The Colorado General Assembly adjourned May 14 after passing 191 bills that now await Governor Jared Polis’s signature or veto. The session’s defining legislation includes a repeal of the state’s 83-year-old Labor Peace Act, a new Front Range passenger rail district, a Medicaid expansion, major election law changes, and five separate bills targeting rideshare companies. It also produced a civil asset forfeiture overhaul, the largest cottage foods deregulation in state history, and a package of criminal justice reforms covering parole, earned time, and post-conviction relief.
The High Country Advocate classifies 87 of the 191 bills as Bad — legislation that expands government, imposes new mandates, or restricts individual rights — and 67 as Good. Thirty-seven are neutral administrative measures or routine sunset continuations.
BAD: Labor, Energy, and Transportation Lead Government Expansion
The Labor Peace Act repeal, HB26-1005, is the session’s most consequential labor bill. Colorado’s 1943 law required 75 percent of all eligible employees — not just those casting ballots — to vote in favor before a union shop could force membership. That threshold is gone. Workers in unionized workplaces can now be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
The Front Range Passenger Rail District, SB26-172, creates a new government authority with taxing and bonding power to build and operate passenger rail along the Front Range. The Cover All Coloradans expansion, HB26-1411, grows the state’s Medicaid program. The Medicaid stack also includes HB26-1235 on expanded coverage, HB26-1328 on nonemergency transportation, HB26-1063 on behavioral health programs, and SB26-187, which creates a new state commission to oversee Medicaid.
Energy mandates fill a thick section of the Bad pile. SB26-002 expands utility mandates and community solar programs. SB26-003 creates a state-mandated EV battery recycling program. HB26-1225 imposes new requirements on utilities for integrating distributed energy. HB26-1226 adds emissions mandates on power generators. SB26-182 extends clean energy mandates to municipal utilities.
Four rideshare bills — HB26-1043, HB26-1273, HB26-1424, and HB26-1430 — layer separate mandates and price controls on transportation network companies. HB26-1273 caps the share of fare revenue rideshare companies retain, a state price control on private pricing. The session also passed SB26-189, which imposes government mandates on private companies’ use of algorithms and AI in employment decisions.
Election law changes in HB26-1113 expand government administration of elections. Two immigration bills — SB26-005 and HB26-1276 — create a private right of action against law enforcement for immigration enforcement activity and restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The education expansion includes a new school finance formula, SB26-023; increased K-12 appropriations, SB26-135; a new cradle-to-career grant program, SB26-080; new higher education designations and compliance requirements, HB26-1006; and expanded school accountability programs, SB26-103.
GOOD: Civil Asset Forfeiture, Cottage Foods, Criminal Justice Reform
HB26-1250 reforms civil asset forfeiture procedures, tightening the process government must follow before seizing property. HB26-1033 expands the Colorado Cottage Foods Act, allowing more Coloradans to produce and sell food from their homes. SB26-173 exempts barre and Pilates instructors from occupational licensing.
Criminal justice reforms are the Good pile’s largest cluster. SB26-115 expands post-conviction relief. SB26-036 addresses prison population management and due process. SB26-159 reforms the earned time formula, reducing time served that results from calculation errors. SB26-015 strengthens criminal penalties for child sex trafficking. HB26-1250 reforms civil asset forfeiture. HB26-1283 prohibits confiscation of identity documents.
Tax relief includes property tax modifications under SB26-116, extensions of the conservation easement tax credit under HB26-1230 and the job growth incentive credit under HB26-1014, and a TABOR revenue classification strengthening under SB26-042. HB26-1419 ensures excess state revenues are returned to taxpayers.
SB26-012 expands eligibility for the Colorado Crime Victim Compensation Act to enrolled members of federally recognized tribes previously excluded from the program. SB26-006 requires insurers to cover non-opioid pain treatment at parity with opioids.
The full classified list of all 191 bills on Polis’s desk appears in a companion article. Polis has 30 days from adjournment to act on each bill. Bills he neither signs nor vetoes become law without his signature.
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