Colorado Bills

signed · Colorado · House Mar 31, 2025

HB 25-1091: Designation of State Mushroom

The act designates the Agaricus julius mushroom, commonly known as the Emperor mushroom, as the state mushroom of the state of Colorado. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Jacque Phillips (D) Kyle Mullica (D) · 19 co-sponsors

signed · Colorado · House Mar 31, 2025

HB 25-1016: Occupational Therapist Prescribe Medical Equipment

The act authorizes an occupational therapist to directly recommend or prescribe durable medical equipment to a patient without requesting the prescription from a licensed physician and requires that the occupational therapist consult with the patient concerning payment options. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Topics ✓ Healthcare

signed · Colorado · House Mar 31, 2025

HB 25-1009: Vegetative Fuel Mitigation

The act allows a fire protection district or a metropolitan district that provides fire protection services (district) to create a program to mitigate the presence of dead or dry plant material that can burn and contribute to a fire on privately owned property within a district (vegetative fuel program). A district that creates a vegetative fuel program may require an owner or occupier with an interest in private real property that contains vegetative fuel within the district to remove the vegetative fuel and assess a fine per incident of noncompliance. An incident covers all vegetative fuel on a property. A district may not require an owner or occupier of private real property to remove vegetative fuel on private real property that is classified as agricultural land by the tax assessor, owned by a nonprofit entity and leased for agricultural purposes, owned or occupied by a public utility with a vegetation management or wildfire mitigation plan to address vegetative fuel sources, or adjacent to a ditch that conveys decreed water rights or within the easement where the ditch is located. In order to assess a fine, for each incident, the district must provide written notice by certified mail of the requirement to remove vegetative fuel and allow at least 14 days for the owner or occupier to comply. An owner or occupier that does not remove the vegetative fuel as provided in the first notice may be subject to a second notice requiring the removal of vegetative fuel. An owner or occupier has at least 14 days to comply with the second notice. An owner or occupier that does not comply within at least 14 days after the second notice may receive a third notice providing for a fine approximately equal to the cost of removing the vegetative fuel. The fine may not exceed $200 per property per incident, and an owner or occupier is not subject to more than one fine for the same incident. The sum of all fines assessed against a single property may not exceed $1,200. An owner or occupier receiving a third notice may avoid a fine by removing the vegetative fuel within 14 days of the date of the third notice. A district may not access any privately owned real property without the written permission of the owner or occupier of the property. An owner or occupier is not liable to a district for damages to district personnel or equipment that occurs on the property while district personnel or equipment are present on the property to carry out a vegetative fuel program. A district may not use a drone to discover vegetative fuel on a property or to administer or enforce a vegetative fuel program created pursuant to the act. The money that a district collects from a fine must be used by the district only to remove vegetative fuel on private real property within the district's jurisdiction. A district's board may waive the fine in all or in part, in its discretion if it determines that the fine was not assessed pursuant to law, an owner or occupier is financially unable to pay the fine, the vegetative fuel has been removed, or a waiver is appropriate under the circumstances and must prioritize use of the money to assist a low-income owner or occupier, a senior owner or occupier, or an owner or occupier with a disability in removing vegetative fuel from the owner or occupier's property. A district's board may also waive a fine for delays due to weather or upon a petition for a time extension from an owner or occupier if they have undertaken good faith efforts to remove the vegetative fuel. Good faith efforts include documentation from an arborist or licensed professional landscape architect that states when the arborist or landscape architect will be able to mitigate vegetative fuel on the property and the cost of mitigation. A district's board shall grant a property owner or occupier a time extension to mitigate or pay a fine for: No longer than 3 months if the cost to mitigate exceeds $1,000 and is less than $2,500; No longer than 6 months if the cost to mitigate equals or exceeds $2,500 and is less than $5,000; No longer than 9 months if the cost to mitigate equals or exceeds $5,000 and is less than $10,000; or No longer than one year if the cost to mitigate equals or exceeds $10,000. A district's board shall adopt rules and policies after a public hearing, public notice and public comment to implement the act and shall post the adopted rules and policies to the district's website, on social media operated by the district, and in a local newspaper of general circulation. A vegetative fuel program may only be effective 30 days or more after posting of the adopted rules and policies on the district's website. As part of the rules and policies, a district shall designate an individual to oversee and manage the district's vegetative fuel program. A district may certify to the county treasurer a delinquent charge made or levied against a property, and the treasurer may collect and pay over the charge in the same manner that property taxes are collected and paid. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

