Sen. Tony Exum

The unclaimed utility deposits program (program) helps finance electric and gas utility bill payment assistance for income-qualified households. The program is partially funded by electric and gas utilities' contributions of money that are owed to utility ratepayers but that have remained unclaimed by the ratepayers for more than 2 years. The act clarifies that a municipally owned electric or gas utility may elect to participate in the program or develop a similar mechanism for utilizing unclaimed utility deposits for utility bill payment assistance. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summarySJR 25-008 designates March 3, 2025, as "Buy Colorado Day" (also called "303 Day") and March 3-10, 2025, as "Buy Colorado Week" to encourage Coloradans to support local businesses. The resolution urges residents to spend money at homegrown Colorado brands and enterprises, highlighting the state's diverse business community including restaurants, breweries, agricultural producers, and retailers. This symbolic measure has no legal force and serves as a recognition of Colorado's economic contributions, not a new policy or requirement. It directly affects all Coloradans by promoting a voluntary shift in consumer behavior toward local spending.

Maddy summarySJR 25-018 recognizes April 2025 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and designates April 30, 2025, as Colorado Denim Day. The resolution symbolically supports the annual Denim Day observance, which began in Colorado in 2013, to raise awareness about sexual violence and honor the work of organizations like the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA). It highlights ongoing challenges such as evidence kit backlogs and the need for survivor support services, without creating new laws or funding. This is a ceremonial resolution, not a policy change, aligning Colorado with the global Denim Day movement that uses wearing jeans to protest attitudes condoning sexual assault.

Maddy summarySenate Resolution 25-008 designates March 31 of each year as "Transgender Day of Visibility" in Colorado. The resolution commits the Colorado Senate to defending transgender rights in health care, education, employment, housing, and civic participation while acknowledging Colorado's historical role in providing gender-affirming care. It also expresses solidarity with transgender people and other marginalized groups facing rights challenges. This symbolic resolution does not create new laws or funding but serves as a formal public affirmation of support for transgender Coloradans.

The act allows a fire protection district or a metropolitan district that provides fire protection services (district) to create a program to mitigate the presence of dead or dry plant material that can burn and contribute to a fire on privately owned property within a district (vegetative fuel program). A district that creates a vegetative fuel program may require an owner or occupier with an interest in private real property that contains vegetative fuel within the district to remove the vegetative fuel and assess a fine per incident of noncompliance. An incident covers all vegetative fuel on a property. A district may not require an owner or occupier of private real property to remove vegetative fuel on private real property that is classified as agricultural land by the tax assessor, owned by a nonprofit entity and leased for agricultural purposes, owned or occupied by a public utility with a vegetation management or wildfire mitigation plan to address vegetative fuel sources, or adjacent to a ditch that conveys decreed water rights or within the easement where the ditch is located. In order to assess a fine, for each incident, the district must provide written notice by certified mail of the requirement to remove vegetative fuel and allow at least 14 days for the owner or occupier to comply. An owner or occupier that does not remove the vegetative fuel as provided in the first notice may be subject to a second notice requiring the removal of vegetative fuel. An owner or occupier has at least 14 days to comply with the second notice. An owner or occupier that does not comply within at least 14 days after the second notice may receive a third notice providing for a fine approximately equal to the cost of removing the vegetative fuel. The fine may not exceed $200 per property per incident, and an owner or occupier is not subject to more than one fine for the same incident. The sum of all fines assessed against a single property may not exceed $1,200. An owner or occupier receiving a third notice may avoid a fine by removing the vegetative fuel within 14 days of the date of the third notice. A district may not access any privately owned real property without the written permission of the owner or occupier of the property. An owner or occupier is not liable to a district for damages to district personnel or equipment that occurs on the property while district personnel or equipment are present on the property to carry out a vegetative fuel program. A district may not use a drone to discover vegetative fuel on a property or to administer or enforce a vegetative fuel program created pursuant to the act. The money that a district collects from a fine must be used by the district only to remove vegetative fuel on private real property within the district's jurisdiction. A district's board may waive the fine in all or in part, in its discretion if it determines that the fine was not assessed pursuant to law, an owner or occupier is financially unable to pay the fine, the vegetative fuel has been removed, or a waiver is appropriate under the circumstances and must prioritize use of the money to assist a low-income owner or occupier, a senior owner or occupier, or an owner or occupier with a disability in removing vegetative fuel from the owner or occupier's property. A district's board may also waive a fine for delays due to weather or upon a petition for a time extension from an owner or occupier if they have undertaken good faith efforts to remove the vegetative fuel. Good faith efforts include documentation from an arborist or licensed professional landscape architect that states when the arborist or landscape architect will be able to mitigate vegetative fuel on the property and the cost of mitigation. A district's board shall grant a property owner or occupier a time extension to mitigate or pay a fine for: No longer than 3 months if the cost to mitigate exceeds $1,000 and is less than $2,500; No longer than 6 months if the cost to mitigate equals or exceeds $2,500 and is less than $5,000; No longer than 9 months if the cost to mitigate equals or exceeds $5,000 and is less than $10,000; or No longer than one year if the cost to mitigate equals or exceeds $10,000. A district's board shall adopt rules and policies after a public hearing, public notice and public comment to implement the act and shall post the adopted rules and policies to the district's website, on social media operated by the district, and in a local newspaper of general circulation. A vegetative fuel program may only be effective 30 days or more after posting of the adopted rules and policies on the district's website. As part of the rules and policies, a district shall designate an individual to oversee and manage the district's vegetative fuel program. A district may certify to the county treasurer a delinquent charge made or levied against a property, and the treasurer may collect and pay over the charge in the same manner that property taxes are collected and paid. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Beginning with the judicial department's 2026 "SMART Act" hearing, the act requires the state court administrator to report statistics concerning restitution payments received and owed during the previous 5 state fiscal years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act grants a right for defense counsel to review a tangible object related to a criminal case at least 35 days before a trial, except for cases involving sexually exploitative material, and create confidential work product following their review. Law enforcement shall designate a specific location for the evidence viewing and be present during the evidence viewing to ensure chain of custody and integrity of the evidence. The act does not limit the defense's ability to request testing or a hearing, or the court's ability to conduct a hearing, on a tangible piece of evidence. Law enforcement officers and other state officials may record an evidence viewing by either the prosecution or the defense for the purpose of ensuring the chain of custody, integrity, or safety of the evidence held by the law enforcement agency, and must provide notice to the prosecuting authority and defense if a recording occurs. Law enforcement may view the recording for purposes of organization or cataloguing the evidence, or as authorized by a court order. A trial court may enter protective orders relating to a recording of an evidence viewing. When a member of the defense team is viewing evidence and is incidentally recorded on a law enforcement body-worn camera, it is not an interaction with law enforcement for purposes of the body-worn camera statute and is not for the purpose of enforcing the law or investigating possible violations of the law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

