Colorado House 2026 Legislative Day 063

The House will come to order. Representative Slaw will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mr. McSheeble, would you please call the roll?

With 57 present, 8 excused, we do have a quorum. Representative Slaw.

Top of the morning to you.

Thank you.

I would agree. Applause. applause. And I think we should recognize that all of us today have a little bit of Irish in us,

Representative Sla, I am touched that you did a deep dive into my history.

Members, you have heard the motion that the journal be approved as corrected by the chief clerk. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Members, announcements and introductions. Representative Clifford.

You did it very well. Please proceed.

Thank you. Representative Mabry.

Thank you. Representative Froelich.

Thank you. Representative Woodrow.

Top of the morning to you, too. I love that start.

Happy birthday, Brady. Yay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is O Bicycle O Colorado O Day at the Capitol.

You probably maybe already partook in the breakfast, but this is a great opportunity to meet some of your bike riding constituents, and they may be sending in questions asking you to speak with them, so please step out and do that. supposed to be standing next to me is our probably best bicyclist in the chamber, Rep Taggart. So give them a conversation when you have a chance.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Health and Human Services Committee will meet today upon adjournment to hear the following bills in this order. 1271, 1298, 1305, and 1307. We'll see you there.

Thank you Mr Speaker Pro Tem For those of you that may be new we have a tradition on this day every year For those of Irish Scottish or whoever else wants to join our caucus to be part of the Micmac, Micmac Stewart, O'Day, O'Donnell, O'whatever, to join us in celebration of this day. I appreciate all the folks that have worn green today in celebration. I wanted to share with you my limerick that I did not write. There once was a state called Colorado where peaks rise up high like a bravado. Folks ski in the snow, then hike down below, and end days with craft beer and avocado.

Yay

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Committee on Agriculture, Water, and Natural Resources. After consideration of the merits, the committee recommends the following. House Joint Resolution 1021 be referred to the House for final action. And House Bill 1270 be postponed indefinitely. Committee on Finance, after consideration of the merits, the committee recommends the following. House Bill 1188, as amended. And House Bill 1240 be referred to the committee on appropriations with favorable recommendation. Committee on State, Civil, and Military, and Veterans Affairs. after consideration on the emergency committee recommends the following. Senate Bill 43 be amended as followed and as so amended be for the Committee of the Whole with favorable recommendation. Printing report. The Chief Clerk reports the following. Printing report will be printed in the journal.

for consideration of resolutions.

I move to suspend the rules for the immediate consideration of House Joint Resolution 1021.

Representative Weinberg, how do you vote? Yes. Representative Weinberg

Thank you.

House Joint Resolution 1021 by Representative Martinez, also Senator Marchman,

Representative Martinez.

Mr. Schiebel, please read our resolution. Whereas supporting the production and marketing of Colorado-grown fruits and vegetables is important for Colorado's economy and for a healthy local food supply. And whereas in 2024, there were more than 120 farmers markets operating in the state with thousands of small businesses participating during the market season, returning approximately $1.62 to local communities for every dollar spent. And whereas Colorado's farmers markets provide the opportunity for direct sales of produce to consumers and are necessary for the survival and success of many farms and ranches that rely on farmers markets to sell their crops, especially new or small producers that may not have access to large food markets. And whereas further farmers markets provide a market for Colorado produce varietals that are not available in large food markets, leading to a broader range of genetic diversification in the food system. And whereas farmers markets also provide the ability for Coloradans to have limited access to food to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables by increasing the value of federal supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits through the Double Up Food Bucks program in which many farmers markets participate. And whereas managing a successful farmers market requires significant time and talent, including knowledge of agricultural seasons, event planning and advertising, vendor requirements, local government permitting, food safety, emergency management planning, payment methods, site requirements and access, and many other concerns. And whereas farmers markets managers are mostly volunteers. And whereas in order to nurture viable and successful farmers markets, For over 20 years, the nonprofit Colorado Farmers Market Association has provided support for many of the state's farmers markets managers, including holding annual training conferences to share best practices, liaising with farmers markets, and building connections among regional markets and producer networks, producing farmers market vouchers for the Double Up Food Bucks program, and providing outreach for farmers markets and producers about grant programs and other funding opportunities and other resources. and whereas section 35.1.104.1.H.5 Colorado revised statutes authorizes the Colorado Department of Agriculture to promote farmers markets within the state including support or development of farmers market organizations and the Colorado Department of Agriculture has partnered with the Colorado Farmers Market Association providing it with financial resources and other support to build successful farmers markets. Now therefore be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the 75th General Assembly of the State of Colorado the Senate concurring herein that we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, continue to support and increase in Colorado's access to locally sourced, healthy, and diverse fruits and vegetables across the state, and sustain Colorado's local farming and ranching businesses, market vendors, and local communities by supporting the continued growth and viability of Colorado's farmers markets, and urge the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Farmers Market Association to sustain and enhance the critical partnership between the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Farmers Market Association to provide the expertise and financial and other resources necessary to support new and existing farmers markets managers

