COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER: Special Session Updates

​Special session is in full swing as day two comes to a close — complete with a showdown on artificial intelligence, and even a potential censure looming. 
 
Yesterday, the Senate finished committee work and second reading for all bills originating in the Senate, with the exception of Senate Bill 4, Majority Leader Rodriguez’s artificial intelligence bill. Senate Bill 4 passed out of its first committee and was sent to the Appropriations committee with a fiscal note of $10 million. As of this evening, it has yet to be considered by the Appropriations committee. Other than that, the Senate finished third reading on all the other bills originating in the Senate today, and will begin hearing House bills in committee tomorrow. 
 
The House only did committee work yesterday. This morning, they made it through two out of the six remaining bills originating in the House on second reading. This afternoon, the House broke for the Appropriations committee and the Health and Human Services committee. This evening, the House will be returning to the floor to finish second reading for the remaining bills on the calendar from this morning.
 
Of note, House Bill 1008, which is Representative Lindstedt’s competing artificial intelligence bill (with a fiscal note that saves the state money), was passed out of the House Appropriations committee on a vote of 8-3 and is now headed to the House floor for second reading, likely tomorrow. A strike below amendment was added in Appropriations to make the bill solely extend the implementation date of Senate Bill 205 to October 2026. 
 
In other news, the House Democrat caucus has been floating the idea of pursuing a censure vote on Representative Armagost, who came under fire earlier this month for mocking a Democrat colleague. Last month, Armagost had already announced plans to resign his seat in September to spend time with family and move to Arizona. 
 
Armagost resigned effective immediately yesterday to avoid a possible censure. Although it’s unclear whether House rules allow for a censure of a former legislator, some of the more progressive members are accusing Minority Leader Pugliese of not taking appropriate action against Armagost, and therefore calling for a censure vote of Pugliese as well. 
 
Read more – Top Republican in Colorado House disputes Democrats’ claim that she didn’t report who took photo at heart of controversy
 
Read more – Republican state representative resigns, sparing him from censure by Democrats in Colorado House
 
All this to say, we might be seeing some fireworks under the Gold Dome this weekend if tension continues to rise. Both chambers will work tomorrow, and likely Sunday as well. We’ll continue to provide updates, and we still expect the special session to wrap up early next week.
 
For those of you who get one, have a good weekend!