signed · Colorado · House Mar 31, 2025

HB 25-1040: Adding Nuclear Energy as a Clean Energy Resource

The statutory definition of "clean energy" determines which energy projects are eligible for clean energy project financing at the county and city and county level. The statutory definition of "clean energy resource" determines which energy resources may be used by a qualifying retail utility to meet the 2050 clean energy target. The act updates the 2 statutory definitions to include nuclear energy; except that, for property valuations made for tax purposes, the act exempts from the definition of "clean energy resource" nuclear energy. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Topics ✓ Energy ✓ Environment

signed · Colorado · House Mar 28, 2025

HB 25-1041: Student Athlete Name Image or Likeness

Under current law, there are requirements of an athletic association, an institution of higher education, and a student athlete regarding a student athlete's compensation for their name, image, or likeness. The act extends these requirements to an individual who is eligible to engage in an intercollegiate sport. The act allows an institution of higher education or athletic association to compensate a student athlete for the use of the student athlete's name, image, or likeness. Under current law, a student athlete is prohibited from entering into a contract if it conflicts with a team contract. The act repeals this prohibition and related provisions. The act requires each institution of higher education to submit to the department of higher education a copy of its annual report to the organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics, including information concerning gender- and sport-based spending. Under the "Colorado Open Records Act", the act exempts from the public right of inspection personally identifiable information that is contained within an agreement or contract concerning a student athlete's or prospective student athlete's name, image, or likeness, or any communication or material related to an agreement or a contract concerning a student athlete's or prospective student athlete's name, image, or likeness. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

signed · Colorado · House Mar 28, 2025

HB 25-1077: Backflow Prevention Devices Requirements

Backflow is the reverse flow of water, fluid, or gas caused by back pressure or back siphonage. Under current law, individuals who are engaged in the business of installing, removing, inspecting, testing, or repairing backflow prevention devices are subject to the licensure requirements for plumbers, except when the individuals are installing or testing a stand-alone fire suppression sprinkler system. The act exempts individuals engaged in the business of inspecting, testing, or repairing backflow prevention devices from licensure requirements but retains the licensure requirements for individuals engaged in the installation or removal of the devices; except that individuals who install or replace a backflow prevention device on a stand-alone fire suppression system remain exempted from the licensure requirements. The act requires that, on and after July 1, 2025, a licensed plumber who installs, tests, inspects, repairs, or reinstalls a backflow prevention device and a certified cross-connection control technician or a licensed plumber with a cross-connection control technician certification who tests or repairs a backflow prevention device must affix a tag on the backflow prevention device that contains certain information about the licensed plumber, the certified cross-connection control technician, or the licensed plumber with a cross-connection control technician certification, as applicable, and the service that was provided. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

signed · Colorado · Senate Mar 28, 2025

SB 25-039: Agricultural Buildings Exempt from Energy Use Requirements

Under current law, owners of certain large buildings (covered buildings) are required to annually collect and report each covered building's energy use to the Colorado energy office. The act clarifies that agricultural buildings are not covered buildings, and therefore, owners of agricultural buildings are exempt from the energy use collecting and reporting requirements. The act defines an agricultural building as a building or structure used to house agricultural implements, hay, unprocessed grain, poultry, livestock, or other agricultural products or inputs primarily for the purpose of maintaining or operating an agricultural process. Agricultural implements include certain agricultural equipment and do not include implements that are primarily for rent or sale. The act permits an owner of an agricultural building to submit for an affirmative exemption from any requirement to report benchmarking data and for an exemption to remain valid until there is a change in ownership or a change that renders the building no longer an agricultural building. For the duration of an exemption, the owner of an agricultural building is required to certify, upon request, the exemption status of an exempt building. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Topics ✗ Environment

