Bill Sponsors: Sens. Amabile and Roberts; Reps. Ricks and Weinberg

Status: The bill was referred to the full House on March 25; second and third readings have yet to be scheduled. The Senate passed the bill on Feb. 20.

Details

The bill prohibits the state and local licensing authorities (licensing authorities) from issuing a new liquor-licensed drugstore license (license). Licensing authorities may continue to renew existing licenses. The bill prohibits an owner, part owner, shareholder, or person interested directly or indirectly in a liquor-licensed drugstore from having an interest in more than 8 licenses.

Bill Sponsors: Sens. Mullica and Pelton; and Reps. Lindsay and Soper

Status: The Senate Finance Committee passed the bill on Feb. 4 and sent it to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has not yet scheduled a hearing for the bill.

Details

Section 1 of the bill repeals certain provisions regarding the regulation of kratom that are included in Sections 2 and 3 with amendments. Section 2 prohibits a processor from manufacturing, packaging, labeling, or distributing in the state a food or dietary supplement that consists of kratom leaf or kratom leaf extract (kratom product) unless the manufacturer of the kratom product has obtained a registration of the kratom product (registration) from the executive director of the department of revenue (executive director).

A manufacturer of a kratom product that is manufactured, packaged, labeled, or distributed in the state without a registration is subject to a civil penalty.

Bill Sponsors: Sen. Winter; and Rep. Jackson

Status: The Senate passed the bill on March 19, and it is scheduled for a hearing in the House Health & Human Services Committee on April 2.

Details

This bill concerns opioid antagonists with a primary focus on the youth opioid epidemic, and, in connection therewith, clarifying requirements for school policies about possession and administration of opioid antagonists, requiring the state board of health to determine who a prescriber may prescribe or dispense an opioid antagonist to, and requiring the state board to consult with the Colorado youth advisory council on issues relating to the youth opioid epidemic.

The bill requires the State Board of Health to allow the Colorado Youth Advisory Council to present to the board twice a year on issues regarding the youth opioid epidemic and other health issues. The bill also requires the Prevention Services Division in CDPHE to consult the council when the board engages in its rule-making authority regarding opioid antagonists (Sections 1 & 2).

The bill also:

• Permits a school to maintain an opioid antagonist in an automated external defibrillator or defibrillator cabinet in the school or on a school bus (Section 3);
• Repeals the requirement that a school employee or agent must receive training prior to administering an opioid antagonist (Section 3); and
• Creates an exception that a school employee or agent may furnish an opioid antagonist to a student who has not received relevant training if the employee or agent believes that the student is in a position to assist an individual who is suffering from an opioid-related drug overdose event or who is at risk of experiencing an opioid-related drug overdose event (Section 3).

Current law provides a specific list of eligible entities that a prescriber may prescribe or dispense an opioid antagonist to. The bill eliminates the specific list and instead requires the state board of health to establish a list of eligible entities that a prescriber may prescribe or dispense an opioid antagonist to (Section 4, 5 & 6)

Allow that the Chief Medical Officer of CDPHE may grant a standing order allowing all eligible entities to distribute opioid antagonists (Section 4).

Requires the department of public health and environment to furnish a report detailing youth overdose prevention during “SMART Act” hearings (Section 4).

Amends general immunity for rending emergency assistance to include the eligible entities approved by the State Board of Health (Section 7).

Amends immunity for those who administer an opioid antagonist during an opioid-related drug overdose event to include the eligible entities approved by the State Board of Health (Section 8).

Prohibits the arrest of any of the eligible entities approved by the State Board of Health who is in unlawful possession of a controlled substances while responding to an opioid-related drug overdose event (Section 9).

Bill sponsors: Sens. Marchman and Michaelson Jenet; and Reps. Stewart and Johnson

Status: The bill was introduced on March 5 and assigned to the Senate Health & Human Services Committee for a hearing on April 3.

Details

This bill concerns the continuation of the rural alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment program, and, in connection therewith, implementing the recommendation contained in the 2024 sunset report by the department of regulatory agencies.

Sunset Process: The bill implements the recommendation of the Department of Regulatory Agencies in its 2024 sunset review and report on the rural alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment program by continuing the program until September 1, 2030.

Bill sponsors: Sens. Lundeen and Rodriguez; and Reps. McCluskie and Pugliese

Status: The bill was introduced on March 5 and passed by the Senate on March 13. The House passed an amended version on March 26; as of March 28, the Senate was considering those amendments.

Details

The Executive Committee of the Legislative Council approved a proposal to put 10 interim and year-round committees on hold due to budget constraints and not due to the merits of the committee.

