The last week of the Colorado General Assembly’s 2026 session produced 17 Good bills — a mix of taxpayer protections, deregulatory cleanup measures, property rights, and one significant consumer finance reform that drew near-unanimous bipartisan support.
SB26-134, restricting payment card network fees on the sales tax and tip portions of transactions, cleared the Senate 34-1 and passed the House Finance Committee. Merchants collect sales tax on behalf of the state and pass it through entirely — they keep none of it. Card networks have collected interchange fees on that pass-through amount anyway, a practice the bill targets directly. No other bill this session drew broader agreement across party lines in the Senate chamber.
SB26-177, allowing a property owner to petition a court for limited access to an adjoining property for repairs, passed both chambers and was transmitted to the governor. The bill addresses a gap in Colorado property law: a homeowner whose structure sits near a property line has no statutory mechanism to access a neighbor’s land to perform otherwise-impossible maintenance. The bill requires court approval and sets conditions on access, keeping the remedy narrow.
SB26-012, expanding compensable losses under the Colorado Crime Victim Compensation Act for enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, cleared both chambers. Tribal members in Colorado have faced a documented gap in access to the state victim compensation fund due to jurisdictional complexities. The bill resolves that gap without creating a new program — it modifies eligibility within an existing framework.
HB26-1084, requiring ballot measure fiscal impact statements to describe a measure’s likely effect on the main areas of state expenditure, cleared both chambers after a conference committee. Voters deciding on initiated statewide measures currently receive abstract fiscal information with limited practical context. The bill gives voters clearer information about where the money goes.
HB26-1016, continuing the Open Education Resources Program, passed the House 43-22 and advanced through the Senate. The program supports development of openly licensed educational materials for public schools, reducing textbook costs. HB26-1014, extending the Colorado Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit through 2034, passed 59-6. The credit rewards companies for creating jobs in the state rather than mandating hiring — a result-based mechanism rather than a mandate.
HB26-1230, extending the conservation easement tax credit through income tax year 2036, passed 58-7 with broad bipartisan support including nearly all Republicans and a majority of Democrats. The credit incentivizes voluntary preservation of agricultural and open lands without government acquisition.
HB26-1059, consolidating cost recovery cash funds in the Department of Revenue, passed 61-4. The bill reduces administrative overhead by merging funds that collect charges for the same purpose into a single account. HB26-1423, requiring the Department of Public Safety to include community corrections funding in its annual budget request, passed 65-0. Budget transparency measures with unanimous support reflect no policy disagreement.
SB26-003, expanding the Battery Stewardship Act to cover end-of-life management of electric vehicle batteries, passed the Senate 27-7. The bill extends an existing producer-responsibility framework rather than creating new government-run disposal infrastructure. SB26-175, adjusting the workers’ compensation experience modification factor calculation, passed both chambers. The bill corrects a formula that penalizes employers for claims outside their control.
HB26-1019, requiring preventive coverage for kidney function screening, passed the House 65-0. HB26-1109, commissioning a study on consumer protections for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community regarding sign language interpretation, passed 53-11.
HB26-1053, HB26-1088, and HB26-1258 all addressed administrative cleanup — motor vehicle regulation administration, business entity filing procedures with the secretary of state, and death-related practices statutes, respectively. All passed with strong bipartisan margins.
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