COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER

Introduction
 
The 2025 legislative session – technically the First Regular Session of the 75th General Assembly – is officially over. Calling it the 75th General Assembly makes it sound more like the Hunger Games, but considering the fact that this session was largely about fighting over scarce resources it’s probably fitting. 
 
2025 was certainly the year of the budget cuts. A deficit that kept growing to over a billion dollars loomed large over the session and kept a lot of bills in check. The legislature did still manage to introduce 657 bills. The final breakdown was 335 House Bills and 322 Senate Bills. The Senate nearly matched the House number despite being half its size because all of the budget bills started in the Senate this year. 
 
The end of session newsletter is a long one so here’s a rundown of what follows. First, the overarching themes and overall takeaways from the 2025 session. Then a breakdown of what happened with artificial intelligence at the end of the session. And then sections on several of the major topics for this session, including: budget cuts, criminal justice, TABOR, housing, education, agriculture, business, health care, and the bills that took a long time this session. 
 
Themes & Overall Takeaways
 
In addition to budget cuts there were several other important themes and takeaways from the 2025 session. This was the first session after the 2024 election where Republicans saw gains nearly everywhere across the county but remained near superminority in Colorado. Large Democratic majorities, a Democratic Governor (who wants to run for President), and a Democratic Attorney General who is running for Governor necessarily meant a substantial part of this session was going to be about fighting against the Trump administration. 
 
The issues that took up the most amount of committee and floor time this session were all related to that theme. The controversial immigration bill, the bills on transgender issues, and gun bills.
 
And the federal government will continue to be the theme if they follow through with cutting Medicaid and there is a special session to make even more state budget cuts. 
 
Governor Polis, in his penultimate year as governor, was another theme of the session. Next year he will be a full lame duck and this year he was just lame duck light. At one point it looked like there could be two veto overrides, which hardly ever happen, but both ended up fizzling out. 
 
However, the Governor’s influence once again loomed large on numerous things this session. One of the biggest is the likely veto of the Labor Peace Act that he has been signaling all session. And the Governor is likely to veto several other bills over the next month as well. Plus all of the changes to bills he forced and he was successful in luring the Sundance Film Festival using state tax credits.
 
But on the flipside, the Governor couldn’t even get one of his big priorities introduced late in the session (the much talked about “Clean Energy Planning for 2040). That defeat, coupled with the veto override talk, shows that in year seven the Governor’s power is still strong but is starting to wane. 
 
In the end, the budget cuts were just such a prominent theme they swallowed up a lot of the session. The cuts were deep and far reaching, basically touching on every single part of the budget. The Joint Budget Committee agonized and delayed over making all the cuts necessary to balance the budget. And the fear is next year is likely to also be about budget cuts but they used up all the easier cuts this year. That, and next year will be about several elected officials trying to pass the Elect me in 2026 to ___ Act. 
 
Artificial Intelligence
 
On the second to last day of legislative session, the House attempted to address needed fixes to last year’s artificial intelligence bill, Senate Bill 205, at the request of Governor Polis and Attorney General Weiser. Last year, Governor Polis prefaced his signature on the bill with concerns over several bill provisions, which were supposed to be addressed during this year’s session as the bill goes into effect on February 1, 2026. 
 
The main fix to last year’s bill causing controversy was the need to push out the implementation by another year – much to the dismay of last year’s bill sponsors. This year, Senator Rodriguez had attempted to make other fixes to last year’s bill in Senate Bill 318, and push out implementation of last year’s bill by only two months. In addition to the implementation date issue, several stakeholders expressed additional concerns with SB 318 as well.
 
After several frantic, sometimes heated, conversations with stakeholders and other lawmakers, Rodriguez requested the bill be postponed indefinitely in the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology committee on Monday afternoon. This gave the General Assembly three days to address the implementation date situation.
 
Enter Senate Bill 322, a bill dealing with consumer protection claims. The bill’s title was broad enough that it was possible to maneuver an amendment into the bill that would delay the implementation date of last year’s AI bill. Representative Bird, one of the sponsors of 322, was willing to add the amendment, while her cosponsor Representative Titone was not. Representative Titone was also the sponsor of the 2024 AI legislation, as well as this year’s fix bill. 
 
Around 10:30 PM on Tuesday, Majority Leader Duran motioned to limit debate on the bill to one hour. Then, Bird offered an amendment on second reading to delay the implementation date of last year’s AI bill. Once the bill passed second reading on a voice vote, the last thing on the House’s to do list for the day was approving the committee of the whole report, which is usually procedural and required to be done before midnight unless motioned otherwise, but sometimes used as an opportunity to add last minute amendments to bills that had been debated earlier in the day.
 
