Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, please contact Colorado Crisis Services by calling 1-844-493-8255 or texting “TALK” to 38255 for free, confidential, and immediate support.
Colorado’s fiscal year starts on July 1, making it a natural starting point for some of the laws approved by the legislature each year.
Among the more notable of this year’s crop are:
No guns in public buildings
Backers of this law started out with ambitious plans to ban the carrying of firearms in a wide variety of public and private venues, from arenas to zoos. The final version was significantly scaled back. It bans the carrying of guns in much of the state capitol and local government buildings, courthouses, and at polling places and in schools. The bill does have an opt-out provision for cities and counties, and already, Douglas and Montezuma counties and the town of Monument have passed ordinances allowing people to carry guns in their public buildings. Westminster is considering a similar policy.
Election changes: disclose deep fakes and outlaw fake electors
Going into the November election, political organizations in Colorado will be required to put prominent disclaimers on any AI-generated images, videos or audio in their campaign materials. Campaigns caught skirting this rule will be subject to fines. The language of the bill warns that “the revolutionary innovations in generative artificial intelligence systems” pose a threat to free and fair elections in the state.
A separate election law makes it a crime to organize or participate in a slate of electors backing the losing presidential candidate in Colorado. The idea is to criminalize the kinds of ‘fake electors’ the Trump campaign is accused of helping set up in battleground states after the 2020 election. The new law allows people to be prosecuted for forgery or perjury, and subject to a maximum fine of $10,000. Anyone convicted of participating in a false electors scheme will also be barred from holding office in Colorado in the future.
New protections for victims and witnesses in sexual assault cases
Colorado is expanding its rape shield law to make it harder for defense attorneys to introduce evidence about an alleged victim or witness’s sexual history. Things like what the accuser was wearing, or their hairstyle, can not be used to argue they consented to a sexual encounter. The law also raises the bar for when the defense can introduce evidence that the victim made false sexual assault claims in the past. The law passed the legislature with bipartisan support.
Bias-motivated crimes law expanded to explicitly include trans people
Before this change, Colorado’s hate crimes law included trans people under its protections for sexual orientation. But lawmakers this year made trans identity a category of its own, expanding the list of protected groups so that it now covers a person’s actual or perceived “race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.” In their research for the new law, state analysts found that 157 people were convicted of bias-motivated crimes against all protected classes of people from 2020 to 2023.
Ban the retail sale of a chemical used in suicides
The state is outlawing direct-to-the-public sales of a food additive that has been used by more than two dozen people in Colorado to complete suicide. This makes Colorado the third state to ban the concentrated form of the chemical, following the lead of California and New York. Businesses with a “verified need” can still buy the substance, which is used in curing meats and as a disinfectant, though all packaging must carry a warning label about its deadly risks and information about the antidote.
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, please contact Colorado Crisis Services by calling 1-844-493-8255 or texting “TALK” to 38255 for free, confidential, and immediate support.
Residential occupancy limits ban
Local governments can no longer limit the number of unrelated people who can share a house or apartment, except when it’s a matter of public health or safety. Opponents of these so-called ‘roommate caps’ in places like Boulder and Fort Collins argued the policies drive up housing costs by making it harder for people to share the cost of rent.
However, for residents of crowded college towns, occupancy limits were seen as a way to keep their neighborhoods from turning into de facto student housing. The new law is part of Gov. Jared Polis’ ongoing effort to chip away at policies he sees as making housing less attainable.
New Disability Opportunity Office
The goal of the new office is to ensure that people living with disabilities have full inclusion in society. Under its new mandate, the office will conduct research, oversee coordination and make recommendations for policy changes. The creation of the office, which is housed within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, was a top legislative priority for the disability rights community.
Railroad safety requirements
Colorado lawmakers concerned by the train crash and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, set out this past session to make Colorado's railroads safer. But the final law is a significant step back from what lawmakers originally had in mind. As introduced, the bill would have regulated the length of trains, imposed new insurance requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, and limited how long train cars can block highway crossings.
But railroad giants pushed back hard and legislators toned down the bill. The final version requires railroads to provide more safety data to the state. It also creates a new Colorado Office of Railroad Safety. Lawmakers brought the bill following the train crash and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.