If a prospective family pays a child care center, family child care home, or neighborhood youth organization (child care program) an application fee, a deposit fee, or wait list fee and is not enrolled in the child care program after six months of paying the fee, the act makes the fee is refundable. A child care program may retain a reasonable administrative fee determined by the department of early childhood (department) before issuing a refund to the prospective family. The prospective family must submit a written request to the child care program to receive a refund. Upon receiving the written request from the prospective family, the child care program shall refund the fees to the prospective family and may remove the prospective family from the wait list. Prospective families who are offered a child care slot with a child care program and who refuse the child care slot shall not receive a refund. If a family enrolls in a child care program and signs a contract with the child care program provider, the terms of the contract, including fees outlined in the contract, are not subject to the requirements of the act. A child care program shall provide a fee schedule and the process on fee refunds to a prospective family and an enrolled family. A child care program may publish the fee schedule digitally on the child care program's website. During the department's periodic inspections, or if a complaint is filed regarding fees, the act directs the department to review the information in the child care center's policy for establishing fees to confirm the child care center is complying with the law. If the department finds the child care center is not compliant, the child care center has 30 days after the date of inspection to comply. If the child care center does not comply within 30 days after the date of inspection, the department may take further disciplinary action. The department shall not take disciplinary action against a child care program that makes a good faith administrative error or is not in compliance for the first time. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summarySJR 25-013 is a symbolic resolution recognizing Thursday, March 20, 2025, as Nowruz Day in Colorado. It honors the ancient Persian New Year celebration observed by Iranian, Kurdish, Afghan, and Central Asian communities, acknowledging its cultural significance and the contributions of Colorado's Iranian-American residents. The resolution has no legal effect but formally extends recognition to the traditions of Nowruz, including its themes of renewal and community. It directly affects Colorado's Iranian-American community by affirming their cultural heritage through state acknowledgment.

Beginning July 1, 2025, the act increases by one the number of district court judges in the fourth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and twenty-third judicial districts and increases by one the number of county court judges in La Plata county. Beginning July 1, 2026, the act increases by one the number of district court judges in the fourth, seventh, thirteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth judicial districts and increases by one the number of county court judges in Larimer county, Douglas county, Mesa county, and Eagle county. Current law requires district court judges regularly assigned to Arapahoe county to maintain offices within Arapahoe county. The act allows the district court judges assigned to Arapahoe county to maintain offices outside of the county seat. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $2,638,326 from the general fund to the judicial department to implement the increased number of judges and appropriates $621,337 from the general fund to the judicial department for use by the office of state public defender. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)