Colorado House 2026 Legislative Day 057

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Representatives Bacon, Barone, Basenecker, Bottoms, Bradfield, Bradley, Brooks, Brown. Caldwell. Camacho. Carter. Clifford. DeGraff. Duran. English.

Espinosa. Foray. Flannell. Froelich. Garcia. Garcia-Sander. Gilchrist. Goldstein. Gonzalez. Hamrick. Hartsook. Jackson. Johnson. Joseph. Kelty. Leader. Lindsay. Luck. Lukens.

Excuse. Mabry. Marshall. Martinez. Morrow. McCormick. Winn. Pascal. Phillips. Richardson. Ricks. Present. Rutanel.

Excused. Rydin.

Excused. Sirota.

Excused. Slaw. Smith. Soper. Stewart K.

Stewart R Story Representative Story Is excused Sucla Taggart. Titone. Valdez A. Is excused. Velasco.

Is excused. Weinberg, Wilford, Winter, Woodrow, Wug, Representative Wug, is excused, Zokai, and Madam Speaker. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, it is an honor to serve with you.

Excellent. Did you know that Broomfield County is the smallest county in the state of Colorado with being only 34 miles?

It is. And so, Madam Speaker, with that said, I move the journal Tuesday, March 10,

Aye.

Representative Valdez. Madam Speaker, thank you very much. Good morning. I will have to surrender a dollar.

Just saying. So, energy and environment members, we will meet upon adjournment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Judiciary Committee members, we will be meeting in room 107 upon adjournment of the upon adjournment committees. Technically, we're at 1.30, but if we go beyond, we'll start about ten minutes upon adjournment of the upon adjournment committees. We're in room 107. Wearing House Bill 1123 and Senate Bill 37. Thank you.

Representative Lukens. Thank you, Madam Speaker. The House Education Committee will be meeting 10 minutes upon adjournment in Room 107. We will hear House Bill 1259 and House Bill 1299. Thank you. Representative Camacho.

Representative Paschal. thank you madam speaker it's an honor to serve with you it is an honor to serve with you my first time here for announcements and i didn't sign up so i owe a dollar yes hey everybody i just want to let you know that um mad and triple a are going to be having a coffee and donuts down in the cafeteria in the basement that will be thursday march 12th 8 to 9 a.m please come and join us

Representative Titone. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Members of the Joint Technology Committee come to SCR 352 at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. We're going to talk about the Judicial Department requests, Office of Information Technology Operating Requests, R1 and R7, and other committee discussion. Don't miss it. Thank you.

and McCormick. Thank you, Madam Speaker. We're just here today to recognize the Colorado Water Congress Board. It takes care of all our water in the state. So we have the board sitting up here in the corner and then we have the Executive Director and the Vice President right here. So we just wanted to recognize them. We need these people to save our water and they're doing a good job of it.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There's more to say about water. We're happy to announce that this is the first water day at the Capitol. I hope many of you stopped by the first floor, West Foyer. If you haven't yet, please do when we get done with the floor here. Thank you to Colorado Water Congress and CWCB and Water Education Colorado for all of their work on that. And remember earlier this week I announced that there's a legislative water workshop that's today starting at 1130 in Senate Committee Room 354. Also, for fun, it happens to be World Plumbing Day, which has to do with water. and we have a lot of just want to draw attention to all the people that work in implementing water solutions our plumbers pipe fitters steam fitters They a vital part of our workforce and they encourage all residents businesses and local leaders to participate in water efficiency programs to develop the workforce and prioritize water solutions as essential investments in our state's economic future. So let's celebrate water today in all the ways that we can, and we just thank you all for being here and setting up our very first water day at the Capitol. It's really a fun thing to be part of.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a quick announcement, an important announcement today to make sure everyone knows that CAFCA and Raise the Future are in the building today. They are two amazing organizations that support kids in foster care. As you all know, that is a deeply important issue and personal to me. Please take the time to meet with them and learn about the amazing work that they do for our most vulnerable kids. And they're over on the left-hand side here. Thank you so much for your dedication to foster kids. So please take the time to speak with them.

Then I have one more announcement about health and human services. We'll meet at 1.30 today to hear Bills 1019, 1116, 1260, 1235, 1092, and 1214.

