Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet

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.)

Beginning on January 1, 2026, any political subdivision of the state, public entity, or nonprofit corporation that provides paratransit services in the state (paratransit provider) is required to establish, in coordination with local public entities providing emergency services, a plan to communicate information and provide paratransit services during emergencies. The communication plan must include information on the number of riders who use paratransit services and the resource capacity of the paratransit provider, including the number of drivers and the number of vehicles used to provide paratransit services. Paratransit providers and public entities providing emergency services are also required to submit a report to the transportation legislation review committee on or before September 1, 2026, about the implementation of the communication and emergency services plan. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summarySenate Joint Resolution 25-016 is a commemorative resolution from the Colorado General Assembly expressing strong support for strengthening the sister-state relationship between Colorado and Taiwan. It reaffirms the 42-year relationship and advocates for enhanced trade relations and academic exchanges between the two entities. The resolution also calls for the signing of a U.S.-Taiwan agreement on avoiding double taxation to promote bilateral investment. Additionally, it supports Taiwan's meaningful inclusion in various international organizations.

Maddy summarySJR 25-010 designates March 17, 2025, as "Colorado Aerospace Day" to recognize the state's leadership in the aerospace industry. The resolution highlights Colorado's status as the nation's top aerospace employment hub (with 33,000 direct jobs and 240,000 supporting jobs), home to major companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and key military space operations. It does not create new laws but serves as a symbolic declaration urging federal support for space exploration and celebrating the industry's economic and educational contributions. This resolution is addressed to state and federal officials, educational institutions, and aerospace organizations.

On and after July 1, 2026, the bill requires certain internet websites that knowingly and intentionally publish or distribute material that is harmful to children (covered platforms) to: Perform one or more reasonable age verification measures to verify the age of each individual who attempts to access such material; Prevent children from accessing such material; and Arrange for annual independent audits of the results of the covered platform's reasonable age verification measures. On and after July 1, 2026, a covered platform must offer each user at least one option by which the covered platform may verify the user's age without the user having to disclose the user's identity. For this purpose, a covered platform must employ commercially available technologies that are independently certified to be highly effective in establishing that an individual is not a child. A covered platform may not rely solely upon the geographical registration of an internet protocol address to determine a user's location and must apply extensive due diligence based on available technology before concluding that an individual is not located in Colorado. A covered platform must ensure that each reasonable age verification measure that the covered platform employs includes a means by which a potential user of the covered platform may appeal a determination concerning the potential user's age. A covered platform that acquires personal data for the purposes of age verification must destroy the personal data as soon as reasonably possible after a potential user's age is checked for age verification. In acquiring and retaining personal data, a covered platform must otherwise comply with the requirements of the "Colorado Privacy Act". (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Maddy summaryThis resolution authorizes Colorado's General Assembly to file a lawsuit challenging whether the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), specifically Section 20 of Article X in the state constitution, violates the guarantee of a "republican form of government" under the state constitution and U.S. Constitution. It directs the Committee on Legal Services to hire legal counsel (excluding those involved in prior TABOR litigation) to sue in state district court, seeking a court determination on TABOR's constitutionality regarding legislative authority over taxes and spending. The suit focuses solely on whether TABOR undermines the General Assembly's role as a representative legislative body.

The act requires the division of criminal justice (division) in the department of public safety to apply for and accept and expend federal or other available grant money to improve the state's response to mass shootings, including grant money to support services for victims of mass shootings. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act amends various statutes governing the operations of the department of public health and environment (department) regarding disease control. Specifically, sections 1 through 9 of the act: Repeal the governor's expert emergency epidemic response committee (GEEERC); Direct the state board of health to review and amend, as necessary, the department's emergency response and recovery plan every 3 years; and Require the executive director of the department or, if the executive director is not the chief medical officer, the chief medical officer to convene a group of subject matter experts to develop crisis standards of care to be used in responding to a public health emergency. Sections 10 through 18 modify school immunization provisions as follows to: Allow the records of a physician assistant to be used to create an official certificate of immunization for a student; Extend the period within which a student whose certificate of immunization is not up to date to comply with immunization requirements to attend school from 14 days after notice of noncompliance is received to 30 days after receipt of the noncompliance notice; Extend from February 15 to April 15 the deadline for a school to distribute the annual letter to parents specifying the school's aggregate immunization rates and the immunization requirements applicable for the next school year; Direct the state board of health, in adopting rules establishing immunization requirements, to take into consideration, as appropriate and in addition to the recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices, the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Physicians; For purposes of out-of-state campers attending a licensed children's residential camp, allow the camp to maintain an out-of-state immunization record for an out-of-state camper, rather than the state's official certificate of immunization; Remove gendered pronouns and replace them with gender-neutral language; and Repeal the requirement for schools to notify the department and the local public health agency when a student is suspended or expelled from school for noncompliance with immunization requirements. Section 19 extends from July 15 to September 15 the date by which the department is required to submit to the general assembly an annual report summarizing health-care-associated infections data received from health facilities in the state. Section 20 repeals the requirement for certain health-care providers to offer a hepatitis C screening test to individuals born between 1945 and 1965 and instead directs the state board of health to adopt standards, consistent with recommendations from the federal centers for disease control and prevention, for hepatitis C screening tests. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the office of school safety (office) oversees the school safety resource center (center) and 2 separate units that assist schools with crisis management and safety-related grant funding, respectively. There is an advisory board that recommends the policies of the center. The act broadens the scope of the advisory board's work to include policy recommendations for the entire office. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)