March 31, 2026 · State, Veterans, & Military Affairs · 4,620 words · 12 speakers · 204 segments
an effort could, let's hope it's not quite that much effort today. Today I'm bringing to you House Bill 26-1303. Senator Ball would have been with me, but he had some other things that he needed to do today, so I'll be pinch hitting for him. So 26-1303 is a technical changes to the energy and carbon management statutes. What it does is it makes two revisions to energy and carbon management statutes. First, the bill amends the terminology used to describe an exam that welders working on oil and gas process lines are required to pass to obtain certification. The law requires the Commission to adopt rules to require certification for welders in oil and gas. The rules require passing an exam. The current rule refers to an exam as the International Code Council Exam F31, a standard for journeyman mechanical or successor exams. The F31 exam is not applicable to welders. The bill changes the reference to instead refer to certain other exams that are applicable to welders in the oil and gas industry. Second, in certain instances throughout the bill, oil and gas operations are changing to energy and carbon management operations to ensure uniformity of terminology and to align statutory references to operations to those operations that are within the scope of the Commission's regulatory authority. And that's what this bill does.
Wonderful. Thank you, sir. Members, are there questions for this sponsor? Okay. Seeing none, we have one witness signed up. That's Jeff Robbins. this online he is online and he is from the Colorado Energy and Carbon Commission and is here for questions only. Are there questions for our witness? Seeing none, thank you so much for being here, sir. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to testify on House Bill 1303? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senator Catlin, any amendments?
No, ma'am.
Members, amendments? Seeing none, the amendments phase is closed. Closing comments, Senator Catlin? No, other than just a smart aleck. Good bill. Vote yes. Wonderful. Members, any closing thoughts? Seeing none, Mr. Vice
Chair. Oh, I'm sorry. Senator Catlin, would you like to move your bill? Oh, I'd like to move House Bill 26-1303 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
That is a proper motion. Mr. Sayed, please poll the committee.
Senators, Cowan.
Yes.
Linstead.
Aye.
Samora Wilson.
Aye.
Sullivan.
Aye.
Madam Chair.
Aye. That measure is passed, 5 to 1.
Could I ask to have a consent be put on the consent calendar?
Yes. No objections. That will be placed on the consent calendar.
Thank you. Thank you, committee.
Thank you. And if you want to remain there, we'll have House Bill 1218.
Yes, ma'am. This is right in my wheelhouse, as you can tell, clarifying the validity of common law marriage. House Bill 26-1218. Senate Bill 25014 enacted in 2025 repealed a provision of law that stated certain marriage formality requirements do not invalidate or otherwise validate common law marriage. The bill restores that provision to clarify the validity of common law marriage. And that's what this bill is going to be doing. It reinstates a previously repealed statutory provision to not invalidate valid common law marriages. And no fiscal impact and no appropriations.
Wonderful. Members, are there questions for our sponsors? Senator Sullivan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I just have a question here on the common law nature of this. Is it true that if you check into a motel with a woman and you put down Mr. and Mrs., she can then claim that it's a common law marriage and you're tied to her forever?
Senator Catlin. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Sullivan, I'm not positive about that. I've heard that before in my life we all have great
well thank you sir
any further questions no okay thank you sir we do not have any witnesses signed up for this bill is there anyone in the room who would like to testify seeing none the witness phase is closed any amendments sir
no ma'am
committee members seeing none the amendment The amendment phase is closed. And, Senator, any closing remarks?
No, this is really a good bill vote, yes.
Okay, great. Members, seeing none, would you like to move your bill, sir?
Yes, ma'am. I'd like to move House Bill 26-12-18 to the Committee of the Whole with the favorable recommendation.
Proper motion, Mr. Sayed, please pull the committee.
Senators, Catlin.
Yes.
Linstead.
Aye.
Samoa Wilson.
Aye.
Sullivan.
Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That motion passes 5-0.
Yes, ma'am. Could I ask to have this put on the consent calendar?
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. Thank you. Thank you, committee. Thank you, sir. Next up, we will hear 1294 with Senator Exum. Good afternoon, Senator Axum. Thank you for joining us. We would love to hear your opening remarks.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In 2008 legislative session, General Assembly passed the House Bill 08-13-17, Adopting Interstate Compact on Education Opportunities for Military Children. Upon review of the legislation, however, the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs discovered the compact was adopted with an incorrect citation to the definition of active duty in two places. This incorrect citation could potentially cause confusion about whether children of the National Guard or Reserve members are covered under the compact. House Bill 26-1294 corrects the citation error.
