May 7, 2026 · 21,105 words · 20 speakers · 401 segments
Without common, as amended, House Bill 1043, 1100, 1117, and 1309. Without common, as amended, Senate Bill 648, 113, and 163. Introduction of bills. House Bill 1043 by Rep. Ryden and Paschal and Sen. Kipp, concerning measures to address discriminatory conduct engaged in by transportation network company drivers and providing services to riders. Finance. House Bill 1100 by Rep. Stuart R. and Espinosa and Sen. Snyder, concerning updates to guardianship for incapacitated adults. Finance. House Bill 1117 by Representatives Ricks and Gonzalez and Senator Lindstedt concerning temporary hospitality event permits that authorize the consumption of marijuana. Finance. House Bill 1309 by Representative Froehlich and Storey and Senator Wallace concerning measures related to forms of abuse in cases regarding a separation of a relationship. State Veteran and Military Affairs. Mr. Majority Leader.
everybody listen up please join me in passing the motion to proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege you wrote the motion from his excellency all those in favor say aye wow that was tough oppose no the eyes have it for his excellency's motion and the senate will proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege.
Senator Basley.
Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I request a moment of personal privilege.
Granted.
Thank you, Mr. President. So, colleagues, last month, Colorado lost a giant in journalism. that one profession that is defended and promoted in our United States Constitution. On April 1, Fred Brown, this Fred Brown, a longtime Capitol reporter and columnist, passed away. He spent more than half a century on Colorado's political scene, nearly 40 years of those with the Denver Post, where he served as Capitol Bureau chief and authored a Friday column widely regarded as required reading for everyone who works and plays in politics in Colorado. A graduate of Colorado State University, Fred began his career at the Bent County Democrat and the Boulder Daily Camera before joining the Post in 1963. He also served on the boards of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and the Society of Professional Journalists, where he championed public access to government and upheld the highest standards of media ethics. Fred helped countless journalists and legislators find their bearings in this very building. The whole of Colorado has benefited from Fred's lifetime of service. The institution to which we belong is stronger because of his reporting and advocacy, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that his influence here will be felt for generations. I recently learned that when Fred retired from the post in 2002, he was afforded the rare privilege of addressing the Senate from this very place where I am standing. For those of you who are not familiar with how the Senate operates, being afforded the opportunity to speak from the well is a privilege typically reserved only for sitting and former legislators. In other words, it's kind of a big deal. And in that valedictory he remarked that the Capitol hadn't seen the last of him and indeed it has not. In fact Fred never left In fulfillment of Fred promise that he wouldn be gone too far this Fred Brown mask on your desks has been hanging in the third floor press room for the last quarter century as recently discovered by Taylor Boyer of our staff You will find reproductions of those masks on your desks today. And in 2002, senators donned them as Fred addressed this body on the occasion of his retirement. so today on the occasion of his passing it seemed fitting to dust them off once more so before I conclude it's my privilege to recognize some of the individuals joining us on the floor this morning we're privileged to be joined by Fred's wife Mary Brown Mary please stand Mrs. Brown we're deeply grateful you're here with us today and we extend our sincere condolences and our profound respect for Fred's legacy also joined by several of Fred's colleagues from the Denver Post, Sharon Sherman, Todd Engall, Caroline Schomp, Dick Johnson, and Nancy Johnson. Also joining us is Jeff Roberts, Executive Director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, who, with Fred, covered the legislature at the Post. Doug Bell, who served on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists with Fred. Crispin Sargent, a neighbor and friend of almost 30 years, we're grateful to have all of you here today. Since his passing, many tributes have been offered in his memory, and I'd like to read one more, this strain of praise, as it were, and ask that you stand as I read this tribute. The Senate of the Colorado Legislature convened in the second regular session of the 75th General Assembly hereby remembers and extends our heartfelt condolences to the family of Frederick Winfield Brown on the occasion of his passing. Fred Brown was a veritable giant on the political and governmental scene in Colorado, serving for more than half a century in countless roles, including as a journalist, commentator, and good government advocate. Fred left an indelible impression upon all who had the honor and privilege of knowing him. To some, he was known as ethical Fred. To others, Mr. Smarty Pants. Yet, regardless of how he was known, he merited universal renown as one who was gentle, fair, brilliant, and principled. The Senate, together with generations of Fred's associates, mentees, and friends solemnly remember Jeff, I'm sorry, Fred Brown and expresses its heartfelt condolences to Fred's beloved wife, Mary, to whom Fred's passing will no doubt be felt most keenly. On the request of Senator Mark Baisley, given the seventh day of May, 2026, and signed by James Rashad Coleman, president of the Senate, and with that, Mr. President, I move that the tribute for Fred Brown be spread across the Senate Journal of May 7, 2026.
The motion is that the tribute for Mr. Brown be spread across. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Polls no. The ayes have it. That motion is adopted.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Very welcome. And thank you to the family members. Let's give them all a round of applause. Thank you for being here. We be in a brief recess to greet our guests
Thank you.
members upon request we would like to take a photo with everybody holding up their masks over their faces to recognize Mr. Brown and we'll do that as soon as everybody gets back to their desk and gets their photo placed over their faces.
Thank you.
Further moments of personal privilege? Further moments of personal privilege? Senator Kipp.
Thank you, everybody. My good call... Mr. President, may I have a moment of personal privilege?
Grancy.
Thank you. I don't want to mess that up again. At any rate, we did read this tribute on Monday for National Nurses Week, and we want to let you all know that the nurses are in the building today, so make sure you say hi to them. Oh, and my good colleague from Thornton, as our resident nurse in the Senate, is joining me. So thank you.
Thank you.
Very good. see no further moments of personal privilege consideration of resolutions
mr. majority leader thank you mr. president I move the Senate proceed out
of order for consideration of resolutions the motion is proceed on order for consideration resolutions all in favor say aye opposed no yes have it that motion is adopted will proceed out of order Consideration of resolutions Mr Schaffler please read the title of SR009 Senate Resolution 009 by Senator Simpson concerning ALS Awareness Month Mr. Minority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, as we approach the end of the session, and I'm sure still quite a bit of spirited discussions yet to come, I would encourage you to take a moment this morning to join me in recognition of this resolution, which would be very near and dear to me, and would I move Senate Resolution 26-009 and ask that it be read at length.
Mr. Schauffler, please read SR009 at length.
Whereas amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS, is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease in which a person's brain loses connection with their muscles, slowly reducing a person's ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. And whereas thousands of new ALS cases are reported every year, and estimates show that every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and someone passes away from ALS. And whereas on average, patients diagnosed with ALS survive only two to five years from the time of diagnosis. And whereas the exact causes of ALS are unknown, although a small percentage of cases are hereditary and there is no known cure for ALS. And whereas people who have served in the military are more likely to develop ALS and die from the disease than those with no history of military service. And whereas securing access to new therapies, durable medical equipment, and communication technologies is of vital importance to people living with ALS. And whereas clinical trials play a pivotal role in evaluating new treatments, enhancing quality of life, and fostering assistive technologies for those living with ALS. And whereas multidisciplinary care clinics improve survival rates by providing comprehensive care for patients with ALS, clinic care includes neurology, pulmonology, nutrition, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, and palliative care. And whereas the ALS Association is the largest philanthropic funder of ALS research globally and has committed more than $154 million to support more than 550 projects across the United States and 18 other countries. And whereas the ALS United Rocky Mountain Organization provides Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah support for several multidisciplinary ALS clinics, including those throughout Colorado offered by National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. And whereas the ALS Association and other nonprofit organizations are committed to making ALS livable and curing it for everyone, everywhere. And whereas ALS Awareness Month provides an opportunity to increase public awareness of the dire circumstances of people living with ALS and acknowledge the terrible impact this disease has on those individuals and their families. Most importantly, it can help provide support for research to eradicate this disease and for multidisciplinary ALS clinics to administer comprehensive care for patients with ALS. And whereas patients with ALS have incredible courage and inspire their families, caregivers, and the community at large, now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate of the 75th General Assembly of the State of Colorado, one, that we, the members of the Colorado Senate, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as ALS Awareness Month, and two, that we call upon all Coloradans to join in supporting ALS research, advocating for increased funding and standing in solidarity with those affected by this relentless disease. Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be sent to Dr. Jenny Tavi, Chief of the Division of Neurology and Behavioral Health at National Jewish Hospital, Dr. Laura Falker, Foster at UC Health Neurosciences Center at Anschutz Medical Campus, the ALS Association, the ALS United Rocky Mountain Organization, Gretchen Hammer, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing, and Paul O'Neill, an ALS caregiver.
Mr. Minority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President and colleagues. Please be seated. I'm trying to gather myself and try to be coherent in this conversation, but ALS remains incurable. The landscape is dramatically different from the early 1990s when my mom passed away. It's really revolved around earlier and more accurate diagnosis, multiple FDA-approved treatments, genetic therapies and active development, biomarkers that allow earlier intervention, and a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms. For families who have lost loved ones decades ago, this progress is meaningful, and the pace of discovery is accelerating. And, like, I've spoken before my mom's from symptoms to diagnosis, and in 1993 at her passing, diagnosis was really just about eliminating everything else. Like, she has lupus. No, it's not lupus. She has MS. No, it's not MS. Oh, she has ALS. So from symptoms to diagnosis to her passing was less than 10 months. So again, maybe blessed, maybe blessed in that space. She died a couple of weeks after her 49th birthday. And appropriate this Sunday is Mother's Day. It'll be the 33rd Mother's Day with my mom in heaven looking down on us. So just a heartfelt thank you and a recognition that the resolution highlighted Dr. Laura Foster with UC Health is here, the Neurosciences Center, as well as Dr. Jenny Tabby, the Chief Division of Neurology and Behavioral Health at National Jewish. Thank you both for being here today. Greatly appreciate that. And with that, Mr. President, I renew my motion for adoption of Senate Resolution 26-009.
The motion. Oh, yes. Sorry. That's the minority leader.
Sorry, Mr. President. I did want to also recognize a constituent of mine in Durango, Paul O'Neill, really reached out a couple months ago to say, and he was a former caregiver for an ALS family member, so he's the one that really got this ball rolling for me. And if he happens to be watching or listening, Paul, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
You got it, brother. The motion is the adoption of SR-009. Are there any no votes? With a vote of 35-I-0-0-0, absent, and zero excuse, SR-26-009 is adopted. Co-sponsors, Mr. Minority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President. I request the current roll call be added as co-sponsors.
Seeing no objection, the current roll call will be added as co-sponsors. Committee reports.
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Special orders, second reading of bills, Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move to lay over special order, second reading of bills until later in the day.
The motion is lay over to special order, second reading of bills, calendar later in the day. All those in favor say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it. That motion is adopted. Special order, second reading of bills, calendar later in the day. Third reading of bills, consent calendar. Mr. Schaffler, please use the titles of all the bills in the consent calendar.