Representative Soper.

Seeing no further. Oh, Assistant Minority Leader Winter.

Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote. Representative Weinberg, how do you vote?

Representative Weinberg votes yes.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move to lay over House Bill 1130 until tomorrow.

Senate Bill 74 by Senators Carson and Snyder, also Representatives Camacho and Nguyen concerning clarification of the penalty for claiming an excessive amount in a public construction performance bond dispute.

Madam Speaker, I move Senate Bill 74 on third reading and final passage.

Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote. Representative Weinberg, how do you vote?

Representative Weinberg votes yes.

House Bill 1252 by Representatives Bradfield and Morrow, also Senators Marchman and Carson, concerning updates to state entities responsible for responding to emergency situations.

Madam Speaker, I move House Bill 1252 on third reading and final passage.

Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote. Representative Weinberg, how do you vote?

Representative Weinberg votes no. No Barone and Routenel

Senate Bill 16 by Senators Cutter and Wallace, also Representatives Smith and Lukens, concerning prohibiting the discharge of pre-production plastic materials.

Madam Speaker, I move Senate Bill 16 on third reading and final passage.

Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote. Representative Weinberg, how do you vote?

Representative Weinberg votes no.

Senate Bill 37 by Senators Rich and Roberts, also Representatives Soper and Espinoza, concerning allowing local elected judicial officers to set weekend bonds.

Madam Speaker, I move Senate Bill 37 on third reading and final passage.

Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote. Representative Weinberg, how do you vote?

Representative Weinberg votes yes.

House Bill 1253 by Representative Slaw, also Senator Kirkmeyer,

Madam Majority Leader.

The motion before us is the adoption of House Bill 1253 on third reading, final passage.

No, ma'am.

Smith. Please close the machine. With 48 aye, 11 no, and 6 excused, House Bill 1253 is adopted. Co-sponsors. Please close the machine. Members, Representatives Brown and Sirota are excused at such time as necessary for the Joint Budget Committee meeting.

House Bill 1299 and House Bill 1102. Seeing no objection, the bills listed by the Majority Leader will be made special orders today, March 17, at 9.44 a.m.

Representative Camacho. Members, you have heard the motion. Seeing no objection, Representative Camacho will take the chair. Thank you. With your unanimous consent, the bills will be read by title unless there's a request for reading of a bill at length. Committee reports are printed in your bill folders. Floor amendments will be shown on the screen on iLegislate and in today's folder on your box account. Bills will be laid over upon the motion of the majority leader. The coat rule is relaxed.

That is a proper motion to the Committee Report. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will explain the Committee Report, but I would first like to amend the Committee Report.

L2 has been properly displayed to the amendment. Representative Lukens.

Is there any further discussion on amendment L2?

Sorry.

Representative Luck.

Representative Lucan.

Is there any further discussion on amendment L2? Seeing none, the question before this is the passage of amendment L2. All those in favor say aye.