Sounds like a great bill. any questions for our sponsored members? Seeing none. Thank you sir. We do not have any witnesses signed up. Is there anyone in the room that would like to testify? Seeing none. The witness phase is closed.
Senator Exum any amendments? No ma'am.
Members amendments? Seeing none. The amendment phase is closed. Any closing comments?
No ma'am. Okay
great members. Wonderful. Mr. Vice
chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-1294 to the committee of the whole with a favorable recommendation.
Proper motion. Mr. Sayed, please call the roll or pull the committee.
Senators, Cowan. Yes. Linstead. Aye. Samoa Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That motion passes five to zero, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to request that this bill be put on the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. Thank you so much, Senator Exum. Senator Rich.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm here to talk to you about House Bill 26-12-17, also a statutory revision bill. This has to do with correcting cross-references in child support guidelines. This is going to be one of the more fun ones to do because we're going to talk about CRS section, and then I going to go into a lot of this Section 1410 paren 7 paren small a paren capital B paren capital B and paren 7, small a, capital V, capital C, CRS, refers to the reduced low income adjustment calculated pursuant to subsection paren 7, paren small a, paren Roman numeral 3, paren capital A of this section. However, section 1410.115, paren 7, paren small a, Roman numeral 3, paren A, CRS, does not use the phrase reduced low income adjustment. And Section 1410.115, paren 7, paren small a, paren Roman numeral 3, paren capital B, CRS, uses the phrase reduced low income adjustment to refer to the amounts calculated. So section 1410.115, paren 7, paren small a, paren capital V, paren capital B, and paren 7, paren small a, paren capital V, paren capital C, CRS should be corrected to replace the cross reference to section 1410.115, paren 7, paren small a, paren Roman numeral 3. paren A, CRS, with a cross-reference to section 1410.115, paren 7, paren small a, paren Roman numeral 3, paren B, CRS. I hope you got that. And then we're going to correct cross-references in section 1410.115, paren 7, paren small a, paren Roman numeral 6, and paren A, paren small a, and paren A, 8, paren B, CRS. And again, it's doing basically the same thing. It says CRS does not discuss an adjustment and instead discusses notice requirements for a custodial parent who receives derivative benefits. Section 1410.115, paren 11, small c, paren Romano 3, CRS discusses an adjustment. Reducing the non-custodial patient's share of the total child support obligation is an amount equal to derivative payments received. And then we go into the cross-reference of the Colorado Revised Statutes again, and I know that you remembered all of those. so it's basically correcting some defective cross-references within the child support guidelines very well done thank you so much and we look forward to the pop quiz that we will receive on all of those references members are there questions for our sponsor seeing none we do not have any witnesses signed up would anyone in the room like to testify on this legislation seeing none the witness phase is closed senator any senator rich any amendments no ma'am
Members, any amendments? Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-12-17 to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
That is a proper motion. Mr. Sayed, please call. Oh, I'm sorry, final remarks, Senator Rich or Committee members?
Unless you'd like for me to go through that again.
You did do a great job the first time. Okay, with seeing no further remarks, Mr. Saad.
Sanders, Catlin.
Yes.
Linstead.
Aye.
Samoa Wilson.
Aye.
Sullivan.
Aye.
Madam Chair.
Aye.
That passes five to zero.
Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to have this bill put on the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. All right. On to House Bill 26-12-19. Senator Rich.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is House Bill 26-12-19 extending the deadline by which a battery stewardship organization must submit an assessment regarding the end-of-life management of certain batteries. This was a bill that was previously passed, and upon review of the legislation, the Office of Legislative Legal Services identified a defect in the law regarding the dates by which the assessment must be completed and submitted to the General Assembly. The defect creates a contradiction. The Office of Legislative Legal proposes that Statutory Revision Committee introduce legislation to correct the defect. So here we are. And we want it is to change the assessment by six months from July 1, 2027 to December 1, 2027. That will correct the contradiction. And I hope that you can support this. Oh, there's one other change.
Yes, ma'am.
Sorry. Changing another date, the General Assembly was changed from October 1, 2027 to March 1, 2028. So both of those help with the contradiction that seemed to be in the original bill.
