Rep. Jenny Willford

The act requires the department of transportation (department), no later than July 1, 2026, and in coordination with local governments and transit agencies, to create a transit and active transportation project inventory that identifies gaps in transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure and access on state highways and rights-of-way that are controlled and maintained by the department. No later than July 1, 2026, metropolitan planning organizations must create a transit and active transportation project inventory that identifies gaps in transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure and access within the network of regionally significant roadways and rights-of-way that are typically subject to planning and programming by the metropolitan planning organization. No later than October 31, 2026, the department and the metropolitan planning organizations must present a report to the transportation legislation review committee on the transit and active transportation project inventories (inventories) created, including an assessment of existing and potential funding sources for the projects listed in the inventories. The department and metropolitan planning organizations must update the inventories as part of the planning processes for the regional and statewide transportation plans and must use the inventories to inform those plans, other transit service plans, and transportation improvement programs. No later than July 1, 2026, the department must develop clear definitions for roadway capacity investments and state-of-good-repair investments. No later than December 31, 2025, a local government with a population of 5,000 or more that is within a metropolitan planning organization must submit to its metropolitan planning organization all planned transit, bicycle, and pedestrian projects included in any transportation, capital, or other plan. The act also allows a local government to: Adopt goals for the share of total trips within a specified geographic area completed using certain transportation methods; Submit local transportation demand management strategies to its metropolitan planning organization; and Collaborate with the department, its metropolitan planning organization, and transit agencies to identify unfinished transit, bicycle, and pedestrian projects in certain transit areas and to prioritize such projects based on each project's potential to increase transportation mode choice, project vulnerable road users, reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, and improve access to nondriving transportation options in disproportionately impacted communities. The act also clarifies that the Moffat tunnel improvement district is controlled and managed by the department of transportation rather than the department of local affairs. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the Colorado Voting Rights Act (state voting rights act) and modifies certain election-related statutes in the following areas: Tribal voting; Ensuring voter access to methods of selecting candidates for the general election; Restrictions on electioneering and election-related activity near voting locations; Election and voting notices in facilities serving individuals with disabilities; Recounts; Election-related language access; and Election-related data collection. Creation of the state voting rights act. The act creates the state voting rights act, which prohibits political subdivisions from: Engaging in voter suppression by taking any action that results in, will result in, or is intended to result in a material disparity between electors who are members of a protected race, color, or language minority group or other minority reporting group (protected class members) and other eligible electors in regard to voter participation, access to voting opportunities, or the opportunity or ability to participate in the political process; Engaging in voter dilution by enacting or employing any method of election that has the effect of, or is motivated in part by the intention of, disparately impairing the opportunity or ability of protected class members to elect the candidates of their choice or otherwise influence the outcome of elections as a result of diluting the vote of protected class members ; Implementing, imposing, or enforcing a voting qualification or another prerequisite to voting based on an individual's actual or perceived gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation; or Implementing, imposing, or enforcing an additional voting qualification or another prerequisite to voting based on an individual's confinement to a local jail, other than those eligibility qualifications that already exist. An aggrieved individual or organization (aggrieved person) may file a civil suit alleging voter suppression; voter dilution; an unlawful voting prerequisite based on gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation; or an unlawful voting prerequisite based on confinement to a local jail. The attorney general may investigate potential violations of the act and may file suit to enforce the act or may intervene in an aggrieved individual's or organization's civil suit. Except under specific circumstances, before filing suit, an aggrieved person or the attorney general must send a notification letter describing the alleged violation of the act to the political subdivision. The political subdivision is given 60 or 180 days to adopt a resolution providing for a solution to the alleged violation. Tribal voting. The act clarifies that an identification card, which need not contain a photograph, that is issued by the federal bureau of Indian affairs, Indian health service, or any other federal agency that issues identification certifying tribal membership and that includes an address in Colorado constitutes a valid identification for registration purposes and, upon request of a tribal council, requires a county to establish a drop box, rather than a drop-off location as was previously the case, within the boundaries of a federal reservation. Ensuring voter access to methods of selecting candidates for a general election. The act requires each major political party to ensure that any future alternative process by which a party may select candidates for a general election allows voters not able to attend in person to participate to the same extent as those voting in person, including requiring a process for individuals to vote that does not require in-person voting. Restrictions on electioneering and election-related activity near voting locations. The act clarifies that the restrictions on electioneering and election-related activity conducted within 100 feet of a polling location or drop-off location also apply to drop boxes. Election and voting notices in facilities serving individuals with disabilities. The act imposes a requirement on specified care facilities that provide services primarily to individuals with disabilities to publicly display, in each building in which they serve clients, notices related to voting during the 30 days preceding a general or coordinated election. Recounts. Before a recount, a canvass board has been required to test at least one ballot scanner with a group of 10 test ballots marked by at least 2 canvass board members of different party affiliations. The act changes this process so that each canvass board member, other than the clerk, must separately mark their own group of 10 test ballots. The act also clarifies the duties of a canvass board and a county clerk and recorder in conducting a recount. Election-related language access. The act expands existing requirements for the creation of multilingual ballots from only applying to qualifying counties to also applying to qualifying municipalities. The county clerk and recorder for a county that meets certain requirements for the population or percentage of the voting-age population within the relevant jurisdiction who are minority language speakers and who speak English less than very well has been required to provide multilingual ballots. The act requires a municipal clerk to provide multilingual ballot access if the municipality has a population of at least 3,000 and the municipality exists partially or wholly within a county covered by the existing multilingual ballot requirements. Election-related data collection. The act requires the secretary of state to collect, maintain, and make publicly available data related to elections, including demographics, election results, and voting information. After each election, political subdivisions are required to submit election-related information to the secretary of state. The department of local affairs is also required to annually provide certain demographic information to the secretary of state. The act also changes current law from allowing a custodian of records to deny the right of inspection of certain records and information maintained by the department of revenue to requiring the denial of such inspection. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, $75,432 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for use by the elections division for implementation of the act. The act applies to elections and election-related activities occurring on or after January 1, 2026. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a form issued by the state or a local government that requests that the individual completing the form disclose the individual's race or ethnicity to include, in addition to spaces for any other racial or ethnic categories required by the federal office of management and budget, a space to indicate if the individual's race or ethnicity is Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian. The state and local governments are exempt from the act's requirements if: The demographic data collected in the form is reported by the state or a local government to the federal government; and The federal government rejects or will reject the demographic data reported by the state or a local government because it includes Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian as a primary demographic category. When exercising the exemption, the state and local governments shall include Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian as a demographic subcategory of the nonspecific racial category on the form. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, a person engages in an unfair and unconscionable act or practice in violation of consumer protection laws if the person engages in price gouging during a declared disaster emergency. The act provides that a person engages in price gouging in the sale or offer for sale of certain goods or services if, after the governor declares a disaster emergency, which declaration may be based on a market disruption, the price of the good or service is increased by 10% or more above the price at which a similar good or service was sold or offered for sale before the disaster began. The act also establishes that seasonal pricing is not considered unreasonably excessive pricing and therefore is not price gouging. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summaryHJR 25-1028 designates Friday, April 25, 2025, as "Sportsmen's Day" in Colorado. This resolution aims to recognize the contributions of Colorado's sportsmen and women to conservation efforts and the state's economy. It also encourages members of the General Assembly to join the Colorado Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus and urges public and private institutions to work with the caucus.