Guten Tag, members. The city of Englewood is pleased to welcome a delegation from their sister city in Belm, Germany. This relationship has existed since 2006, and this is the first time students from Belm have visited Englewood. This delegation includes the mayor of Belm and the press secretary for Belm, two teachers, and six high school students, plus we're joined by Englewood students. Please welcome them.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am honored to welcome Dr. Robert Williams, who lives in my district and has received the 2025 COPIC Humanitarian Award from the Colorado Medical Society and COPIC. This is awarded to a physician volunteering their medical services to the underserved and who has made a difference in their community. Thank you to Dr. Williams for his service supporting Colorado and our community. Please join me in congratulating him and welcome him to the Capitol.

Good morning. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Happy Hump Day here. Along the same vein, we've got some other medical professionals. If I could have them stand up in the gallery. What we have are the Colorado anesthesiologists. So these folks that are up here go through medical school, and that wasn't enough. They decide they want to keep going and become anesthesiologists. So if you've ever had surgery, these are the people. They're the last ones you will see before they go, you ready to go night-night, and then they push the needle, and it goes in the IV, and you go night-night. So thank you and welcome here for everything that you do. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move to proceed out of order for consideration of resolutions.

Madam Speaker, I moves for the immediate consideration of Senate Joint Resolution 1.

Senate Joint Resolution 1 by Senators Roberts and Catlin, also Representatives McCormick and Winter, concerning approval of Water Project Revolving Fund eligibility lists administered by the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move Senate Joint Resolution 26001.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are not going to read this resolution at length, but I wanted to give you an idea of what this is about and why we do this every year. This resolution brings forth the many different projects across our state, many of which that you will see are from your town or from your county that have been approved to be eligible for funding when the funding bill comes after this that you will see in a few weeks. So this is a really important issue that comes up every year. And just to give you an idea of the background of this particular resolution, the Drinking Water Revolving Fund and the Power Development Authority has, since 1995 and even 1998, has been part of looking at projects across our state that have to do with water treatment facilities, water storage, water rights, distribution, well and pump station facilities, green infrastructures, all kinds of water infrastructure across our state that the Colorado Water Conservation Board is tasked with funding. So we bring this forward every year, and just you to realize that these projects that are listed in the resolution have gone through a pretty intensive process to even make it on this list. And then not everyone on this list is going to get funding because there's not enough funding to do all the things we need to do in the world of water across our state. So this is an important step moving towards funding our water plan and making sure that our cities and counties across the state have what they need for the most crucial projects in water quality and water storage So we urge an aye vote Seeing no further discussion

Co-Prime did such a good job of it. Please, if you take a look, this is water projects throughout the whole state of Colorado. It doesn't matter if you're urban or rural. they're important we have a lot of these communities that do need help I mean we want to be able to you know clean water and we want to be able to make sure to be able to provide clean water I think it's an important thing that comes out of agriculture committee every year and there will be a funding bill that will be on that will come out and the chair of the committee is 100% correct it's hard to go through this list because we wish we could help everybody it's very important for everybody's district in this in this chamber so we urge an I vote and help us get this thing over the finish line thank you seeing no further

representative de Graff how do you vote yes representative de Graff votes yes representative Ricks how do you vote

To House Bill 1130. House Bill 1130 by Representatives Story and Jackson, also Senators Cutter and Judah, concerning baby diaper changing stations in restrooms accessible to the public.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd like to lay over House Bill 1130 until tomorrow.

House Bill 1089 by Representative Espinosa, also Senator Snyder, concerning mortgage modifications and any connection therewith enacting the Uniform Mortgage Modification Act.

Madam Speaker, I move House Bill 1089 on third reading and final passage.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? Representative DeGraff how do you vote Oh you are on mute No Representative DeGraff votes no Representative Ricks how do you vote Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes.

Senate Bill 34 by Senators Colker and Marchman, also Representatives Hamrick and Bacon, concerning expanding participation by members of the Auraria Board of Directors' Advisory Committees.

Madam Speaker, I move Senate Bill 34 on third reading and final passage.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? No. Representative DeGraff votes no. Representative Ricks, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes.

Senate Bill 13 by Senators Hendrickson and Marchman, also Representatives Okai, concerning cohabitation as a means to commit the offense of bigamy.

Madam Speaker, I move Senate Bill 13 on third reading and final passage.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I request permission to run a third reading amendment.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have noticed some technical issues with the numbering on some changes we made yesterday, and I'm going to let my good colleague take it from here.

We will move to the permission first, and then we'll talk about the amendment.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? Yes. Representative DeGraff votes yes. Representative Ricks, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes.