All those opposed say no. The ayes have it. Amendment L2 passes.

Is there any further discussion on the Committee report? Seeing none, the question before us is the passage of the Committee report.

The ayes have it. The Committee report passes. Representative Garcia-Sander.

Representative Lukens.

Is there any further discussion on House Bill 1299? Seeing none, the question before us is the passage of House Bill 1299 as 1299.

House Bill 1299 passes.

Representative Lindsey. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's an honor to serve with you. It is an honor to serve with you. I move House Bill 1102 and the transportation... Oh, no, this was in the Finance Committee report. To the Committee report. Oh, okay, yes. In the Finance Committee, we added an amendment just to make sure all the dates in the bill are the same. So I ask for an approval of the Committee report.

All those in favor say aye. All those in favor say no.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. HB 1102 is a bill It's really important because it's going to finally stabilize our DRIVE's cash fund. This is the DMV's primary funding source, and it faces a severe deficit and is projected to be fully exhausted early in 27-28. We don't want that to happen. The DMV is a place that all of us have to go at some point or another. There is the stereotype of going to the DMV, and we don't want to exacerbate that at all. So this makes it so we can fully fund our DMV through redirecting personalized plate fee revenue, redirect $2 of registration late fees from the HUTF, and also authorizing DMV to implement a no-show fee. Because currently there's a 20% to 25% no-show rate for appointments, and if you've ever needed a quick appointment at the DMV, like I needed when my daughter lost her driver's license on the way to the airport, you recognize how difficult it is to not be able to get your driver's license replaced quickly. So I ask for an aye vote on the bill. I also have an amendment to the bill today. And with that, I move House Bill, or I move amendment, gosh, L35 to House Bill 1102 and ask that it be properly displayed.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we were stakeholding in this process, we definitely heard from folks' concern about, because there's kind of a pair of bills running in tandem that to work fully and completely both need to pass. And so we understand those concerns 100%, 100%. And so we made this amendment that says sections of this bill only go into effect with the passage of the other bill so that we are addressing the concerns of our counties, our cities, and making sure that they maintain their funding that's important for them to maintain roads and everything else. So I ask for an aye vote. Is there any further discussion on Amendment L35? Seeing none, the question before us is the passage of Amendment L35. All those in favor say aye.

Representative Hartzook. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the sponsors. We had a very robust debate in finance over this legislation, and I'm trying to, honestly, we're looking at the amendment there. I mean, the original bill, and I need the sponsor, we'll have to have her come back up here and talk about this, but the original legislation was going after the Highway Users Tax Fund. We were shifting the cost from the counties and that funding to the state, and there's no disagreement. DMV isn't doing the best job possible. And do people not show up? Absolutely. They usually don't show up because the service isn't the greatest. But if we're simply shifting money around from one account to another, the bill is going to come due eventually. And HB 1289 is another tax bill. So what I need to know is after we fought this in finance, and we're not doing, if I understand now, taking money from the Highway Users Tax Fund, how is that being backfilled and what fund is that money being taken to How many times are we going to shift money around because there is a deficit So where is the bill going to come due at? Thank you.