Senate Bill 186 by Senators Marchman and Bazley and Representatives Titone and Kelty. CONCERNING UPDATES TO WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT OF COLORADO NECESSITATED BY TECHNOLOGY UPDATES. SENATE BILL 188 BY SENATORS AMABULA AND KIRKMAYER AND REPRESENTATIVE BROWN AND TAGGERT CONCERNING THE TRANSITION OF RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO THE STATEWIDE MANAGED CARE SYSTEM FOR MEDICAID MEMBERS WHO ARE IN THE CUSTODY OF A COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN OR SOCIAL SERVICES. HOUSE BILL 1420 BY REPRESENTATIVE PASCAL AND RICHARDSON AND SENATORS COOKER AND PELTON R. CONCERNING CHANGES TO THE APPROVAL PROCESS FOR LIGHT MITIGATING TECHNOLOGY THAT IS REQUIRED TO BE INSTALLED AT CERTAIN WIND POWERED ENERGY GENERATION FACILITIES. HOUSE BILL 1341 BY REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON AND SENATOR PELTON R CONCERNING A MODIFICATION TO THE SERVICE PERIOD DURING WHICH THE COLORADO AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MAY ALLOCATE ITS PORTION OF THE PRIVATE ACTIVITY BOND STATE SEALING ALLOCATION. HOUSE BILL 1015 BY REPRESENTATIVE MCCORMICK AND TAGGERT AND SENATOR SIMPSON AND AMOBILA CONCERNING THE EXTENSION OF THE COLORADO HOMELESS CONTRIBUTION TAX CREDIT THROUGH INCOME TAX YEAR 2030. bill 1423 by represent brown and taggart and centers of mobile and bridges concerning requiring the department of public safety to submit a community corrections budget in its annual budget
request mr. majority leader thank you mr. president i move for the passage of all the bills on third reading of bills final passage consent calendar which is senate bill 186 188 house bill 1420 1341 1015 and 1423 any discussion on any of the bills seeing none of the motions the passage of
all the bills there in the bills in calendar are there any no votes senators amora wilson
thank you mr president i wish to be recorded as a no vote for senate bill 188 and 10 house bill 1015 thank you so there's more wills record as a no vote for
senate bill 188 and house bill 1015. senator basley thank you mr president i'd like to be
recorded as a no vote on House Bill 1015. Senator Bates recorded as a no vote on House Bill 1015.
Senator Carson. Thank you Mr. President. I ask to be recorded as a no vote on
Senate Bill 188. Senator Carson recorded as a no vote on Senate Bill 188.
Seeing no further no votes with a vote of 35 ayes, zero no, zero absence, zero excuse. Senate Bill 186 is passed. Co-sponsors. Please add the president.
And this is co-sponsors on 186.
And Senator Kipp.
With a vote of 33 ayes, 2 noes, 0 apples, 0 skews.
Senate Bill 188 is passed. Co-sponsors.
Please add Senator Exum and Mr Minority Leader and the President With a vote of 35 I 0 no 0 absent 0 excuse
House Bill 1420 is passed. Go sponsors.
Please add the President.
With a vote of 35 I, 0, no, 0, absent, 0, excuse. House Bill 1341 is passed. Go sponsors. Senators, Mr. Minority Leader.
Senator Catlin. Gonzalez.
Oh, not Gonzalez.
Kip.
Please add to President.
With a vote of 33 eyes, 2 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse, House vote 1015 is passed.
Co-sponsors. Senators Kip.
Exum.
Wallace.
Benavidez, Gonzalez, Judah, Marchman, Liston.
Please add to President.
With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse, House Bill 1423 is passed. co-sponsors. Senators Kipp, Benavidez, Cutter, Marchman, Weissman, Wallace,
Gonzales.
Judah.
Please add the president.
Third meeting of bills.
Final passage. Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 191. Senator Bill 191 by Senators Amabile and Frizzell and Representatives McCormick.
Concerning the use of gifts, grants, and donations made to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing for the purpose of enhancing the reimbursement for nursing facilities that serve residents with behavioral health needs. Senator Frizzell.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 191 and request a third reading amendment. Please tell us what you would like permission for a third reading amendment.
Senator Frizzell. Senator Amabalek.
So we put an amendment on and it wasn't completely correct.
And this is basically a correction to the amendment we put on on seconds at the request of some of the members of the Finance Committee. The motion of Senator Amabile and Frizzell is to offer a third reading amendment.
Request to offer a third reading amendment. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed no. The ayes have it, and permission is granted. There is an amendment at the desk. Mr. Schaffler, please read L2. Amendment L2.
Senator Amabile. Thank you, Mr. President. So what we put on yesterday, this is a program that's, oh, I move, L002.
Very good. and tell us more about it. Okay, so we added an amendment that said we needed some reporting,
but the bill is a gifts, grants, and donations, and the reporting was going on in perpetuity, and so this corrects that. Seeing or further discussion, the motion is the adoption of L002.
Are there any no votes With the vote there is a no vote on L002 Senator Benavidez Yes no no vote on L002 Where they vote of 35 eyes, zero no, zero absence, zero excuse, L002 is adopted.
To the bill, Senator Frizzell. Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 191 as amended on third and final passage.
Seeing no further discussion, the motion is the passage of Senate Bill 191 as amended. Are there any no votes?
Senator Benavidez,
Zamora Wilson,
Bazley.
Senator Benavidez again.
With a vote of 32 ayes, 3 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse. Senate Bill 191 is passed. All sponsors.
Senators Kip,
Wallace, Judah,
Cutter, Exum.
Please add the president.
Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 125.
Senate Bill 125 by Senators Colker and Marchman and Representatives Bacon and Phillips concerning disability rights protections in public schools.
Senator Marchman. Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 125 on third reading and final passage.
Further discussion. There is further discussion. Senator Marshall.
Thank you. So two federal laws have long protected students with disabilities from discrimination in our schools. Section 504 ensures students can receive reasonable accommodations, that looks like extra time on tests, and protects them from discrimination. The ADA guarantees equal access to learning opportunities and reinforces those protections. THESE LAWS REMAIN IN PLACE, BUT THE ABILITY TO ENFORCE THEM IS INCREASINGLY IN QUESTION. FOR DECADES, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S OCR HAS MONITORED AND ENFORCED 504 IN THE ADA IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BUT TODAY THAT SYSTEM IS SHRINKING. SO SINCE MAY OF LAST YEAR, HALF OF OCR'S STAFF HAS BEEN TERMINATED AND SEVEN OF ITS 12 REGIONAL OFFICES CLOSE. AS A RESULT, OCR NOW HAS ONLY A FRACTION OF THE CAPACITY NEEDED TO PROTECT THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE 44,000 COLORADO STUDENTS WHO RELY ON 504 PLANS. AS THE AGENCY SHRINKS, ITS ABILITY TO RESPOND TO COMPLAINTS AND ENFORCE THE LAW SHRINKS WITH IT. SO THIS CREATES A NEW REALITY FOR COLORADO students and families and a new responsibility for our state. Colorado has stepped up to ensure that the civil rights of students with disabilities remain protected by codifying key provisions of 504 and ADA into state law and providing the CDE with resources needed to enforce them we can maintain the protections these students depend on. We heard a quote in committee that I'm going to share here. When OCR is a ghost town and a fifth grader attempts to take their life because the message they get from school is that she doesn't belong, Colorado cannot wait for federal enforcement that is not coming. I urge and I vote on Senate Bill 125.
Further discussion. Seeing no further discussion in the motion is the passage of Senate Bill 125. Are there any no votes? Senators, Mr. Minority Leader, Kirkmeyer, Frizzell, Samora Wilson, Pelton B, Bright, Carson, Catlin, Pelton R, Liston, Baisley, with a vote of 24 ayes, 11, no, zero, absence, zero, excuse, Senate Bill 125 is passed. Co-sponsors. Senators. Kip. Danielson. Amabile. Cutter. Benavidez. Judah. Gonzalez. Mr. Majority Leader. Snyder. Henrickson, Sullivan, Lindstedt, Exum, Mullica, Roberts, Ball, Weissman.
Please add the president.
Mr. Schoffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 187.
Senate Bill 187 by Senators Amabile and Bridges and Representative Brown and Taggart. concerning the creation of a commission to study Medicaid and in connection there with making an appropriation.
Senator Immobile. I move Senate Bill 187 and ask for permission to run a third reading amendment.
Oh, heck no. Please tell us why, Senator Immobile.
Nobody hates me more than me today. Nobody hates you. Full stop.
We had a stakeholder at the last minute who asked for this amendment,
and it seems like a good amendment, and so I would love to get your permission to run it.
The motion, Senator Bridges.
Okay.
Senator Bridges? Well, just to make sure that we don't have to see this bill again later on. This is for all of our benefit.
Excellent. The motion is the permission to request a third reading amendment, offer a third reading amendment. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it, and permission has been granted. There is an amendment to the desk. Mr. Schaffler, please read L2.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this bill is the bill that I'm sorry, Mr. President, I'll pay $5. No, you're good. You corrected it.
Because I've really, you know, taken up a lot of time here. I move, Senate Bill, I move L2.
To the amendment. Thank you, Mr. President. We had a stakeholder who wanted to be, make sure that their group was included in this bill. This is the Medicaid Commission, and of course we absolutely intended for them to be a part of this, but it didn't explicitly say that, and so this amendment adds managed care entities as a stakeholder who we are going to engage with.
Further discussion on the amendment. CNN motions the adoption of L-002. Are there any no votes on L-002? With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absent, and 0 excuse.
L-002 was adopted to the bill. Further discussion? Senator Mabile. I move passage of Senate Bill 187 as amended.
Senator, there's for discussion. Senator Bridges. Thank you, Mr. President. Very briefly, folks, the reason for this bill is that Medicaid is an ever-increasing percentage of our budget. It, for the first time in the history of the state, became the single largest piece of our budget last year. We have to get these costs under control. This is a challenge that is faced by every state in the country. We have some additional fiscal challenges here in this state that make it even harder for us. We need to address the rising costs and this bill creates the mechanism through which we will do that Senator Kirkmeyer Thank you Mr President and I would just like to add to this This is a JBC bill and it not only to just address and look at the rising costs and what's going on in these programs. It's also because I think we all know throughout this last year, we've had cases of fraud that cost us millions of dollars. We had the federal government come in and do an audit of our, one of the other programs as well, and pointed out all of the mismanagement, not following their own guidelines kind of things with regard to this department. We have had, as we've gone through the Joint Budget Committee on top of this, every time we ask for data, it seems like we don't get complete data or we don't get accurate data, and then the data changes on us. So this is really about how do we look at improving the management of this department and how we're going to provide the services that need to be provided and get the program in line so that we can actually afford it and do what we need to do for the people of the state of Colorado. That's why this is so important. Ask for an aye vote.
Further discussion? Seeing none of the motion is the passage of Senate Bill 187 as amended. Are there any no votes? Senators, Amora Wilson, Rich, Baisley, Carson, with a vote of 31 ayes, 4 no, 0, absence, zero excuse, Senate Bill 187 is passed. Cosponsors. Senators, Mullicle, Kip, Judah, Mr. Minority Leader, Bright, Catlin, Exum, Frizzell, Pelton R. Cosponsors on 187. Marchman, Cutter, Snyder, Ball.
Please add the president.
Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 189.
Senate Bill 189 by Senators Rodriguez and Coleman and Representatives Durand and Bacon concerning the use of automated decision-making technology and consequential decisions and in connection therewith making an appropriation.
Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. I move Senate Bill 189. Further discussion. Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, colleagues. I didn't speak much yesterday, but you know, I'm taking a little, my own moment of personal privilege here today. I'm going to read you my statement and pontificate a little bit on this bill and ask your permission to just talk a little bit. We are standing at the edge of one of the most consequential technological revolutions in human history. Artificial intelligence is already shaping who gets a job, what qualifies for a loan, who receives medical care, and even who gets housing. We need to regulate AI, not have AI regulate us. We need to build trust. We need to build transparency on these technologies. If you see the bills that we run now all the time, I would prefer we don't get to a place where we're trying to unravel what we've always already done. And that is precisely what this legislation of Senate Bill 189 matters, why it matters. This bill is not about stopping innovation. It is about ensuring that innovation serves people, not the other way around. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, told Congress regulation of AI is essential. Sundir Pashal of Google has said AI is too important not to regulate. Elon Musk has warned AI is a fundamental risk to civilization. These are not critics of the technology They are the people building it And they telling us clearly guardrails are necessary What this bill actually does is focuses on AI systems that make consequential decisions that shape people lives in areas like employment housing health care education and financial services This is not hypothetical. These systems already determine whether you were hired, whether you receive a loan, whether you qualify for insurance, whether you gain access to critical services. And until now, those decisions have often been made in a black box. Workday is currently undergoing a lawsuit where their technology was blocking any of the resumes from 40-year-olds or older from being pushed through for human review. A recent news article tells us how AI agents are more likely to select resumes written by them over resumes written by humans or other AI agents. The rights under this bill are real, enforceable rights for Coloradoans, a right to transparency. People must be notified when AI is being used to make a major decision. No more invisible algorithms deciding your future without your knowledge. A right to appeal and human review. If an AI system makes a decision that harms you, you have the right to appeal the decision, request a human review. This will restore a basic principle. Decisions affecting people should ultimately involve people. A right to correct the data. Consumers can see the data used by the systems and correct inaccurate information because flawed data should not determine someone's life trajectory. The bill applies broadly and intentionally on the developers and deployers of AI. Protected individuals are all Colorado consumers affected by AI driven decisions. Coverage sections, employment, education, housing, healthcare, financial services and government services. In other words, anywhere AI has a real power over people's lives. Enforcement is enforced without a right without enforcement is just a suggestion. This bill takes enforcement seriously. The Attorney General is responsible for enacting the law. There's penalties and violations that can treat a consumer violation and carrying significant fines and legal consequences. And a notice and cure. There is a right to cure in this bill that goes on for three years upon implementation until 2030. While this bill is not a comprehensive bill, it's a disclosure and decision tool, there should be a point when this technology has some accountability for consumers. And that was the only thing that I asked for in this bill is that it sunsets after three years. If they can't get that right by then, we are just being the test subject for them to implement their technology. Colleagues, I could look up tons of stories and articles, and I could read some of them out here, but I'm sure you all read them. But look, I don't hate AI. I don't hate the technology. It's always under the different administration. This was a popular direction to go. under the new administration, we now need to leave us alone and make sure we can compete with China, which after further reading, they're spending money to build that narrative. I think this is a simple bill. It's not everything I would have wished for, and I think the task force is not everything they would have wished for, and as many of us know, that's somewhere we're at a good policy. But I'd like to thank everybody over the years. I've ran this bill nationally. many of you didn't know Senate Bill 5 was a comprehensive attempt to do something and maybe it drives federal policy, but until we start looking at privacy and AI, we will see these bills coming and harms that will happen and it's hard to unravel them after it gets implemented. As many of my colleagues here on both sides of the aisle are trying to unravel the harms on social media, the harms to children and the amount of data that's used for us. And unless we start doing this now, it's harder to unravel later. Data minimization, you should only collect what you need to process a transaction Well no now they can collect this and sell and target you and now it harder to unravel because now it become a business and an industry That is the journey that the rest of you will take after I gone and I think that as we see job losses and transitions of the workforce this is the work that you guys will need to take on for the rest of the state of Colorado. But I just want to thank you for your patience with me over the years in this policy. I am happy to sponsor this. While the timing is not right, other states have looked to do some of the stuff we did in 205, and maybe at some point we'll be better along there. But interestingly enough now, the last three, four days, the Trump administration has started looking at regulating AI. So, you know, the times are changing. A few years ago we were like, AI is too important. Now bipartisanly we're discussing whether we want data centers in our industry. So, you know, we've been ahead of the game in this in Colorado, and while I want industry to come here, I want industry to come here responsible and safe and making sure they're helping consumers. And everything with technology is about trust and transparency, and I think this bill is the first step. So I humbly ask for an aye vote.
Further discussion on 189. Seeing no further discussion, the motion is to pass to Senate Bill 189. Are there any no votes? Senators, Zamora Wilson.
With a vote of 34 ayes, 1 no, 0 absences, 0 excuse, Senate Bill 189 is passed.
co-sponsors, Senators, Rizal, Kirkmeyer, Mr. Minority Leader, Benavidez, Cutter, Ball, Rich, Pelton R, Amabile, Pelton B, Marchman, Lindstedt, Exum, Bridges, Snyder, Coker. And now members of the motion is that Mr. Majority Leader thank us all for having patience with him. Are there any no votes?
Senator Bridges.
I should have said all those in favor of the aye. Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 184.
Senate Bill 184 by Senators Rodriguez and Ball and Representatives Carter and Mabry concerning benefits for firefighters who contract certain conditions.
Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the patches of Senate Bill 184 and ask for an aye vote.
Further discussion. There is discussion.
Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, I know we had a good, healthy discussion on this bill yesterday. I looked back through the history of this bill when this trust was created in 2007 in a nonpartisan chamber in both chambers and got passed. I talked to the sponsor who carried it. Interestingly enough, everybody who still opposes these changes opposed having a trust. every time we have this fight in 2017 i think this bill was carried in the bipartisan chamber with benefits with republicans and democrats in each chamber getting it done and it always gets whittled or carved out this bill is a simple choice whether we're looking to expand the coverages for for cancers for our our first responders or not it's not whether we should talk about it and maybe let it get whittled down and carved down it's moving in a direction I don't know how you if more discussions would be either we choose to add these cancers to the coverage or we let us sit here and come up with ways to filibuster and find ways to carve out less coverages to protect the people that come in and try to save us every day so I thank you for all the discussion I get the arguments on both sides but this has always been about a decision of whether we're going to protect those that protect us. us or not. Now, is it the best bill? Maybe not. Could we have done more? Maybe so. Could we have done less? Maybe yes. But just know that's what you're voting on, and I respect both sides in the discussion we're having from both chambers. And I know that nobody here hates firefighters. Thank you, and ask for an eye vote. There is further discussion. Senator Liston.
Thank you. Thank you, member, Mr. President, and members. You know, I normally don't come up, Most of us don't come up on third readings, but, you know, this, having heard this bill in business, labor, and technology the other day, once again, I will say, like the good senator from Denver, you know, none of us have a grudge or anything against our good firefighters. That's not what this is about. But what I'm concerned about and what we should all be concerned about is the process of this bill was introduced, I think, last Thursday, Thursday or Friday, came to committee on Tuesday, and seconds were yesterday, and here is Thursday. And it has really big implications for the trust and for the communities. there was no opportunity given to the affected parties other than the firefighters, which there again, that's fine. But what about the special districts? What about the communities that we all live in, your communities? Here in a minute, I'm going to go over some of those communities. They didn't have an opportunity to review and evaluate and address these various cancers. It's not that they're against it, but there's a cost, a financial cost of doing so. You just don't click your fingers and say, okay, it's all said and done. And the Cancer Trust, I wasn't here in 2007. I was here before that, but I was not here. Well, yeah, I was here in 2007. That's a long time, brother. It was a long time ago. I forget what happened yesterday. Yes, I did. I did. I have to correct myself. I was here in 2007, and I don't have a problem with the Cancer Trust. I don't know how I voted then, but I think it's probably fine today. So, you know, it's just a process that has kind of gotten to me, is that the affected entities, the Colorado Municipal League, that represent virtually all of our cities and towns and the special districts, The special districts are very unique. There are special, unique taxing districts, whether they're fire districts or school districts or metropolitan districts or sanitation districts. There's all kinds of special districts that can be impacted by this. I said I would just kind of go through some of the members of the Colorado Cancer Trust. I'm not going to read them all, but I'm going to read some of them because chances are they are in your districts that you represent, and I don't think they had a fair, good opportunity. the Adams County Fire Protection District, the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District, the Broadmoor Fire Protection District, Canyon City Area Fire Protection District, the Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department, the City of Boulder, the City of Denver, which I think the good senators from Denver represent the City of Federal Heights the city of Golden the city of Grand Junction the city of Greeley the city of Steamboat Springs the city of Westminster I not reading all the cities. The Colorado Springs Fire Department, which happens to be mine. um the Loveland uh fire Excuse me the uh uh the artificial Pier frog rescue kimchi the lovely and rule Fire Protection District the lions Fire Protection District the Netherland Fire Protection District the Puder Canyon Fire Protection District the food Shooting Fide Authority the Pueblo Fire Department the Pueblo Rural Fire Protection District Pueblo West Metropolitan District, Stratmore Hills Fire Protection District, the Summit County, Summit County Fire Protection District, Summit Fire and EMS Fire District, the Town of Vail, West Route Fire Protection District, and the Windsor Severance Fire Protection District. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot more there, members. So, you know, it was, like I said, there's been a strong opposition from the Colorado Municipal League, the Special District Association, because they were not at the table. This bill was like, here it is, got to pass it. And the fire chiefs, the fire chiefs who are trying to run and have oversight, you know, run the departments. 184 will have costs. It's been said that there's no fiscal note. Well, there wasn't a fiscal note the way that it was interpreted, but rest assured, members, I can guarantee and I can prove that there will be a fiscal note. And as precedents for that, you go back to just a couple of years ago, Senate Bill 24-149, which deals with workers' compensation. What's going to happen is that due to Senate Bill 149, there was a $9 million fiscal note that came due that went to the JBC that wasn't considered a fiscal note. I'll let the good senator from Weld County explain it more. But last year there was $9 million that had to be allocated to pay for the extra workers' comp claims. So there's no free lunch, and that's what I was trying to bring up in the conversation on 184. It's expected that there'll be, because of extra workers' comp claims, there'll be at least $2 million extra that will come due next year that the future members or the current members of the JVC will have to address. And that's due in part, and that does not include the litigation costs. There'll be at least, I've been told by good authority, there'll be at least a million dollars of extra litigation costs. And the list goes on and on. So there again, I'm not against, I don't think any of us are against, you know, trying to take care of the firefighters. I'm sure of that. But there needs to be a better methodology and bring in all the parties that are truly impacted by 184. So with all due respect to my colleagues from Denver and elsewhere I understand where they coming from I can appreciate that but this is not the way to govern There is no free lunch. It is going to cost us, and that's all I was trying to bring up. There's a better way to do it, and I don't feel that it was done properly. That's why a lot of people are cynical about our government, is it's not done the right way, and this was not done the right way. I urge a no vote respectfully on Senate Bill 184. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.
You got it. Further discussion. Senator Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. President. Folks, this bill came to the Business, Labor, and Technology Committee that I chair, and I wanted to commend the sponsors for bringing it forward. This has actually been a really long time in the making and a concern of the firefighters across the state for a long time. I stand in strong support of Senate Bill 184, precisely because it is the firefighters who came to us and said, what's happening to our firefighters is that because of their work, because of their response to the emergency needs of our communities all across Colorado, they are exposed to carcinogens at an extremely high rate, and it is impacting their health, their families, and our broader community because we depend on them. This is a really simple measure that will provide relief to firefighters across the state, and I stand in strong support. I understand there is opposition. There's opposition to most bills in the building. This is really straightforward choice. I choose to support the firefighters and their families and our communities by providing this relief to people who are suffering from cancers because of the job that they do for us as first responders. day in and day out. I urge an aye vote. Thank you.
Further discussion? Senator Kirkmeyer.