Thank you Madam Speaker and members there a couple of reasons why we going to ask for a yes vote on this amendment Number one this would be the first place in Colorado law that we had a section 0 and we do not want this to be the first place in statute that that exists. We don't do halves below the number. That's not a thing that exists in Colorado law. So that's the very technical answer for why we'd like your yes vote. The other reason is the amendment was making a point, and it was illustrating the need for the bill and the changes of striking the word cohabitation. However, we want to be respectful of the institution as a whole and make sure that when we do name something that it's not just making a point to illustrate what the law does, but it really is in consideration of the greater policy. So for those two reasons, we'd ask for your yes vote on this amendment.

Representative Zocay. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move L-009 to Senate Bill 13 and ask that it be displayed.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? No. Representative DeGraff votes no. Representative Ricks, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes.

Madam Speaker, I move to adopt Senate Bill 13 as amended on third reading and final passage.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? No. Representative DeGraff votes no. Representative Ricks, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes.

House Bill 1095 by Representatives Sukla and Nguyen, and also Senators Pelton, R. and Linstead, concerning unpaid online access. to public notices published in legal newspapers.

Madam Speaker, I move House Bill 1095 on third reading and final passage.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? Yes. Representative DeGraff votes yes. Representative Ricks, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes.

Senate Bill 64 by Senators Simpson and Roberts, also Representatives McCormick and SOPR, concerning modifying the Colorado Agricultural Future Loan Program to allow certain eligible entities to qualify for funding from the program. Madam Majority Leader.

Assistant Minority Leader Winter.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, the motion before us is the adoption of Senate Bill 64 on third reading and final passage. Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote.

please close the machine with 65 I zero no and zero excuse Senate Bill 64 is adopted co-sponsors Please close the machine Mr Schiebel please read the title to House Bill 1258

That's up your alley. Go on. Come on. Come on. That was a moment for applause. It's the little things, folks. Madam Majority Leader.

Assistant Minority Leader Winter.

Thank you. So noted. Representative Soper.

nothing bad is going to happen in the areas of the funeral home that we don see Seeing no further discussion The motion before us is the adoption of House Bill 1258 on third reading and final passage Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote.

At the member's request, AML Winter is excused. Please close the machine. With 64 ayes, 0 no, and 1 excused, House Bill 1258 is adopted. Co-sponsors. Please close the machine. Mr. Schiebel, please read the title to House Bill 1090.

Madam Speaker, I move House Bill 1090 on third reading and final passage.

Representative DeGraff, how do you vote? Yes. Representative DeGraff votes yes. Representative Ricks, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Ricks votes yes

House Bill 1191. by Representatives Johnson and Bacon, also Senators Frizzell and Weissman, concerning the examination of a school district that receives state education fund money for capital construction projects for qualified charter schools in the district and in connection therewith, making the state auditor's examination of the school district's records discretionary rather than mandatory. Madam Majority Leader.

The motion before us is the adoption of House Bill 1191 on third reading, final passage. Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote.

Members, I have an announcement. Representatives Brown, Sirota, and Taggart are excused at such time as necessary for the Joint Budget Committee meeting. Madam Majority Leader. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move that the following bills be made special orders on March 11, 2026 at 949 a.m. House Bill 1237, House Bill 1107, House Bill 1238, House Bill 1257, Senate Bill 46, and House Bill 1200. Seeing no objection, the bills listed by the majority leader will be made special orders today, March 11th at 9.49 a.m. Representative Ryden. Members, you've heard the motion. Seeing no objection, Representative Raiden will take the chair.

House Bill 1237 by Representative Smith and Taggart, also Senator Linstead, concerning modifications to select statutory provisions to improve transportation safety.

House Bill 1107 by Representatives Ferre and Pascal concerning measures to increase access to services in facilities that provide medical care.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's an honor to serve with you.

Okay. I move House Bill 26, 1107, and the Health and Human Services Committee report.

