Rep. Lindsay Gilchrist

Maddy summaryHouse Joint Resolution 25-1024 authorizes the installation of a memorial on the State Capitol Grounds to honor the victims of the Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864. The bill designates the former location of the "Union Soldier" statue on the west grounds of the capitol as the appropriate site for this memorial. Its purpose is to respect and memorialize the Cheyenne and Arapaho people and their ancestors, promote cross-cultural understanding, and educate the public about the massacre.

Maddy summaryHouse Joint Memorial 25-1001 serves to memorialize former Representative Rodney Bockenfeld, who passed away on February 13, 2025, at the age of 69. The resolution pays tribute to his years of dedicated public service as both an Arapahoe County Commissioner and a State Representative and extends sympathy to his family.

The act clarifies that requirements for out-of-state telehealth providers do not alter or limit the rights and protections afforded to a person concerning a legally protected health-care activity. Current law requires a prescription drug label to include the name of the prescribing practitioner. At the practitioner's request, the act authorizes a prescription label for mifepristone, misoprostol, and the generic alternatives to those prescriptions to include only the name of the prescribing health-care practice instead of the name of the practitioner, provided the practitioner includes the name of the health-care practice on the paper or electronic form of the prescription. The act requires any person requesting a subpoena to affirm under penalty of perjury that the subpoena: Is not related to, and any information obtained will not be used in, any investigation or proceeding that seeks to impose civil or criminal liability or professional sanctions against a person or entity that engaged in or attempted or intended to engage in a legally protected health-care activity or that provided insurance coverage for gender-affirming health-care services or reproductive health care; or Is related to such an investigation or proceeding, but the investigation or proceeding is brought under tort law or contract law by the person who engaged in or attempted or intended to engage in a legally protected health-care activity, gender-affirming health-care services, or reproductive health care, and is actionable in an equivalent or similar manner under Colorado law. If a person or entity brings an out-of-state civil or criminal action, or attempts to enforce any order or judgment issued in connection with an action, against another person or entity for engaging in or attempting or intending to engage in a legally protected health-care activity or for providing insurance coverage for gender-affirming health-care services or reproductive health care, the person or entity subject to the out-of-state civil or criminal action has a private right of action against the person or entity and may institute a civil action in district court within 6 years after the date the out-of-state action is commenced or enforcement is attempted. Current law authorizes a private person to arrest a person without a warrant upon reasonable information that the person is charged in another state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. The act creates an exception if the person is charged in another state for engaging in a legally protected health-care activity in Colorado. Current law prohibits a public agency from expending government resources or providing information or data in furtherance of any out-of-state investigation or proceeding seeking to impose civil or criminal liability or professional sanction upon a person or entity for engaging in a legally protected health-care activity. The act expands the prohibition to include public entities, which include state and local governments, and a person or entity licensed or regulated by the state. The act grants the attorney general the authority to enforce the provisions of the act. The act prohibits the department of public health and environment (CDPHE) from collecting a patient's name, date of birth, address, employer, spouse's name, or parent's or legal guardian's name, or the city or town where the termination of pregnancy occurred, as part of any required reporting of induced terminations of pregnancy. Reports of induced terminations of pregnancy collected by CDPHE must only be used for compilation of statistical reports, must not be incorporated into the official records of the office of the state registrar of vital statistics, and are confidential. The state registrar is required to dispose of any reports of induced terminations of pregnancy when all statistical processing of the reports is complete. A person who releases or discloses confidential information related to reporting of induced terminations of pregnancy commits a data privacy breach. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