At this point, Majority Leader Duran motioned to “call the question,” which would have prevented any amendments from being offered to the committee of the whole report, but the motion failed on a vote of 30-34. This meant amendments to the report were allowed to be brought forward and debated. Several amendments were brought forward, providing Representative Titone the opportunity to filibuster until 11:59 PM, effectively killing Senate Bill 322 and the delayed implementation date.
 
Long story short, last year’s AI bill is still set to go into effect on February 1, 2026. That being said, with pushback from the tech industry, other stakeholders, and even the Governor’s Office, it’s likely that the implementation date will be brought into question again if (and when) a special session is called later this year. 
 
Budget Cuts
 
The state’s $1.2 billion budget deficit overshadowed much of the legislative session, forcing the JBC to make major cuts to current programs and preventing lawmakers from creating new programs through legislation this year. Despite some major cuts, the JBC was still able to preserve funding for Medicaid spending, higher education, and K-12 education. 
 
The 2025-26 budget also increased spending in areas including, $300 million General Fund for Medicaid expenses, $150 million General Fund for the State share of the K-12 total programs, $32 million increase to public institutions of higher education, $21 million for adoption and guardianship assistance, $15 million for CCAP, $10 million for additional juvenile justice beds and programs, $7.5 million for other legislation, $4.5 million to increase the number of judges statewide, about $3 million for county administrative support for Medicaid and human services programs, and 1.6% increase in Medicaid provider rates.
 
The JBC largely balanced the budget using a mixture of ongoing programmatic cuts, one-time funding solutions, and frankly creative accounting. Some of those changes include, reduction of $75 million from the Multimodal Options Fund (MMOF) in 2025-26 and ongoing changes to the transfer of funds into the MMOF going forward, early end to specific programs which received American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, 1.5% (about $32 million) reduction to personnel services statewide (this cut was designed to capture statewide vacancy savings), end and cut a handful of programs, including programs with unknown outcomes, pilot programs, and numerous grant programs (these cuts can be seen most clearly in the over 80 orbital bills the JBC ran alongside and after the budget), and diverted interest of numerous cash funds.
 
Criminal Justice
 
At the beginning of the legislative session, Representative Willford came forward with her story of being sexually assaulted during a Lyft ride last year. Willford was prompted to come forward because the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has a backlog of sexual assault kit testing, and was at risk for funding cuts prior to Willford sharing her story. This led to Senate Bill 170 being introduced, to provide CBI with the necessary funding to continue investigating the sexual assault kits.
 
Willford’s story also prompted the introduction of House Bill 1291, which directs transportation network companies (TNCs) to implement several safety measures for riders. However, opponents of the measure argue that many of the provisions in the bill are already being implemented and most TNCs have their own, internal procedures for dealing with safety concerns. As the bill progressed through the legislative process, Uber publicly announced plans to leave Colorado if the bill is not vetoed by Governor Polis. The bill passed both chambers on the last day of session, and this will be one to watch for action from Polis in coming weeks. 
 
TABOR
 
As the state’s budget situation became more dire as the session went on, calls from Democrats for TABOR reform grew louder and louder. As a reminder, TABOR is Colorado’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, which implements a cap in revenue the state may collect from taxpayers, and anything over that cap must be refunded to taxpayers. 
 
With a little over a month left in session, several Democrats introduced House Joint Resolution 1023, which would have directed the General Assembly to file a lawsuit against the state, challenging the constitutionality of TABOR. The resolution was by far the most controversial piece of legislation included in a package of bills that made various other changes to TABOR. 
 
Critics of TABOR argue that the model doesn’t allow for the state to keep up with the needs of Coloradans, as state revenue can’t keep up with factors such as population growth. On the other hand, supporters of TABOR argue the state’s budget issue stems from overspending. TABOR reform has also appeared on the statewide ballot in various forms over recent years, but voters have consistently rejected measures that cut into TABOR refunds.
 
The controversial nature of the resolution likely would’ve caused a long floor debate in the House with limited time left in the session, causing the resolution to die on the calendar. However, next year’s budget situation is expected to be similar to this year’s, and this won’t be the last time we hear of serious calls to reform TABOR. 
 
Housing
 
After years of debate over reforming Colorado’s construction defects laws, a major step was taken in the right direction to restart condominium construction in Colorado this session. House Bill 1272, a bill with support from bipartisan sponsors and Governor Polis. The bill addresses a longstanding threat of construction defect lawsuits over several years after a homebuilding process has been completed. In the past, this has deterred developers from building new homes in Colorado, particularly condominiums. 
 
House Bill 1272 presents a compromise between stakeholders which would create a voluntary program to limit the scope of legal actions that can be pursued against homebuilders if builders meet several requirements outlined in the bill, including having third-party inspectors present during the building process. 
 
Other housing bills this year included: House Bill 1169, which would have required local governments to allow new housing developments on properties owned by faith-based organizations and schools but was postponed indefinitely by the Senate; House Bill 1273, which is aimed at increasing housing in urban areas by allowing developers to build apartment complexes of up to five stories with a single exit; and Senate Bill 2 to create regional codes for factory built housing. 
 