Okay. In committee, we ran two amendments. The first amendment primarily changed the factors on the form that we are asking mammary care facilities to fill out. The second amendment, we had a section in the bill that was about allowing CNAs to do injectable medication, and that didn't go over very well, so we removed that entire section. That was what the second amendment was. and we have a third amendment to the HHS committee report. I move L006 to House Bill 1107.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I joined on this bill with Representative Foray because I have personal experience shopping for assisted living facilities and for memory care facilities. I have a mom who had a stroke about 10 years ago, fell backwards down the stairs, hit her head. She's now in a wheelchair and was in several different assisted living facilities and now is in and then went into a memory care facility. And we just had a lot of challenges understanding what was going to be included in the care, what the billing was going to be, a lot of surprises on the other side of making a choice. And I just wanted to do what I could do to help make that choice a little bit easier for people by having more information up front and having a uniform set of questions answered so that they could do some comparison shopping. and not to exclude visiting in person, absolutely need to do that, but just to help that process along because it is a very difficult time to be making a very difficult life decision.

Thank you for the question. Given that we no longer had that whole section about the injectable medications in the bill, we no longer have a fiscal note. So we didn't need to fund it. Representative Brown.

House Bill 1238 by Representatives Johnson and Lukens, also Senators Bazley and Linstead, concerning emergency medical services provided in the state and connection therewith designating emergency medical services, including ambulance services and air ambulance services, to be essential services.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 1238 and the Health and Human Services Report. All right, to the report.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Before I get to the report, I would like to amend the report. I move Amendment L8 to the Health and Human Services Committee report and ask that it be properly displayed

Rep. Lukens. Thank you, Madam Chair. L-8 updates varying words and definitions within our bill. It also updates the legislative declaration. And the most substantive part is that it strikes Section 7. We ask for your yes vote on L-8.

Representative Bradley Thank you Madam Chair I rise in support of this amendment Just cleans things up, makes it more clear And urge an aye vote on it

Thank you Madam Chair I move amendment L-10 to the Health and Human Services Committee report and ask that it be properly displayed

Representative Lukens. Thank you, Madam Chair. L10 strikes section 6 of the bill. We ask for your yes vote.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, a great amendment. The emergency response systems were worried about this telecommunications subsystem, and so they came out and said, hey, let's amend this, and the bill sponsors listened. Another great amendment. Urge an aye vote. Thank you.

Representative Lukens. Thank you, Madam Chair. The Health and Human Services Committee Report addressed a part within, removed the entire section of Section 8. We ask for your yes vote on the Health and Human Services Committee Report.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Continuing discussions, both with the affected agencies and the Governor's Office. After we got out of the committee report, we did find there was one more technical amendment needed, so I move L011 to House Bill 1238 and ask that it be properly displayed.

Thank you Madam Chair And we just had missed one out setting to move it to an out services to keep in line with the amendments that we just did and urge a yes vote Okay any further discussion on L011

Representative Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chair. and there is one last amendment just to make sure everyone is in a good spot and I move L009 to House Bill 1238 and ask that it be properly displayed.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And after discussions with the governor's office, we found that this was duplicative of the ability that he can already use his discretionary funds for emergency use purposes, and EMS is already included. So we encourage a yes vote.

Really would like to thank the bill sponsors for this amendment. I'm watching you guys back there. I felt like this was duplicative. I felt like the governor already had the ability to direct the transfer of money. So appreciate this clarity and urge an aye vote on this amendment. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. House Bill 1238 is important. It's not just symbolic. It is practical and urgent. and it is very confusing why we haven't done this in the state already, but we're finally doing it. EMS is the front door of care. When you call for any medical issue, stroke, overdose, traumatic injury, our EMTs and paramedics are there. So what this bill does is designate our emergency medical services, including ambulances and air ambulance services, as essential to protecting public health and safety. This reinforces EMS as a critical part of Colorado's health care infrastructure. It also clarifies operational expectations during disasters and closures. It helps coordinate with systems. This bill supports all of our EMS, private, public, third party, hospital, county, municipality, and make sure that we're giving every region the best source that they need. It also includes an important safeguard, noting that EMS providers do have protections themselves when off-duty so that way they can also do self-care. This is a strongly needed and long-due bill, and IRGS vote.

Representative Bradley. Thank you, Madam Chair. We heard a lot of testimony in committee, and I just wanted to tell you guys a couple things that were said from the EMS community for rural Colorado. No cavalry is coming from Denver. People expect help regardless of their location. Inaction is most immediate. The geographical area is bigger than most eastern states with a handful of providers. EMS is the front door to health care in rural Colorado. And this bill will recognize EMS and ambulance services as essential. This is long overdue, a much-needed bill, not for just urban Colorado, but essential for rural Colorado. And again, a shout-out to EMS. Had it not been for them, my son would not be here today. So good bill. Vote yes. Thank you.