The bill proposes to suspend legislative interim committee activities during the 2025 legislative interim, which includes the following:

• The Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee: Eliminating the council in 2025 and 2026 will save about $50,000 in general funds annually. The council’s members, made up of high school students around the state, will be allowed to make a scheduled presentation to the legislature in July but will not be allowed to meet after that nor offer legislation to the General Assembly for its consideration. [Removed from the bill through an amendment]
• The Legislative Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery: Committee, a year-round panel that has not met since January 2023.
• The Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Colorado Jail Standards, which offered three bills for the 2025 session
• The Statewide Health Care Review Committee, which has not met since 2023
• The Colorado Health Insurance Exchange Oversight Committee, a year-round panel that met in 2024 but did not submit any bills for 2025
• The Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Study Committee, which has not met since 2023.
• The Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems committee, which submitted five bills for 2025. [Removed from the bill through an amendment]
• The Pension Review Subcommittee, which makes recommendations to the Pension Review Commission
• The Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Tax Policy & Task Force, which submitted five bills for consideration in 2025.
• The Sales and Use Tax Simplification Task Force, which submitted two bills for the 2025 session.

Should it choose to do so, the executive committee would still has the authority to approve interim committees.

Interim committees not affected by this bill include the Transportation Legislation Review Committee, an interim committee on artificial intelligence, the Wildfire Matters Review Committee and the American Indian Affairs Interim Study Committee. Year-round committees that also meet post-session and can continue to meet include the Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee.

Bill sponsors: Reps. Bradfield and English; Sens. Cutter and Michaelson Jenet

Status: The House Judiciary Committee passed the bill on Jan. 21 and referred it to House Appropriations Committee, which has not yet scheduled a hearing.

Details

This is a bill that comes from the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems. Under existing law, the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) in the Department of Human Services administers the Jail-Based Behavioral Health Services (JBBS) program. The bill requires the BHA, as part of the JBBS program, to provide funding to jails to administer services that complement a person’s primary course of treatment for a behavioral health disorder (complementary behavioral health services) to persons in custody in the jail. It is proposed that a jail shall use the funding to train jail staff to administer complementary behavioral health services and to provide complementary behavioral health services to persons in custody in the jail at no cost to the person. The bill requires the general assembly to annually appropriate up to $50,000 for the administration of complementary behavioral health services as part of the program.

Bill sponsors: Rep. DeGraaf; and Sen. Baisley

Status: The bill was introduced on Jan. 8 and assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. It will be scheduled to be heard for action only but is not yet on the calendar.

Details

The bill replaces existing statutes on public abatement and instead enacts provisions concerning criminal forfeiture. The bill proposes:

• Limits forfeiture so it can occur only when a defendant is convicted of a crime of unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, or selling a controlled substance;
• Specifies that a forfeiture proceeding is not a separate civil proceeding but part of a defendant’s criminal proceeding;
• Specifies when personal property may be seized with or without process;
• Establishes duties and procedures when property is seized;
• Establishes court procedures for various parties;
• Allows for the disposition of seized assets and proceeds consistent with prior law; and
• Establishes limitations on seizures involving the federal government.

Bill sponsors: Reps. Jackson and Pugliese; and Sens. Pelton and Snyder

Status: The bill passed out of the House Education Committee on March 20 with amendments. The bill was assigned to the House Appropriations Committee and is not yet scheduled for a hearing.

Details

The bill requires the State Board of Education to adopt high school health education standards regarding drug overdose risks, identification of a drug overdose event, and drug overdose prevention and response. The bill authorizes the State Board of Education to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations for the purpose of adopting these standards.

The bill authorizes a school district, the state charter school institute, a public school, or a nonpublic school to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations for purposes related to maintaining, administering, and furnishing opioid antagonists.

Bill sponsors: Sens. Cutter and Amabile; Rep. Bradfield

Status: Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill on March 26.

Details

This is a bill that comes from the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems.

The bill:

• requires the department of public safety (DPS), in collaboration with the behavioral health administration (BHA), to convene a stakeholder group no later than June 30, 2026, to identify existing resources and model programs that communities throughout Colorado utilize when responding to behavioral health crises, including, but not limited to, co-responder programs, alternative response programs, and mobile crisis response programs; and the reimbursement shortages and gaps within the continuum of care for behavioral health crisis response; and state and federal reimbursement and funding options
• mandates a list of stakeholders to participate in the convenings and requires the BHA in collaboration with HCPF to provide information to the general assembly on or before January 1, 2027, regarding the reimbursement shortages and gaps within the continuum of care for the behavioral health crisis response system and the reimbursement and funding options at the state and federal level that are available to address the shortages and gaps, including funding for treatment in place
• requires DPS to compile a list of the existing resources and model programs and make the resources and information about the model programs publicly available on DPS’s website.
•  requires HCPF to reimburse mental health institutions for providing inpatient mental health treatment for a Medicaid member for up to sixty days or to the extent permitted by federal law
• requires a hospital to only discharge a person placed on an emergency hold if the person no longer meets the criteria for an emergency mental health hold and allow for a hospital to transfer a person on a mental health hold if the hospital is unable to provide the appropriate medical or behavioral health care to the person and the receiving hospital agrees to the transfer.

Bill sponsors: Reps. Amabile and Pelton; Sen. Brown

Status: Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law on March 20, after it passed the House on Feb. 10 and Senate on Feb. 26.

