Rep. Rebekah Stewart

Beginning on or before July 1, 2028, the act extends certain application, accounting, and notice provisions already in place for federal survivor benefits awarded to a child or youth who is in foster care (child or youth) to federal supplemental security income benefits (SSI), which are monthly payments awarded to a child or youth with a disability and limited resources. The act adds requirements for a county department of human or social services (county department) to follow specified procedures for identifying a child or youth with a disability who may qualify for SSI and for documenting the disability. If the county department determines that a child or youth may be eligible to receive SSI, the county department is required to initiate the application process within 45 days after receiving certain information. If a child or youth is receiving SSI, the county department must document how the money is spent in the state's child welfare case management system.     If legal custody of a child or youth receiving SSI or federal survivor benefits is transferring from a county department to another individual, the act requires the county department to reassess the designation of the representative payee or fiduciary receiving and managing federal benefits on behalf of the child or youth. The reassessment must be performed in consultation with interested parties and in compliance with federal requirements.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act allows an injured person to bring a cause of action for claims of injury caused by sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts (efforts) against a licensed mental health professional and allows the cause of action to be commenced at any time without limitation.     Specifically, the act applies to a civil cause of action brought against a licensed mental health professional who seeks to direct a patient toward a predetermined sexual orientation or gender identity outcome or eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of a particular sex or gender.     The act permits the injured individual, or the individual's personal representative or estate if the individual is deceased, to recover economic, noneconomic, and exemplary damages, and any other damages deemed appropriate by the court.     A cause of action may be brought as a survival action within 5 years after the death of the person who underwent efforts.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act extends the availability of the conservation easement tax credit from income tax year 2031 through income tax year 2036. The act also prohibits the division of conservation from issuing any additional credit certificates or amending previously issued credit certificates as a result of the additional authority granted by the act for a donation made prior to the effective date of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act modifies the 'Uniform Election Code of 1992' (code) as follows:Regarding elections generally, includes in the definition of 'identification' for purposes of the code a division of youth services identification card or written correspondence from a county sheriff to the county clerk indicating that an elector is confined in a county jail or detention facility; repeals the definition of 'political party district'; modifies the definition of 'video security surveillance recording' to include a system in which continuous recording is triggered when motion is detected; modifies the definition of 'watcher' to prohibit a person from being selected as a watcher if the person has been convicted of certain election offenses or of committing or conspiracy to commit certain federal offenses; if the governor declares a disaster emergency due to the inability to strictly comply with the code, allows the secretary of state (secretary) to adopt rules for the proper administration of an election and requires the governor to establish an election emergency advisory group to advise the secretary and the governor regarding emergency orders or rules necessary to ensure the proper administration of an election; allows the secretary to provide access to, rather than transmit a complete copy of, all pertinent, updated elections laws to each county clerk and recorder (clerk); and requires each clerk to set operational hours for the clerk's office;Regarding the qualification and registration of electors; specifies information that all institutions of higher education, rather than just state institutions of higher education, must provide to students via email or signs concerning voting, voter eligibility, and registration, and requires the secretary to adopt rules further specifying the form and content of the emails and signs; requires the clerk to make printed affidavit forms available to correct an error in the elector's affiliation recorded in the statewide database; requires the secretary to ensure preregistrants who are 17 years and 6 months old can access their voter registration information and update that information using the state's online voter registration system; requires the statewide voter registration system to support the integration and use of geographic information system data to improve the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of voter registration records; modifies the language concerning preregistration of high school students; specifies that the principal of a public high school or their designee who assists in preregistration and registration to vote are high school liaisons, rather than deputy registrars, and eliminates certain filing requirements for registration or preregistration to vote; modifies how a clerk verifies identifiers provided by an elector who registers to vote in another county or another state; prohibits a clerk from canceling the registration record of an elector with multiple registrations unless there is a match in the county's registration records and the statewide voter registration database with respect to certain identifiers of the elector; and makes the secretary, rather than the clerk, responsible for canceling certain registrations pursuant to existing law, while still allowing the secretary to request assistance from the clerks;Regarding presidential electors, specifies that if a presidential or vice-presidential candidate dies or withdraws as a candidate after accepting the nomination of a political party but prior to the meeting of presidential electors, an elector's vote for the presidential candidate or vice-presidential candidate refers to the successor candidate nominated by the political party and clarifies that such vote is not a vote for a false slate of presidential electors;Regarding congressional vacancy elections, modifies notice, preparation, and conduct of elections; requires elections to be concurrent with a primary or coordinated election if the vacancy occurs between 150 and 90 days of such election; requires elections to be conducted according to provisions for general elections; modifies candidate nomination deadlines; clarifies the manner of nomination for an unaffiliated candidate; and specifies the arrangement of names on the ballot;Regarding access to the ballot by candidates, specifies the offices for which a candidate must fully meet the qualifications of the office and expands factors the secretary may consider in determining the qualifications to hold office to include other objective, verifiable requirements such as age, birth place, term limits, and political affiliation; repeals the ability for certificates of designation by assembly to be transmitted to the secretary by fax; specifies deadlines by which major and minor political parties must fill vacancies in their party nominations and by which vacancies in unaffiliated designations or nominations must be filled prior to a primary election and a general election, and clarifies that failure to fill a vacancy in nomination by such deadline results in that vacancy nomination remaining unfilled for that election; eliminates requirement for electors to include their county when signing a petition to nominate a candidate; allows a congressional vacancy election to be presented on the same ballot used in a presidential primary election if the elections are held on the same day; modifies the timeline for nomination of minor political party candidates; and maintains the requirement that a person file a written acceptance of nomination but eliminates the specification that the acceptance be provided by mail, fax, or hand delivery;Regarding notice and preparation of elections, clarifies that a voter service and polling center (VSPC) that experiences a shortage of supplies, including ballots, shall not close and may be required to remain open longer on election day; requires that each drop box must accept mail ballots for the 22-day period, rather than the 15-day period, prior to the day of an election; reduces the required period that a VSPC on a campus with 10,000 or more students must be open from 15 days to 10 days before an election; specifies that, in addition to existing designation by sign requirements, a VSPC on the campus of an institution of higher education must be identified and described in signs conspicuously posted at the student center and in an email sent to all enrolled students; repeals the requirement that the secretary deliver the certification of the ballot order and content to the clerk by registered mail; repeals a provision for the arrangement of names on ballots to be established by lot; adds an additional trigger for the secretary to notify clerks of the requirement to provide minority language sample ballots and in-person minority language ballots based on the release of data collected pursuant to section 203 of the federal 'Voting Rights Act of 1965' by the federal government; repeals a provision regarding the adoption and payment for voting machines; and requires the clerk of any county with 1,000 or more active electors to adopt an electronic or electromechanical voting system for use in all elections conducted by the county under the code and requires the clerk to oversee the management of such voting systems subject to the rules of the secretary; Regarding election judges, changes the age eligibility requirements for a student election judge from 16 to 15 and expands the methods for notice and acceptance of an election judge appointment;Regarding the conduct of elections, repeals the requirement that an election judge proclaim the polls are open or will be closed in 30 minutes on election day; modifies the 2-hour period that eligible electors are entitled to be absent from work to vote from only on election day to any day when VSPCs are open and specifies that an employer may deny this leave if the elector has 3 or more consecutive hours off the job while the polls are open; allows an elector to take printed or written materials of their choice into a VSPC as a resource for voting; creates new reporting requirements for counties with one or more VSPCs experiencing a wait time in excess of one hour, which wait time must be measured and recorded in accordance with rules adopted by the secretary and creates a requirement for a reporting county to include certain additional information in its next proposed election plan; repeals and reenacts, with changes, the required method of counting paper ballots by hand, requiring a team of 4 judges, audible reading of each ballot, and 2 separate accountings to be kept and compared and regular intervals, in accordance with any rules adopted by the secretary; recognizes that, in addition to a software or hardware malfunction, other significant issues may make counting ballots with electronic vote-tabulating equipment impracticable; and prohibits a designated election official from transferring custody or control of election records to a third party unless the transfer is authorized or required by the secretary of a court of competent jurisdiction;Regarding mail ballot elections, modifies the timeline for submission and approval of proposed election plans; allows the secretary to request modification of an election plan; requires the secretary to release no later than August 1 for each clerk's submitted election plan, specified information for each VSPC and each ballot drop-off location in the county for that election; modifies mail ballot delivery times; changes the enrolled-student threshold at an institution of higher education from 2,000 to 1,000 for purposes of requiring a drop box on campus and requires a drop box on the campus of private institutions of higher education in addition to state institutions; requires a clerk who fails to send a signature verification form within the 2-day deadline to send the signature verification by overnight mail or hand delivery; and requires a minimum number of hours for in-person voting at a county jail or detention center based on the number of beds available;Regarding challenges to registration, repeals and reenacts, with amendments, the process for a registered elector to protest the registration of another person, requires a $50 fee for each protest that is refunded if the protest is successful, and specifies the reasons that a protest may challenge a person's registration as incorrect;Regarding vacancies in office, in the case of a vacancy in the office of United States senator, requires the governor to appoint a person who is a member of the same political party as the former United States senator to fill a vacancy in that office; clarifies that a person appointed to fill a vacancy in a county office other than county commissioner serves only until the next general election, at which time the remainder of the vacant term, if any, is filled by election; and specifies that a county commissioner or general assembly vacancy may be filled at the next coordinated or general election; andRegarding election offenses, clarifies the offense of voter interference occurs when a person interferes with a voter within 100 feet of any building in which a polling or drop-off location is located or within 100 feet of a drop box; specifies that the offense of voter intimidation applies to any elector who is delivering up to 10 mail ballots to a drop box or drop-off-location; clarifies that the exemption for peace officers from the law prohibiting a person from carrying a firearm at a polling location does not apply if the firearm is used to intimidate electors; clarifies that offenses involving a false slate of presidential electors extends to lists of electors voting and votes for candidates for president and vice president of the United States, or their successors; and modifies enforcement and relief provisions in the case of a suit for election-related intimidation.     In addition, the act:Modifies the law regarding initiatives and referendums to eliminate the requirement for an elector to include their county of residence as part of their signature on an initiative or referendum petition; extends the secretary's period for examination and validation of signatures on a petition from 30 to 60 days; and extends the secretary's period to issue a statement as to whether a petition has sufficient valid signatures from 30 to 60 days after the petition was filed; Modifies the definition of 'disaster' for the purpose of the 'Colorado Disaster Emergency Act' to include the occurrence or imminent threat of the inability to strictly comply with the code due to any natural cause or cause of human origin;Amends the 'Colorado Open Records Act' to specify that a designated election official is not required to cover or redact from a ballot any markings or messages voluntarily made by an elector; andSpecifies that oaths or affirmations for public office filed with the clerk are exempt from certain fees imposed by law.     The act takes effect upon passage, except that the provisions regarding the time frame for mailing a mail ballot packet take effect July 1, 2026.     For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $10,000 from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for the implementation of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a volunteer lobbyist to register and file a registration statement attesting they are not being compensated. The act exempts volunteer lobbyists from registration fees.     The act provides that the judicial department may designate one individual for the judicial department and one individual for each independent agency in the judicial department who may lobby on behalf of the judicial department or an independent agency in the judicial department (judicial lobbyist). A person designated by a principal executive department to be responsible for lobbying a state official or employee on behalf of the department (legislative liaison), a judicial lobbyist, or an individual who lobbies on behalf of the offices of the governor or lieutenant governor as a member of the governor's cabinet or as a personal staff employee in the offices of the governor or the lieutenant governor (governor's lobbyist) must register with the secretary of state annually.     In addition to annually registering with the secretary of state, a legislative liaison, judicial lobbyist, or a governor's lobbyist must file a monthly disclosure statement with the secretary of state (disclosure statement). The act provides that a legislative liaison, judicial lobbyist, or a governor's lobbyist must indicate on the disclosure statement the bill number of any legislation for which they have lobbied or will lobby a covered official and their position regarding the legislation. The legislative liaison, judicial lobbyist, or a governor's lobbyist must update their position on the disclosure statement within 72 hours of a change in position.     The act prohibits a statewide elected official or member of the general assembly from being a legislative liaison or governor's lobbyist for a period of 2 years following vacation of office.     $91,000 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the title board must set a ballot title for an initiative petition that is brief, does not conflict with another title for an initiative petition filed for the same election, and is in the form of a question that may be answered 'yes/for' or 'no/against' and that unambiguously states the principle of the provision sought to be added, amended, or repealed by the initiative. The act adds a requirement that the title board write a ballot title using accessible language, which means plain language that is understood by the widest possible audience. In determining whether a ballot title is written using accessible language, the title board may consider whether the title:Avoids using legal, technical, or specialized terminology when possible;Clearly identifies the principal change in law or policy proposed by the proposed statutory or constitutional amendment;Avoids unnecessary qualifiers, double negatives, and overly complex phrasing;Organizes clauses so that the effect of a 'yes/for' or 'no/against' vote is readily understood; andPresents necessary information within the ballot title in a logical and readable order.     In addition, current law requires that specific language appear in the ballot title for certain initiatives that increase or reduce tax revenue. For initiatives that reduce state tax revenue or local district property tax revenue through a tax change, this required language must appear at the beginning of the ballot title. For initiatives that increase tax revenue for any district through a tax change, this required language must appear directly after language required by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The act modifies these statutory provisions so that the required ballot title language must only be substantially similar to the specific statutory language and may appear anywhere in the ballot title.     The act applies to initiative petitions submitted to the secretary of state for title setting on or after the effective date of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act defines school zones as all roadways within at least 1,000 feet of a school property boundary, except state highways unless they are designated as part of a school zone with the written approval of the Colorado department of transportation, and including school zones established before August 12, 2026, that are 200 feet or more from a school property boundary. A school zone must have appropriate signs posted indicating it is a school zone and that the penalties and surcharges within the school zone will be doubled.     