Six-day week for the House - After an exhausting session on Friday (April 4), the House got called back to work Sunday for final approval of hot-button measures on abortion (SBs 183 and 129) and protections for transgender people (HBs 1309 and 1312). Republican opponents of those bills complained after majority Democrats imposed tight limits on debate.
All of that was kind of a warmup for the House’s big job of the week, passage of the 64-bill 2025-26 budget package. Members put in some long hours on Wednesday and Thursday, but debate wasn’t as contentious as prior years might suggest See JBC section below for what’s next on the budget.
Here are the highlights of other action this week:
Child care – In a rare case of a bill dying on third reading, HB25-1011, which would have regulated private equity ownership of childcare centers, failed Tuesday on a 16-18 Senate vote.
Education – The Senate Monday voted 34-0 to pass SB25-200, which adds dyslexia screening to the reading evaluations given to K-3 students. On Friday the House accepted Senate amendments and repassed HB25-1135, the bill that requires school districts to have cell phone use policies but doesn’t dictate the content of policies.
Firearms – A rare bipartisan gun bill, HB25-1062, passed the House 50-12 Friday. It increases penalties for theft of firearms. But the usual divisions were evident in the Senate Tuesday on SB25-205, which passed 23-11. The bill allows purchasers of firearms from private parties to request their local sheriff check serial numbers.
Health insurance – The Senate on Tuesday voted 23-11 to pass SB25-196, which allows the Department of Regulatory Agencies to mandate insurance companies cover certain preventative services.
Juvenile detention – HB25-1146 was amended significantly in the House Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday. Changes removed the higher juvenile detention bed cap originally requested but would increase the number of “emergency” beds available.
Immigrants – SB25-276, the measure that would limit state and local government cooperation with federal immigration authorities, passed the Senate State Affairs Committee 3-2 on Tuesday and Senate Appropriations 4-3 on Friday.
TABOR – The House Finance Committee Monday passed HJR25-1023, the resolution that would require the legislature to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the TABOR amendment.
It also was an interesting week for bill signings and bill introductions – read on for details.
The Senate adjourned just after 11:30 a.m. Friday, but the House was laboring into the afternoon.
Friday was the 94th day of the 120-day session.
Meanwhile, on the first floor
As more and more bills roll off the legislature’s assembly line, attention turns to their final destination, Gov. Jared Polis’ desk. He signed four bills of note this week:
Guns – SB25-003 is the measure that would require training for buyers of certain semiautomatic weapons accessories.
Liquor – SB25-033 puts a halt to further acquisition of drug store liquor licenses by grocery chains.
Same-sex marriage – SB25-014 removes obsolete statutory language banning same-sex unions.
Sundance Festival – HB25-1005 provides the tax incentives that helped successfully lure the noted festival from Utah to Boulder.
THE WEEK AT JBC
Shannon Bird and Rick Taggart were practically beaming as they stood in the well of the House Thursday afternoon just before members voted 44-21 to pass the 2025-26 long bill.
Bill sponsors traditionally get the last word on “third reading and final passage” of their measures, so the House JBC members, including Emily Sirota, were about to speak before the roll call. Taggart gave an elegant little speech, graciously thanking his colleagues, JBC staff and the three Senate members – whom he joked were “probably out golfing.”
Sirota, the most somber and serious of the JBC crew, spoke next. She was the one who made the obligatory and shop-worn “the budget is a moral document” pronouncement.
The always ebullient Bird launched into an energetic recitation of all the good things in the budget package. Her list went on and on until House Speaker Julie McCluskie warned Bird she had 39 seconds left in the 10 minutes allotted on third reading. “I have more … I’ll put it on my website,” Bird said cheerfully.
The six JBC members return to their hearing room Monday – undoubtedly after some behind-the-scenes horse-trading and negotiating Friday and over the weekend – to stitch the long bill back together after the House and Senate messed it up with amendments. Plus, there are a dozen orbital bills with amendments that the committee will need to sort out.
The original JBC budget package contained a hair-thin unspent $2 million left over after the committee balanced. So, the committee will be challenged to rebalance and accommodate some key amendments supported by both chambers, including additions to the Primary Care Fund, outreach funding for the SNAP program and – in the House – a capital construction amendment engineered by Rep. Tammy Story, with whom JBC chair Jeff Bridges has been feuding all session.
Unlike most years, the JBC isn’t about to fade away after the conference committee reports on those bills are adopted. Because of the complexity of the 2025-26 budget, JBC believes additional legislation is needed beyond the 63 orbital measures that moved with the long. That second orbital package, which the committee will consider next week, could total nearly 20 bills. One key unanswered question is how they handle the $350 million in law enforcement funding approved by voters last November.
TALLYING THE BILLS
The legislature broke through the 600-bill ceiling this week. As of Friday morning, 617 bills had been introduced, 328 in the House and 289 in the Senate. In 2024, when lawmakers had more money to spend, 705 bills were introduced.
Here are measures of note introduced since April 4:
Ballot measures – Introduced Wednesday, HB25-1327 proposed changes in document requirements and deadlines for the ballot measure title review process. Special interest groups that specialize in serial title submissions may not like this.
Careless driving – SB25-281 increases penalties for careless driving resulting in serious injury or death.
Immigrants – SB25-276, introduced last Friday, expands and strengthens legal protections that prevent public institutions in Colorado from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement without proper judicial authorization.
Prescription drugs – SB25-289 would allow unused prescription drugs to be donated for redistribution to “individuals in need.”
Resist Trump – HB25-1321 expands how Colorado’s IIJA (Infrastructure) Cash Fund may be used and allocates funding to support state-level responses to federal government actions, including legal and administrative support.
Ninety-nine bills have been postponed indefinitely so far, according to our calculations.