Thank you Madam Chair I rise in strong support of this piece of legislation I would agree with my colleague from Douglas County This is long overdue EMS are the lifeline of rural Colorado 110 They the ones that are seeing everybody before they even have a chance maybe to get to a hospital within an hour They deserve that respect and they deserve to be recognized as an essential service I hear from EMS directors, people that work in the ambulance service, people that work as EMS individuals in our rural fire departments all the time about how this bill has been needed. They're our first line of defense. I'm honored to serve all of those people in House District 47 that risk their lives and do the things that need to be done to make sure that we have health care provided, not only in times of emergencies, but in all times in rural Colorado. So thank you, sponsors, for bringing in the bill. 110% yes. and thank you to the EMS individuals that put their life on the line every day and care for our communities.

Majority Leader Duran. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to move House Bill 1257 to the end of the special orders calendar.

Senate Bill 46 by Senators Frazell and Bull, also Representatives Richardson and Zocay, concerning procedural requirements for the administration of property tax and a connection therewith, modifying deadlines and certain requirements for transmitting information related to taxable property. Representative Richardson.

Representative Zokai. Thank you, Madam Chair. It's an honor to serve with you. Ditto. And it is wonderful to be back here with Rep. Richardson running a bill to help our assessors in their day-to-day jobs of discovering, listing, classifying, and valuing all property within their counties. Property tax administration is an incredibly complex system that involves the county assessors, but also the board of county commissioners, the division of property taxation and property tax administrator, and ultimately the taxpayers as well. I know that we might not all find this as fascinating as I do, but this is some much needed cleanup and changes to procedures that I'm very excited to bring forward today. So I will go through some of the mechanics here, and then hopefully we all will vote yes and have a great day. So some of the changes you'll see before you. The bill aligns deadlines for the qualified senior primary residents and veteran with disability exemptions with the senior exemption deadlines. It moves the deadline to July 15th and the late application deadline to August 15th. This allows the public time to apply, and it also allows assessor's offices times to process and provides consistency. The bill increases the abatement threshold that is required for counties to have to seek approval from the property tax administrator from $10,000 to $20,000. It also reduces the number of copies that need to be sent. It changes the protest deadline from June 8th back to June 1. I love the work we do here in this body, but perhaps that change was not as well thought out and caused a lot of issues for me personally when I was the deputy assessor to be able to process all of our protests in a timely manner and with the care that they deserve. And so we are changing that deadline back to June 1st. We are changing the deadline for notices of value to be sent to business personal property accounts from June 15th to July 15th and similarly aligning the protest deadline from June 30th to July 31st and clarifying that an assessor or board may transmit the abstract of assessment electronically. And finally, we're reducing the number of copies that are noted in determination that an assessor must send to a taxpayer down to one. Lots of technical changes here, but I do want to just again emphasize this bill provides clarity that is much needed and makes a large difference in the day-to-day operations of the assessor's office, and we urge a yes vote.

I bet that you would actually think that that's fair. Representative Zocay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Representative Brooks, for outlining my record as such. If my tax record of providing equity for hungry kids or taxing corporations and creating a more fair tax system provides DREAD, then DREAD will be coming in a few weeks. But this is just a technical cleanup, and I'm excited that we can be on the same page here.

any further discussion on the bill Representative Richardson

and I urge an aye vote. Is there any further discussion on the bill? All right, seeing none, The question before us is the passage of Senate Bill 46. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. All right. The ayes have it. Senate Bill 046 passes. Mr. Schiebel, could you read the title to House Bill 1200?

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's an honor to serve with you. Ditto. I move House Bill 26-1200. All right, to the bill. Thank you. This is a bill that came out of committee unanimously. We are running this to give some support for our armed forces who are stationed out of the country. Right now they need to pay their license and registration fee of a dollar, plus submit an affidavit in order to get the fees, any late registration fees waived. And this is a simple bill that just waives that affidavit requirement and just requires military members to present their military service orders in order to get the waiver. And we ask, oh, wait. And we do, during committee, we did get a suggestion for an amendment, and we will have an amendment also.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the reason why I got on this bill is just it's really important. When I was in the service and I left on deployment, trying to get that leave status for your vehicle is really difficult. Having to submit an affidavit, having to go through all of this process is really cumbersome on the military member, especially when they know that they being deployed This simplifies the process in just having to show your deployment orders which are readily available You can scan that You can take that in to the DMV to be able to get that leave status We think that this just really clears up a lot of red tape makes it easier for the military members that are deploying and making sure that we helping them out And this is making sure that we're helping support our military forward deployed units. So we urge an aye vote.

