, election officials, the secretary of state, or the attorney general. It complements existing laws, aiming to protect election integrity and participants

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 consolidates damages provisions for individuals with disabilities who experience an unfair housing practice, discrimination in places of public accommodation, or a violation of their civil rights with the general protections under the Colorado anti-discrimination act (CADA) for all protected classes. With the consolidation of these provisions, the allowable remedies under CADA include a court order requiring compliance with the applicable section of CADA, actual monetary damages, attorney fees and costs, damages for noneconomic loss or injury, and a statutory fine of $5,000 per aggrieved party and per violation. An award of damages for noneconomic loss or injury is capped at $50,000, and if a defendant is a small business, it is entitled to a 50% reduction of a noneconomic loss or injury award if it corrects the violation within 30 days of the complaint being filed and did not knowingly or intentionally make or cause to be made the violation.

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

Grants local governments the authority to seek damages from landlords allowing buildings to fall into disrepair and allows local governments to apply to a district court for the appointment of a receiver to operate a residential property. Also generally strengthens the attorney general’s power to initiate legal actions to enforce state landlord-tenant laws around habitability.

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

The bill addresses the applicability of state laws to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and its reservation by establishing that, unless explicitly stated, Colorado laws are presumed not to apply to the Tribe, its members, tribally controlled entities, or their lands within the reservation. The bill clarifies that state laws do apply to non-Indians and their conduct on lands within the reservation where the Tribe or its entities hold no interest, as well as to both Indians and non-Indians within municipalities located entirely within the reservation. The bill also emphasizes that it does not limit the Tribe's authority to consent to the application of state laws, nor does it abrogate the sovereign immunity of either the state or the Tribe. Additionally, it preserves the rights of all parties to pursue legal remedies regarding the application of state laws.

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.