signed · Colorado · Senate Mar 26, 2025

SB 25-016: Updating Escrow Disbursement Practices

The act modifies the types of funds that are available for immediate withdrawal as a matter of right in real estate transactions by: Limiting wire transfer funds to only those funds that are wired through a funds-transfer system operated by the federal reserve or the Clearing House Payments Company; and Adding a real-time or an instant payment made through a funds-transfer service operated by the federal reserve or the Clearing House Payments Company's real-time payments system.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

signed · Colorado · Senate Mar 26, 2025

SB 25-028: Public Employees' Retirement Association Risk-Reduction Measures

The public employees' retirement association (PERA) board (board) conducts or causes to be conducted an actuarial experience study of PERA and a periodic actuarial audit of PERA. Both the actuarial experience study and the periodic actuarial audit, neither of which were referenced in law prior to passage of the act, are conducted approximately once every 5 years, but the timing of the actuarial experience study and the periodic actuarial audit is not aligned. The act requires the board to conduct or cause to be conducted the actuarial experience study every 4 years, beginning with the actuarial experience study that the board conducted in the 2024 calendar year, rather than every 5 years. In addition, the act requires the board to conduct or cause to be conducted the periodic actuarial audit of PERA in the 2026 calendar year and every 4 years thereafter , rather than every 5 years, and to ensure that each periodic actuarial audit takes into consideration the results and findings of the most recent actuarial experience study that was conducted or caused to be conducted by the board. For several years, the pension review commission has been required to commission an independent review of the economic and investment assumptions used to model PERA's financial situation. The act requires the commission to commission the independent review every 4 years, rather than every 3 years, within 3 months of the release of the periodic actuarial audit of PERA conducted or caused to be conducted by the board. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

signed · Colorado · House Mar 26, 2025

HB 25-1025: Stockpile of Essential Materials Distribution

The state maintains a stockpile of essential materials (stockpile), including personal protective equipment, that the division of homeland security and emergency management (division), in consultation with the department of public health and environment, is authorized to distribute in response to a declared disaster emergency to any state agency, school, local public health agency, hospital, primary care provider, other health-care provider, tribal government with jurisdiction in Colorado, or other entity or individual (eligible recipient) that the director of the division (director) determines is in need as a result of a declared disaster emergency. The act broadens the authority of the director over the stockpile so that the director or the director's designee may distribute essential materials from the stockpile: After the governor has declared a disaster emergency; When the director or the director's designee determines that there are other circumstances in which there is a need for or benefit to distribution; or When the director or the director's designee determines that their distribution will enhance the ability of eligible recipients and their community partners to respond to future disaster emergencies or other circumstances in a way that would help protect public health or safety, including the distribution of essential materials for the purposes of ensuring that they can be used in normal, nonemergency times before their useful life ends. While included under current law as "any other entity", the act also explicitly adds "nonprofit organizations" and "faith-based organizations" to the statutory list of eligible recipients. The act also requires the department of public safety to annually include, as part of its presentation during its "SMART Act" hearing, specified information concerning the acquisition of essential materials for and distribution of essential materials from the stockpile. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Topics ✓ Healthcare

signed · Colorado · House Mar 26, 2025

HB 25-1081: Reporting Statistics on Restitution

Beginning with the judicial department's 2026 "SMART Act" hearing, the act requires the state court administrator to report statistics concerning restitution payments received and owed during the previous 5 state fiscal years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

signed · Colorado · House Mar 26, 2025

HB 25-1084: Remove Gendered Language from Title 35

The act substitutes gender-neutral language for gendered language in title 35, a title concerning agriculture, of the Colorado Revised Statutes. The act also updates archaic language in title 35. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Bill results