All right, seeing none, the question before us is Representative Garcia-Sander. Thank you, Madam Chair. As mentioned, we do have an amendment as suggested in committee, and I move L001 and ask that it be displayed.

I withdraw the motion for Amendment L-001.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, again, really talking about the importance of this whole process. When you're deploying and you're going through the process, Sometimes those orders to deploy happen really quickly. Sometimes they happen in a very short order and a time manner. So when you're going through, when you get your deployment orders, sometimes that can be anywhere between a week. It can be 30 days or 60 days when you are going through this. And so, again, what we're doing in this bill is really just trying to make sure that they have enough time to be able to submit in for their deployment orders and being able to get that in a timely fashion to their DMV. Also with that, when you're going through, like for example, myself, I was in California at the time when I deployed, or before I deployed. So when I got those deployment orders, I would have to go through getting those orders and then getting those into the DMV in order for a registration for this leave status on there. And so, again, what we're trying to do is instead of having to go to get a printed affidavit, signed affidavit, and then having that take a process and then getting that and then turning that back into the DMV, then you taking that affidavit and then taking that into the DMV takes time. Much like the time that we took now. So with that I move amendment L0 Representative Garcia I move amendment L to House Bill 1200 and ask that it be properly displayed

Thank you, Madam Chair. This amendment is just adding the language that the department shall notify the owner that the motor vehicle must not be operated on the roadways when the reduced tax rate applies. This is just clarifying for the vehicle owner that if they leave their car and somebody else in their family or a friend says, hey, I need to borrow it, that it still cannot be driven because it's not going to be properly registered. So we just wanted to make sure that they understand that it cannot be driven while it is not registered. And I ask for an aye vote.

The amendment passes. To the bill, Representative Martinez. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good bill vote, yes. Any further? Representative Richardson.

For Representative Hartzok. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a great bill. We heard this in finance. And one of the key issues here is not only is it a good governance bill because it reduces the amount of red tape that the state has to do when it comes to military personnel. Military personnel get the same benefit in return. They don't have to worry about being charged extra fees because their mind, I promise you, their mind is not on, hey, do I have to pay my registration fees when they are deploying. That's the last thing that's on their mind. And when they come back and they get hit with all of this, there's a bunch of red tape to go through. So this is a great bill. We'd love to finance. We urge an aye vote. Thank you. Further discussion on the bill?

House Bill 1257 by Representatives Gonzalez and Routnell concerning the local regulation of massage facilities. Okay, Representative Routenel.

All right, to the committee report. Representative Routenel.

Is there any further discussion on adoption of the committee report? Seeing none, the question before is adoption of the committee report. All those in favor Say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. All right, the committee report is adopted. To the bill.

Okay, give us a minute. Keep your hands to yourself. Okay, that's properly displayed. Representative Routnell.

Alright, seeing none, the question before us is adoption of L002 to House Bill 1257. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed no. The ayes have it. Amendment L002 is adopted.

All right, that is properly displayed. Tell us about the amendment, Representative Routinel.

