SB 25-149: Local Government Duties Equestrian Protections - Colorado

Revised (04/03/2025) → PA1 (03/14/2025) · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to change its status from a revised version to a preamended version, indicating that committee amendments have been added but not yet adopted on second reading. The substantive legislative text appears to be in the early stages of development with the first section establishing a legislative declaration about the economic and cultural importance of equestrians in Colorado.

TECHNICAL

Header information changed from 'REVISED' to 'PREAMENDED' to reflect that this is an unofficial version including committee amendments not yet adopted on second reading.

New Section 1 Legislative Declaration was added, establishing that the equestrian community is a valued segment of Colorado's cultural heritage and detailing economic impacts including job creation and tourism contributions.

Removed previous bill summary headers and dates that indicated the bill was unamended at 2nd and 3rd reading, as the bill is now in a preamended state with pending amendments.

Rerevised (04/14/2025) → Revised (04/03/2025) · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill text was updated from a 'Rerevised' version to a 'Revised' version, indicating that amendments adopted during the second reading in the second house were incorporated. The House sponsorship list was updated to reflect the current status of the bill.

TECHNICAL

The document header was changed from 'REREVISED' to 'REVISED' to reflect the current legislative status after second reading amendments were adopted.

The House sponsorship list was updated, removing names (Phillips, Stewart R., Titone, Willford) that were previously listed, likely due to changes in bill sponsorship status.

The '3rd Reading Unamended' stamp and date (April 14, 2025) were removed from the document header, indicating the bill is no longer in that specific reading status.

Final Act (04/29/2025) → Rerevised (04/14/2025) · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reorganized and significantly expanded from a general declaration of equestrian importance to include specific operational requirements for municipalities and counties. The revised version adds concrete obligations for local governments to construct infrastructure, create designated zones, and educate the public, while removing detailed national economic statistics that were present in the original version.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from general legislative declarations to include specific operational mandates for local governments regarding infrastructure, signage, and education within designated equestrian zones.

REQUIREMENT

Municipalities and counties must now construct and maintain infrastructure for horse trails, identify needed road crossings, publish infrastructure maps, and erect 'wide and slow' signs in equestrian zones.

Drivers in equestrian zones must pass wide and slow, refrain from using horns unnecessarily, obey equestrian signals, maintain 10 mph speed limits, and keep 6 feet of distance from equestrians.

DEFINITION

New definition of 'equestrian zone' as suburban or urban areas containing public equestrian venues, residential neighborhoods with significant equestrian populations, keystone properties with equestrian facilities, and regularly used roads or trails.

TECHNICAL

Detailed national economic statistics from the 2023 American Horse Council impact study were removed, though the bill's legislative declaration of equestrian importance remains.

ENFORCEMENT

Added specific duties for the Department of Local Affairs to educate law enforcement and the Department of Revenue to add road provisions to driver's education curricula.

Signed Act (05/28/2025) → Final Act (04/29/2025) · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill was reformatted from a draft version to a final signed act version, with no substantive policy changes to the equestrian protections. The main differences are formatting adjustments, including the addition of a note about the Governor's signature and reorganization of the bill text structure.

TECHNICAL

Added a note explaining that the bill has been prepared for signatures and directing readers to legislative status sheets for final action information.

Reorganized the bill text structure with indentation changes and repositioned the legislative declaration section.

Removed draft formatting instructions and explanatory notes about how to identify new versus deleted material in the bill text.

Reengrossed (03/19/2025) → Signed Act (05/28/2025) · 6 edits · May 28, 2025

MODERATE

The bill was reengrossed to include comprehensive legislative declarations about the equestrian community's economic and cultural value, with specific statistics on jobs and economic impact. The version signed into law adds new statutory sections requiring counties to construct equestrian road crossings and horse-trailer parking, install signage, and obtain state transportation department permission for facilities on state highways. These changes formalize infrastructure requirements that were previously only suggested in the original bill's legislative declaration.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from general legislative declarations to include enforceable statutory requirements for county-level infrastructure development and standardized definitions for equestrian zones in master planning.

REQUIREMENT

Added new statute 24-33.5-231 requiring the chief of the Department of Revenue to educate law enforcement agencies about equestrian zones and safety.

Added new statute 30-11-133 requiring counties to construct and maintain equestrian road crossings and horse-trailer parking, with provisions for requiring developers to build these facilities as permit conditions.

Added requirement that counties must obtain Department of Transportation permission before constructing equestrian facilities on state highways or state highway rights-of-way.

Added requirement for counties to install signs notifying the public of equestrian road crossings, horse-trailer parking, and equestrian-safety road improvements in accordance with existing signage statutes.

Added requirement that equestrian road crossings must have appropriate signs and be clearly marked on the road.

DEFINITION

Added new definition for 'equestrian zone' in statute 30-28-106, defining it as an area determined by a county to be suburban or urban containing public equestrian venues, residential neighborhoods with equestrians, and related roads or trails.

Engrossed (03/18/2025) → Reengrossed (03/19/2025) · 3 edits · Mar 19, 2025

MINOR

The bill was reengrossed to include additional Senate sponsors and updated the version status from 'Engrossed' to 'Reengrossed' to reflect all amendments adopted in the House of Introduction. The substantive policy content regarding equestrian zones remains unchanged in this diff.

Scope change

No substantive scope change; only administrative updates to sponsor list and version status.

TECHNICAL

Added four new Senate sponsors: Amabile, Ball, Bridges, Cutter, Jodeh, Snyder, Winter F.

Updated version header from 'ENGROSSED' to 'REENGROSSED' and added date March 19, 2025 with Senate designation.

Added '3rd Reading Unamended' note to the bill summary section.

Introduced (02/05/2025) → Engrossed (03/18/2025) · 3 edits · Mar 19, 2025

MINOR

The bill was amended to update economic impact statistics from Colorado-specific figures to national United States figures for the recreational, competition, and racing sectors. Additionally, the Colorado-specific economic impact estimate was updated to reference a 2017 American Horse Council study instead of unspecified 2023 data. These changes clarify the legislative declaration by using more accurate, nationally-sourced economic data.

Scope change

The legislative declaration was modified to reference national economic statistics rather than state-specific statistics, potentially broadening the context for the bill's justification.

REQUIREMENT

Updated economic impact statistics in the legislative declaration to reflect United States national figures instead of Colorado-specific figures for recreational, competition, and racing sectors.

Changed the economic impact study reference from a 2023 American Horse Council impact study to a 2017 American Horse Council impact study breakout for Colorado.

Removed legislative declaration subsections (h) and (i) regarding population growth, safety risks, and absence of specific legislative protections.

Local Government Duties Equestrian Protections

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