Wonderful. Are there questions for our sponsor? Seeing none, we will move on to witnesses. We have Wolfgang Cray and Rachel Zetsky online. Great. We'll start in person here with you. If you could introduce yourself, state who you represent. You'll have two minutes.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair and committee members. My name is Wolf Cray. I'm the Materials Management Unit Leader at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. I'm here today in support of House Bill 26-1219. So last year, the legislature passed Senate Bill 25-163, which requires the department to oversee a stewardship organization managing unwanted batteries. Under the 2025 bill, the organization must additionally conduct an assessment of embedded batteries in products. The embedded batteries are exempt under the current battery stewardship program. Once the embedded batteries assessment is complete, the department must submit the assessment to the legislature. And as the bill was being debated, amendments were passed to delay implementation. However, the submission deadline was missed, and it now falls before the assessment is complete. House Bill 26-1219 ensures the department can remain in compliance with the act by adjusting the General Assembly due date to three months after the assessment is submitted to the department. The department greatly appreciates the committee's review of the statute and we support the language adjusting the assessment due date. We ask for a yes vote. Thank you so much for your time and happy to take any questions.
Thank you. We'll go online now to Ms. Zetsky. I'm sure I'm saying your last name wrong.
You actually got it right. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee for your time. I'm Rachel Setsky, Senior Policy Advisor at EcoCycle. We're one of the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit recyclers in the country. And we operate the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials or the Charm in Boulder, where we collect tens of thousands of pounds of loose batteries, as well as devices that contain embedded batteries. We thank the sponsors of the original bill, SB 25163, as well as the sponsors of this bill and the Department of Public Health and Environment for your work on creating a program that will collect both loose batteries and hopefully eventually embedded batteries as well. the embedded battery assessment is going to be a very valuable tool to help Colorado expand pathways to collecting and recycling products with embedded batteries. Unlike loose batteries that come in standard sizes, products with embedded batteries include a wide variety of items such as electronic toothbrushes, toys, cell phones, laptops, and electronic smoking devices or vapes. Because of the variety of the products with embedded batteries, the collection and processing and recycling of these products is more challenging than that for loose batteries. So we are very much looking forward to the results of this study and we understand that this bill is a needed step to correct that oversight and keep the battery recycling program on track. We encourage you to vote yes on this bill and we thank you for your time Thank you so much Members are there questions for our witnesses Seeing none thank you both so much for being here
Is there anyone else in the room who would like to testify on HB 1219? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senator Rich, any amendments?
No amendments.
Okay, committee members? Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed. Wrap up comments, Senator Rich?
It's a good bill and it's needed so I hope that you'll vote yes.
Makes sense to me. Members, closing comments? Seeing none.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-12-19 to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation. Proper motion.
Mr. Sayed.
Senators, Callum. Aye. Linstead. Aye. Samora Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That passes 5-0. Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to move this bill to the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be on the consent calendar. Senator Rich, thank you. And now on to House Bill 1296.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And again, another statutory revision bill. This is amending cross-references to disciplinary statutes in CRS 252110 and also adding the failure to timely complete a medical certification for a certificate of death, cross-references to the grounds for discipline in Section CRS 12-255-120-1. The Department of Regulatory Agencies discovered that in House Bill 25-1082, it designates the failure to timely complete a medical certification for certificate of death as unprofessional conduct under the Colorado Medical Practice Act. Physician assistants are subject to the Colorado Medical Practice Act, but not advanced practice registered nurses. So that's what this bill was, and we're just trying to correct or amend cross-references to disciplinary statutes and hope that you can support this bill.
Great. Members, questions for our sponsor? Seeing none, we have just one witness signed up for questions only. It is Monica Sutherland with Dora. Are there questions for our witness? Seeing none, thank you so much for being here. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to testify on House Bill 1296? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senator Rich, any amendments?
No amendments.
Committee members? Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed. Wrap-up comments, Senator Rich.
Another bill that statutory revision was trying to correct some errors in the original bill, and I hope that you can support this one. Thank you so much.
Members closing thoughts? Seeing none, Mr. Vice-Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-1296 to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
Wonderful. Mr. Sayed, please poll the committee.
Sanders, Callan. Aye. Linstead. Aye. Samor Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That passes 5-0.
Mr. Vice-Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to move this bill to the consent calendar.
Okay. Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. On to House Bill 1295.
Senator Rich. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a bill that removes the fulfilled reporting requirements from several sections of the Colorado Revised Statutes that do not contain repeal dates. The bill repeals duties related to the fulfilled reports and repealed task force, working groups, and review councils created to make the reports. And I ask for an aye vote.
Wonderful. Questions for the sponsor? Seeing none, we have no witnesses signed up. Is there anyone who would like to testify on House Bill 1295? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senator Rich, any amendments?
No amendments.
Committee. Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-1295 to the committee on the whole with a favorable recommendation. That is a
proper motion. Mr. Sayeth. Oh, I'm sorry. Are there final remarks from the sponsor committee members? I don't have any. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful. Now let's please pull the committee.
Senators Callan. Aye. Winstead. Aye. Samar Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That passes 5 to 0, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to move House Bill 26-1295 to the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, that will be placed on the consent calendar. On to 12-16. I have backup. Okay, great. Who would like to start us off? Would you like to?
Senator Axum. Thank you, Madam Chair. 1216, this bill corrects technical defects or incorrect references to statutes pertaining to the Department of Revenue. First, in CRS, Section 2446-108 includes the list of conditions a taxpayer must meet before claiming a refund on income tax credits approved by CARE economic development, as it appears in the current law. Secondly, Section 434-217 lists exemptions for distributors who are otherwise required to pay a road usage fee or a bridge tunnel impact fee. Thirdly, CRS Section 3931-101 identifies the amount which can be claimed for a property tax or rent assistance grant or heat or fuel expenses assistance grant based on the year the claim was made. And House Bill 24-1268 merged the two statutory sections which established two separate assistance grants programs due to the merger. And lastly, CRS Section 434806 includes definitions for battery electric motor vehicles and plug-in hybrid electrical motors related to congestion impact fee. Those definitions were added into the law tied in with nothing. Section 5 in this bill deletes those two definitions, correcting the errors. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, sir.
Senator Rich? Senator Exum pretty much covered everything there, so I won't repeat that. But thank you. Wonderful.
Members, questions for our sponsors? Seeing none, we do not have any witnesses signed up for this bill. Would anyone like to testify on House Bill 1216? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senators, any amendments?
No amendments.
Committee members? Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed. Wrap up comments, Senators?
Senator Rich? Okay. Again, this is corrections that were made from the Statutory Revision Committee, and I ask for an aye vote.
Senator Aksum?
Ditto. Wonderful.
Committee members, any closing remarks? Seeing none, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-12-16 to the committee on the whole with a favorable recommendation.
Proper motion, Mr. Sayed.
Senators, Catlin. Aye. Linstead. Aye. Samara Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That passes 5-0, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we put this bill on the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. On to House Bill 1220.
Senator Rich. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senate Bill 261220. Current law includes an incorrect reference to an acute treatment unit, which license type was condensed into the license for behavioral health entities in 2019. The Office of Legislative Legal Services proposed that the Statutory Revision Committee introduce legislation to correct this defective reference and a representative of the behavioral health will be available to answer any questions at the meeting on February 12 2026. And I think that may have already happened.
Senator Exum.
Hello.
Members, any questions for our sponsors? Seeing none, we do not have any witnesses signed up on this bill. Would anyone in the room like to testify on 1220? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Any amendments, Senators?
No.
Committee members?
Madam Chair.
Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed. Wrap up comments.
I don't have any further comments. Okay.
No further comments, Madam Chair.
Thank you, both committee members. Seeing none, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-12-20 to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
That is a proper motion, Mr. Sayed.
Letters, Catlin. Aye. Linstead. Aye. Samor Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That passes 5-0.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to put this bill on the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. On to 1297.
Senator Axum. Thank you, Madam Chair. Current sections throughout the cover of revised statutes refer to misdemeanor traffic offenses in two different ways. In certain statutes, a misdemeanor traffic offense is referred to as a traffic misdemeanor, and other statutes are referred to as a misdemeanor traffic offense. Using two different terms to refer to the same type of traffic offense may cause confusion, about whether there is more than one type of traffic offense that is a misdemeanor. House Bill 26-1297 changes the reference for traffic misdemeanor within CRS so that the misdemeanor traffic offense is used uniformly. And I ask for an aye vote. Thank you.
Senator Rich, further comments?
No further comments. Senator Exum explained that very well.
Wonderful. Committee members, any questions? Seeing none, we do not have any witnesses signed up for this bill. Is there anyone in the room who would like to testify on 1297? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senators, any amendments?
No amendments. No, ma'am, Chair.
Okay. Committee members? Seeing none, the amendment phase is closed. Wrap up comments.
Senator Exum? I'm good. Thank you.
All right. Committee members, any closing comments? Okay. Seeing none.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-12-97 to the committee on the whole with a favorable recommendation.
Proper motion, Mr. Sayed.
Senators, Catlin. Aye. Lindstedt. Aye. Samor Wilson. Aye. Sullivan. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That passes 5-0.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I request that this bill be put on the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, that bill will be placed on the consent calendar. On to House Bill 1293. Senator, thank you so much, Senator Rich, for all of your work. Senator Aksum.
Senator Rich, don't leave me. Help.
Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. House Bill 26-1293, modernized in the Blue Book. CRS Section 1-40-124 governs the ballot information, commonly called a blue book, in its preparation for legislative council staff. LCS has identified language within the law that is anticipated and does not conform with the actual practices of the booklet preparation. Current law requires LCS to hold a public hearing for the purpose of allowing LCS to ask questions about the public comments they receive, but LCS has never held such a public hearing to ask questions because they do have questions they just call or email the person making the public comment. It makes it easier that way. So House Bill 26-1293 removes this unnecessary equipment. The bill also deletes redundant and antiquated language, deletes outdated references to fund transfers from way back in 2007 to 2011, and cleans up old drafting language using the passive voice shall instead of active voice must, using gendered language and used anticipated language such as monies and hereby. and ask for an aye vote.
That's a lot.
Members, any questions for our sponsor? Seeing none, we do not have any witnesses signed up for this bill. Is there anyone in the room who would like to testify? Seeing none, the witness phase is closed. Senator Exum, any amendments?
No amendments, Madam Chair.
Committee members, seeing none, the amendment phase is closed. Wrap up comments, Senator Exum?
No, Madam Chair, I'm good.
Okay. Committee members?
All right, Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 26-1293 to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
Proper motion, Mr. Sayed, please pull the committee.
Senators. Catlin.
Aye.
Linstead.
Aye.
Samoa Wilson.
Aye.
Ullivan.
Aye.
Madam Chair.
Aye.
That passes 5-0.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to request that this bill be put on our consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. Last bill of the day. House Bill 1215, who would like to start us off?
Senator Catlin. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was the lead off hitter, so I guess I'll be the bottom of the order here. House Bill 26-12-15 is a technical revision of online marketplace requirement. The bill makes a technical revision to language from Senate Bill 25070 enacted in 2025 to clarify an online marketplace's obligation to alert law enforcement if the online marketplace knows or should have known that a third-party seller is selling or attempting to sell stolen goods to a consumer in Colorado. The summary applies to the re-engrossed version that you have with you. OLS identified two missing words specifically. In Section 6-1-1402-5, small letter B, as Ms. Mitch would say, the words of selling are missing after is suspected creating a defective sentence. The bill makes a technical revision to language from Senate Bill 25070 regarding online marketplaces' obligations to alert law enforcement regarding the sale or attempted sale of stolen goods.
Senator Exum, further comments?
I agree with my co-prime. Thank you.
Thank you. Committee members, questions? Senator Zamora Wilson?
This sounds like a really, really great bill.
I agree I agree
Further comments Seeing none There are no witnesses Signed up on this legislation Would anyone in the room Like to testify Seeing none The witness phase is closed Senators Closing comments Senator Exum
Good bill Vote yes
Yes sir Further comments Committee members Closing comments Seeing none
Senator Catlin Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to move House Bill 26-12-15 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
That is a proper motion. Mr. Sayed?
Senators, Catlin?
Aye.
Linstead?
Aye.
Samor Wilson?
Aye.
Sullivan?
Aye.
Madam Chair?
Aye. That passes 5-0. Senator Catlin?
Yes, ma'am. I'd like to have this bill put on the consent calendar.
Seeing no objection, it will be placed on the consent calendar. With that, that is all of our bills for the day. God bless the consent calendar, and thank you all so much for all of your work to help keep our statutes up to date and looking good. Thank you, committee members, and with that, the State Affairs Committee will be adjourned. Thank you.