Hello everyone,
The second regular session of the 75th Colorado General Assembly concluded just after 7 pm Wednesday evening. Although it was only three days long, the final week of the session had a late night – the Senate worked until almost 1:30 am Tuesday morning – and a big win. On Tuesday, the Senate laid over HB 1281 Homicide Criminal Offenses until after the session killing the bill. HB 1281, which CSPA opposed, would have restructured Colorado’s homicide and vehicular homicide laws by narrowing first-degree murder to require multiple deaths or specific victim categories, creating a new second-degree murder charge for single-victim extreme indifference killings, and establishing new categories of aggravated and negligent vehicular homicide. All in all, we had a good session. We helped to pass some good bills and kill some bad ones.
The Good Bills We Helped to Pass:
SB 026 Weight for Vehicles with Child Restraint System was a State Patrol agenda bill that increases the gross vehicle weight rating for certain passenger vehicles required to have a child restraint system from less than 10,000 pounds to less than 16,000 pounds to ensure all passenger vehicles are required to have child restraint systems.
SB 035 Increase of Traffic Violation Penalties increases penalties for illegal passing in no-passing zones and for multiple speeding violations and doubles the fine for Hazmat Unauthorized Routes from $250 to $500
SB 053 CHFA Mortgage POST Officers First Responders expands eligibility for loans through the Colorado Housing & Finance Authority to peace officers, emergency communications specialists, port of entry officers, and wildlife officers regardless of income.
SB 072 Increase Penalty for Vehicular Homicide & Assault increases criminal penalties for assaultive conduct with a motor vehicle by adding causing death while operating a vehicle with criminal negligence to the crime of criminally negligent homicide.
SB 141 Wildlife Collision Prevention creates an optional $5 collision prevention fee during motor vehicle registration to fund wildlife crossing structures and related transportation improvements that reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.
The Bad Bills We Helped to Kill:
HB 1037 Ban Government Purchase of Personal Data from Third Party would have prohibited law enforcement from purchasing or obtaining personal data from third parties in exchange for anything of value, with certain limited exceptions.
HB 1275 Law Enforcement Identification & Immigration Training would have required law enforcement officers to visibly identify themselves, clarified state jurisdiction over federal officers who violate state criminal law, required peace officers to intervene to prevent or stop federal officers from using more than commensurate force, and prohibited POST certification of current or former ICE and Custom & Border Protection employees.
HB 1281 Homicide Criminal Offenses (mentioned above) would have narrowed first-degree murder to require multiple deaths or specific victim categories and created a new second-degree murder charge for single-victim extreme indifference killings.
HB 1330 Alcohol Beverages Entertainment Districts would have modified the operational parameters for entertainment districts in Colorado allowing local authorities to extend operating hours past 2 am.
SB 070 Ban Government Access Historical Location Information Database would have prohibited law enforcement from accessing a vehicle’s historical location information except under certain circumstances (e.g., with a warrant).
SB 071 Use of Surveillance Technology by Law Enforcement would have regulated law enforcement agencies’ use of surveillance technologies such as facial recognition systems, automated license plate readers, traffic cameras, and drones, required warrants for certain uses and imposed strict data retention and destruction requirements.
SB 176 State Remedies for Constitutional Rights Violation named the “No Kings Act” by its sponsors would have established a state-level cause of action for violations of federal constitutional rights, mirroring federal civil rights law under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
In total there were 626 bills introduced during the 2026 legislative session – 433 in the House and 193 in the Senate. Only 238 days until the General Assembly convenes for the 2027 legislative session.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist