Senate Floor

Let's do this.

Senator Kugmeyer, would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? Yes, sir, Mr. President. Would everyone please stand? Join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I said please to the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate Journal of Tuesday, April 28, 2026 be approved as corrected by the Secretary.

I feel better now. Thank you, Your Honor, Your High Holiness, Mr. President. While this is an unnormal occurrence, I move that we proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege, not for the President.

Aye.

What?

Thank you, Mr. President. I request a moment of personal privilege. I think my first moment of personal privilege, perhaps, which I've saved for something special. Today, this is a little bit unusual. Members, we're proceeding out of order so that I can introduce Josh Stewart, a father here in our chamber, who is here today because when we begin third reading of bills, I will be offering a third reading amendment to name the traffic safety bill for Josh's son, Liam. So Liam has, Josh has advocated for something to help other families and other children in the wake of his tragedy of losing his son in a traffic accident near a school. So I'm really proud to be a sponsor of the bill and to be able to rename it. But that's why we're doing this now. So he didn't have to wait for all of third reading. But thank you so much for joining us. And thank you for all of your advocacy. We're happy to support you. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that we proceed out of order for third reading of bills, final passage.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. President. At the request of a member, Senate Bill 156 will be removed from the consent calendar in place at the bottom of the third reading of bills calendar. Senate Bill 156 will be removed from the consent calendar in place at the bottom of the third reading of the bill's final passage calendar.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate to proceed out of order to take up House Bill 1318.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1318 on third reading and final passage and request permission to offer a third reading amendment.

Thank you, Mr. President. I explained before this is going to be named after Josh Stewart's son called the Liam Stewart School Zone Act. And I'm sure I can count on all of your support.

Amendment L-007. Amend revised Bill, page 2, after line 1, insert section 1, short title. The short title of this act is the Liam Stewart School Zone Act. Renumbers succeeding sections accordingly.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Amendment L-007 and request an I vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26-13-18 on third reading and final passage.

Senate Bill 134 by Senators Linstead and Judah and Representatives Durand and McCluskey concerning the imposition of fees by payment card networks.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 134 on third reading and final passage.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to lay over Senate Bill 17 until Thursday, April the 30th.

Senate Bill 45 by Senators Liston and Mullica and representatives Paschal and Winner T. Concerning promoting workforce development, opportunities in Colorado's nuclear sector. Senator Liston. Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 45 on third reading and final passage and ask for an aye vote.

Senate Bill 91 by Senators Snyder and Cutter and Representative Soper concerning adding the exclusion of certain printed news deliverers from the definition of employee in the Colorado Employment Security Act to other state labor laws

Thank you, Mr. President I move Senate Bill 26091 on third reading and final passage.

Senate Bill 114 by Senators Marchman and Brighton, representatives to tone and sober concerning a spirituous liquor manufacturer's sales rooms.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 114 on third reading and final passage.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 26162 on third reading and final passage.

Thanks, Mr. President. Members, I was, I think, the only no vote on this bill in committee. I'm going to maintain that position here. I wanted to say why, given the sensitivity of the issue. Our colleague from Castle Rock has been very courageously public about what she's been dealing with here and shared more details of that in committee, and we have a bill born out of that kind of experience. I share the concerns about what happens when people try to get medical advice from Dr. Google or Dr. Chat, GPT, or any of the latter-day nonsense. REALLY THE REASON FOR MY NO VOTE IS THAT AS THIS KIND OF EXPERIENCE OF GETTING THIS KIND OF TEST RESULT HAS BEEN PERSONAL FOR OUR COLLEAGUE. IT'S BEEN PERSONAL IN MY FAMILY AS WELL, EVEN LEARNING IN THE FIRST INSTANCE THROUGH THE PORTAL AND THEN NEEDING TO KIND OF GO FROM THERE AND FIGURE OUT COURSE OF TREATMENT AND METABOLIZE THE SHOCK. FOR ME IT'S JUST A DEEPLY SEATED BELIEF THAT WE'RE TALKING that we're talking about test data that in here is in the individual and the patient in the first instance and wanting that person to continue to have the prerogative to seed immediately or choose not to. But I do want to acknowledge bills coming from a very earnest place. Thanks.

Senate Bill 23 by Senators Kolker and Kirkmire and Representatives Sirota and Lukens concerning the financing of public schools and in connection therewith making and reducing an appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 23 on third reading.

There is further discussion. Senator Kolker. Thank you. I just have a few comments on the School Finance Act this year. Not everyone was here yesterday. We all know the situation that we're in with schools, K-12, the adequacy studies that were done. The show schools are underfunded, 3.5 to 4.1 billion every single year. I just want to make sure that everyone hears my acknowledgement to what the JBC did this year in prioritizing education, prioritizing the, making sure that we weren't cutting based on the current formula. We've heard so many challenges to education, so many challenges to our budget. I just want to say that the work that we did this year was about making sure that we can afford to invest in education It is about strong public schools and the foundation of a strong economy, a prepared workforce, and a functioning democracy. The silver lining this year in the School Finance Act is that we have made a deliberate choice to prioritize students and educators. That matters. It reflects a commitment to transparency, accountability, and following through on what we told voters we would do. Today's vote is not the end of the work, but is a meaningful step forward. We are keeping our promise, and we are setting the stage to finish the job. Thank you, and I encourage an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. I, too, encourage an aye vote on the School Finance Act. This is probably the second most important bill that we passed down here, right after the long bill in the budget. So it is a clean bill. There were promises made over the course of the last couple of years in changing the finance formula. We kept those promises. Promises made, promises kept. That's what we said about this bill. So the formula is the same. You know, every year sitting on the Joint Budget Committee, I hear about how we're going to make cuts to K-12 education. I will tell you for the last four years, I have fought diligently along with my co-prime here to ensure that we do not cut funding to education. And as we even went into this school finance bill and this year, there were rumblings that we were going to cut funding to education. Well, no, we did not. We kept our word. We kept our funding. In fact, over the course of the last four years as a state senator, sitting on the education a couple of years with the good senator from Centennial, we have prioritized education and made sure that we are meeting our constitutional requirement to not only fund a free public school system in our state that is fair, uniform, and consistent throughout the state, but also our other constitutional mandate that requires we increase our funding for the total program by inflation and for categoricals by inflation. So we have, as a body, over the course of the last couple of years, eliminated the budget stabilization factor. If there was ever a factor named appropriately, it is the BS factor. We have voted for an increased funding in special education funding by hundreds of millions of dollars for those children that have special needs and needs more resources. We have done that. We have created the Kids Matter Fund. Thank you, last year. It was a great thing to do. Basically earmarking in our statutes the same as the earmark in the Constitution that we will fund .00065% of 1% into education. So to change that, we would have to make a change in statute. So we earmarked it in statute. That amount equaled about $220 million just this year. Things that we have done to prioritize education and ensure that we funded have equaled about 1.3 billion dollars annually going towards education in an increase increase in what we did just four years ago so 1.3 billion dollars annually this school Finance Act again brings certainty reliability and stability so that school districts know what they can count on and that our students and parents know what they can count on from this

And second, we ought to be funding this. We ought to be funding our schools and funding them well. And because education costs, no matter how it's delivered, it costs. and I believe that $8,900 per pupil revenue is the minimum that we ought to be investing. I also want to say, as I have before, that our teachers ought to be paid more than what we're affording them right now, and I believe that we can accomplish that through simply a shift in priorities on what we spend with that per pupil revenue. Get it out of all of the peripheral things and more in the classroom, and pay those teachers what they deserve as we expect them to be the professional deliverers of education that they are expected to deliver. But I do want to say that I believe we should, as a body, since we are the decision makers on the funding of the people's money, to that big expenditure, the biggest expenditure outside of just the general funding of the state itself, that we ought to expect more from our education. It should not be an environment where parents are hesitant to send their children. We need to have a safe, safe environment. And so we need to expect more out of them, and we need to expect also that our students emerge excited and prepared and ready to be self-sustaining adults. And so in support of the bill, I will be a yes vote, but let's just do better in education. We need to be very proud of our schools and never be in fear of sending our children into our schools for safety and for other obvious reasons.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to rise in support, strong support of Senate Bill 23. I so appreciate our sponsors this year. This was such a different process. I will tell you that the School Finance Act going through Education Committee each and every year creates this stress bubble that goes like this until it finally is heard, and that did not happen this year. And it's because of the way that you carried and stewarded this bill. And for that, I just want to say thank you. And I will forgive you for not taking my amazing math amendment. You kept it clean. And for that, I thank you. So thanks for this. I do encourage us to move forward on school finance earlier. It is April 29th. We are finalizing this. It's headed that way. And school's out in no time. Budgets have already been made. Decisions have already been made. So thank you for getting a head start on it, but I hope we move it up sooner. Thank you for your work.

Senate Bill 93 by Senator Sullivan, Representative Morrow, concerning ensuring compliance with workers' compensation insurance coverage requirements.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 93 on third and final reading.

Senate Bill 155 by Senators Mullica and Marchman and representatives McCluskey and Brown concerning increasing the availability of homeowners insurance in the state.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 155 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Mullica. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll just be brief, members. This bill was a lot of work. Yesterday I gave credit and just want to make sure that they're in the chamber and they hear it, that we wouldn't be here right now without Senator Snyder and Senator Immobile, I think really starting the ball on this concept. And I think this year, getting across the finish line, I do think we're going to have a positive impact on our state and really start changing the direction of homeowners insurance in our state and making it more affordable. And so I ask for a yes vote, and much thanks to the sponsors that have gotten this moving.

Senate Bill 146 by Senator Cutter and Representative Farola concerning restricting the distribution of single-use food serviceware.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 26-146 on third reading and final passage.

Senate Bill 156 by Senators Kipp and Carson, Representative Phillips and Gonzalez, concerning changes to the State Workforce Development Council's practices and in connection therewith reducing an appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the adoption of Senate Bill 26-156 on third and final reading and ask for a favorable vote.

Senator Marchand. Thank you, Mr. President. And I did pull this off of consent to share this really fascinating concept that is in this bill. I want to thank the sponsors in this chamber, the other chamber, and I actually want to give a shout-out to the governor's office because there are parts of this that are part of an executive order that are really going to make big changes. So this bill did not come to education. I think it was heard in business, labor, and technology. But there's a phrase in here that I want to talk about. What this bill does is it's going to have the person in charge of workforce start taking care of out-of-school youth. And I wanted to tell you what out-of-school youth are. Out-of-school youth are young people who have left the system entirely. Researchers call them NEETs. So N-E-E-T, not in education, employment, or training. Right now, there are over 4 million of them in the U about 1 in 10 young people Between 16 and 24 are not a part of the system The system we support for K or the system we support for post In Colorado, 200 young adults age out of foster care every year. By age 19, 29% of them are in jail, 28% of them have had homelessness, and only 30% of them graduated from high school. So these aren't kids who took a gap year. These are young people that the system lost track of. So the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which is a federal law that is cited in this bill, defines this population as ages 16 to 24, not in school, and meeting at least one additional criterion, A dropout, justice involved, homeless, in foster care, pregnant or parenting, living with a disability, or low income. Those are the humans that this bill is going to cover, and it's a lot of kids in Colorado. So I'm really excited about this bill. Thank you for bringing it. Thank you for letting me talk about it. I'm excited and hope you'll vote aye. Thank you.

Senator Carson. Thank you to the senator from Loveland for those comments. And I will mention real quickly that this bill actually saves a little money through its efficiency. So that's a good thing. Thank you.

Oh, I know. I got you.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate take up special order second reading of Bill's consent calendar, which includes Senate Bill 171, 173, House Bill 1290, 1052, 1214, 1260, at the hour of 1053?

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate to resolve itself into the committee of the whole for consideration of special orders, second reading consent.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move for the passage of all the bills on special order's second reading of bills. Consent calendar, which is Senate Bill 171, Senate Bill 173, House Bill 1290, 1052, House Bill 1214 in the Health and Human Services Report, and House Bill 1260 in the Health and Human Services Report.

Thank you, Madam President. The committee has met and has had a number of bills under consideration. Mr. Schoffler, please read the report.

Senator Wiseman. Thanks, Madam President. I move the Senate to adopt the report of the Committee of the Whole.

the Senate take up special order second reading of bills which consist of House Bill 1313, 1283, Senate Bill 174, House Bill 1193, Senate Bill 170, House Bill 1242, and House Bill 1258 at the hour of 10 22 a.m the motion is that the senate take up the bills that the majority leader listed

Thank you, Madam President. I move the Senate to resolve itself into the committee of the whole for the consideration of special orders.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1313 and the Associated Local Government and Housing Committee report. to the committee report Thank you Mr Chair In committee we adopted two amendments One removed the language around deed restrictions and replaced it with formal affordability restrictions to allow for more flexibility And a second created a financing mechanism to create more flexibility year over year to access the Prop 123 funds I ask for an aye vote on the committee reports

Senator Ball. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move amendment L018 to House Bill 1313.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. L-18 simply clarifies that local governments may enter into intergovernmental agreements to determine how many units are distributed to each local government's goals under Prop 123.

Senator Fazel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move Amendment L-19 to House Bill 1313.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members, L-19 is an amendment that makes a requirement for O-Edit and CHFA to hold a stakeholder process to determine how to spend Prop 123 dollars across the programs in years where Prop 123 is not fully funded, like now. Thank you. Further discussion on L-19?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues, Proposition 123 was approved by the voters and had optimistic targets that incentivized local governments to build affordable housing, to make them available for funding for more affordable housing. However, the requirements that were originally passed under the proposition have proven to be unworkable in current economic conditions. And so what this bill is really about is making adjustments to the underlying formula to ensure that local governments that are doing their best, trying to meet the intent and the requirements of Prop 123, aren't unfairly penalized by economic factors that are out of their control.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members, I think it's really important to always tell you, I did not support Prop 123. I did not vote for Prop 123. But I believe in our shared responsibility to respect the wishes of our voters. They voted yes, even though I didn't. So this has been a really – this was passed in 2022, Prop 123. And the framework was set up. The administration was set up. And it has as my good co sponsor has indicated it has not proven to be tenable for local governments to actually be able to access these funds on a consistent basis Some local governments have been able to cobble some things together. We have had a project in Lone Tree, just down south, north of my district. We've had a project even in Castle Rock that accessed these funds. But by and large, it has been very, very challenging for local governments to actually participate. And so I really feel that an adjustment to this is important. I'm confident that this bill better reflects real-world housing production and supports stronger regional collaboration and will expand the participation pathways for 1-2-3. I urge an aye vote.

Senator Marchman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1283 and the Judiciary Committee report.

Great. In the committee, we clarified what an individual is to ensure that migrant and seasonal employees are included, and we'd ask for an aye vote. Thank you.

Senator Marchman. Thank you. We move, I move House Bill 1283 and ask for your aye vote.

Thank you, Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move Senate Bill 174 and the Judiciary Committee report.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the committee report, we made some amendments at the request of the Judicial Department to make sure we were not infringing on the ability for them to regulate the practice of legal services. I ask for an aye vote.

To the bill, Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dear colleagues, this is a bill about protecting consumers from deceptive advertisements and lead generation marketing that are not getting them the legal services that they're seeking out. I ask for an aye vote on this bill.

Thank you, Senator Wallace. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1193.

Thank you. Members, here in Colorado, current law requires that school districts test the vision of students in kindergarten, and then again in first, second, third, fifth, and seventh grade. This bill requires that school districts also test the vision of students in pre-kindergarten, as well as updating some outdated terminology, so replacing the word sight with vision. I received my first pair of glasses in elementary school after receiving a vision screening at school. So we know that programs and supports like these meet students where they already are and help catch vision problems early on. So ultimately, this is about being able to see better in classrooms so students can learn better. And I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I move Senate Bill 170, the education and the appropriation committee reports.

The education report, ultimately we ran an amendment that swaps the appointments of the House Minority Leader and the President and added a Minority Report, and we asked for an aye vote. All right.

Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I move L-004.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. L-004 adds another seat to the task force for facility schools. This amendment was based on feedback we received from different partners. We ask for an aye vote.

Amendment L5. Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Move L005.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a technical amendment that ensures the task force does not meet until after July 31, 2026, and that the deadline to complete the report required under this section should be adjusted to five months between the first meeting of the task force and the report deadline to ask for an aye vote.

Amendment printed bill. Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I move L-006.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This amendment tightens up the definition of opportunity gaps. This amendment was based on the feedback we received from CEA, AFT, CASB, KS, League of Charter Schools, and more. We ask for an aye vote.

Senator Marchman. uh thank you mr chair i rise in support of l6 one of the things that we talked about a lot was what is the definition of an opportunity gap and one of the things we noticed in committee was that the disability status was not included and so this calls that out and i just want to say a huge thank you to the sponsors for putting that in there thank you thank you for the discussion to l6 seeing on the questions the passage of l6 to sb 170 all those in favor please say aye Any opposed to say no The ayes have it L6 is adopted To the bill this is L7 Mr Schaffler please read L7 to SB 170 Amendment L7.

Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, I move L007.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This amendment strikes the ledge deck from the bill. This amendment was based on feedback we received, and we asked for an aye vote. All right. Further discussion about L7, Senator Marchman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I rise in support of L7. I had requested this, and I feel like this is really a good faith effort of the sponsors to follow through. And I don't know that we always need legislative declarations unless they do something statutory. So this strikes the legislative declaration, and I'd urge an aye vote on L007.

To the bill, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Once again, we move Senate Bill 170 as a minute to ask for a favorable vote, and Michaela Parker is the greatest senior advisor of all time. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1242 to the bill.

Colleagues, pleased to be here with the good Senator from Highlands Ranch to present House Bill 1242. What this bill is about is putting in more people's cars, one of the most effective ways of stopping drunk driving in our state. We know that drunk driving is a completely preventable crime, but occurs way too often on our roads. What this bill will do is make sure that a first-time offender of a DUI goes through the interlock process before they receive their license renewal again. This is a very reliable way that many other states have taken action on to ensure that after a first-time offense, folks still need to be able to drive to get to work, to take care of their family, but they are often not being monitored and abiding by their license restrictions. Interlocks are a way to do that and make sure that sober driving is occurring. We also ensure that lower-income individuals are going to be able to have financial assistance to get the interlocks with this new requirement and this will help folks still be able to petition for an early release from the interlock program if they are doing performing well on their restriction so this of course is so important for road safety it will prevent other people from driving drunk and means we're saving lives in colorado i would appreciate your

senator from Frisco for his leadership on this issue and all of the work he's put into this bill. I'm asked to be at it as a co-sponsor, but I think it's a very important piece of legislation. It really just updates the technology we have out there. There's no reason to have this two-month waiting period in place. One of the things that is really amazing about this, if you think about 180 over 180 times since 2006 interlocks have blocked drunk driving attempts in Colorado So think about that. All the people who might have been killed or seriously injured by people out there driving, 180,000 times these devices prevented folks from driving when they shouldn't have been driving. So I think this just updates the technology, and it's a good piece of legislation and urgent support.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I rise in support of House Bill 1242. I do think this is so important. I ride up and down I-25 every day for hours and hours, and it's a dangerous place to be. And I do think people are probably engaging in drinking on the road, and so I'm glad that these are going to be able to get out. I rise because I'm confused from the department, and I just want to go on record about the financing of this bill. Earlier in Finance Committee, we heard a bill called House Bill 1102, And that was all intended to bring money into the Drives account because the Drives account has had 26 bills since 2018, which has caused $3.4 million, or maybe that's 34, and 36.7 FTE. So my concern is that in the same breath, the department is saying, please fund this bill with this cash fund, and at the other hand saying, oh, yeah, this cash fund is really struggling. And so I just want to put on record that we should really make sure that the DRIVES fund is shored up. There is a fund that is created just for interlocked devices that I think would have been a good fit. But, yeah, it's just more of a message to the department. And I urge strong support for House Bill 1242.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1258. And there are some committee reports. And the business report and appropriations report.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the BLT committee, we made some changes regarding some definitions, including what arrangements mean and some other technical changes. I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the appropriations committee, we removed the part of the bill that created a new Class 5 felony for abuse of a corpse. This was driving a fiscal impact and that was the practical reason for removing it However we do believe after consulting with district attorneys and other stakeholders that even without this new crime there are existing crimes to which we can use to hold bad actors accountable And so I ask for an aye vote

Amendment L13. Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move L13. To the amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this amendment just makes clear that contractors are allowed to be present in these licensed business settings so long as they have supervision of a licensee and that the dignity of the human remains are being respected. I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the good Senator from Cheyenne Wells for his partnership on this. You all, if you've been here for a few years, know that the legislature has endeavored to put more oversight and restrictions, not restrictions, but responsibility into the funeral industry so that we're protecting Coloradans and their loved ones after a loss. We've had some very unfortunate scandal, tragedy, and frankly horrific crime happen at several funeral establishments across the state. A couple years ago, I, along with some colleagues, worked on a bill to finally establish licensing for funeral professionals and businesses in our state, allow the department to make inspections on those businesses the way they inspect other businesses. And that was a big change in effort. And that licensing will take effect at the beginning of this upcoming year, 2027. But as we rolled that out and the rulemaking happened, we realized that some more clarifications needed to be made in order to support the industry and make sure that things were practicable, as well as give the department the tools they needed to enforce the licensing requirements. So that's what the bill in front of you is. It does a variety of things. That's why it has a broad title, but all aimed at making sure that we're treating this situation with respect and making the professionals who work so hard to do this work have the dignity that they deserve as business owners as well and root out the bad actors that we've had in our state.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'd like to thank the good Senator from Frisco for being on this bill. Two years ago, the bill that was referenced kind of made it hard on some of the rural funeral directors that have multiple locations, some of them 70, 80, 100 miles apart, that made them have to have a licensed funeral director in every one of those satellites. So this is kind of cleaning up some of that to where it's not unfair burden and cost on some of these satellite offices, but they still will have professionals around. They just don't have to be that certified professional in those locations. This bill also has been unanimous all the way through the process in the House and the Senate, It's just there have been amendments needing to be put on. That's why it's not been on the consent calendar. But it's a good bill that is necessary, and I'd urge an aye vote. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. President. The committee has been meeting and has had a number of bills. Under consideration, will Mr. Schauffler please read the report? April 29, 2026, Mr. President, your committee of the whole begs leave to report it has had in consideration the following tax bills being the second reading thereof and makes following recommendations thereof. Senate Bill 174, as amended. Senate Bill 170, as amended. Passed on second reading. In order to engross and place in the calendar for third reading and final passage. House Bill 1313, as amended. House Bill 1283, as amended. House Bill 1193. House Bill 1242. House Bill 1258, as amended, passed on second reading, in order to revise and place on the calendar for third reading, final pass.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate to adopt the report of the committee to hold.

Thank you, Mr. President I move the Senate once again resolve itself into the committee The whole for consideration of General Order, second reading of bills

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, as most of you know, I served in the military for 25 years. I swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. And now, as a legislator, I continue to do so, and I cherish the freedoms that we have. My experiences and my background are unique, encompassing national security, economics, analytics, electronic warfare, and testing large, complex systems like satellites, fighter jets, down to the small, complex microchips. I can definitely be quite a data geek. And needless to say, when I assess the bills that come before this body, I look at them through a variety of lenses. One is verifying the constitutionality. One is assessing potential impact on national security. And another, verifying if it's the role of the government in securing and protecting our rights. Regarding Senate Bill 70, this is a bill that safeguards our essential liberties from encroaching government surveillance. As Ben Franklin so wisely warned, those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. And this bill deals precisely with that tradeoff. And let me be clear, I support our law enforcement. I have family members in law enforcement. I know the technology they use protects citizens and it can save lives. And I greatly appreciate their sacrifice and service. That being said, I have constituents who are concerned about the proliferation of such technology and the impacts to their privacy. We know that 10 to 15 years ago there were hardly any cameras on our streets. And what cameras existed back then were definitely not like the smart cameras that exist now. Now there are hundreds, if not thousands, with increasing surveillance platforms on the horizon. And with AI coming on board, there's the unknown and concern about Colorado becoming a surveillance state like China. So where is the appropriate balance between enabling law enforcement to use these tools while also protecting citizens' privacy? We've met with various stakeholders, listening to their concerns, trying to troubleshoot possible unintended consequences, and striking the right balance. Under current law, the government can store this data up to three years, essentially building a database of people's daily routines where we go to work, worship, shop, or visit loved ones. And the question to ask is, how frequently are our movements being captured? And is it the role of the government to collect potentially sensitive movements of law citizens And does this infringe on our Fourth Amendment right We know the Supreme Court has been explicitly clear constant warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional. In the case of the United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court unanimously held that the government's warrantless attachment of GPS tracking device to a vehicle and its subsequent use to monitor the vehicle's movements constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. This violated the owner's rights because it involved a physical trespass on private property, the vehicle itself, to obtain information. And the ruling effectively requires a warrant for such invasive tracking in most cases. And building upon this case is Carpenter v. United States. The court ruled that warrantless access to historical cell site location information, which tracks a person's movements through their phone, also violates the Fourth Amendment for similar privacy reasons, even without physical trespass. And this reinforces protections against comprehensive location tracking without judicial oversight. So now we have technology that gives real-time tracking through other means, which creates a gray area where there's brief pings of information, but not prolonged electronic monitoring that reveals detailed patterns of movements, which is akin to GPS, and which typically triggers Fourth Amendment protections. Of course, solving crimes is easier with constant surveillance, but it is not a constitutional justification. Requiring a warrant simply restores the balance between law enforcement authority and individual liberty, while preserving those clear exceptions for emergencies and legitimate public safety needs. Understand that this bill is prescriptive, not preventative. It doesn't eliminate these tools. It ensures they're used in a way that minimizes constitutional concerns. The government can still investigate suspicious activity. That doesn't change. But it can't treat all of us as potential criminals. Data collected without limits becomes power without limits. If you drove to the Capitol today, someone might already know your route, any stops you made, or even if a passenger was in your car. Imagine that power in the wrong hands, regardless of which party holds the reins. When the government can track your vehicle's history back months or years through these databases, any reasonable expectation of privacy is effectively dead. And it's not the role of the government to have a God's eye view on its citizens. This isn't a partisan issue. Protecting the Fourth Amendment is a foundational American principle that transcends party lines. Legislators in other states, red and blue alike, are considering similar reforms. Iowa, Kentucky, West Virginia, New York, Washington, and Tennessee are among them. And when I taught economics at the Air Force Academy I often told my students that the person or a business or an organization or even a country with the most information in a market typically controls it They gain the most power The same holds true here Unfettered access to our private information, our movement data in this case, hands unprecedented control of our lives to those who have access, especially those who are in a position of power like the government. And to those who say, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, I would respond, privacy isn't about hiding something bad. It's about protecting something profoundly good, our liberty. And there's another critical concern we cannot ignore, data security. These databases hold sensitive location information about law-abiding Americans, where we live, worship, work, and the patterns of our daily lives. Large data systems are a prime target for hackers and foreign adversaries, and we've seen it happen even in our most secure military systems. In 2014, China hacked the Office of Personnel Management and compromised the personal information of 21.5 million people, including detailed history of military personnel and 5.6 million sets of fingerprints. biometrics that can't be changed, posing a permanent risk to our Special Operations Forces and those with security clearances. And I was one of those military members who was impacted by that breach. Understand that my district has a high percentage of military members. The movements of military members can be sensitive, and knowing that adversaries like China have proven capable of infiltrating these systems, and it adds another layer of concern. We should not build centralized repositories of our citizens' movements without strong guardrails and security controls. Senate Bill 2670 provides those safeguards, ensuring that data is handled with the care it demands and that access requires judicial oversight. It creates guardrails against overreach, empowers law enforcement within constitutional bounds, and shields us all from the dangers of unchecked surveillance. And I understand that this bill is the first of its kind, and there are concerns from the opposition. I have always been open to hearing the concerns and mitigating issues. Again, the goal is to optimize a balance between equipping our law enforcement with this technology so they can enhance the safety of citizens, while also putting guardrails to protect citizens' liberty, privacy, and information. And whether you agree with this bill or not, It's absolutely necessary to have this discussion because with AI coming on board, that brings an uncertain element to the equation. Additionally, we're seeing similar bills now being introduced at the federal level. So the concerns are not going away, and the bottom line is we need to secure both our safety and our liberty for generations to come. I hope to find an optimal path for our law enforcement and citizens, and I want to thank my co-sponsor, for inviting me to join her. It's funny how we teamed up. I've enjoyed, I've thoroughly enjoyed working with you. You really worked hard to optimize this bill while also showing me the ropes, and I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Mavale. Thank you,

Senator Henriksen.

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR CONTINUED EFFORTS.

Senator Merchant.

So like a bro. That's what they had. We all know the guy's full name. We don't know how many searches were run. We don't know what they found or happened to the people they looked up. And y'all, Loveland, Colorado, I don't know, I'm a teacher, but I don't know if you've looked at a map. We're kind of far from any borders. So it's pretty confusing why Loveland police were sharing information that doesn't involve any violent crime in our county. When the police chief was asked about concern, he said constantly that he was mystified about public concern. There's so much more opportunity for abuse in other systems, he said, mystified. And those are the people who are surveilling and advancing surveillance in our communities. That is what the chief of police said when I asked, why are you sharing this data? He's mystified why it is an issue. So let me tell you what the law says. The entirety of Colorado's statutory framework governing LAPRs is a 2014 passive surveillance law that requires data to be deleted in three years. That's it. Three years. No authorized purpose, no warrant, no vendor controls, no immigration prohibition, no suppression remedy, no registration requirement. We don't even know how many of these systems are deployed across our state because there is no law that requires anyone to tell us. Flock Safety has partnerships with nearly 100 Colorado police agencies. and more than 160 private entities including homeowners association it operates in 75 communities and we have written zero laws governing what happens to the data it collects on every vehicle in those communities around the clock every single day We did pass Senate Bill 25276 last year which prohibits local governments from sharing license plate data, but Loveland did it anyway. SB 25276 has no suppression remedy, no enforcement mechanism specific to ALPR. It's a prohibition with no consequence. So when my constituents ask me what we're doing to protect Colorado from the rise of surveillance technology, I can honestly tell them really nothing. We don't have the political will right now to do that. maybe we can find people who would be willing to step up to do this. This abuse that goes on from data that's just prevalent without any guardrails has resulted in at least 14 cases nationwide of police officers abusing ALPR data to hurt people. Now, there's bad actors everywhere, guys, and I would not expect this from the communities in our state, but it is a problem when this data has no guardrails. So this bill was our attempt. I thank the good senators for really building something genuinely bipartisan and incredibly constitutionally founded. I appreciate the Judiciary Committee really improved the bill. but friends we've invested five million dollars in public dollars through the colorado auto theft prevention authority to expand alpr infrastructure and then we gave millions more through the justice assistance grant and the safer streets program we built a surveillance network with taxpayer money And now we're being told the accountability structure isn't going to work. So I want to put on record that Washington State just passed the strongest ALPR statute in the country. And it passed 84 to 10 bipartisan, signed, it's got a warrant requirement, it's got vendor controls, It's got an explicit immigration enforcement prohibition, a provision that a positive ALPR hit alone doesn't constitute reasonable suspicion. But I want to talk to my constituents directly and every Coloradan who drove past a block camera on their way here today. It's surprising that we're not taking action. So I hope that we are going to come back with political will in 2027 to do what our constituents are asking for and to protect them from the surveillance state in which we live. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to lay over Senate Bill 70 until Saturday July 4th Independence Day Members the motion is to lay over Senate Bill 70 until July 4th

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to lay over the balance of the calendar until Thursday, April the 30th.

Aye.

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

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. The committee has met and has considered a few bills. Mr. Schoffler, please read the report. April 29, 2026. Madam President, your committee of the Holbegs leave the report. It is headed into consideration the following task bills being the second reading thereof. It makes the following recommendations thereon. House Bill 1210, House Bill 1113, laid over until April 30, 2026, and retaining their place in the calendar. Senate Bill 70 laid over until July 4, 2026 and retaining its place on the calendar. Senator Wiseman. Thanks, Madam President. I move the Senate to adopt the report of the Committee of the Whole.

First report of the first conference committee on House Bill 1084, this report amends a re-revised bill. To the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, your first conference committee appointed on House Bill 1084 concerning voter transparency requirements to expand information about the funding of initiated statewide ballot measures in connection therewith requiring the abstract of the fiscal impact statement for certain initiated statewide ballot measures to describe the measures likely effect on the main areas of the state's expenditure, has met and reports that it is agreed upon the following. One, that the House accede to Senate amendments made to the bill as amendments appear in the re-revised bill. Two, that under the authority granted to the committee to consider matters not at issue between the two houses, the following amendments be recommended. Respectfully submitted, Representative Cecilia Espinosa, Chair, Representative Sean Camacho, Representative Chris Richardson, Senator Mike Weissman, Chair, Senator William Lindstedt, Senator Byron Pelton.

No.

Thank you, Madam President. I give notice of intent to reconsider Senate Bill 134.

Senator Wiseman. Thanks, Madam President. This is to announce the work of the Judiciary Committee this afternoon. 1.30, Old Supreme Court. We're hearing two bills, SB 177 and HB 1343.

Senator Amabile. Thank you, Madam Chair. The Joint Budget Committee or Madam President sorry about that The Joint Budget Committee is going to be meeting sometime today to consider some more bills I don't know exactly when, but tomorrow the Senate Committee on Appropriations will be meeting at 8.30 a.m. in LSBB, hearing Senate Bill 3, 49, 138, 148, 165, 172, and House Bills 1109 and 1207, and any other bills that might come our way.

Thank you, Madam President. Senate Education Committee will be hearing four bills today at 1.30 in Committee Room 357. We're going to change the order. We're going to start with 1078 and then go from there. So 1078, then move on down. So thank you.

Senator Mullica. Thank you, Madam President. Senate Health and Human Services Committee will be meeting 15 minutes upon adjournment to hear the Colorado Health Facilities Authority Board of Directors and House Bill 1344 and House Bill 1235. Oh that some bullshit call Further announcements Assistant Majority Leader Cutter Thank you Madam President

Any further announcements? Majority Leader Rodriguez.

Thank you. The motion is to recess until 12 p.m. today. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The Senate will adjourn until noon today.