Chair, thank you. As I said in the Finance Committee, we voted against this in committee. I don't know that necessarily the amendment struck to the heart of some of my concerns. My concerns still remain that, you know, we're talking about a convenience fee, basically, and hitting working families, maybe working families that are missing appointments because of jobs, working families that perhaps are missing appointments because of child care. So let's just continue to go after the hardworking families of Colorado because they missed an appointment. I don't think that this actually creates any true reform either. A government fee on the hardworking families of Colorado that are missing appointments, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes reasons out of their own control, increases a financial burden without actually creating any sort of real result. I would like to think that the work we do here is born of and created through an effort to try to create real reform, to try to make something better, not to find a way to be able to snatch a few bucks out of somebody's pocket for missing an appointment. after we play a little bit of a shell game with where that money goes and where it ends up is another piece of this. But the front end and the implementation of a fee structure on our drivers for missing an appointment seems that we're not truly getting at the real issue and we're just burdening financially families beyond the point to which we already are, which is, if you've been paying attention to what we do here, considerable. So I would ask for a no vote on this.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So several things that I ran into at the DMV is, first thing that happened was two years ago I had to go and get my license renewed because I didn't know that it expired. So I walked into the DMV, and there was nobody in there except for the person that was working for it. And I walked up to them, and again, there's nobody in the office but me, and they said, take a number. So I had to go over, and I had to take this tab off, this number, and then I went and sat down. And as soon as I sat down, they called my number. I was the only one in the DMV. They took my number, and so I'm hoping that this bill can rectify that because that might be one of the dumbest things I've ever had to do in my life. The other thing is where I live, if you live in Duff Creek, Colorado, and you have a child that wants to get their driver's license, they've got to drive 90 miles to the DMV. If you live in Cortez, Colorado, they've got to drive 49 miles. So I still haven't figured out the working of this bill, but in rural Colorado, it is very important that... One thing that I don like about the bill is fining somebody for missing an appointment It might have what the saying you got to cut the hay when the sun shining So if they miss an appointment it because they got a very good reason or they might have had their cows out on the road, or they might have had something that happens in rural Colorado, or their neighbor had a flat tire, and we don't have that AAA around there. The neighbors fixing each other's tires. So the one thing that does rub me raw is the fact that we're going to fine rural Coloradans because they missed an appointment. Because if they miss an appointment, they miss an appointment for a very good reason. So we'll see if this gets to thirds or not. I do have some amendments. It sounds like this bill is not going to go into effect unless the other bill that is going through the Senate is passed. So we'll see how that goes. But again, any time we take money from the highway user funds, when we are already talking about the backlog of $10 million, $20 billion worth of backlog on fixing our roads, should be a grave concern to Coloradans. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And again, thanks to the sponsors, we're having a conversation. So here's my concern. and we're going to point this out because this is what we debated. We've debated this a lot in finance on a variety of bills. When we are in a structural deficit, which is where we're at right now, and we see the constant issues on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, we see the shifting of funds here in 1102, 1289. I mean, there's a laundry list of bills that impact taxes, impact the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which will ultimately impact consumers. If all we're doing is a shell game of saying we're going to backfill this and then we're going to take it over here, then we'll backfill that and we'll take it over here, who is ultimately stuck with that cost, that charge? That will be the consumer. That will be the taxpayer. We keep talking about fees, moving fees around, charging this fee, charging that fee. I will argue that a fee is a tax because ultimately you have to pay for that service, whatever that service is. In this case, it's the DMV. Other places in the highway tax fund, it's going to be what they need for their roads and their infrastructure at the county level. So why are we at the state constantly moving money around, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and shifting money continuously? You can't do that in the business world. Why are we doing it here? We should not be doing this. Either we sit there and have the knock-down, drag-out debate over how we fund the budget, but right now we keep shifting money, and we should not be doing that, and we should not be taking from the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. I urge a no vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually share the concerns of my colleague in that we are not fully funding this program through our general fund. Right now, like I said before, that this fund will be fully exhausted in about two years, and this would create a $12 million gap between revenue and expenses, leading to a breakdown of essential driver and vehicle services, so that when you try to get that DMV appointment or get a new license or any of that, you're going to have a longer wait, less services. This is because the DMV has experienced major crisis funding-wise, requiring legislative fixes roughly every decade and it cycles between general fund and insolvent user fee cash funds exacerbated by short stopgap measures that mask a continual structural deficit These temporary fixes, like moving costs off the top and one-time fund mergers, offer only two to three years of relief. This is because we have inadequate general fund support, and it's forced us to do this patchwork policy of trying to make sure that our DMV stays up and running. So until we are fully funding our DMV through the general fund, we need to figure out how to pay for it so that we go and can get these services that, like I said, everybody needs to go to. I will bring up again, my daughter lost her driver's license coming home from college in Portland. I went on immediately and tried to get an appointment to replace her driver's license so she could fly back to college. And it was like six weeks out. And so upon learning that 20 to 25 percent of those appointments are no-shows, You just see how we need to be more efficient so that people don't have to wait as long so people can get those services. And I think that if you're making an appointment, the same with like doctor's offices and things like that, that those appointments mean that other people can't take them if you are a no-show. And so we are doing the best with what we have since there is insufficient general fund support to make our DMV work well. And I urge an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate what the sponsor is trying to do, but welcome to Colorado where every bit of spending we do is essential, and when we run out of money, our first goal is to try to take more from our citizens. this stomps all over HUTF that is an essential fund another essential fund that's supposed to be dedicated to operations and maintenance of our roads as county commissioner I took office we had a 1% dedicated sales and use tax for our roads we had a mill levy that went to our road and bridge fund and we received HUTF funds Each of those components was about a third of the funding we received. It's still not enough. Everybody who drove here today knows that we don't have enough money going to our roads. There are inputs to drives. Every specialty license plate has a fee associated that goes to drives. We could have looked at perhaps doing a direct increase, 50 cents on every specialty plate. I don't know what the math would be. I'm not here to suggest how to fix this, but we should not continue to take money out of HUTF. And we've got to start figuring out what is truly essential. I agree the general fund is not supporting this as it should, but there's a whole lot in our general fund that we support that we probably should not. And that's what we need to be looking at in the upcoming week we spend with the long bill. Let's stop trying to just shift money around, rob Peter to pay Paul, keep things going for one more year, and then wonder why we're in constant crisis. I'm a no on this bill, not because I don't think the issue is important, but... You can't keep trying to fix things one bit at a time. Thanks.

Representative Hartzik. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And again, many thanks to the sponsor. I certainly appreciate her focus on holding accountability. I mean, that's a novel concept. We're big fans of holding accountability. And I agree, if somebody doesn't show up, unless they're a major crisis, but if you make an appointment you are expected to show up whether it's at the doctor's office at the DMV and obviously for work if you make that appointment show up there are there are penalties there are consequences in the regular real business world if you don't show up for a meeting if you don't show up for an appointment you get charged if you just decide to blow off your doctor's appointment if you don't show up for work you probably get fired so I'm not opposed to that, but what I'm in post, especially, let's talk about the amendment that we came to and that we did finance. I mean, we pushed out, so here's the numbers. This was scheduled to cost here in this, in 26 and 27, over $4.5 million, and then the following year, over $6.3 million. So if we are pushing this by one year delaying the implementation and waiting for the other bill and waiting for all everything to align one would assume that we are still going to have to fork over four and a half million and then 6.3 million and who knows what it's going to keep climbing to because the trajectory keeps going up if we do not sit there and figure out how to go through all of this and at the same time have that discussion of the structural deficit instead of just pulling from one account that impacts counties or another account that impacts municipalities, and we haven't even got into the big debate over the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, how on earth are we going to fix this structural deficit issue? The taxpayers, by the Constitution, and I don't know, 70-some-odd-plus percent of them, want their Taxpayer Bill of Rights refund. Yet this legislation, 1289, and a dozen others that we keep seeing, fiddle with that account. They keep coming after it, finding ways to attack it. At some point, we cannot just simply keep cost shifting from one government entity to another, taking it from counties and saying, we're going to fix this, and then figure out some way to backfill the counties. So we take that from municipalities, but we take it from somewhere else. And then in the end, and this is the bottom line, in the end, it is the consumer. It is the taxpayer that's going to get stuck with the bill. We have an obligation to tell them that up front, not sit there and shift money around and try and pull a fast one, and they don't know what's going on. We owe them that. I urge a no vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I was just showed a graft. I sure do hate the shell games. We're constantly moving funds around for funds that they are intended to. And I see that a lot in the House. So the graph that was showed me was a several-year graph, but we've got up to $250 million now that comes out of the highway user funds that doesn't even go to our highways. I know this bill is not about that, but there going to have to come a point in time when we get our priorities straight and if the highway user funds is for the highways then that where the money needs to go And if we have other programs that we want to spend our money on, then they need to find another source of funding. So I would urge a no vote. I do see where the sponsor is going with this. However, there's going to have to come a point in time where we fix our roads. If all the other counties or the other states can fix our roads except for Colorado, then we need to look what they're doing, and we need to start doing the same thing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. After speaking with my local govs and my counties, I know that there was an amendment run to change this bill up a little bit, but I'd be remiss if I didn't come up and talk about we've got to quit pulling money from the HUTF funds and taking it off at the top because essentially what that's doing is the state is pilfering money from local governments and it has to stop. I mean, we can't keep robbing Peter to pay Paul. I think it's important that we prop up those local governments. I know that there was an amendment to backfill, but at some point people always say it's just a drop out of the bucket of these funds, but at the end of the day, it's a leaky bucket. And we have to realize that at some point that money is going to run out, and it's important to have it for our local governments. So I just wanted to get on the record saying that for the cities, municipalities, and the counties within House District 47. Thank you.