Thank you, Mr. President. Our opposition isn't, my opposition isn't about whether or not we support firefighters. The opposition is, why aren't we supporting all firefighters? That's the first portion of the opposition. Why are we carving out the 163 individuals that are firefighters for the state of Colorado. Members, you've heard me talk about it. I know everybody kind of likes to joke around when you come to appropriations about you need to explain your fiscal note. Just because you make some amendments to your bill now doesn't mean the fiscal note goes away. And at some point, I mean, just like last year, the whole thing was, oh, we're going to do everything with gifts, grants, and donations, knowing full well that it wasn't going to come to fruition. That's why we started requiring that you put in a repeal. You don't get your gift grants and donations. You've got to, the bill goes away because we can't keep affording to do new programs. The good senator from El Paso County was correct. There was a bill passed a couple of years ago, and guess what? There was a department differential on it. We took away the fiscal note somehow, and it just came back the next year with a nine million dollar fiscal note on it. It was actually almost comical when we were talking about this at the Joint Budget Committee because one of our members didn't realize it was his bill, so I pointed it out to him. But they eliminate the fiscal note, and then it comes back later, $9 million. This fiscal note originally said that it was going to be million million in 26 and that would jump to million in 27 Where the million coming from Because it going to be there They file worker comp claims anyways because you stating this law states that it creating a legal presumption that certain types of cancers are a result of the firefighter's employment or service and confirms eligibility for workers' compensation. Regardless if you took them out the bill or not, we're still going to have a fiscal note. So what is it that you think we should cut? Where's the priority? These are the things that we have to face and have faced at the Joint Budget Committee. You don't get to keep going around trying to, well apparently you do because this bill is probably going to pass, but you shouldn't get to keep and we should not be irresponsible and keep maneuvering around with the budget. We know there will be a fiscal no. And yet here we are saying no, no fiscal no. So next year when this comes up, or the following year, what is it that you think we're going to cut? Is this more important than neglected and abused kids? Is this more important than individuals with intellectual and developmentally disabled children? Is it more important than that? If it is, just say so and let's make it a priority and let's actually vote on it, but address it from a budgetary perspective. Instead, by cutting out the 163 individuals that work for the state of Colorado that are firefighters, you're basically sending a couple messages with this bill now that we don't value them in the same way that other firefighters are valued throughout the state. And the other thing is, is we're saying that, yeah, you guys can just deal with this being a priority somewhere down the line and figure out somebody else to cut. These are the decisions that we all have to be making. It doesn't just happen at the Joint Budget Committee. It happens over here as well across the street. We all have to be making these decisions, and we can't just go hiding it by saying, hour it's going to say there is no fiscal note when we know in reality there is and by the way you've got a lot of local governments you don't talk about the impact to them in this bill and you've got a lot of local governments that are opposed to the bill there may have been a way to work this out or maybe they understand that through workers comp if the data is there and it could be proven that they probably could have already made a claim through workers comp in the first place so again i'm asking for a no vote it's not because i don't support firefighters i have a record of supporting firefighters you can go look at it but it's because we need to have truth in fiscal notes and i've said this before it's not funny it's a real thing that happens over at the joint budget committee decisions have to be made priorities have to be made and it's a real decision that has to be made we don't get to keep trying to figure out a way to maneuver around a fiscal note that actually should be a fiscal note. And that is why I ask you all to explain your fiscal notes so you understand that there are fiscal notes on these bills. And when you're saying that you've eliminated them, you need to understand that it's eliminated. So that means that if next year that program needs to be eliminated because you didn't put a fiscal note on it and now they're coming in through the budget process saying they need more money, probably going to have a bill next year that eliminates this program. So. Anyways, I'm a no vote on 184. I would ask for a no on 184 from everyone.
Seeing no further discussion in the motion is the passage of Senate Bill 184. Are there any no votes?
Senators, Mr. Minority Leader, Frizzell, Zamora Wilson, Kirkmeyer, Rich, Pelton B, Baisley, Bright, Liston, Carson, Peltanar Catlin Snyder
With a vote of 22 eyes 13 no zero Absinthe excuse Senate Bill 184
Is passed. No sponsors. Senators Danielson Wallace Kip Gonzalez Benavidez Exman Weissman Lindstedt Marchman, Sullivan, Mullica.
Please add Senator Colker, and please add the President.
Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, we are going to pause for a little bit to pull up some special orders calendars, so it will take a little bit of time. So please be patient, come back, be ready to hear and run your bills. Ask for pause.
And would you also like to grant leave JBC?
I'll do that before we go in.
Excellent work. We're in the senatorial five.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you.
Majority to Rodriguez. Thank you, Mr. President. I move a call of the Senate.
A call of the Senate has been moved and properly sustained. Will the sergeants please close the doors, allow no senators to leave, and return those who are absent from the chambers.
Mr. Schoffler, please call the roll. Senators Amabile. Baisley Ball Benavidez Bridges Bright Carson Catlin. Cutter. Danielson. Doherty. Exum. Frizzell. Gonzalez. Hendrickson. Judah. Kip. Kirkmeyer. Colker. Lindstedt. Liston. Marchman. Mullica. Pelton B.
Belnar. Rich. Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you Mr. President. I move the call be raised.
The motion is to raise the call. All those in favor say aye. Opposed no. The ayes have it and the call is raised. Mr. Majority Leader, announcements. Announcements of committees. Committee announcements. Senator Judah.
Thank you, Mr. President. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will meet 15 minutes upon adjournment, 1.30 p.m. actually, and we will hear 1328, 1075, 1298, and 1147. If we do manage to get out of here at 1.30, great, but 15 minutes upon adjournment. Very good. Further announcements? In the old Supreme Court, thank you.
Awesome.
Senator Wallace.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The Senate State Affairs Committee has been ejected from its usual meeting place by the Health Committee, which is tough for us. But we will be in LSBB starting at 15 minutes upon adjournment, and we will hear 1309, 1272, and 1054. Thank you, sir.
Very good. Further announcements? Senator Kill.
Thank you, members of Senate Finance. Senate Finance will be meeting 15 minutes upon adjournment. To hear HB's House Bills, 1306, 1059, 1065, 1077, 1230, 1221, 1222, 1223, 1289, 1327, 1043, 1100, and 1117, and a couple of the ordinances. may get switched.
Further announcements? Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President. Pursuant to Senate Rule 21C, I move the Senate grant leave to the Joint Budget Committee to meet while the Senate is in session.
You further motion. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Oppose no. Oh, man. That's too bad. The ayes have it, and that motion is adopted. You ain't got to go home, but you can get up out of here. Mr. Majority Leader. No.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate take up special order second reading of bills consent calendar, which includes Senate Bill 185 and House Bill 1428 at the hour of 1108 a.m.
The motion to the Senate take up those bills on special orders consent to the hour of 1108 a.m. All those in favor, say aye. Opposed, no. The aye still have it. And that motion is adopted. The Senate will take up those bills on special orders, consent to the hour of 11.08 a.m. Special orders, second meeting of bills, consent calendar. Senator Henriksen.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate resolves itself in the Committee of the Whole for consideration of special orders, second meeting of bills, consent calendar.
You've heard the motion. All those in favor say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it, and that motion is adopted. The Senate will resolve itself in the Committee of the Whole for consideration of special orders, second meeting of bill, consent calendar. Senator Henriksen will take the chair.
THE COMMITTEE WILL COME TO ORDER. MR. SCHOPLER, WILL YOU PLEASE READ THE TITLES OF ALL OF THE BILLS AND THE BOTH OF THE BILLS AND THE SPECIAL ORDER SECONDARY BILLS CONSENT CALENDAR.
SENATE BILL 185 BY SENATORS MARCHMAN AND BASLEY AND REPRESENTATIVE TITONE AND KELTY CONCERNING MEASURES TO ENHANCE THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECURITY PROCEDURES. HOUSE BILL 1428 BY REPRESENTATIVE SIROTA AND TAGGERT AND SENATOR BRIDGES AND KIRKMIER CONCERNING MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLICLY FUNDED PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS WHO ARE NOT FULL-TIME IN-PERSON STUDENTS AND IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, REQUIRING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO REPORT ON ONLINE AND PART-TIME ENRICHMENT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND AUTHORIZING AN EXTENSION OF THE DESIGNATION OF A BOARD OF COOPERATIVE SERVICES TO ADMINISTER THE STATEWIDE SUPPLEMENTAL ONLINE AND BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAM.
MR. MAJORILEAR. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. I MOVE FOR THE PASSED OF THE BILLS ON SPECIAL OR SECOND READING
appropriations report the motion is for the adoption of all the committee reports and the special order second bills consent calendar all those in favor say aye all those opposed no eyes have it committee reports are adopted the new motion is the passage of the bills on the special order second bills consent calendar all those in favor say aye all those opposed no the eyes have it and both bills are adopted mr. majority leader thank you mr. chair I
I move the committee rise and report.
Motion is for the committee to hold a rise and report. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. The aye and no has it. Committee will rise and report.
The Senate will come to order. Senator Henriksen.
Thank you, Mr. President. Your committee to hold a whole has met and had a couple of bills under consideration.
Mr. Schaffer, will you please read the report? May 7, 2026, Mr. President and Committee of the Whole begs leave to report it has had in consideration the following tax bills being the second reading thereof. Makes following recommendations there on Senate Bill 185 as amended passed on second reading order to engrossed and placed on the calendar for third reading and final passage. House Bill 1428 as amended passed on second reading order advised to place on the calendar for third reading and final passage.
Senator Henriksen.
Thank you Mr President I move for the adoption of the report The motion is the adoption of the Committee of the Whole Report Are there any no votes With a vote of 35 ayes 0 no 0 absent and 0 excuse Committee of the Whole Report is adopted Senate Bill 185 is amended, passed on second reading order, goes to place a count of third reading and final passage. House Bill 1428 is amended, passed on second reading order, goes to place a count of third reading and final passage. Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate take up special order second reading of bills, which consist of Senate Bill 178, Senate Bill 193, House Bill 1342, 1269, 1225, 1233, 1414, 1256, 1276, 1419, 1004, 1014, 1111, 1206, and 1287 at the hour of 11.12 a.m.
You've heard the motion. Hold on. The motion is that the Senate take up those bills on special orders at the hour of 11.12 a.m. All special orders. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Polls no. The ayes have it and the motion is adopted. Senate will take up those bills on special orders at the hour of 11.12 a.m. Special orders, seconder of the bill, Senator Henriksen.
Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate resolve itself into the committee as a whole for consideration of special orders, seconder of the bill.
You are the motion. All those in favor, say aye. Polls, no. The ayes have it. The aye has it. And that motion is adopted. The Senate resolves itself to the committee of the whole and Senator Henrykson will take the chair.
We're laying over 178. You guys will be next. The committee of the whole will come to order and the code rule is relaxed for everybody. Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move Senate Bill 178 layover until Friday, May the 8th.
The motion is for Senate Bill 178 to layover until Friday, May the 8th. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed, no. The aye still have it, and that bill will layover until tomorrow, Friday the 8th. Mr. Schauffler, will you please read the title to Senate Bill 183?
Senate Bill 193 by Senators Amabile and Kirkmeyer and Representative Brown and Taggart concerning local ordinances impacts on state employees.
Senator Amabile.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move Senate Bill 193, and I don't think there are any committee reports.
There are not to the bill. No, you go ahead.
Okay.
Senator Amabile.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a joint budget committee bill, and it is brought to us because there was some confusion about the state's preemption over local governments with regard to minimum wage. And this bill clarifies that the state is not subject to local minimum wage. And the reason that's important is because the state, everybody who's in a certain category has to get paid in the same way. And so you could have a situation where, say, Aspen, the much maligned Aspen, raises their minimum wage to $30 an hour. and if the state has one or two employees that work there, they would be required to pay every employee this $30 an hour, and we can't afford to do that, and I don't think anybody ever thought that was something that could or would happen. And so the bill simply clarifies that that can happen And the bill also says that the state does not have to pay seat fees occupational taxes And I ask for a yes vote Senator Kirkmeyer Thank you Mr Thank you
Mr. Chair. And just so you all understand, as we went through this, the governor's office did their due diligence in working with the Colorado WINS folks and making sure that they are in support of it and they signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to say that they are in agreement as well. In fact, we heard from representatives from Colorado WINS this morning in committee and they felt very strongly in their support and that they believe that it is their job to ensure that they balance the needs of the entirety of the benefit package. They think that they have met that requirement and and they appreciate having been able to work with the governor's office and us on this bill so ask for an aye vote the motion is the
adoption of Senate bill 193 all those in favor say aye all those opposed no the ayes have it Senate bill 193 is adopted Mr. Schauffler will you please read us the title to House Bill 1342. House Bill 1342 by Representative Stuart Kaye and
Lukenson Senator Marchman concerning knowing behavior that lures bears. Ranger
Smith please tell us why we can't feed Yogi. Senator Marchman. Thank you Mr. Chair I move House Bill 1342 and I'll just say a couple comments and then we'll have a
little bit of discussion. This bill was brought forth with CPW and DNR. Currently what's happening is we're facing a record number of human-bear interactions. Tourism, increased development can often exacerbate. So these conflicts are increasing as our wildland urban interface is expanding, people are living where the bears are living, and people continue to push into the bear habitat. In 2024, just for some data, there were 5,000 reports of human bear conflict, and of those, 50% were related to trash. So this puts an immense strain on CPW, and the division had to spend nearly 600 hours and $800,000 to take care of those 5,000 reports. And so what this bill is going to do is it's going to make clear that knowing behavior, knowing that you're luring a bear, is something that the DA has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person knew they were placing food or edible waste in the open and that there was a reasonable probability of luring a bear. The introduced version was less strict. It went from the top strict to the bottom strict, and then we moved it back up to the second highest strict. So it's still going to be hard to prove, but not impossible to prove that someone is knowingly luring a bear. So I look forward to our conversation and urge your support of this bill. Thank you.
