Sen. Julie Gonzales

Maddy summaryThis procedural resolution designates February 4 of each year as "Missing Persons Day" in Colorado. It formally recognizes the issue of missing persons through state-wide awareness, encouraging public support for families and law enforcement efforts without creating new legal requirements or funding. The resolution aligns with Colorado's existing AMBER Alert and Missing Indigenous Person Alert programs.

Maddy summarySenate Resolution 25-004 recognizes February 1, 2025, as World Hijab Day in Colorado. The resolution highlights the hijab's significance in Islamic tradition as a symbol of dignity and modesty, and acknowledges World Hijab Day's purpose of promoting religious tolerance and cultural understanding through public education. It does not create new laws or requirements but serves as a formal state acknowledgment of this annual observance. The resolution was unanimously passed by the Colorado Senate on January 31, 2025, without amendments.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates Monday, January 27, 2025, as "Colorado 4-H Day" to recognize the Colorado 4-H Youth Development program. It is a symbolic resolution honoring 4-H's work with youth aged 5-19, including its role in community engagement, leadership development, and STEM education through Colorado State University Extension. The resolution has no legal effect or new requirements - it simply encourages public acknowledgment of the program. (HJR 25-1006, passed by both chambers on January 27-30, 2025)

Maddy summaryThis bill (HJR 25-1007) is a commemorative resolution designating a specific segment of Interstate 25 in Colorado - southbound from mile marker 199.4 and northbound from mile marker 194.8 - as the "Firefighters Memorial Hwy in Memory of Chief Troy Jackson." It honors Troy Jackson, a 30-year firefighter with South Metro Fire Rescue who developed cancer prevention programs for first responders before passing in 2019. The resolution allows the Colorado Department of Transportation to accept donations for signage and coordinate with Arapahoe and Douglas counties for sign maintenance. As a naming resolution, it has no policy or funding changes beyond this memorial designation.

Maddy summarySJR 25-004 designates January 22 of each year as "Reproductive Rights and Justice Day" in Colorado. This symbolic resolution does not create new laws or policies but commemorates the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision (January 22, 1973) and acknowledges Colorado's legislative actions to protect reproductive rights, including the Reproductive Health Equity Act and the Safe Access to Protected Health Care Package. The designation serves as a formal observance without imposing legal obligations or altering existing rights.

Maddy summaryHJR 25-1005 is a ceremonial resolution encouraging Colorado communities to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20, 2025 - the 41st anniversary of the state holiday. It does not create new laws or alter existing policies but urges cities, schools, counties, and local governments to hold commemorative events. The resolution honors Dr. King’s legacy, noting Colorado’s early adoption of the holiday in 1985 and its ongoing observance through events like the annual Marade. This is a non-binding call for community engagement, not a substantive legislative change.

To improve the clarity and certainty of the statutes, the bill amends, repeals, and reconstructs various statutory provisions of law that are obsolete, imperfect, or inoperative. The specific reasons for each amendment or repeal are set forth in the appendix to the bill. The amendments made by the bill are not intended to change the meaning or intent of the statutes, as amended. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act amends the existing definition of "immature plant" to mean a nonflowering marijuana plant that is no taller than 15, rather than 8, inches; no wider than15, rather than 8, inches; and produced from a cutting, clipping, or seedling. Current law requires beneficial owners and people who have access to the limited access areas of a medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business to have identification cards. The act repeals this requirement for beneficial owners. The act requires the state licensing authority to promulgate rules that do not require a licensee to use radio frequency identification technology to track regulated marijuana. Current law requires the marijuana enforcement division in the department of revenue (division) to promulgate rules requiring testing of marijuana and marijuana products for contaminants or substances that are harmful to health and allows a licensee to remediate marijuana or marijuana products that fail a test. The act clarifies that if a licensee is able to remediate or decontaminate a product and the product passes retesting, the licensee need not provide an additional label that would otherwise not be required for a product that passed initial testing. Current law requires every marijuana business to post, at all times and in a prominent place, a warning about using marijuana while pregnant or breastfeeding. The act requires the warning to be posted at each point of sale. Current law allows a person who qualifies as a social equity licensee to apply for any regulated marijuana business license or permit, including an accelerator store, accelerator cultivator, or accelerator manufacturer license. The act establishes new criteria under which a natural person may qualify as a social equity licensee and excludes certain persons from qualifying as a social equity licensee. The act extends initial license and license renewal periods from one year to 2 years. Local authorities may decide what licenses they will issue for one year or 2 years. The act requires the state licensing authority to promulgate rules authorizing multiple regulated marijuana business licensees with identical controlling beneficial owners to submit a single initial or renewal application. The act requires a medical marijuana store, when completing a sale of medical marijuana concentrate, to physically attach to the receipt, container, or packaging the tangible educational resource created by the state licensing authority regarding the use of medical marijuana concentrate. Current law allows the transfer of immature plants, seeds, and genetic material between a medical or retail cultivation facility and certain people, including people approved by rule. The act allows such a transfer from or to a medical or retail marijuana cultivation facility from or to a person permitted by another jurisdiction to possess or cultivate marijuana. The medical or retail cultivation facility must establish a process to confirm that the purchaser is 21 years of age or older using an age verification process. The cultivation facility may accept online payments for the transfer. A cultivation facility may accept online payment for genetic material but is prohibited from transferring genetic material to consumers that are on the licensed premises. The state licensing authority may promulgate rules to implement the provision, but limits are placed on the rules that the state licensing authority may adopt. The act prohibits a licensed retail marijuana store from selling food in excess of 20% of the store's annual gross revenues. Current law sets the amount of the application fee for a retail marijuana business at $5,000. The act allows the state licensing authority to set the initial application fee in an amount not to exceed $5,000. The state licensing authority must set the amount of the application fee to offset the direct and indirect costs of regulating retail marijuana businesses. Current law requires that excise tax be levied on the first transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana. The act specifies that the transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana exclusively for microbial control is not the first transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana for taxation purposes. Current law requires a taxpayer to be engaged in a business that is legal under both state and federal law in order to claim an enterprise zone tax credit. The act removes this restriction for a marijuana business that is licensed under state law. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under existing law, the department of corrections may, for an inmate who was sentenced for a nonviolent felony offense, deduct earned time from the inmate's sentence for each accredited degree or other credential awarded by an institution of higher education to the inmate while the inmate is incarcerated or on parole (degree or credential earned time). The act exempts degree or credential earned time from the statutory limit on earned time. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The "Colorado Road and Community Safety Act" authorizes the issuance of a driver's license or identification card to an individual who is not lawfully present in the United States if the individual meets certain requirements. The act changes these requirements by: Repealing the requirement that the applicant have filed a Colorado resident income tax return; Repealing the requirement that the applicant demonstrate residency in the state for the immediately preceding 2 years; Repealing the requirement that the applicant provide a documented social security number or individual taxpayer identification number; and Allowing an applicant to present a passport, consular identification card, or military identification document from the applicant's country of origin that is unexpired or expired less than 10 years before the date of the applicant's application for a driver's license or identification document. The act authorizes the use of exceptions processing, which is a hearing to determine whether an applicant possesses evidence sufficient to prove the applicant qualifies for an identification document, for identification document applicants who are not lawfully present in the United States. The department will promulgate rules concerning exceptions processing and the use of documents issued by an agent or agency of the United States government to prove a person qualifies for a Colorado identification document. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $122,855 to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund, $14,355 of which is reappropriated to the governor's office for use by the office of information technology. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE March 31, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)