The act allows a local government that has jurisdiction over a school zone to reduce the size of a school zone after first holding a public hearing, but the act does not allow a school zone to be reduced to less than 200 feet from a school property boundary. Additionally, the act does not prohibit local governments from expanding school zones to beyond 1,000 feet from a school property boundary.     The act limits requirements the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality must complete regarding placing and using an automated vehicle identification system along a safe route to school.     The act allows a local government to designate a portion of a roadway immediately adjacent to a school property boundary as a school street and requires the local government to post signs indicating it is a school street if the local government has jurisdiction to do so. The local government may close a school street to traffic. If there is traffic on the school street, the maximum speed limit is 10 miles per hour and vehicles must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians, bicyclists, or micromobility users. The local government may suspend additional traffic provisions on the school street that endanger pedestrians, bicyclists, or micromobility users.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act establishes a bill of rights for adults subject to guardianship (ward) and details what decisions a court may authorize a guardian to make on behalf of a ward.     The act updates the duties of a guardian to include a duty to notify the ward at least 30 days before the ward is permanently moved to a nursing home, mental health institution, or other facility that restricts the ward's ability to leave the facility or have visitors.     On or before November 1, 2027, and November 1, 2028, the act requires the state court administrator's office to submit a report detailing the fiscal impact of this act on the judicial department to the joint budget committee, the senate judiciary committee, and the house of representatives judiciary committee, or their successor committees, and requires the state court administrator's office to create the report using existing data sources.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (department) in its 2025 sunset review and report by continuing the division of securities and the securities board until 2037. In connection with continuing these entities, the act:Clarifies that deficiency letters and communications concerning a deficiency letter are not public documents that may be inspected under the 'Colorado Open Records Act';Requires that an investment adviser or an investment adviser representative doing business in Colorado must be licensed by the securities commissioner (commissioner) unless otherwise exempt;Specifies that the executive director of the department must consult with the securities board when appointing the commissioner; andUpdates statutory language to be gender neutral.     The act revises the process by which a cease-and-desist order is issued or a license is summarily suspended. Under the previous law, the commissioner issued a cease-and-desist order or conducted a summary license suspension by issuing an order to show cause as to why a cease-and-desist order or license suspension should not be issued. After appropriate notices were given, a hearing was scheduled with the securities board or an administrative law judge. At the hearing, it was determined whether to issue a cease-and-desist order or suspend the license and what form the order or suspension would take. The act changes this process to authorize the commissioner to issue a preliminary cease-and-desist order or a summary license-suspension order. If the person that is the subject of the order disagrees with the order, the person may request a hearing to resolve the issue. The hearing must take place within 45 days after issuance of the order unless both parties request an extension. The deadline for a hearing, with an exception, is changed from 35 days to 60 days. If a hearing is not requested within 15 days after issuance of the order, the order becomes final. The person that is the subject of the order must obey the order until a hearing is requested.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act defines a 'conversational artificial intelligence service' as an artificial intelligence system that is accessible to the general public and that primarily simulates human conversation and interaction through adaptive textual, visual, or aural communications.     Effective January 1, 2027, the act creates requirements and prohibitions for a person, partnership, corporation, or entity that develops and makes publicly available a conversational artificial intelligence service or offers a conversational artificial intelligence service to a consumer (operator).     An operator is required to use commercially reasonable methods or generally accepted methods to estimate the age of a consumer who has or opens an account or profile to use a conversational artificial intelligence service (account holder) and the age of other users of a conversational artificial intelligence service. If an operator knows that an account holder or user is a minor, an operator is:Required to provide certain disclosures;Prohibited from providing the minor account holder or minor user with points or rewards to encourage engagement with the conversational artificial intelligence service;Required to institute technically feasible measures to prevent the conversational artificial intelligence service from producing explicit sexual conduct, intimate digital depictions, or statements that simulate emotional dependence;Required to implement a protocol for a conversational artificial intelligence service to stop engaging in response to a user prompt regarding sexual conduct with a minor; andRequired to provide tools for the minor account holder or minor user or a parent or guardian of the minor account holder or minor user to manage the minor account holder's or minor user's privacy and account settings.     The act also requires an operator to provide a disclosure to a user that a conversational artificial intelligence service is artificial intelligence, implement a protocol for user prompts regarding suicidal ideation or self-harm, and annually report to the attorney general's office information regarding the protocol the operator is implementing. The act prohibits an operator from stating that any output data provided by a conversational artificial intelligence service is provided by, endorsed by, or equivalent to services provided by certain licensed or certified professionals.     The act clarifies that nothing in the act limits an individual's ability to access certain information and resources pursuant to the state constitution, requires an operator to disclose confidential information, or authorizes content moderation practices inconsistent with the United States constitution.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)