Representative Brooks. Thank you, Chair. I wanted to go back and very specifically address the bill language to one of my concerns that I talked about. As far as missing appointments, that may be due to jobs and health care. And I do want to recognize that there is some language in the bill for act of God, weather-related delays, office closures and furloughs, medical hardships, information technology failures. but I just don't believe that this goes far enough in terms of ensuring that we're offering a layer of protection, at least a nominal layer of protection, to hardworking families of Colorado that might miss for reasons that are outside of what has already been written into the bill here. That's going to remain a concern of mine. I do have an amendment, however, that I want to go ahead and get up on the board. I move L037 to House Bill 1102, last year, to be properly displayed. Yes, sir. That is a proper motion.

Representative Brooks. Thank you, Chair. All right. So let's agree that perhaps we've got an issue with people that are just absolutely dismissing the appointments they have, and that is creating a backlog for people that are trying to honor their appointments, and it's making harder for these individuals to be able to attain appointments in a timely manner. I still am not comfortable with fining individuals outside of particular areas outside of the language that I just went through but this at least is a start to be able to say let not just go straight to a punitive a financially punitive measure If somebody is setting an appointment and they're like, ah, you know what, I really didn't want that Tuesday appointment, I'm going to let that one slide. I'm going to set another one for the following two weeks, but, oh, gee, you know what, I'm just not really feeling like I want to go to the DMV. You have somebody that is obviously abusive of the system, somebody that through their abuse of the system is easily identifiable as one that is mightily contributing to the backlog and preventing people from being able to get the appointments in a timely manner that they need. Then at that point, we've identified somebody, we've identified an individual that is dismissive of the system, disrespectful of the system. And then at that point, I do understand a little bit more at least, levying a fine structure and going to a punitive financial measure. But let's not just come straight out of the box with that. This amendment allows for a miss. This amendment allows for some flexibility before we're going straight to a fine structure. This amendment protects, at least in a small part, an innocent miss, an innocent slipped appointment by a family member, by somebody that is maybe missing for a job, for a child care appointment, kid got sick. That's not an exclusion written in the original bill language. this provides some flexibility this provides a little bit of a grace period that i don't believe is intrusive really on the intent of the bill and it threads the needle between being overly punitive and coming straight out of the box with a baseball bat on somebody and being able to still get to the intent of the bill and punish those that are just not respecting the system whatsoever So I would ask, as I imagine you would guess, for an aye vote on this amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you both to the sponsors of the bill and sponsors of the amendment. I rise in support of this amendment. We were having a conversation with the sponsor, and like I said earlier, I certainly agree with her that we have to have accountability. There are things that arise every once in a while. Even in the business world, things show up and somebody has a crisis and they don't make an appointment. In general, that's always up to the business owner to decide whether they want to assess that penalty or not because when you sign for making an appointment with a doctor or whomever, it usually says you will be charged if you fail the show. Same thing I think applies if you fail the show at the DMV. And then there also are extenuating circumstances. I think this amendment here admits, allocates for both issues. It holds accountability, which is what the sponsor's driving at. And the sponsor, we're sitting here checking, making sure the DMV is good with it. But in addition, from an accountability perspective, we're saying, all right, maybe something shows up. Maybe for whatever reason, certainly for our colleagues that are up in the high country and something happens they can't get in or they're the long drive and they can't make it, then they are not penalized for that emergency on the road But certainly if it happens the second time around