Senator Pelton R.
Thank you Mr Chair You know we heard this bill in ag In the House they did some work on it you know to kind of make it less stringent than what the original printed bill was Still have some concerns though and I been getting emails I'm sure some of the rest of you have also. You know, around, so if I have a bird figure hanging in my yard, am I going to be liable under this new bill that is coming? And with that, there is an amendment at the desk. Mr. Schauffer, will you please read L-8?
Amendment L-8.
Amendory engrossed bill, page 3. Senator Peltner.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move amendment L-008. So moved to the amendment.
Thank you.
What this does, it just makes it more clear and to hopefully calm some of the concerns that I've been getting emails about. This amendment, what it does, if you put up a bird feeder or a hummingbird feeder, that you are exempt. Talking with DNR, trying to get them to like this amendment, they think that it's already clear, but I'm still getting emails. They think that just having a bird feeder is not a problem. It's if you're out there spreading a whole bag of food under it before you fill it that the problem occurs. But I think this amendment would clarify that to the point that it would ease some concerns that are out in my district and other people's districts also. So with that, I urge support for L-008.
Senator Pelton B.
thank you mr chair i raise in support in this amendment here's why right now cpw does not have a great reputation they're going to have to rebuild their trust and we need this amendment to help us rebuild that trust if they walk on our property and start accusing us of something there's going to be a huge argument there's going to be a lot of problems we have got to allow this amendment on so we can make sure that we can rebuild that trust back with cpw they do not have a good reputation right now folks i've got folks in my district closing their gates to cpw because of their reputation right now and we have to do a better job with that we need to have this
amendment. I ask for an aye vote. Senator Frizzell, sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I rise in support of this amendment and I have lots of reasons why I have unfortunately had a fair amount of experience with bears. Most recently in my own backyard in Castle Rock where apparently Our neighbors who have this really fantastic water feature, which I question in our current drought situations, but it's there. And apparently that has historically been a draw to bears. So not feeding the bears, but certainly attracting them to their backyard. But apparently the bear likes my backyard as well. and that is concerning because that means I can't put my hummingbird feeder out and I really like my hummingbirds. I think that they're fantastic pollinators. They just do great things in our ecosystem, but I can't. I can't put bird food out. I can't put hummingbird food out. And even before I moved to Castle Rock, I actually lived in the southwest portion of Douglas County and had huge issues with theirs, to the point where I had one that was walking around the outside of my house at night, every night, and I was literally on the other side of the window because it was trying to figure out how to get into my house. Here's my point. Bears are extraordinarily opportunistic. They will look for food anywhere they can. We had a situation where, unfortunately, one night we left the garage door open and the bear ransacked the refrigerator in our garage. That was pretty ugly and awful, and we never did that again. I also had a situation down there where a bear broke into my car. There was no food in the car, but they broke in anyway. That was lovely. As it turns out, bears are not super cute and cuddly. They are greasy and filthy and not pleasant, really bad for car interiors, as it turns out. So this opportunistic nature of bears, and I'm not somebody who claims to be associated with wildlife organizations at all, but this is my own personal experience. And I've gotten lots of correspondence from constituents who really don't like this bill because they want to be able to feed birds, sell bird feeders, sell bird food, and they feel like this bill is kind of threatening to that. They really feel like this is the heavy hand of government coming down and saying, you know, we're going to regulate you or we're going to call you a criminal because you are feeding birds, but you're attracting bears. And you know you're attracting bears because you're putting bird food out. The bears are going to find it one way or another. They're going to come looking because that's what they do. And doesn't CPW have anything better to do with their time than this? I mean, let's be relevant. Let's be relevant. Because I can tell you cute bear stories all day long, but at the end of the day, let's be relevant. I think CPW should have lots better things to do than to look at criminalizing people who are feeding birds, because that's what this comes down to. I urge an aye vote on this amendment. Thank you.
Senator Marchman.
Very much. Thank you very much to my good colleague from South Peltonia, as well as Douglas County. So I want to be clear to all of the folks who are listening that if this bill makes it through, you are allowed to have a bird feeder. You are allowed to have a hummingbird feeder. The Audubon Society supports this bill. This is based on the fact that when someone puts up a bird feeder what are they feeding Birds Birds You trying to feed birds when you put up a bird feeder And that right there is enough to be able to fight against the knowingly standard that's in the bill. So as much as I appreciate the concern, because my goodness, Colorado is all about the birds. and as much as I appreciate that, our concern is there are some people who put a lot of bird feeders up and some of them could be completely egregious with an attempt to lure bears and if we were to put this in, we wouldn't be able to go after them if they are knowingly luring bears. So I'm going to ask for a no vote but I do appreciate the bird feeder amendment.
Senator Pelton R.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the bill sponsor from Loveland. A lot of people are wondering, what is a legislator from Southern Peltonia out on the eastern plains doing running an amendment like this? Well, I have the eastern part of the Black Forest. I have La Vida I have west of Trinidad I have a church camp that is in a forest in my senate district and there are people that live up there that have this concern so I renew my support and would ask for a yes vote on 008 Senator Pelton B
Thank you Mr. Chair
I don't think people understand quite why, I mean, why do I like this amendment? And I grew up in old snowmast. And if you've ever walked out to your vehicle with no lights on, opened up the door, and your little dome light comes on and you see the reflection of two little eyes sitting there, you kind of freak out because there's bears in your yard. There's bears always in our yard. But it's not because we lured them. It happens. but again this amendment is just clarifying the bird feeder and just saying please cpw you don't have a great reputation right now we want to make sure that this is clear and concise in this bill so we can work to get trust back that's the biggest thing that's the way i look at it yes do i think that in the bill the bird feeder stuff in there and you're not trying to lure bears i i agree, but this needs to be put in there because of the situation we're in right now with CPW. They need to be, they need to earn our trust again, or the public's trust, because right now, again, they've done such a, I won't, I won't go there, but anyway, just very frustrating right now with that part of the government. So I just say, please, let's do an aye vote. Let's get this on the bill. Let's just clarify this amendment. So I ask for an aye.
The motion is the adoption of L-008. A division has been requested. Thank you. Thank you. The motion is the passage of L008 and a division has been requested. All those in the chamber not entitled to vote, please be seated and remain seated. All those in favor of the adoption of L008, please stand and remain standing and do not move about the chamber. Please be seated. All those opposed, please stand and remain standing and do not move about the chamber. The chair is not in doubt. L-008 is lost. The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1342. All those in favor say aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. House Bill 1342 is adopted. Mr. Schaffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1269.
House Bill 1269 by Representatives Ricks and Joseph and Senator Marchman concerning transit access.
Senator Marchman.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1269 and the T&E report. To the committee report.
Yeah, so in committee, we worked to put on an amendment that was requested by CASTA, the transit agency that covers all of the transit agencies in Colorado.
And this amendment was the one that got them to neutral by taking away some of the reporting requirements that are already handled by federal reporting. So we'd ask for an aye vote on the T&E report. THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF THE TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY COMMITTEE REPORT TO HOUSE BILL 1269.
ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED NO THE AYES HAVE IT THE COMMITTEE REPORT IS ADOPTED TO THE BILL SENATOR MARCHMAN MR CHAIR DID I MOVE THE BILL OKAY All those opposed no I think I do The ayes have it The committee report is adopted to the bill Senator Marchman Mr Chair did I move the bill You did Okay, thank you. Senator Benavides.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members, this bill does basically three things. It is access to information for people that utilize our transit systems. because if you've ever had to catch a bus and you go to catch it and you don't know what time the bus comes or where to catch it at or where it goes to, if it'll come to the stop that you need, that's really difficult to find. So it's requiring information to be posted, even if it's just a QR code where people can access that information. And it's also more difficult if you speak another language. So there would be that information also available for those people. And finally, it's the reporting piece that is helpful to the transit agencies to be able to make determinations on their bus lines. if they know how many passengers are utilizing it, and that's really helpful for us in our districts. We'll know if people are using the transit system or not. The bill applies only to ten agencies, transit agencies. They're the medium-sized agencies and to one large agency, which is RTD. THAT THE AMENDMENT THAT WE GOT, THAT WE HAD PUT ON FOR THE REPORTING PUT EVERYBODY AT LEAST TO NEUTRAL. NOBODY OPPOSED THAT ONCE WE PUT THE AMENDMENT. SO IT'S A GOOD BILL THAT'LL HELP ENCOURAGE THE USE OF RAPID TRANSIT. I URGE A YES VOTE.
THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF HOUSE BILL 1269.
EARLIER SIMPSON. THANK YOU MR. CHAIR. JUST IN THE CONVERSATIONS AND WHEN I WAS LOOKING AT THE FISCAL NOTE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHO IS IMPACTED SAID TRANSIT AUTHORITIES WITH OVER A MILLION SOMETHING THERE'S A REFERENCE TO IT SO I AND ACTUALLY IN THE FISCAL NOTE IT CALLS OUT RTD SPECIFICALLY BUT I'M CURIOUS WHAT THE WHAT OTHER THE RATES ARE DECLARED. WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO WHAT'S GOING ON. WE WANT TO SEE HOW THE AUTHORITIES ARE IMPACTED AND WHY DID WE CARVE OUT SEDOT?
WHY ARE THEY EXCLUDED?
SENATOR MERCHMAN. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION. WE DID NOT CARVE OUT SEDOT. OUR DD IS STILL, OUR TD IS IN THE WE'VE GOT RAFTA, WE'VE GOT MOUNTAIN METRO, AND THEN I CAN GET THE REST OF THEM, BUT THAT'S LIKE THE FOUR THAT I HAVE WRITTEN DOWN. I'M MISSING SOMETHING.
MINORI LEAR SIMPSON.
THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. SO I DIDN'T LOOK FORWARD IN THE BILL. I WAS JUST READING THE FISCAL NOTE. SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION. THE BILL CREATES NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSIT AGENCIES WITH AT LEAST ONE MILLION UNLINKED PASSENGER TRIPS IN THE MOST RECENT YEAR, EXCEPT FOR THOSE OPERATED BY THE CAR DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES THAT FUND TRANSIT SERVICES BUT DO NOT PROVIDE A TRANSIT SERVICE. THAT'S WHERE I WAS REFERENCING.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'm not sure. I appreciate you saying that because I didn't notice. Maybe my co-prime knows.
Mr. Chair.
Senator Benavides. Thank you. Yeah, if you read the rest of that, it's also for that fund transportation services, but do not provide a transit service. So I don't recall. This bill was heavily amended in the House, and then it came over here, and we heavily amended it. But all of the stakeholders, nobody assumed CDOT was part of this. And in committee, that came up, and that particular question of who's covered, and that's where we talked about the ten agencies, and unfortunately, I didn't write them down. and RTD was the only large agency. Thank you.
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1269. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. 1269 is adopted. Mr. Schaffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1225?
House Bill 1225 by Representative Smith and Wilford and Senators Ball and Bright
CONCERNING REQUIREMENTS TO FOSTER DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES IN THE STATE.
SENATOR BALL. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. I MOVE HOUSE BILL 26-12-25 IN THE ASSOCIATED TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY COMMITTEE REPORT.
TO THE COMMITTEE REPORT.
IN COMMITTEE, WE HAD ONE AMENDMENT WHICH THERE WAS A LARGE AMENDMENT IN THE HOUSE THAT RESULTED IN A COUPLE THINGS THAT NEEDED TO BE CLEANED UP. AND THEN WE MADE CLEAR THAT NEITHER UTILITIES OR RATE PAYERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTERCONNECTION STUDIES THAT THE BILL IS FOCUSED ON.
THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF THE TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY COMMITTEE REPORT TO HOUSE BILL 1225. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED NO. THE AYES HAVE IT. THE COMMITTEE REPORT IS ADOPTED TO THE BILL. THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF SENATOR BRIGHT.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. House Bill 1225 addresses an increasing demand for electricity. It talks about some great ways to distribute those energy resources, but with the use of community solar gardens and being able to bring credits in non-adjacent areas. and the Colorado Community Solar Program has been in existence since 2011. Most recently, General Assembly passed Senate Bill 24-207, which extended the Community Solar Program, and we're happy to bring this bill to provide better resources for Coloradoans. The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1225.
All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. the ayes have it 1225 is adopted Mr. Schaffer will you please read the title to House Bill 1233
House Bill 1233 by Representatives Lukens and Zaki and Senator Roberts concerning property tax procedures
for non-residential properties
Senator Roberts Thank you Mr. Chair I move House Bill 1233 and the Finance Committee report To the Finance Committee report
Thank you Mr. Chair and the Finance Committee we changed the effective date
to 2027 instead of 2026 I ask for an aye vote The motion is the adoption of the finance Committee Report to House Bill 1233 All those in favor say aye Aye All those opposed no The ayes have it The Finance
Committee Report is adopted to the bill. There is an amendment at the desk. Mr. Schauffer, will you please read L9? Amendment L9. Amendment ring gross bill page eight strike line. Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move L9.
So move to the amendment.
This, since we moved the effective date back, we no longer need a safety clause. This amendment puts in a petition clause. I ask for an aye vote.
The motion is the adoption of L9 to House Bill 1233. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. L9 is adopted.
Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. House Bill 1233 is a bill that's been unanimously supported by county commissioners across the state. This is to help create more transparency in non-residential property tax appeal proceedings. This does not, we're talking about commercial properties. We don't anticipate this ever applying to vacant land, agricultural land, but to commercial properties on non-residential land to get more transparency, more accurate numbers so that the appeals can be more fair. I appreciate all the work that went into this and ask for an aye vote.
The Senator Benavides.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to be a no on this bill because it does two things that I don't think are proper, and it's the penalty. Right now, if somebody prepares an affidavit and they willfully falsely prepare an affidavit with regard to a property assessment or appeal, then they can be assessed if it's residential property, a class two misdemeanor. In this bill, if a non-residential property owner submits an affidavit, they would only be assessed a petty offense. I think there's a fairness issue and that we, for the same effective offense, we should have the same penalty. I say that even though the penalty has never been used, but the potential exists for it to be used. We brought that up in committee, but I still don't think there should be that discrepancy between residential and non-residential property. The other issue is the placement of the penalty is under a section of law for mineral leases. And there is apparently a section of law, I don't know what it is, where the penalty for a residential property is assessed. And I think that would be the proper placement. But putting it under mineral leases I think will cause confusion. So I don't urge anybody, but personally I'm going to be a no vote.
THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF HOUSE BILL 1233. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED NO. THE AYES HAVE IT. 1233 IS ADOPTED. MR. SHAUFFLE, WILL YOU PLEASE READ THE TELL OF HOUSE BILL 1414.
HOUSE BILL 1414 BY REPRESENTED McCLUSKIE AND CAMACHO AND SENATORS ROBERTS AND KIPP CONCERNING THE PROVISION OF MEDICAL RECORDS IN THE CUSTODY OF CERTAIN HEALTH CARE ENTITIES.
Senator Kipp what 1414 does is it sets a maximum price that people or that
excuse me somebody requesting a medic oh I up so thank you I move HB 26 14 14 so move okay sir again thank you So what 1414 does is it sets a maximum price that organizations or like an attorney or somebody a third party who is requesting a medical record on behalf of a patient can be charged. And if you are a patient and you go to request your medical records, you can get that medical record for $6.50. And people have been charged $6,000. We heard a story yesterday about $15,000 for a medical record. That's ridiculous. If it were me, I would personally make it a lot lower, but we have agreed on $400 with the hospitals who seem to think that they want more money for that. So that is what this bill does.
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1414. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. 1414 is adopted. Mr. Schauffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1256?
House Bill 1256 by Representatives Jackson and Mabry and Senator Cutter
concerning the procedure for releasing an individual from the Department of Corrections.
Senator Cutter. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1256. So moved.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. People come home without, so this is a re-entry readiness act. When people come home from being incarcerated, they come home without an ID often and vital documents, and they don't have gate money, meaning just money to, you know, have somewhere to spend the night, some food, anything.
They're just left without hardly anything. And so they're entitled to $100, but this is per statute. I think it was enacted in 1972, which I will point out would be $800 in today's dollars. But they're simply asking for the $100 that they're due applied across the board because currently the eligibility standards exclude many people. So we're just tweaking this to make sure everything is happening on time and any eligibility barriers are removed so people actually have a valid ID when they get out and they have their gate money, $100, with no exclusions. So it's a really common sense bill. I'm really excited to support it. I was chair of the Women's Bean Project and worked with them for many years as a volunteer and on committees and such. and I saw I actually mentored some women coming out of, you know, coming away from being incarcerated,
and we don't make it easy for them. We put up so many barriers to them, and they really genuinely want to go back and be part of society and have a place. So this is a really simple ask, and I hope that you all can support it. The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1256. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. 1256 is adopted. Central 5.
40 Rodriguez Thank you Mr President or Mr Chair sorry
You're definitely not the President. There's only one President.
There's two Presidents. I move to lay over House Bill 1276 until Friday, May the 8th.
Motion is to lay over House Bill 1276 until tomorrow, Friday, May the 8th. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. 1276 will lay over until Friday, May the 8th. Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to lay over House Bill 1419 to Friday, May the 8th.
The motion is to lay over House Bill 1419 until tomorrow, Friday, May the 8th. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. And 1419 is laid over until tomorrow, May the 8th. Mr. Schaffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1004?
House Bill 1004 by Rep. McCluskey and Caldwell and Senators Coleman and Simpson concerning a continuation of the income tax credit for a qualifying contribution to promote child care in the state.
Minoru Lear-Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 261004, and there are no committee reports. To the bill.
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1004. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The aye has it and 1004 is adopted. Mr. Schaffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1014?
House Bill 1014 by Representatives Taggart and Basnicker and Senators Frizzell and Ball concerning an extension of the Colorado Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit through State Income Tax Year 2034.
Senator Frizzell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1014 and the community reports.
There's no committee reports.
I'll just move House Bill 1014. To the bill. There is an amendment at the desk.
Mr. Schockler, will you please read L3? Amendment L3.
Amendment re-engrossed bill page 2.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move Amendment L003 to House Bill 1014.
So move to the amendment.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This amendment corrects a internal reference within the bill to be correct. This came to our attention from good center from Centennial and the committee and relates to the declaration of the purpose of this bill, which had been outlined by a prior auditor report.
THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF L-003 TO HOUSE BILL 1014. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED NO. THE AYES HAVE L-003 IS ADOPTED TO THE BILL. SENATOR PRISEL.
THANK YOU MR. CHAIR. MEMBERS, THIS IS A REALLY GREAT BILL. IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO BUSINESSES IN THE STATE OF COLORADO AND OUR ABILITY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN BUSINESSES IN THE STATE OF COLORADO. So House Bill 24-1014 reauthorizes the Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit, and there's an acronym for that, but I'm not going to go there because it's really long. But this is the state's most impactful economic development tool for recruitment, retention, and expansion of employment throughout the state. This program was created out of the recession and has very, very strict requirements. and competitive processes built in to ensure the state It gets the most value possible from every incentive awarded. And I'll turn it over.
Senator Ball. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just echo everything that my co-crime sponsor said and also just state that this is a difficult tax credit to qualify for, and there is a lot of paperwork involved, and really what it revolves around is proving that this tax credit led to more jobs. It was created out of the recession, and I think especially as we look at potential uncertain economic times ahead, things like this are important to make sure that we employ people, have good jobs in this state, and have a strong economy.
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1014. All those in favor say aye.
All those opposed, no.
The ayes have it. House Bill 1014 is adopted. Mr. Schaffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1111?
House Bill 1111 by Representatives Morrow McCormick and Senators Kip and Roberts concerning the creation of a program for the end-of-life management of pesticide products and in connection therewith creating the pesticide product disposal and container recycling enterprise to develop and administer the program and making an appropriation.
Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1111 and the Appropriations Committee report.
To the Appropriations Committee report.
In the Appropriations Committee, we reduced the fiscal impact by $896. I ask for an aye vote. The motion is the adoption of the Appropriations Committee report to House Bill 1111.
All those in favor say aye. Aye.
All those opposed, no.
The ayes have it, and the committee report is adopted to the bill, Senator Roberts.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues, glad to be here presenting House Bill 1111 with the good Senator from Fort Collins. What this bill will do is set up a way for our Department of Agriculture to host pesticide recycling and disposal events across our state. Right now, if somebody wants to dispose of their pesticide and pesticide containers, they have to pay thousands of dollars to do so. This results in people storing too many risky pesticides and not disposing of them the right way. If we pass this bill and create this avenue for CDA to go across the state and help folks recycle and dispose of their pesticides, Coloradans will have a very low cost way to do so and we think we'll significantly encourage the safe disposal of these products. Pesticides, I believe, are vital and necessary for our agriculture industry as well as many other parts of our life, but we need to dispose of them the right way. This bill allows for a safe and affordable way to do so. I ask for your support.
Minori, Lear Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we heard this in finance this week, I think, and supported it in finance. And as an individual who at times does use pesticides, it's been really problematic to think about. And I usually don't have anything left over I'm worried about trying to get rid of. But what do I do with the recyclable containers that had pesticides in them? They end up just piling up in my shop. And having a place to go with them, like I talked to CDA this morning, there actually already is, and this will incorporate the recycle component into how you get rid of excess pesticides as well. Didn't even know there was a place I could find, I'm pretty sure there's not one really close to me, but a place to go with used pesticide containers. I truly have not just put them in the landfill somewhere or burned them. and they just end up piling and I use 10 gallons every five years or something like that So I have a small collection of those and voted for the enterprise I think there are places where enterprises are appropriate where people that are paying the fees benefit from them and I think this is a classic example of how an enterprise should work and was supportive in committee and will continue to be supportive Thank you sponsors
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1111. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. House Bill 1111 is adopted. Mr. Schauffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1206?
House Bill 1206 by Representatives Joseph Gonzalez and Senators Lindstedt and Benavidez concerning improved funding to support affordable housing development.
Senator Benavidez. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1206 and the Finance Committee report.
To the Finance Committee report.
Senator Novitos. Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the Finance Committee report, we passed an amendment that clarified that the Housing Authority does not have taxing authority and that they would work with either the city where the housing authority exists or the county in order to bring a ballot initiative to impose the sales tax.
The motion is the adoption of Finance Committee Reports to House Bill 1206. All those in favor say aye.
All those opposed, no.
The ayes have it. Finance Committee Report is adopted.
To the bill, Senator Lindstedt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an excellent bill to help address Colorado's affordable housing shortage by giving our housing authorities the finance tools they need to get more housing built. We've been working on some important amendments for local governments to get some more buy-in on this idea, but giving our housing authorities this financial tool will lead to the development of more housing units and a lower housing cost across the state of Colorado. SO IT'S A GREAT BILL. I ENCOURAGE AN EYE VOTE.
THERE IS AN AMENDMENT AT THE DESK. MR. SHAFFEL, WOULD YOU PLEASE READ L23.
AMENDMENT L23, AMENDMENT L23, AMENDMENT FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT DATE MAY 5TH, 2026, PAGE 1, LINE 7.
SENATOR BENEVITES. SENATOR. SENATOR LINSTEDT. SENATOR BENEVITES. SENATOR LINSTEDT. SENATOR BENEVITES. SENATOR BENEVITES. All right.
Doing great. The amendment L023, that was some concerns that came up in committee. The first part of that amendment just provides the authority that city, the taxing authority that cities and counties have.
Oh, can you read the amendment? Move the amendment.
Move the amendment. I thought we already did.
I move amendment L023.
So moved.
Would you like to further discuss it? Sure.
I will further discuss it. Senator Mavides. The first two parts of this amendment just state what the taxing authority is for cities and counties. The last part came up by one of the members of the committee with regard to a county. If you're a city and a county like the Senators, like Broomfields or Denver or Boulder, you are the city and county. But I from Adams County and we have several cities within our county And so what this talks about is once an intergovernmental agreement has been reached and that between the housing authority and the county because the amendment we put on required the housing authority to go to the county enter into an intergovernmental agreement to put a referendum on the ballot what this says before doing any of doing that after an intergovernmental agreement to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the cities within that jurisdiction. So they know what's happening and their concerns are raised to the county and they can put whatever they all agree to in the memorandum of understanding, including how any revenue raised may be dispersed. So I urge I vote on the amendment. Senator Mullica. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just wanted to rise in support of this amendment and thank the sponsors after a robust conversation in finance. With what this bill is doing, there's been a lot of changes, but it started off that a housing authority could have independent taxing ability to go out and do up to a 1% tax. The bill was narrowed in finance to make sure that the governing authority, if it's the county commissioners or the municipality, that they had to do that in coordination with them and with their approval and that that entity would then put that taxing authority out. What we ran into is that in Adams County, where all three of the sponsors represent, or two of the sponsors represent myself, is that you could have the housing authority in Adams County be the entity that is consulted with and approved for the tax to go on the ballot, but then you would have no consultation with the actual municipalities. and in Adams County the majority of Adams County for example is incorporated areas and so so there was robust conversation in Finance Committee about how do we make sure that those municipalities in this case are consulted with and and also give the approval as well and I think the sponsors found a way to do that with this amendment and just want to applaud them for doing that thank them for doing that and ask for a yes vote on this amendment.
The Senator Frizzell.
The motion is the adoption of L23 to House Bill 1206. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. L23 is adopted.
Senator Frizzell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. members I've rise in opposition to House Bill 1206 we continue to I know it's so surprising we continue to create new legislation every every session that I've been here around this concept of an affordable housing crisis and and I agree we have a shortage of housing we have a shortage of affordable housing, but I don't, I absolutely disagree with the creation of additional mechanisms to fund this Housing authorities are a really interesting animal in the world of local government in my opinion, anyway. As it turns out, we have statute on the books that creates a property tax exemption. So, and I've described this before, but I'm just going to go through it again, just in case you happen to miss it. But what happens is a housing authority can enter into a partnership agreement with a developer on a project. And that partnership in agreement in and of itself makes the entire property tax exempt. This is a great-ish, I guess, tool. It's a widely utilized tool actually for the development of affordable housing. I to this day question how much of this created affordable, quote unquote, affordable housing is truly affordable. Never been able to actually on a project by project basis, at least in my jurisdiction, been able to ascertain if it is, if the property, the project is 100% affordable. There's various mechanisms that can be also utilized for the construction of these projects. And I agree, getting these projects to pencil for construction is a challenge. And exempting them from property tax is certainly one of those layers of financing that is important. But this is the thing, is that if the property owner is not paying property tax to, say, educate the children that are going to school who live in those apartments or paying for water and sanitation district services or, say, paying for first responders to come put out a fire or if you have to call the ambulance or fill in the blank. You get it, right? Who's paying for that? The other people in that district are paying for that. The other people who pay property taxes in that district pay for the services going to that property because they aren't paying property tax. There's often a really important misconception about property tax. And, Mr. Chair, thank you for your leniency as I continue to talk about House Bill 1206. But when we're talking about other people's money going to pay for a project or sustain services to a project in the case of property taxes, that's a really difficult situation. I get that with this bill, people get to vote on whether they want to do this or not. I get that but I still I'm just fundamentally opposed to this I fundamentally have issues with the situation with property taxes because if they really did if the housing authority had real skin in the game other than the that they have this special blessing from the legislature to exempt the property from property tax for literally, I kid you not, a $1 partnership. The housing authority pays the developer $1, and instantly that property becomes exempt from property tax. that puts the burden of the services for that property on all the other taxpayers in the district. So if you do that enough, you're raising the taxes of other people so that they can maintain the same level of service that they've come to enjoy. It becomes an issue. It especially becomes an issue when you're talking about emergency services. Talk to South Metro Fire District about what's happened in Parker with tax increment financing, which is similar but different. I just want to raise this question, and I appreciate your attention. Thank you.
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1206. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. 1206 is adopted. Mr. Schauffler, will you please read the title to House Bill 1287?
House Bill 1287 by Representatives Batesnicker and Brooks and Senators Colker and Judah concerning the continuation of certain regulatory functions of the Division of Real Estate and in connection therewith implementing the recommendations containing the 2025 sunset report by the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
Senator Colker. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1287.
So move to the bill.
Colleagues, 1287 is just a continuation of the real estate division functions, the regulatory functions division of real estate. This is a sunset bill, and I'd just love to get an aye vote.
The motion is the adoption of House Bill 1287. All those in favor say aye.
All those opposed, no.
I don't, but we have none. The ayes have it. House Bill 1287 is adopted. Mr. Majority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move the committee rise and report.
The motion is for the committee to rise and report. All those in favor say aye.
All those opposed, no.
The ayes have it. The committee will rise and report.
Thank you.
The Senate will come to order. Senator Harrison.
Mr. President, your committee of the whole has met and had a number of bills under consideration.
Mr. Schoffler, will you please read the report? May 7 2026 Mr President your committee of the whole begs leave to report and is entered into consideration the following tax being the second reading thereof Makes the following recommendations thereon Senate Bill 193 Passed on second reading Order engrossed and placed on the calendar for third reading and final passage House Bill 1342. House Bill 1269. As amended. House Bill 1225. As amended. House Bill 1233. As amended. House Bill 1414. House Bill 1256. House Bill 1004. House Bill 1014. As amended. House Bill 1111. As amended. House Bill 1206. As amended. House Bill 1287. 1287. Passed on second reading. Order revised and replaced on the calendar for third reading and final passage. Senate Bill 178. House Bill 1276. House Bill 1419. Laid over until May 2026. Retaining their place on the calendar. Senator Harrison.
Mr. President, I move for the adoption of the report. The motion is the adoption
of the committee of the whole report. Are there any no votes? With a vote of 35, I, 0, no, 0, absent and 0 excuse for the whole report is adopted. Senate Bill 193 passed second reading. Order gross pass count for third reading and final passage house bill 1342 1269 is a minute 1225 is a minute 1233 is a minute 1214 1414 1256 1004 1014 is a minute 1111 is a minute 1206 is a minute that's a lot of bills 1287 passes second reading or revised press conference reading final passage center bill 178 house bill 1276 house bill 1419
later until 5 8 20 26 10 to place on the calendar mr majority leader thank you colleagues um we We mistakenly laid over Senate Bill 178 off the specials for another day. Some amendments have been drafted. We spoke to the minority leader. We're going to pull up a specials calendar now so we can take up Senate Bill 178. On that, Mr. President, I move the Senate pull-ups on special order, second reading of bills, Senate Bill 178 at the hour of 12.13 a.m.
The motion that the Senate take up that bill on special orders at the hour of 12.13 p.m. All those in favor, say aye.
Aye.
Polls no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. The Senate will take up that bill on special orders at the hour of 12, 13 p.m.
Special orders, second meeting of the bill, Senator Emerson. Mr. President, I move that the Senate resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole for consideration of special orders, second meeting of the bills.
For the motion, all those in favor say aye.
Polls no.
The ayes have it. Most adopted. The Senate will resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole for consideration of special orders, second meeting of the bills. And Senator Emerson will take the chair again.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE WILL COME TO ORDER AND THE COLD RULES RELAX FOR EVERYBODY AGAIN. MR. SHOCKLER, PLEASE READ THE TELL TO SENATE BILL 178.
SENATE BILL 178 BY SENATORS MULUKA AND JUDEM, REPRESENTED BROWN AND GILCHRIS, CONCERNING MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE AFFORDABILITY OF HEALTH INSURANCE.
SENATOR MULUKA. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. I MOVE SENATE BILL 178 IN THE FINANCE AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT.
TO THE COMMITTEE REPORT.
THANK YOU. IN THE FINANCE COMMITTEE, WE RAN AN AMENDMENT, TWO AMENDMENTS. one change the funding source from UPTF to a bond within the enterprise and then the other amendment also had materials be available in Spanish would ask for yes the motion is the
adoption of the finance committee reports to Senate bill 178 all those in favor say aye aye all opposed no the ayes have it the finance committee report is adopted the motion is the
adoption of the discussion of the appropriations committee report thank you Mr. Chair and the Appropriations Committee. We ran amendments to have presentation to JBC on ways to save costs in this enterprise and within these programs. I would ask for a yes vote.
The motion is the adoption of the Appropriations Committee report to Senate Bill 178. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The Appropriations Committee report is adopted to the bill, Senator Judah. There is an amendment at the desk. Mr. Schauffler, please read L2.
Amendment L2.
I in the Finance Committee report dated April 30 2026 page 3 strike line 14 Thank you Mr Chair I move L2 This amendment simply allows all the insurer contributions to the exchange Connect for Health Colorado, up to $9 million to go to high. Right now the bill splits it from $5 million to the exchange and $4 million to high, so we're moving it all over to the exchange. And I ask for an aye vote.
The motion is the adoption of L002 to sample 178. All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed, no. The aye has it and the L002 is adopted. There is an amendment at the desk. Mr. Schauffer, please read L16.
Amendment L16, amend the finance committee report.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move amendment L16.
So move to the amendment.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Amendment L-16 members brings in some language from an amendment brought by one of the appropriations committee members around premiums and the Department of Insurance or Division of Insurance needing to look at premiums within these programs. The amendment also talks about the bonding and that will take into account any potential cost savings. The amendment also takes in the cost savings, reducing the amount of reinsurance that needs to be saved from 20% down to 18%, which we weren't able to get an exact number, but roughly should save $10 to $15 million over the program, which will be less money that will need to be bonded. and so that's what this amendment does.
Senator Kirkmaier. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And members, I would encourage an aye vote on L-16. I want to thank the sponsors from the good senator from Aurora and the good senator from Thornton for bringing this amendment forward. there's been lots of discussion about it in committee to some extent even more in appropriations and just a heck of a lot more over the course of the last 24 hours so appreciate that you bring it forward members this is the first attempt to starting to put some guardrails on this program all the way through and again it's the first stab at it doesn't mean it's the only but it's where we can get to for right now and I think it's a great amendment and I would encourage an aye vote.
Thank you. Motion is the adoption of L-16. Senator Gonzalez.
