Hello everyone,
It’s all over for now. The Senate adjourned the first regular session of the 75th General Assembly sine die at 7:06 pm on Wednesday followed by the House about 15 minutes later. However, the last three days were not without drama. With a few high-profile bills still working their way through the legislature last week, SB 318 Artificial Intelligence Consumer Protections caused some of the most concern. (Thankfully, it does not impact us directly.)
A little background will be helpful. Last year, the legislature passed SB 24-205 that created the first in the nation requirements for developers and deployers of artificial intelligence systems. Although Governor Polis signed SB 24-205, he included a signing statement with the bill encouraging the legislature to make changes to the law before it becomes effective on February 1, 2026. The sponsors of SB 24-205 worked with stakeholders during the 2024 interim and much of the 2025 session on a follow-up (SB 318) that was introduced on April 28th.
Last Monday, SB 318 was heard in the Senate Business Committee. This is where the drama started. At the beginning of the hearing, the sponsor of SB 318 indicated he intended to ask the committee to amend the bill to delay implementation of SB 24-205 from February 1st to April 14, 2026. However, after testimony, the sponsor surprisingly asked the committee to kill the bill, which it did. This caused a lot of concern both inside and outside of the Capitol as many believe SB 24-205 as currently written will stifle innovation and scare AI companies away from Colorado.
Within hours of SB 318 dying, Governor Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and others called on the legislature to act quickly to find a way to delay the implementation date of SB 24-205 to January 1, 2027. However, there wasn’t enough time to introduce and pass a new bill before the end of the session (it takes three days to pass a bill). As a result, everyone wanting a delay in implementation looked for a bill that was still working its way through the legislative process that could be amended to delay implementation. They found it in SB 322 Management of Consumer Protection Claims Critical Infrastructure. At about 10:30 pm Tuesday night those pushing for a delay tried to amend SB 322 to include a delay until January 1, 2027. Knowing that SB 322 had to pass second reading in the House by midnight or would it die, the opponents of the delay tried to filibuster and run out the clock. The proponents of the delay were successful in amending SB 322 to include the delay during the committee of the whole (i.e., second reading); however, they still needed to adopt the committee of the whole report before midnight.
More drama ensued when the House failed to approve a motion by leadership to limit debate on amendments to the committee of the whole report that would have helped to ensure the report was approved by midnight. At 11:59 pm the Speaker interrupted one of the opponents of the delay to recognize the Majority Leader who quickly laid over the balance of the calendar and adjourned until Wednesday morning at 9 am; thereby killing SB 322 and any chance to delay the implementation of SB 24-205 this session.
As for an initial lookback on the session, this was a good session for CSPA priorities. The legislature approved a 2.5% across-the-board pay increase and fully funded the Trooper Pay Statute for next year. It also fully funded the $225 million annual direct distribution to PERA. While the legislature was able to overcome a $1.2 billion shortfall and pass a balanced budget this year, it used some one-time options that will not be available next year. As a result, the FY 2026-27 budget is expected to be even more challenging, and salary increases and the direct distribution to PERA are far less certain.
This session the CSPA took a support position on 8 bills. Seven of those bills passed. These include the following: SB 036 State Patrol Bonding Exception; SB 060 Repeated Phone Calls Obstruction of Government Operations; SB 069 Tire Chain Traction Control Device Permit; SB 187 Sunset MOST Program; SB 273 Retain Blood Draws for Investigations; SB 281 Increase Penalties Careless Driving; and SB 310 Prop 130 Implementation. We were also successful in killing the two bill the CSPA opposed – HB 1237 Soft Closing of Alcohol Beverage Establishments and HB 1243 Peace Officer Questions During Traffic Stop.
Things are quiet at the Capitol now, but there is a lot of discussion of a possible special session. Two issues that could come up in a special session include addressing any cuts to Medicaid at the federal level that would likely have a huge impact on the state budget and delaying the implementation of SB 24-05. Stay tuned!
This session there were 657 bills introduced – 335 in the House and 322 in the Senate. Only 246 more days until the start of the 2026 regular legislative session.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist