The act makes the following changes for the purpose of improving the performance of the regional transportation district (RTD): Authorizes RTD to enter into a service partnership agreement with a local government, institution of higher education, business or housing entity, or special district to expand services within RTD's service territory or beyond the boundaries of RTD as authorized by law; Requires RTD, in discharging its responsibilities, to: Align with statewide greenhouse gas reduction targets, "Transportation Vision 2035" goals, and mode choice targets; Create worker retention goals; Adhere to the requirements of "General Directive 24-1: Required Actions Regarding Assaults on Transit Workers", issued on September 25, 2024, by the federal transit administration of the United States department of transportation; and Develop performance measures to evaluate its progress in aligning with state climate goals and achieving its worker retention goals; Requires RTD to report to the transportation legislation review committee (TLRC) on or before December 15, 2025, on RTD's 5-year financial forecast, debt capacity, and use of agency reserve accounts; Requires RTD, in coordination with the department of transportation, the Denver regional council of governments, and local governments within RTD's service territory, to create a 10-year strategic plan no later than September 30, 2026, and a comprehensive operational analysis no less frequently than every 5 years beginning on April 10, 2026, and to report quarterly to the RTD board of directors regarding the plan and analysis. RTD is also required to annually report to the TLRC on its progress in delivering the projects identified in the 10-year strategic plan and the comprehensive operational analysis. Requires RTD, in conjunction with the creation of its 10-year strategic plan, to study or contract with a third party to study and identify opportunities to increase funding to achieve the goals, measures, and targets identified in the 10-year strategic plan; Requires RTD to create, maintain, and publish on its website information and dashboards related to capital projects, ridership and service information, planned service changes, workforce statistics, and transit safety; Requires RTD to update its service policies and standards, its equitable transit-oriented development policy, and its service buy-up policy, to create specific communication protocols, and to implement parking and transportation demand management strategies and policies; Requires RTD to report to the governor, general assembly, the TLRC, and the RTD board by December 2025 on its work to achieve the transportation expansion routes identified in the transportation expansion plan, including the north lines. If RTD has not completed and begun service by January 1, 2029, on the fixed guideway mass transit system proposed in the transportation expansion plan, RTD is required to report to the governor and the transportation committees of the general assembly every 6 months until service begins. Requires RTD to periodically notify the Denver regional council of governments and the department of local affairs of any known infrastructure gaps that exist within a transit center of a transit-oriented community within RTD's service territory; Requires RTD to modernize, advertise, and conduct outreach about its EcoPass programs and to report to the transportation committees of the general assembly about its efforts; Clarifies the powers and duties of the RTD board of directors; and Prohibits write-in candidates for the RTD board of directors. The act also requires other entities to analyze opportunities for the improvement of transit services by: Requiring certain residential and mixed-use developments to survey their residents about their interest in having the development provide annual pre-paid RTD transit passes via the EcoPass program, if the development does not already provide bulk-purchased EcoPasses. If a majority of residents express interest in bulk-purchased EcoPasses, the development is required to enroll in the EcoPass program for its residents. Requiring the transportation commission, on or before March 31, 2026, to develop and publish best practices and technical assistance materials concerning the creation of regional transportation authorities to increase funding for transit and to provide additional transit services within the state; and Creating an RTD accountability committee within the Colorado energy office that consists of 15 appointed members, including 14 voting members and one ex officio nonvoting member, whose work is intended to build upon the work of the previous RTD accountability committee created in 2020. On or before January 30, 2026, the committee is required to provide recommendations to the transportation committees of the general assembly concerning: The governance structure and compensation of the RTD board and executive leadership; Paratransit services within RTD; The representation of local governments and state agencies within RTD; and RTD's labor and workforce standards and workforce retention. The act also makes changes to the information that an eligible entity is required to provide to the clean transit enterprise after being awarded money from the local transit operations cash fund. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, $146,720 is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the governor for use by the Colorado energy office for program administration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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Subject to local voter approval, the act increases the maximum allowed rate of a county lodging tax levied on the purchase price paid or charged to persons for rooms or accommodations from 2% to 6% and expands the allowed uses of lodging tax revenue to include: Public infrastructure maintenance or improvements; or Enhancing public safety measures by funding local law enforcement, fire protection services, and emergency medical services. If a county received voter approval before January 1, 2025, to specifically allocate portions of revenue from the lodging tax to allowed uses for designated purposes, the act clarifies how those previously approved allocations are preserved and how revenue attributable to an increase in the tax rate may be allocated by the county. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act defines a subject jurisdiction as a municipality with a population of 100,000 or more that is served by a fire protection district, fire authority, or fire department that is or was accredited by a specified organization. The act only applies to a subject jurisdiction and only to the area within a subject jurisdiction that is served by a single fire protection district or fire department. On or before December 1, 2027, the act requires the governing body of a subject jurisdiction to adopt a building code, or amend an existing building code, to allow up to 5 stories of a multifamily residential building that satisfies certain conditions to be served by a single exit. The act requires a subject jurisdiction to provide notice of the adopting or amending of the subject jurisdiction's building code to the local International Association of Fire Fighter's affiliate and the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters Association. In connection with multifamily residential buildings served by a single exit, the act requires: A subject jurisdiction to coordinate with a fire protection district, fire department, or fire authority concerning aerial apparatus access to these buildings and the site design of these buildings; These buildings to maintain their legal occupancy status, even if they would otherwise lose that status under future building codes; A subject jurisdiction to allow, with certain limitations, the reconstruction of these buildings according to the standards under which they were originally built after the buildings are damaged or destroyed; and A landlord, manager, or owner of one of these buildings to conduct inspections of the dwelling units of such a building. The act also requires a subject jurisdiction, beginning December 1, 2028, to report to the state demography office in the department of local affairs on the number of multifamily residential buildings served by a single exit and on certain qualities of those buildings. Similarly, in January 2032, the act requires the department of local affairs to report on the implementation of this act as part of the department's "SMART Act" hearing. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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.)