Thank you, Mr. President. I rise with appreciation to the bill's sponsors for having brought forward this amendment in the appropriations committee i want to be very clear that there had been an amendment proposed that i would not have supported and and so because of that i'm really appreciative that this language is now reflected in l16 now before before us for our consideration
access to health care is going to help save people's lives I'm glad that we have threaded the needle I ask for an aye vote the motion is the adoption of L to Senate Bill 178 All those in favor say aye Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. L-16 is adopted. Senator Bridges.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This bill got me angrier than I have been really about almost any other bill this year. maybe top five in my time as a legislator, in part because the funding mechanism for it is just so completely bananas. We are going to take out a $100 million bond in order to help folks afford health care for one year. We're going to be paying off that bond for 20 years, potentially, I think is what's envisioned, with an option to pay it off earlier. The way we're paying for it is that we are going to, one of the amendments today allowed a current donation from health insurance companies in order to get tax relief that currently goes to the exchange, will now go to the high. So they will get like $9 million a year from the insurance companies and then use that $9 million to pay off the bond. It's a tax cut for the insurance companies. So essentially this is just spreading the cost of this to the general fund over several years. It is tax credits, though. It's above the tax line. It's not actual general fund dollars going out. But tax credits and tax breaks, that's spending. that is general fund spending in one way or another. It's spending that doesn't come through the general fund in order to be spent, but it is money that would otherwise be coming into state coffers. It is a form of spending. So I just want to be clear that, like, that is how we're doing this. It is a one-year benefit. It is to make sure that people have health care, right? This is incredibly important. As the sponsors have said, these are real lives. These are real families. These are real people that are going to be impacted. IT'S TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE THAT ARE IMPACTED BY THIS ACROSS OUR STATE. I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE WORK THAT'S BEEN DONE BOTH BY SPONSORS AND BY FOLKS ON THE FIRST FLOOR TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT A PATH ON THIS. I AM DEEPLY, DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE FINANCING MECHANISMS, AND THIS IS A THIS YEAR ONLY THING. THE PRESENTATION THAT WILL BE COMING TO THE BUDGET COMMITTEE IN JANUARY BETTER HAVE A PLAN TO WIND THIS DOWN AS A RAMP. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN TAKE AWAY FROM PEOPLE RIGHT AWAY. I DO THINK THAT THAT RAMP SHOULD START THIS YEAR. IN MANY WAYS IT DOES NOT START THIS YEAR, BUT FOR FOLKS WHO ARE DEPENDING ON THIS, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STEPPED AWAY. THE PREMIUM RAPS, THE SUPPORT FOR FOLKS BUYING HEALTHCARE ON THE EXCHANGE HAS GONE AWAY. THAT WAS A DECISION MADE BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THAT WE ARE DOING OUR BEST TO MITIGATE THE IMPACTS OF FOR COLORADO FAMILIES, BUT WE CAN'T AFFORD THAT. AND I THINK THE FUNDING MECHANISM IN THIS BILL MAKES IT CLEAR WHY WE CAN'T AFFORD THAT. SO I AM A YES ON THIS BILL AT THE MOMENT AND AFTER A GREAT DEAL OF WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE BY FOLKS BOTH IN THIS CHAMBER AND OUTSIDE. I'M GRATEFUL FOR THAT WORK AND ASK FOR AN I VOTE ON THE BILL.
THE MOTION IS THE ADOPTION OF SANTA BILL 1-7 SENATOR KIRKMAYER. SENATOR KIRKMAYER.
THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. Members, I actually am going to be a no on the bill for several reasons, but I am greatly appreciative of the bill sponsors and all of the individuals who helped work to get the amendments that we did on the bill. When I sat in on the Finance Committee, and listening in on this bill and listening to what was going on, I think the first thing we need to understand is this bill impacts a lot of Coloradoans, not just the people on the program. It impacts a lot of the Coloradoans who end up helping to pay through their premium increases the $140 million of fees that are put on plans. So this is impacting not just the people who get to take advantage of these programs. It's impacting those individuals, quite frankly, like my daughter and son-in-law, who have increased premium fees to help pay for these programs. And it's time that this program gets some guardrails, and that's what this is about at first blush this program would have taken 40 million dollars and asked for additional fees an additional 40 million dollars that could have put an additional two bucks per member per month up to 35 dollars per member per month there could have been individuals that aren't getting this put these programs that would have had an increase anywhere from you know 500 or more annually and their insurance premiums and I think we all understand about the affordability issues that we have in this state we can't keep putting more fees on insurance premiums and thinking those aren't getting passed on to somebody because they are they're getting passed on to those other Coloradoans in our state that are paying for it those hundred and forty million dollars worth of fees that pay for this program are coming from those other Coloradoans in our state. Coloradoans that live in all of our districts and yes there are Coloradoans that live in all of our districts that are getting to take advantage of this program. That's why so insistent and why you know again I'm grateful we have an amendment here as the good senator from Greenwood Village says some of us thought there should be guard rail sooner. It's pretty difficult to get to those guardrails in this current year, but honestly I think you should be looking at this as an eight month fix. There does need to be further legislation and there will be because of the reporting and things that will be coming to the Joint Budget Committee to ensure that we start putting guardrails on and that these programs start paying for themselves and we don't keep putting more burden on other Coloradoans. So we did fix and got rid of the $40 million additional fee that would have been on insurance plans. And I think we did that in a very creative way, but also in a very prudent way. And I appreciate, I do appreciate the first floor assisting with that, because we're doing it pretty quickly on the fly. The other thing I'm going to say about these programs and this enterprise. What this bill did is it brought to light the possible problem with jeopardizing the entire enterprise as it relates to Tabor. There are other fixes that still need to be taking place, not just additional premiums. but we have entities, individual insurance companies, that do not participate in the individual market, but they're paying the fee. That is a tax and it a violation of Tabor So there are other things here that need to get fixed This is a good start And again I appreciate that we got the amendments on and that there isn an additional million fee being put on constituents of all of ours throughout the state of Colorado. So with that, I am still a no vote and you can all do whatever you want to do, obviously.
Senator Kolker.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and colleagues. I worked with the sponsors on this bill. When I first read the bill, first looked at it, it wasn't a bill that I liked. It's a bill that I put up red flags on for the original way of funding it. Sponsors worked hard on changing that, settling on what you currently see. Still needed work. I'm just going to concur with a lot of the things that were said by the previous speakers, that it's not something that is sustainable. And we have to fix this. And I want to give a compliment out to, again, our JBC, because they've gone through and cut a lot of programs this year. They've done a lot of the hard work. And this is our chance to, you know, when that similar work comes to us, I think we see how hard this is. Because these are people's lives. These are people who are poor, who are struggling, who need help. And so we all have a heart, but we also have limited access to funding. and limited ways to pay for it. Now, these programs, as was said before, need to have some buy-in. They need to have some cuts. And what we're doing with the bill as is right now, essentially, is buying one year of time to fix this. And so this is a call to all those concerned with these programs. Work with us. Figure out how we're going to fix this. let's get this done so that next May we're not here arguing the same thing so
for today I encourage an aye vote motion is the adoption of Senate bill 178 all those in favor say aye all opposed no the eyes have it Senate 178 is adopted mr. majority thank you mr. chair I move the committee rise and report motion is for the committee to rise and report all those in favor say aye all those opposed No, the aye has it. The committee will rise and report. The Senate will come to order. Senator Henriksen.
Mr. President, your committee the whole has met and had a bill under consideration. Mr. Schoffler, will you please read the report?
May 7, 2026. Mr. President, your committee the whole begs leave The report has had under consideration the following attached bill being the second reading thereof. Makes following recommendations thereon. Senate Bill 178, as amended, passed on second reading, and order engrossed in place in the calendar for third reading and final passage.
Senator Harris.
Mr. President, I move for the adoption of the report.
The motion is the adoption of the committee of the whole report. Are there any no votes? With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 abstinence, 0 excuse, committee of the whole report is adopted. Senate Bill 178, as amended, passed on second reading, and order engrossed in place in the calendar for third reading and final passage. Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you Mr President I move that the general order second reading of bills be laid over until Friday May the 8th The motion motion is laid over General Order Secondary Bill is on the calendar to Friday May the 8th All those in favor say aye Opposed, no. The ayes have the General Order Secondary Bill is counted over to Friday, May the 8th. Consideration of House amendments to Senate bills. Yeah, we have to. Senator O'Five. Thank you. Consideration of House amendments to Senate bills.
Mr. Schoffler, please read the title to Senate Bill 12. Senate Bill 12 by Senator Danielson, Representative Velasco, concerning compensable losses under the Colorado Crime Victim Compensation Act for enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe.
Senator Danielson. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 12.
Any explanation, Senator Danielson?
No, thank you.
Very good. Any discussion? Seeing none of the motion that the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 12, are there any no votes? with a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0, 0, 0, excuse. That motion is adopted.
Senator Danielson. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, colleagues. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 12.
Seeing no further discussion, the motion is repassage of Senate Bill 12. Are there any no votes? With, oh, there are. Senators Zamora Wilson and Rich. with a vote of 33 ayes, 2 noes, 0 absence, 0 excuse. Senate Bill 12 is repassed. Co-sponsors. Conference Committee Report. First report on the First Conference Committee on House Bill 1184. This report amends a re-revised bill to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. THE FIRST CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPOINTED ON HOUSE BILL 1184 CONCERNING CONTINUATION OF THE COLORADO FOREST HEALTH COUNCIL AND IN CONNECTION THERE WITH, IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF REGULATORY AGENCIES AND THE DEPARTMENT'S 2025 SUNSET REPORT, HAS MET AND REPORTS THAT IT IS AGREED UPON THE FOLLOWING, THAT THE HOUSE ACCEED TO THE SENATE AMENDMENTS MADE TO THE BILL AS THE AMENDMENTS PEER IN THE RE-REVISED BILL WITH THE FOLLOWING CHANGES. respectfully submitted to house committee megan lucans chair uh representative tish morrow representative dusty johnson senate committee uh senator lisa cutter chair uh senator janice marchman senator mark basley message from the governor fight me now honorable members of the colorado senate pursuant to the authority vested in the office of the governor of the state of Colorado I have the honor to inform you that I have approved and filed with the Secretary of State the following act Senate Bill 40 Affordable Home Ownership Program approved on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 1.30 p.m. Sincerely, Jared Polis, Governor. Announcements. Senator Amabile.
Thank you, Mr. President. The Appropriations Committee will meet tomorrow morning and at 8 across the street, and we will hear 106. These are all House bills, 1016, 1054, 1059, 1075, 1147, 1230, 1272, 1281, 1298, 1324, and other bills as assigned. And I also just want to say that we may meet tomorrow afternoon as well. So the joint budget committee, I mean, I'm sorry, the appropriations committee should be prepared for a possible afternoon meeting as well.
Very good. Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President.
The Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, we have no changes. Same room, same time, 1.30. We will hear House Bill 1033 followed by House Bill 1340.
Very good. Senator Pelton R. Thank you, Mr. President.
Tomorrow morning, the naturopathic doctors will be here doing breakfast over by the old Supreme Court. Stop by and see them and have some conversations, and you will be enlightened, Senator Pelton B.
Wow. And Senator Roberts. All right.
Colleagues, you might want to pay attention to this announcement if you get hungry this afternoon. Today is the Colorado Farm Bureau's end-of-session burger bash. They will be serving burgers starting at 3 p.m. in the West foyer today. And it says first come, first serve. So if you want a 3 p.m. burger, they've got you in the West foyer. Very good.
Amabile, any further announcements? Okay, very good. I have one announcement, members. Just want to say thank you to all of our staff. They do amazing work, but in particular I wanted to give it up for them. But in particular, I wanted to give it up for JB, Jonathan Brown, because he does our calendars. And as you can see, today is Faith Winter's birthday. So happy birthday, Faith, and thank you very much, Mr. Brown. Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. Members, you have each received a purple sheet concerning the statutes, your bills, and mail forwarding during the interim. please complete the form and return it ASAP to either Jonathan or Justin at the front desk. Colleagues, we will be reading bills across the desk later. No need to return. On that, Mr. President, I move the Senate recess until 1 p.m. today. Hear the motion. All those in favor say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have the Senate will recess until 1 p.m. today. . Thank you. .