well then we established a pattern Then we established that they can account for something and they need to be held accountable and assess that fee. So I think this amendment is a great compromise. I think it is meeting in that middle of the road where you are holding people accountable and you're saying emergencies do happen, you get one mulligan, one alibi. After that, if you mess up, second time around, you're going to be assessed at that fee for missing that appointment. I think that is very fair. I think that's a very good compromise. I urge an aye vote on this amendment. Thank you. Representative Lindsay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the discussion on this. This is something that we have taken into account of making sure that There are acts of God, weather things, tech issues, the office being closed, that we do need to take into account. I think the things set forth in this section, Section 4, are actually not enforceable. And then as far as the, I get the repeat offender or you get the one time free, but I think that we are really trying to instill in people that you have to take this appointment seriously. and unfortunately sometimes that financial incentive is the only thing that will make you show up because you don't want to lose those dollars. And so while I appreciate the discussion, I would encourage a no vote on this amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the sponsors. I mean, I greatly appreciate the position on that. I do like holding the accountability. I guess I'm not sure, Section 4, why we can't enforce that. We enforce everything else under the sun around here, so I don't know why we can't enforce that. But again, I mean, this is where we are trying to reach a compromise. We are looking at, we agree in principle that says you need to be held accountable. We agree in principle that there should be a penalty, a fee, if you miss an appointment. We agree from that perspective that we want to make sure that somebody schedules an appointment, they show up. And if they don't, there are consequences. What we are saying is that maybe, just maybe, there's something that happens that first time that for whatever reason, on the rare occasion, they can't make it. Again, they break down. Some emergency. Something changes, especially when you're up in the high country and there's a lot of roads. I mean, hitting deer, there's all kinds of things that can happen. Let's just say that on that occasion, you get that one alibi that first go around. Here's a compromise. Here's where we are reaching across the aisle and saying we agree with principle, we agree with accountability, we agree with assessing a fee. Let's go the second time around. Let's say that when you miss the first one and you have a legitimate reason, will think, okay, for the second time, absolutely not. You will be assessed that penalty on that fee on that second go-around, just like you are in 99% of the business. Again, we urge an aye vote on this amendment. Thank you.

Chair, thank you. Just to come back up and obviously to encourage an aye vote on this, but also I want to speak to something specifically within the amendment that in the bill language, we're talking about act of God, that there is an exclusion for act of God. I understand that there may be some flexibility under that definition. I understand that there might be some flexibility with some how somebody might use that definition or might use that piece of the built-in reasoning about why you missed an appointment, but this clarifies it further, specifically under the military service for family emergency, work conflict outside of the individual's control. I believe the specificity in this amendment is actually very important to ensuring that we're protecting people, that missed an appointment truly not of just a dismissive nature, that it wasn't just, eh, I'll just set another one. I get that. I understand how that's creating a backlog. I understand how that's creating a strain on the system. But being able to get to the specificity and the language that this amendment provides allows for just that further definition, so then that way it's not a subjective decision made by somebody to say your military service was actually not, in fact, an act of God. Your family emergency was not, in fact, an act of God, and then have to have that person in a position to have to defend that and argue against it. So I'm going to push back a little bit. I understand something, and I do apologize for not bringing the amendment sooner, so that way we had the ability to have a discussion off to the side. But I do believe that this is a fair amendment that I would ask for support on.