Section 1 of the act defines a "major political party vacancy election", which is an election that is conducted as part of an odd-year coordinated election to fill a vacancy in the general assembly. Section 2 requires that a vacancy committee that is selected by a state senatorial central committee or state representative central committee consist of, in addition to the members of the state senatorial or state representative central committee, any county commissioners who are members of the political party and reside within the state senatorial or state representative district. Section 2 also provides that if a vacancy in the office of precinct committee person is filled, the new appointee shall not participate in the vacancy committee process to fill a vacancy in the general assembly until, at the earliest, 91 days after appointment. For a major political party vacancy election that is part of an odd-year coordinated election for which the state has not otherwise certified any statewide ballot content, section 3 requires the state to reimburse each county in which the state has certified a major political party vacancy election for 45% of the costs that the county incurs in conducting the coordinated election. Section 4 modifies the way that vacancies in the general assembly are filled when the vacating member is affiliated with a major political party by requiring that, if the vacancy occurs on or after July 31 of an even-numbered year and before July 31 of an odd-numbered year, the vacancy must be filled by vacancy committee selection until the next odd-numbered year coordinated election, when the vacancy must be filled at the odd-year November election (major political party vacancy election); except that, if the vacant seat is scheduled to be on the ballot at the next general election in an even-numbered year and the vacancy occurs on or after July 31 of that even-numbered year but before 90 days remain in the vacant term, the remainder of the vacant term must be filled by a vacancy committee. The candidate elected in the major political party vacancy election serves until the next general election, when the vacancy must be filled by election. If a vacancy in the general assembly occurs on or after July 31of an odd-numbered year and before July 31 of an even-numbered year and the vacating member is affiliated with a major political party, no major political party vacancy election is held and the vacancy is filled by a vacancy committee. The only candidates who may run in a major political party vacancy election are candidates who are members of the same political party and residents of the same representative or senatorial district represented by the former member of the general assembly whose seat is vacant. The only voters who may vote in the major political party vacancy election are voters who are unaffiliated or are members of the same political party as the former member of the general assembly whose seat is vacant and who reside in the same representative or senatorial district represented by the former member of the general assembly whose seat is vacant. A candidate must be placed on the ballot for a major political party vacancy election only if the candidate: Files with the secretary of state and the candidate's major political party before 5 p.m. on the seventieth day preceding the major political party vacancy election, a nominating statement signed by 30% of the district vacancy committee members; or Submits to the secretary of state, no later than 30 days after their petition format has been approved or 85 days prior to the major political party vacancy election, whichever is sooner, a notarized candidate's statement of intent and a petition signed by at least 200 electors who are affiliated with the same major political party as the candidate and are eligible to vote in the district for which the candidate is to be elected. If a vacancy committee member signs a nominating statement after having signed another nominating statement filed for the same office in the same major political party election, the vacancy committee member's signature only counts toward the 30% of applicable vacancy committee member signatures required on the first nominating statement submitted that contains the signature. If an eligible elector signs a petition after having signed another petition submitted for the same office in the same major political party election, the elector's signature only counts toward the 200 elector signatures required on the first petition submitted that contains the signature. Section 4 also provides that a major political party may choose to continue to fill a vacancy in the general assembly by vacancy committee rather than by a major political party vacancy election if at least 75% of the total voting membership of the party's state central committee affirmatively votes to do so, and requires vacancy committee meetings to fill vacancies in the general assembly to be accessible in real time by live streaming video or audio that is recorded and accessible to the public. Section 5 defines a vacancy contender for the purpose of campaign finance regulations as any person who seeks to be selected by a vacancy committee to fill a vacancy in the general assembly (vacancy contender) and adds vacancy contenders and candidates running in major political party vacancy elections to the definition of candidate for the purpose of campaign finance regulations. Section 6 establishes contribution limits for a candidate committee established in the name of a candidate who is a vacancy contender and a candidate who is running for a major political party vacancy election. Section 7 requires disclosures for contributions related to vacancy contenders and candidates running for a major political party vacancy election. Disclosures for vacancy contenders must be filed on the Monday of each week during the election cycle for the vacancy committee selection process. Disclosures for candidates running for a major political party vacancy election must be filed on the first day of each month beginning the sixth full month before the major political party vacancy election; on the first Monday in September and on each Monday every 2 weeks thereafter before the major political party vacancy election; and 35 days after the major political party vacancy election. (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.)
