SB 85: Military Protection Orders - Colorado

Final Act → Signed Act · 4 edits · May 6, 2026

MODERATE

This bill formalizes the text of Senate Bill 26-085, which establishes a legal framework for 'Military Protection Orders' to protect active-duty service members from domestic violence. The changes primarily involve removing draft notes and signatures, while adding the bill's title, sponsors, and the specific statutory language defining these orders and the duties of law enforcement and courts.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on domestic violence protection for military personnel, but it now includes explicit definitions for 'Armed Forces' (adding the Space Force) and 'National Guard' to clarify who is covered.

DEFINITION

Added the Space Force to the official definition of 'Armed Forces' to ensure military personnel in this branch are covered by the protection order provisions.

REQUIREMENT

Established a new requirement for peace officers to search a national database for military protection orders when responding to domestic violence incidents and to notify the military agency if an order is found.

Mandated that courts must consider the existence of a military protection order as relevant evidence when deciding whether to issue a temporary civil protection order.

TECHNICAL

Removed draft annotations, signature lines, and internal notes indicating the bill was prepared for signing, converting the text into a final enacted version.

Rerevised → Final Act · 3 edits · Apr 24, 2026

MINOR

This bill establishes a new legal framework to protect service members from domestic violence by defining 'Military Protection Orders' and requiring courts to consider them as relevant evidence when issuing temporary civil protection orders. It mandates that peace officers search a national database for these orders when responding to domestic violence incidents and notify the issuing military agency if one is found. The changes expand the scope of protection to include the Space Force and clarify the roles of commanding officers and protected persons.

Scope change

The bill's scope is expanded to include the Space Force within the definition of the Armed Forces and clarifies that courts must actively consider the existence of a military protection order as relevant evidence when determining whether to issue a temporary civil protection order in domestic violence cases.

DEFINITION

Added a new section (18-6-806) defining 'Military Protection Order' as an order issued by a commanding officer prohibiting a current service member from contacting, harassing, or threatening a protected person, and explicitly included the Space Force in the definition of 'Armed Forces'.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement for peace officers to search the National Crime Information Center database for military protection orders when responding to domestic violence incidents and to notify the military law enforcement agency that entered the order if one is found.

ENFORCEMENT

Modified the court's duty in domestic violence cases to consider the existence of a military protection order as relevant evidence when determining whether to issue a temporary civil protection order.

Revised → Rerevised · 1 edit · Apr 21, 2026

MINOR

The bill was re-revised to include additional House sponsors and a reading date, while removing a specific provision that required courts to consider military protection orders as relevant evidence when assessing risk in civil protection order cases. This change removes the explicit instruction for judges to weigh military orders alongside other evidence, potentially altering how courts evaluate threats in these cases.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding judicial decision-making in civil protection orders was narrowed by removing a mandatory consideration of military protection orders.

REQUIREMENT

Deletion of a clause requiring courts to consider the existence of a military protection order as relevant evidence when determining if there is a risk of harm.

Reengrossed → Revised · 3 edits · Apr 17, 2026

MINOR

This bill revision updates the legislative header to reflect amendments adopted during the second reading in the Second House. It also rewrites the instructions for peace officers responding to domestic violence, shifting the requirement from a mandatory search of a national database to an action taken only when the officer has 'reasonable suspicion' of a crime. Additionally, the bill renumbers a section of the Colorado Revised Statutes regarding temporary civil protection orders.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding peace officer duties is narrowed by adding a 'reasonable suspicion' threshold before requiring a database search, whereas the previous version mandated the search upon responding to any incident.

ENFORCEMENT

Peace officers are no longer required to automatically search the National Crime Information Center database upon responding to a domestic violence incident; they must first have reasonable suspicion that a crime occurred.

TECHNICAL

The legislative header was changed from 'REENGROSSED' to 'REVISED' to indicate the specific stage of the amendment process.

A section of the Colorado Revised Statutes regarding temporary civil protection orders was renumbered from line 1 to line 13.

Engrossed → Reengrossed · 4 edits · Feb 24, 2026

MODERATE

The bill was reengrossed to include additional Senate sponsors and updated the header to reflect that it includes all amendments adopted in the House of Introduction. A minor formatting adjustment was made to a section header regarding military protection orders, and the effective date section was removed from the summary text, likely due to a formatting error in the provided diff.

TECHNICAL

Added five new co-sponsors (Bridges, Bright, Coleman, Cutter, Danielson, Exum, Hinrichsen, Jodeh, Kipp, Kirkmeyer, Kolker, Lindstedt, Marchman, Mullica, Pelton R., Roberts, Rodriguez, Simpson, Snyder, Wallace, Weissman) to the Senate sponsorship list.

Updated the version header from 'ENGROSSED' to 'REENGROSSED' and adjusted the description of included amendments.

Adjusted line spacing and formatting around the section header discussing military protection orders as evidence.

Removed the full text of Section 3 regarding the effective date and referendum petition process from the summary portion of the document.

Introduced → Engrossed · 3 edits · Feb 23, 2026

MINOR

The bill text was updated to reflect its status as an 'Engrossed' version containing all amendments adopted during the second reading. A minor formatting change was made to the page headers, removing the 'SB' prefix from the bill number. Additionally, a specific reference to a 'Military Law Enforcement Agency' was corrected to simply 'Law Enforcement Agency' to ensure the notification requirement applies to the correct jurisdiction.

TECHNICAL

The bill status header was changed from 'Introduced' to 'Engrossed' to indicate it has passed the House of Introduction with amendments.

Page header formatting was updated to remove the 'SB' prefix from the bill number in the footer.

ENFORCEMENT

A clause requiring notification to a 'Military Law Enforcement Agency' was corrected to 'Law Enforcement Agency,' ensuring the protection order is entered into the national database by the appropriate local authority rather than a specific military entity.

Military Protection Orders

What changed between versions

How they voted

Actions timeline

Sponsors