Education
 
Since it was discovered at the end of last year that the state would be facing a major budget deficit, JBC members vowed to preserve funding needed for public K-12 education and higher education, and they did. House Bill 1320, also called the School Finance Act, increased spending on school operations to fully fund increases due to inflation required by the state constitution. The School Finance Act also stretched the phased in implementation of Colorado’s new school finance formula from six years to seven years.
 
Among other bills impacting education this year were also: House Bill 1041, a bill that allows institutions of higher education to keep payments involved in name, image, and likeness contracts for student athletes confidential; House Bill 1274, which refers two measures to the statewide ballot to fund the Healthy School Meals for All program; and House Bill 1192, which directs public high schools to incorporate a financial literacy course into its graduation requirements. In addition, a late-in-the session bill (Senate Bill 316) was introduced to make a direct appropriation to the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) and to study the current funding model. 
 
Agriculture
 
It was a relatively quiet year for bills impacting the agriculture industry, with the exception of a major win for property owners in Senate Bill 128. The bill updated Colorado law to align with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, which ruled that private property owners are not required to grant access to their property to “key service providers” – individuals  who offer resources to agricultural workers while working on private property.
 
Business
 
This was a big year for several big employer and business related issues. One of the most highly debated bills of this year’s session was Senate Bill 5, which removes a requirement in Colorado’s labor laws that requires 75 percent of workers at a business to approve before union negotiations take place with employers. Although Governor Polis has indicated since early in the session that he hoped business and labor groups could find a compromise on this bill, it passed the House and Senate without compromise and it’s expected Polis will veto the bill. 
 
House Bill 1300 was another controversial, labor led bill that would change employer requirements for workers’ compensation benefits. This is another bill that Polis has expressed hesitation over, and the business community has strongly urged Polis to veto the bill in recent weeks. 
 
Among some of the other controversial business bills up for honorable mention: House Bill 1010, which would have expanded price gouging prohibitions for a business during a declared emergency to instead apply at any time, but was amended significantly to essentially reflect current practice; House Bill 1286, which would’ve required employers to implement several procedures related to weather conditions for employees but was postponed indefinitely by the bill sponsors in committee; and House Bill 1282, which dealt with a prohibition on interchange fees but was also postponed indefinitely by bill sponsors in committee.  
 
Health Care
 
On the health care front, the long-anticipated 340B battle lasted until the last day of the legislative session. Senate Bill 71, which expands the federal 340B drug pricing program passed both chambers, despite opposition from pharmaceutical manufacturers, labor groups, and patients. Senate Bill 124, a competing measure which required transparency in the 340B program prior to expansion, was postponed indefinitely on the last day of session after the bill was altered in the House, and Senate sponsors adhered to the Senate version of the bill. 
 
Among other bills related to health care that passed were: Senate Bill 45, a repeat bill over the last several years which directs the state to conduct an analysis related to a single-payer health care system; Senate Bill 48, which requires insurance coverage for diabetes prevention and obesity treatment; and Senate Bill 289 which creates a drug donation program for unused medication that may be redistributed to uninsured patients. 
 
The Bills That Took A Long Time
 
One of the most controversial bills of the session was House Bill 1312, which sets legal protections for transgender individuals. The bill made national news and received attention from groups across the state including church groups, parent groups, activist groups, etc. 
 
The bill was highly controversial due to the legal provisions related to parents’ rights during custody battles related to transgender children. Another highly debated portion of the bill makes misgendering and calling an individual by a name other than their preferred name part of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. Given its somewhat late introduction and the controversial nature of the bill, this issue took up a significant amount of time on the calendar especially toward the end of session.
 
Following the theme of taking measures to preserve Colorado’s immigration-friendly policies from potential actions at the federal level, Senate Bill 276 also took the stage as one of the most highly debated bills this session. The bill makes changes to citizenship disclosures as it applies to state law, and directs public entities to develop policies around when immigration agencies may access public facilities. 
 
Lastly, Senate Bill 3 was the most highly debated gun-related bill this year. As introduced, the bill banned the sale, distribution, or manufacture of guns that take detachable magazines. After threats of a veto from Governor Polis, the bill was watered down to include additional steps to ownership of these guns, rather than a ban. That being said, gun ownership groups have called the constitutionality of this bill into question, and have gone so far as calling for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the constitutionality of the bill’s provisions.
 
Conclusion
 
There won’t be as much going on with interim committees because several got cut in budget balancing. But there’s never a shortage of action, especially with a potential special season on the horizon. The timing is rumored to be late-September or early October, following the September budget forecast.
 
Watch out for CLS Newsletters when there is budget forecast information, election news, or other legislative activity to let you know about. Have a good legislative interim! ​

​P.S. It wouldn’t be the last day of session without CLS shirts