Thank you Mr. Chair and I'm actually up here in support of this amendment as well and as someone who was a single mom who had a lot of things going on, had two to three jobs, you know, two small children, things happen. And I think having an amendment like this is the forgiveness that we could extend to people of Colorado to say, hey, we get it. Stuff happens, and you get one time out and allow them to proceed with that. Like I said, not just as a single mom, but as a career woman and going through life itself, I think that everyone needs to have that one chance. And I believe that this amendment gives that. So I am urging a yes vote on this amendment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We've got to get all these conversations straight. I think we are rapidly approaching an agreement here. So what I would ask, Mr. Chair, we are at a point where I think we've got kind of a 90% agreement on what is sitting on this amendment. We are double-checking a couple of things. Once we get that wording back, I believe that we will find a way to reach a compromise and get a good, solid amendment on here. so in the spirit of that and holding the accountability holding everything where we where we need to be on these issues still ensuring that the state gets their money people have the chance it was brought up i i kind of thought this was rather cute they they did say that uh can we make one of the excuses that the roads have so many potholes and you blow a tire or break an axe So it sounded kind of legitimate to me I thought that was a pretty good excuse I don know that CDOT the DMV might buy that but it was pretty interesting. So I will... I still urge an aye vote. And I urge an aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, members, I do come up here in support of this amendment for many reasons. The reasons is that, just like the good representative from Colorado Springs previously said, stuff happens. She didn't really word it that way. She worded it a little bit more colorfully. I'm not going to repeat it here at the well, but this is 100% true. So stuff does happen, and I do not believe that we should be punishing people for that kind of stuff happening. So this is a good workaround to this bill. It's a great amendment. I believe that we can actually work on this, and I believe that we are actually doing it right now. And to be honest, when life throws you lemons, you know, you make lemonade. Am I correct? You don't fee somebody. you make lemonade and that's what this amendment really does I would actually go as far as saying this is the make lemonade amendment life is throwing you lemons here so I really do support this amendment and I believe that we can work on this I urge an aye vote

Chair, thank you. After some discussion here off to the side, I would like to withdraw this amendment.

Chair, thank you. I move L040 to House Bill 1102, as it will be properly displayed.

Chair, thank you. This retains the language of the last amendment in the first section relating to giving a little bit of a grace period to the first missed appointment so that in that way any sort of fine structure, any sort of punitive financial measures are taken to those that are truly abusive of the system and that we have a little bit of flexibility and a little bit of grace for folks that have missed that first appointment without going straight to a fine structure. The next section simply adds in to the existing bill language that we're adding in military service as a qualified reason for missing. It's something that can be proven. It's something that could be tracked and shown without it necessarily needing to be of a subjective nature or putting a department employee in a position of where they're trying to figure out if it is something that is indeed authorized. So it's adding the military service piece and then re-lettering that section of the bill. I believe it was page 5 accordingly. And ask for a yes vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, colleagues, for all the discussion on this. I will say, if I don't see those missed appointments, go down. because we didn't have this fee the first time, I'm going to be coming back to talk to all of you. And second, if you haven't known, I know I talk about it all the time now, but my daughter is currently in boot camp for the Navy. So soft spot for this military service piece. So I ask for an aye vote on the amendment. Thank you.

All those in favor say aye. Aye.

All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say no.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move the committee rise and report.

Madam Speaker, your Committee of the Whole begs leave to part as under consideration, the following attached bills being the second reading thereof and making the following recommendations thereon. House bills 1102 as amended and 1299 as amended. Pass on second reading in order engrossed and placed on the calendar for third reading and final passage.

Mr. Schiebel, please open the machine and members proceed to vote.

No, ma'am.

Representative Gilchrist. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Just a quick change in the Health and Human Services Committee today. We are not going to be hearing House Bill 1307. We'll move that to the first spot tomorrow.

Thank you. Representative Mabry. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Judiciary Committee members, reminder, we'll be in the Old State Library, and let's start at 1105.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Move to lay over the balance of the calendar until Wednesday, March 18, 2026.