During the 2024 general election, Colorado voters approved Amendment 79, which: Repealed the state constitutional amendment prohibiting the use of public funds to pay for abortions; and Added a state constitutional amendment recognizing the right to an abortion and prohibiting Colorado state and local governments from denying, impeding, or discriminating against the exercise of that right, including prohibiting health insurance companies from excluding coverage for abortion. The act makes conforming changes to state law relating to abortion care as a result of Amendment 79. Current law requires the executive director of the department of health care policy and financing to authorize medicaid reimbursement for family-planning-related services. The act expands the definition of "family-planning-related services" to include abortion care. The act requires the medical services board to include abortion care in the schedule of health-care services available for pregnant persons enrolled in the children's basic health plan. $2,928,800 is appropriated to the department of health care policy and financing from the general fund for other medical services, including abortion care. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act makes the following changes to current law regarding individuals to whom the department of labor and employment (department) provides vocational rehabilitation services (services): Eliminates the requirement that an individual with a disability requires financial assistance to participate; Allows the department to consider financial need before providing services during a period of cost containment to prevent or manage a wait list for services due to insufficient financial resources; Eliminates the requirement that an individual with a disability, or the individual's legally and financially responsible relative, must contribute toward the cost of their services to the extent that they are financially able; and To align Colorado law with federal law, eliminates the requirement that the department provide services only to individuals who are present in the state at the time of filing an application for the services and can satisfactorily achieve rehabilitation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires that ammunition sold at retail must be accessible to a purchaser or transferee only with the assistance of the vendor, and the act prohibits the retail sale of ammunition to a person who is younger than 21 years of age. The act includes exceptions for in-person sales to persons who are 18-20 years of age at shooting ranges, who are members of the military and veterans, who have a hunter education certification, who are protected by a protection order, or who were born on or before January 28, 2007; sales to on-duty peace officers; and sales of rimfire ammunition. Unlawful sale of ammunition by violating either requirement is a civil infraction; except that a second or subsequent violation is a class 1 misdemeanor. The act requires a retail ammunition vendor who is shipping ammunition to use a delivery service that verifies that the person receiving the ammunition is 21 years of age. The act requires a retail ammunition deliverer to comply with federal law regarding the labeling and packaging of ammunition. When delivering a package containing ammunition sold at retail, the act requires a retail ammunition deliverer to verify that the person receiving the delivery is 21 years of age or older and obtain written acknowledgment of receipt from the recipient. Notwithstanding the age verification requirement, a retail ammunition deliverer may verify and deliver ammunition to a person who was born on or before January 28, 2007. The age verification and written notification requirements do not apply to a retail ammunition deliverer who does not know that the package contains ammunition because the sender failed to notify the deliverer that the package contains ammunition. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a gun show promoter to prepare a security plan and submit the security plan to each local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the gun show. The act places certain requirements on a gun show promoter, including requiring the promoter to: Have liability insurance for the gun show; Implement security measures at the gun show, including monitoring all entrances and exits and providing video surveillance of the gun show parking area and main entrance and exit; Prohibit persons under 18 years of age from entering the gun show unless the person is accompanied by a parent, grandparent, or guardian; For each customer who leaves with a purchased firearm, verify that the firearm has been delivered in compliance with the required the 3-day waiting period; and Post certain notices at the gun show. Violating any of the above provisions is unlawful gun show management, which is a class 2 misdemeanor; except that a second or subsequent offense is a class 1 misdemeanor and, in addition to the criminal penalty, the promoter is prohibited from acting as a gun show promoter for 5 years. The act defines a "gun collectors show" as an event sponsored to facilitate the purchase, sale, offer for sale, or collection of only curios or relics or antique firearms, and not any other type of firearm. Gun collectors shows are not gun shows under the act. The act prohibits a person from participating in a gun show as a gun show vendor if the person is not a federal firearms licencee, does not hold a valid state firearms dealer permit, has been convicted of a second offense of unlawful gun show vendor activity as described in the act, or has not completed a gun show certification for the gun show promoter as required in the act. Unlawful participation in a gun show as a gun show vendor is a class 2 misdemeanor; except that a second or subsequent offense is a class 1 misdemeanor. Before participating in a gun show, a gun show vendor is required to certify to the gun show promoter that the vendor satisfies the requirements to be a gun show vendor and will comply with federal, state, and local laws while participating in the gun show. While participating in a gun show, a gun show vendor shall display copies of the vendor's federal firearms license and state firearms dealer permit, keep firearms unloaded and securely affixed to the vendor's countertop or wall, display ammunition in accordance with state and federal law, and include with each sold firearm written information describing secure storage and lost or stolen firearm reporting requirements. Violating any of these provisions is unlawful gun show vendor activity, which is a class 2 misdemeanor; except that a second or subsequent offense is a class 1 misdemeanor and the person is prohibited from participating as a vendor at a gun show. The act maintains the requirement in existing law that a gun show vendor conduct a background check for each firearm transfer at a gun show, but removes the maximum fee a licensed gun dealer may charge for each background check conducted at a gun show. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act prohibits a person's failure to appear from forming the basis of a municipal criminal charge against the person. The act clarifies that, for purposes of the act, failure to appear includes contempt of court for the failure to appear or any other term used by a municipality to refer to a person's failure to appear at a scheduled court date. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires an individual who completes a certificate of death to record the decedent's sex to reflect the decedent's gender. If an individual who completes a certificate of death is presented with a document memorializing the decedent's gender (gender document), the individual must record the decedent's sex to reflect the gender indicated in the gender document. If a gender document is not presented and an individual with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains objects to the sex recorded by the individual who completes the certificate of death, the individual with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains may state their objection to the individual who completes a certificate of death before the certificate of death is filed, and the individual who completes the certificate of death must record the sex as the gender reported by the individual with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains. If a gender document is presented to the office of state registrar of vital statistics in the department of public health and environment (state registrar) for a decedent that died in the state, the state registrar must issue an amended certificate of death for the decedent that changes the decedent's sex to reflect the gender indicated in the gender document. The state registrar must also amend the certificate of death to reflect a legal name change if the appropriate legal name change documentation is submitted to the state registrar. An individual with the right to control the disposition of a decedent's remains may file a claim seeking an order of the court to amend the information recorded on the decedent's certificate of death. The act requires the department of public health and environment to add a gender field to the certificate of death form and the electronic death registration system. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act clarifies that the child of an inbound active duty military member (member) who has an existing individualized education program (IEP) or existing section 504 plan is eligible for open enrollment, remote enrollment, and guaranteed matriculation. The act requires the school district, district charter school, or an institute charter school (local education provider) where the child enrolls to ensure the student receives the appropriate services and accommodations, consistent with the child's existing IEP or section 504 plan, without unreasonable delay upon enrollment. The act requires each local education provider to take reasonable steps to notify members and their families of their rights, including providing information on special education services to prevent inadvertent exclusion and to ensure members and their families are fully informed of available supports. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)