2025 Legislative Wrap Up
The 2025 legislative session adjourned on May 7 with the General Assembly having considered over 650 bills. The LWVCO Legislative Action Committee’s (LAC) citizen lobbyists followed 125 bills in total. Of those, we supported 87 bills, with 79% percent passed and signed by the Governor. Conversely, LWVCO opposed 17 bills; 14 of those failed and one was vetoed by the Governor. LWVCO also worked to amend a few bills including SB 077 – Modifications to the Colorado Open Records Act, HB 1265 Modification of County Commissioner Elections, HB 1312 – Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals, HB 1315 – Vacancies in the General Assembly, and HB 1319 – County Commissioner Vacancies.
In the case of HB 1315 and HB 1319, LAC lobbyists had extensive communication with the bill sponsors regarding our desired amendments and provided committee testimony illustrating our arguments. In the end, the amendments were not incorporated but we believe we raised important issues that may need to be addressed in the future. In the case of SB 077, the amendments offered by LAC lobbyists and other stakeholder groups were not accepted. While the bill was ultimately passed by the General Assembly, the Governor shared LWVCO’s concerns about the potential for this bill to reduce transparency and the public’s access to information and vetoed the bill. The General Assembly considered overriding the veto, LWVCO helped lobby against overriding, and the veto held.
Finally, LWVCO kept in close communication with the stakeholder community in regard to the amendments made to HB 1312. The bill was successfully amended and, as a result, LAC voted to adopt a strongly support stance on this bill, which was passed by the General Assembly at the end of the session.