Any further discussion on the amendments? All right, seeing none, the question before us is adoption of L-003 to House Bill 1257. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The amendment L-003 passes. Back to the bill. Representative Gonzalez. Thank you, Madam Chair. Members, this is an important bill for our local municipalities. There were some unintended consequences from HB 24-1371, which was passed in 2024. The well-intentioned and inadvertently stripped local governments of regulatory that they had relied on for years to combat illicit activity. What this bill does is three things. First, it expands the definition of illicit massage business to include facilities engaged in crimes beyond human trafficking, such as drug distribution and money laundering. Under current law, local governments cannot act against a suspicious facility unless they prove human trafficking. That bar is so high that illicit operators can keep running while enforcement stalls. This change gives local governments a realistic path to action. Second, it removes the restriction that local ordinances be no more restrictive than the state law. This restores the ability of municipalities to tailor their licensing programs to local conditions such as high-density urban areas, tourist corridors, and communities with known concentrations of illicit massage activity that may legitimately need stricter licensing requirements than a uniform statewide standard can provide. And third, this bill removes the cap on administrative fees, allowing municipalities to set fees that reflect the actual cost of running a licensure program. It also includes a technical clarification confirming that statutory municipalities have the authority to license and regulate massage facilities a Fix needed because the underlying statute was originally drafted to government counties. We asked for an I vote on 1257 Representative now Thank you madam chair as my colleague mentioned this bill addresses serious issues around criminal activities happening at massage parlors including human trafficking According to Polaris Project more than 9 illicit massage businesses operate across the United States They're fronts for human trafficking, drug distribution, and money laundering, and they are here in Colorado. In 2021, as many as 34 illicit parlors were identified in the Colorado Springs area alone. And when Aurora enacted a strong local licensing ordinance, the city shut down nearly 20 of these operations. But an investigation found that seven of those businesses simply crossed city lines and reopened in other cities. As my colleague mentioned, municipal licensure programs are the first line of defense. When they have the right tools, they shut down illicit operations. When those tools are taken away, illicit operators stay open, cycle through locations, and continue exploiting vulnerable people. This bill restores that flexibility without mandating new programs on anyone. We have witnesses that have spoken to the benefits of this bill, and we urge an aye vote. Representative Bottoms. I definitely want to give credit where credit is due. We do not have many bills that come through this building that are against human trafficking. Usually we prop it up in a few different ways. And so I want to definitely give credit to this, to the sponsors of this. thank you both of you thank you for running this bill colorado is 13th in human trafficking across the country when you look at the laws that we've been passing over the last four years we are the most human trafficking friendly state in the united states this has got to stop this is a great bill for part of this conversation this is an absolute must. And thanks to the sponsors also for digging into actually one of the, there's three categories that are very strong in Colorado when it comes to human trafficking. And these massage parlors are the top of the list. And so if we can just shut this one down, this is a great attack against and a deterrent to human trafficking. And I'd love to see us go after some other areas in our state that are human trafficking. And this is a major importance to me. I spend a lot of time investigating this. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out where these things are across the state. So to Representative Rootnell and to Representative Gonzalez both, thank you. This is a fine job. Any further discussion on the bill? Representative Hartzik. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the sponsors. So I was the original sponsor for 1371. And when we targeted the human trafficking, 1371 was focused on crossing state lines for businesses that were coming from out of state, coming into Colorado to set up being bad actors. It also helped the counties. This bill now, what we've got is 1257 is the second chapter of that. It closes it out with adding additional tools to all the municipalities, because we took care of it at the state level, we took care of it at the county level, and now 1257 takes care of it at the municipal level. It adds tools to their kit not only in the licensing but in the prosecution tracking and everything else So I applaud the sponsor for this I urge an aye vote Thank you Representative Bradley Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to applaud this bipartisan effort as well. I would disagree with the representative from El Paso. We're 10th highest for trafficking in the state, closer to 7th highest. So anything that will protect our community from these trafficking crimes, I applaud you. I respect you. Thank you for bringing this forward. Is there any further discussion on the bill? All right. Representative Barone. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I did notice one of the sponsors rolled his eyes when I came up here. But I'm actually up here in support. I thank the sponsors for coming up here and making this fix to this bill it's a good bill really does address one of the key issues of the state so I will be in full support of this bill and I will vote yes any further discussion on the bill and I'll probably co-sponsor as well alright seeing now the question before us is adoption of House Bill 1257 as amended all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed no All right, the ayes have it. House Bill 1257 as amended is passed. Madam Majority Leader. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move the committee rise and report. All right, you have all heard the motion. Seeing no objection, the committee will rise and report. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, your Committee of the Whole begs leave to report as under consideration the following attached bills being the second read in the row of and making the following recommendations thereon. House bills 1107 is amended, 1200 is amended, 1237 is amended, 1238 is amended, and 1257 is amended, passed on second reading, order in grossed in place on the calendar for third reading and final passage. And Senate bill 46, passed on second reading, ordered revised in place on the calendar for third reading and final passage.

Thank you, Representative Ryden. Members, you've heard the motion. The motion before us is the adoption of the report of the Committee of the Whole. Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote. Representative DeGraff, how do you vote?

Representative DeGraff votes no. Carter, Morrow, Taggart. Taggart is excuse. JBC is here. Carter is excused. Please close the machine. With 42I, 21 no, and 2 excused, the report of the Committee of the Whole is adopted. Any additional announcements? Introductions? seeing none. Madam Majority Leader.

Seeing no objection, the balance of the calendar will be laid over until tomorrow, March 12.

The House will stand in recess until later today.