Maddy summaryHouse Joint Resolution 25-1027 designates a specific portion of Colorado State Highway 1 in Larimer County, from East County Road 60 to Interstate 25, as the "Commissioner Lew Gaiter III Memorial Highway." It authorizes the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to accept donations for the initial placement of signs and to explore a cooperative agreement with Larimer County for sign maintenance.

Maddy summaryHouse Joint Resolution 25-1030 expresses the State of Colorado's strong opposition to the use of forced labor in the production of goods. The resolution states that Colorado will use its purchasing power to support businesses that ethically source or manufacture products without forced labor. It also encourages state and local economic development offices to attract businesses that avoid these labor practices. This joint resolution aims to influence state and local government purchasing decisions and promote ethical business standards.

Maddy summaryHJR 25-1026 designates Colorado State Highway 402, from United States Highway 287 to Interstate 25, as the "Rep. Hugh McKean Memorial Highway." It also authorizes the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to accept donations for the initial placement of signs and to explore agreements with Larimer County for sign maintenance.

The bill requires the Colorado energy office (office) to establish a state utility an on-bill repayment program to help finance certain gas and electric utilities' on-bill repayment programs (on-bill repayment program programs ), which are programs through which energy efficiency measures, electrification measures, and energy upgrades installed at utility customers' premises are financed through loans that and repaid by the customers repay through their monthly utility bill payments. The bill requires gas or electric investor-owned utilities that serve more than 500,000 customers to propose a plan to the public utilities commission for establishing or expanding an existing on-bill repayment program for the commission to review and approve, disapprove, or modify. The bill requires the state treasurer , on July 1, 2025, to make an 3 interest-free loan in the amount of $100 loans totaling $50 million from the unclaimed property trust fund to the state utility on-bill repayment program cash fund, which fund is created in the bill, to support the financing of the on-bill repayment programs. The office is required to pay back the loan by July 1, 2045 January 1, 2046 . As an alternative financing mechanism for the on-bill programs, the bill authorizes the department of the treasury to offer on-bill financing tax credits (tax credits) to insurance companies authorized to do business in Colorado, which insurance companies have premium tax liability owing to the state (qualified taxpayers). The tax credits will only be offered if the relevant quarterly state revenue forecast shows that the state's nonexempt revenue will be at least $50 million under the limit on state fiscal year spending authorized under section 20 of article X of the state constitution, as modified by Referendum C. The bill creates a building decarbonization enterprise (enterprise) to: Provide financing assistance, technical assistance, and other programmatic assistance to covered building owners to effectively and efficiently implement building decarbonization measures, including energy efficiency measures, electrification measures, and energy upgrades; and Provide technical assistance and other programmatic support to utilities that accept financing from the office for the purpose of establishing or expanding an on-bill program. The enterprise is authorized to impose and collect from covered building owners an annual building decarbonization fee and impose and collect from participating utilities an annual on-bill program administration fee to cover the enterprise's costs in providing financial, technical, and programmatic assistance to covered building owners and participating utilities. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill sets the reimbursement rates that a health insurance carrier (carrier) may reimburse a health-care provider (provider) for covered services for the state employee group benefit plans (state group benefit plans) and for small employer group benefit plans (small group plans). The bill prohibits a provider that is subject to the reimbursement limitations from billing or collecting payment from a person covered under a state group benefit plan or small group plan for any outstanding balance for covered services that is not reimbursed by the carrier, except for the applicable in-network coinsurance, copayment, or deductible amounts. The bill requires a carrier to provide cost and quality of care information to the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) in the case of small group plans and to the director of the department of personnel (director) in the case of state group benefit plans, at the request of the commissioner or director, as applicable, and prohibits a carrier from entering into an agreement with a provider or third party that would restrict the carrier from providing the information. By September 1, 2027, and by September 1 each year thereafter, the director is required to provide a report to the governor's office, the state treasurer's office, and the joint budget committee that states the amount of calculated savings in general fund expenditures (calculated savings), if any, for health plan reimbursement for the prior fiscal year as a result of the reimbursement limits for state group benefit plans. The director is also required to include in the report the cost to the department in determining the calculated savings. By September 15, 2027, and by September 15 each year thereafter, of the money from the calculated savings, the state treasurer is required to transfer an amount equal to the department's costs in determining the calculated savings to the group benefit plans expenditure savings cash fund (expenditure savings cash fund), which is created in the bill, and specified percentages of the calculated savings from the general fund to the primary care fund and to the expenditure savings cash fund. The bill also requires the executive director of the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to conduct a study, in collaboration with specified state agencies, to determine the feasibility of establishing a similar reimbursement limit for group benefit plans offered to school district, higher education, and local government employees. The executive director is required to complete the study and report the findings to the general assembly on or before January 1, 2028. The bill allocates $500,000 from the calculated savings to a health care reimbursement feasibility study cash fund created in the bill and authorizes the state department to use the money to conduct the study. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)