Sen. John Carson

Maddy summaryHJR 1017 is a joint resolution urging the federal government to fulfill its obligations under the 1986 Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement. It specifically calls for action to address infrastructure gaps affecting two tribes: the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes, who have settled water rights but cannot access or use them due to missing pipelines (e.g., from Lake Nighthorse) and deteriorating irrigation systems (like the PRIIP, requiring $126 million in repairs). The resolution highlights federal failures to fund operations, maintain infrastructure, and enable tribes to utilize their legally secured water for agriculture, municipal use, and economic development. As a procedural resolution, it does not create new law but formally requests federal action to resolve these longstanding barriers.

March 31 is currently known as 'Cesar Chavez Day' and may be voluntarily observed as a state legal holiday. The act repeals 'Cesar Chavez Day' and changes this voluntary legal holiday for March 31, 2026, and March 31, 2027, to instead be known as 'Farm Workers Day'.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires operators of certain websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications (covered platforms) to ensure that each covered platform provides a streamlined process to allow Colorado law enforcement agencies to contact the covered platform at all times. The process must, at a minimum, make available a staffed hotline for Colorado law enforcement agencies for the purposes of:Receiving and responding to questions about search warrants;Acknowledging the receipt of a search warrant within 8 hours after receipt; andProviding status updates on search warrant compliance to a requesting Colorado law enforcement agency.     An operator must comply with a search warrant within 72 hours after receiving the search warrant if certain conditions apply. A court may reasonably extend this time if the court makes a written finding that the operator or covered platform has shown good cause for the extension and that an extension would not cause an adverse result. The failure of an operator or a covered platform to comply with the requirements of a court-ordered search warrant supports a finding of contempt of court.     The attorney general or a district attorney with jurisdiction may enforce the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

As defined in the 'Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act', a 'paid solicitor' is a person that, for monetary compensation, performs a service in which contributions are solicited in Colorado for a charitable purpose or for the benefit of a charitable organization.     The act excludes from the definition of 'paid solicitor' an auctioneer who provides auctioneer services to a charitable organization. As a result, the auctioneer is exempted from the requirements of the 'Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act' for paid solicitors. The exemption applies regardless of whether the auctioneer is contracted or paid to provide their auctioneer services to the charitable organization or is volunteering their auctioneer services to the charitable organization without compensation. However, for the exemption to apply, an auctioneer who provides auctioneer services to a charitable organization may not directly receive or handle contributions or charitable funding on behalf of the charitable organization for which the auctioneer is contracted or volunteering.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summaryThis bill officially designates a specific section of Arapahoe Road in Boulder County, Colorado, as the "Road of Remembrance" to honor local World War I veterans. It authorizes the Colorado Department of Transportation to accept donations for placing commemorative signs along the road and to explore agreements with Boulder County for maintaining those signs. The legislation also acknowledges the historical significance of the nearby stone pillars, known as the Gateway, which were originally built in 1928 to mark the entrance to a planned memorial roadway that was never fully completed.

The act repeals the veterinary pharmaceutical advisory committee as recommended in the department of regulatory agencies' 2025 sunset report.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals the existing requirement that a paper certificate of title be used for specific vehicle transactions, thereby allowing the use of a certificate of title in an electronic format in all circumstances. Any party to a vehicle transaction may request either a paper or electronic version of a certificate of title.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act makes multiple changes to procedural requirements for the administration of property tax in 2 broad categories: Deadlines and requirements for transmitting information.      Modifications to deadlines. The act modifies property tax-related deadlines as follows:Aligns the regular and late application dates for the qualified-senior primary residence real property classification and the property tax exemption for qualifying veterans with disabilities and their spouses with those for the property tax exemption for qualifying seniors and their spouses. The regular application deadline is July 15, and late applications may be accepted until August 15.Increases from $10,000 to $20,000 the current threshold for a board of county commissioners (board) to recommend, or a county assessor with the approval of a board to settle, an abatement or refund of taxes. The threshold for the board being required to submit recommended abatement applications to the property tax administrator (administrator) for review is similarly increased from $10,000 to $20,000. The board is not required to submit an application to the administrator in the case of an abatement or refund caused by a valuation change made to ensure matching values within the same reassessment cycle.Clarifies the timeline for a petitioner to appeal a decision of the board of county equalization to the board of assessment appeals or submit the case to arbitration;Changes the real property protest deadline from June 8 to June 1;Changes the deadline from June 15 to July 15 for a county assessor to send a notice of valuation of personal property and changes the personal property protest deadline from June 30 to July 31 for a county that uses alternate protest and appeal procedures (alternate procedures) to determine objections and protests for taxable property;Clarifies that a county's use of alternate procedures may apply to real or personal property, or both; andAligns the protest deadline for personal property with the date that county assessors must conclude their hearings on such protests so that both the protest and hearing conclusion dates for personal property are June 30, or, for a county that uses alternate procedures, July 31.      Modifications to requirements for transmitting information. The act modifies requirements for transmitting property tax information as follows:Clarifies that a county assessor or the board may transmit a required abstract of assessment, certification of taxes levied, or application for a recommended abatement or refund in excess of $20,000 to the administrator in a paper or electronic format;Reduces the number of copies of an application for a recommended abatement or refund in excess of $20,000 that the board must send to the administrator for review to one;Repeals the requirement that the administrator conduct a public hearing on proposed changes to property tax manuals, appraisal procedures, instructions, and guidelines, which are still required to be reviewed by the advisory committee to the administrator;Requires the administrator to prepare and publish standardized forms, including a letter of authorization, for all levels of property tax appeals;Reduces the number of copies of a notice of determination that an assessor must send to a taxpayer who has objected to the valuation of the taxpayer's property to one; andReduces the number of copies of an abstract of assessment that needs to be prepared to one.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill enacts the softbound volumes of the Colorado Revised Statutes 2025, the subsequent changes approved by the voters at the statewide election on November 4, 2025, and the 2025 Colorado First Extraordinary Session Supplement as the positive and statutory law of the state of Colorado and establishes the effective date of said publication.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, a person may be arrested and detained for level 1 drug misdemeanor possession.     The act requires that when a colorimetric field drug test was used to test for the presence of a controlled substance and a person is solely suspected of a level 1 drug misdemeanor for possession or solely suspected of a municipal drug possession charge, a peace officer shall not arrest the person and instead shall issue a summons.     The act also requires that when a colorimetric field drug test was used, before accepting a plea from a person charged with a drug possession for level 4 drug felony possession and lower, the trial court is required to issue an advisement with specified language, including language stating that colorimetric field drug tests have known error rates and that the defendant has the right to enter a not guilty plea and to request drug testing from an accredited forensic laboratory.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)