Details

The bill addressed parity by clarifying that the health benefits coverage for the prevention of, screening for, and treatment of behavioral, mental health, and substance use disorders must be no less extensive than the coverage provided for any physical illness. The bill requires that every health benefit plan must provide coverage for:

• The placement, including admission, continued stay, transfer, and discharge of a covered person and determinations relating to mental health disorders in accordance with criteria developed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry or the American Association for Community Psychiatry; and
• Medically necessary treatment of covered behavioral, mental health, and substance use disorder benefits, consistent with specified criteria.

The bill also specifies criteria to be used for utilization review, service intensity, the level of care for covered persons, and provider reimbursement.

Bill sponsors: Reps. Rydin and Garcia; and Sens. Amabile and Ball

Status: Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law on March 20.

The bill adds peer support behavioral health services that are provided by credentialed peer support professionals or other researched-based programs as a component that may be included in an initiative specifically designed to assist each offender’s transition from a correctional facility into the community.These

Bill sponsors: Sen. Pelton; and Rep. Armagost

Status: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted against the bill on Feb. 10, so it will not move forward.

Details

The bill changes existing fentanyl possession by making it a level 1 drug felony if a person manufactures, dispenses, sells, or distributes, or possesses any amount of a synthetic opiate with intent to do the same with any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or an analog thereof (qualifying controlled substance). The bill repeals penalty level provisions involving manufacture or distribution of a qualifying controlled substance that are weight- or circumstance-dependent, and related immunity and sentencing requirements. The bill makes the possession of a qualifying controlled substance a level 4 drug felony. The bill repeals the following provisions of law related to the penalties for possessing a qualifying controlled substance:

• A provision that reduces the penalty if the fact finder in the case finds that the possessor made a reasonable mistake of fact and did not know that the material, compound, mixture, or preparation contained fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or an analog thereof; and
• A provision that requires a court to vacate the drug felony conviction and enter a conviction for a level 1 drug misdemeanor upon the defendant’s successful completion of a community-based sentence to probation or to a community corrections program.

Bill sponsors: Sens. Lundeen and Mullica

Status: The Senate Health & Human Services Committee voted against the bill on Feb. 26, so it will not move forward.

Details

In contracting for the bulk purchasing and distribution of opioid antagonists, the bill requires the department to contract with an opioid antagonist medication distributor. However, the bill prohibits the department from contracting with an opioid antagonist medication distributor if the distributor:

• Was found liable for the manufacture or distribution of an opioid that resulted in an opioid-related overdose;
• Is or was a liable party to a settlement agreement for the manufacture or distribution of an opioid that resulted in an opioid-related overdose; or
• Is or was liable for a fine or penalty levied by a governmental entity for the manufacture or distribution of an opioid that resulted in an opioid-related overdose.

The bill requires the department to implement a competitive selection process for the bulk purchase of opioid antagonists.

The bill declares any contract or agreement that does not comply with the contracting requirements of the bill is void and unenforceable.

Bill sponsors: Sens. Amabile and Pelton; and Rep. Brown

Status: The Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee voted on March 11 to postpone the bill indefinitely, so it will not advance this session.

Details

The bill requires the labeling of regulated marijuana and regulated marijuana products to include the amount of total THC per package and a solid color strip on the face of the packaging that indicates THC potency of marijuana or a marijuana product by showing the corresponding color as follows:

• If the THC potency is less than 5%, the color strip is blue;
• If the THC potency is at least 5% but less than 15%, the color strip is yellow;
• If the THC potency is at least 15% but less than 50%, the color strip is orange; or
• If the THC potency is at least 50%, the color strip is red.

A marijuana store must post, at all times, and at every point of sale, a sign that explains the meaning of the color strips.

Inhaled marijuana is required to have the following labeling:

• The amount of THC per serving;
• The amount of THC per package;
• The number of servings per package; and
• Directions for consumption of a serving.

The bill adds inhaled marijuana and requires that its serving size is limited to 10 milligrams and the package weight to 500 milligrams.

The bill forbids a retail marijuana store, a retail marijuana transporter, a marijuana hospitality business, a retail marijuana accelerator store, and a retail marijuana hospitality and sales business from selling, distributing, permitting the sale of, or offering to sell or distribute the following to an individual who is 25 years of age or younger:

• Retail marijuana that has a THC potency that is higher than 10%; or
• Inhaled retail marijuana that contains an added flavor ingredient.

A natural medicine license holder is prohibited from manufacturing, distributing, or transferring natural medicine or a natural medicine product that:

• Is a candy product, gummy, chocolate, or other confection;
• Contains a concentrated form of a natural medicine or natural medicine product;
• Is consumed by or administered by a means other than oral ingestion; or
• Contains an added flavor or sweetener.

Current law creates a social equity program that gives loans, grants, and technical assistance to disadvantaged persons by helping an approved applicant to obtain a marijuana license and start a marijuana business. The funding comes from the marijuana tax cash fund. The bill expands this program to include a person who wants to start any type of business.