Current law mandates insurance coverage of certain preventive health-care services (preventive services) in accordance with the recommendations of the United States preventive services task force, recommendations established by the advisory committee on immunization practices, or preventive care or screening as provided in the comprehensive guidelines supported by the health resources and services administration in the United States department of health and human services (authorities). The act requires that, in the event that any of these authorities is repealed, modified, or otherwise no longer in effect, the commissioner of insurance may adopt rules that require compliance with the recommendations and comprehensive guidelines regarding the coverage of those preventive services as the recommendations and guidelines existed in January 2025 or that comply with the recommendations of the nurse-physician advisory task force for Colorado health care (NPATCH). The act also tasks the NPATCH with making recommendations regarding updates or modifications to the current list of covered preventive health-care services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For construction of multifamily, attached housing of 2 or more units, the act creates the multifamily construction incentive program (program). A builder may chose to participate in the program by: Providing a warranty that covers any defect and damage at no cost to the homeowner for specified periods; Having a third-party inspection performed on the property; and Recording a notice of election to participate in the program in the real property records before the property is offered for sale. For construction defect claims brought for the construction of housing for which the builder is a participant in the program, the act: Requires a claimant to file a certificate of review with the complaint, if the complaint is against an architect or engineer; Limits actions to claims that have resulted in: Actual damage to real or personal property; actual loss of the use of real or personal property; actual bodily injury or wrongful death; an unreasonable reduction in the capability of, or an actual failure of, a building component to perform an intended function or purpose; or an unreasonable risk of bodily injury or death to, or a threat to the life, health, or safety of, the occupants of the residential property; and Requires that a construction professional must send or deliver to the claimant an offer to settle the claim or a written response that identifies the standards that apply to the claim and explains why the defect does not require repair. For all construction defect claims, the act: Establishes a claimant's duty to mitigate an alleged construction defect and specifies how a claimant may satisfy this duty and the consequences to a claimant that fails to satisfy this duty; Requires a construction professional who is the defendant in a construction defect action to submit specified information to the claimant; Prohibits an insurer from cancelling, denying, or reducing coverage based on any claim for benefits covered by an existing liability insurance policy issued to a construction professional based on the construction professional's offer to repair or settle a construction defect claim; Tolls the statute of limitations or repose during a claimant's mitigation of an alleged construction defect; Increases the percentage of owners that an executive board of a unit owners' association (executive board) must obtain approval from before initiating a construction defect claim on behalf of the owners from a majority to 65%; and Requires an executive board that is successful in a construction defect claim or settlement to first use the net monetary damages or net proceeds received as a result of the claim to repair the construction defect. The act requires a local government to establish a fast-track approval process for an application for for-sale multifamily condominium projects in order to qualify for assistance from the state affordable housing fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The"Freedom From Intimidation In Elections Act" is created and prohibits any individual from intimidating, threatening, or coercing or attempting to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any individual for: Voting or attempting to vote; Urging or aiding any individual to vote or attempt to vote; Exercising any powers or duties to administer elections, including vote counting, canvassing, and election certification; or The individual's status as a past or present participant in the administration of elections. The act specifies that an individual who carries a visible firearm, imitation firearm, or toy firearm while interacting with or observing any of the specified election-related activities is presumed, in the absence of any affirmative showing to the contrary by a preponderance of the evidence, to have engaged in intimidation prohibited by the act; except that the presumption does not apply to a law enforcement officer or a uniformed security guard acting within the scope of their authority, and mere possession of a holstered firearm by such an officer or guard while interacting with or observing any of the specified election-related activities does not violate the Act. An aggrieved individual, an election official, a designated election official, the secretary of state, or the attorney general may enforce the provisions of the act. A suit brought by an election official, a designated election official, the secretary of state, or the attorney general does not preclude a contemporaneous private suit by an aggrieved individual to enforce the provisions of the act. In a suit to enforce the provisions of the act, a court may grant relief enjoining the use or carrying of firearms by a defendant beyond the existing prohibitions on using or carrying firearms in or near polling locations drop boxes and in or on the property of ceratin types of government buildings. To prevail in a suit to enforce the provisions of the act, a plaintiff is not required to prove that a defendant intended to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any individual, except to prove an attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, but a court may consider evidence of intent in determining the appropriate relief. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Maddy summarySenate Joint Resolution 25-021 reaffirms the critical importance of fully funding public schools in Colorado. It declares the Colorado Senate's intent to develop a multi-year implementation plan, including revenue triggers, to phase in recommendations from recently commissioned adequacy studies on school funding.