The Colorado legislature has entered its final three days of the 2026 legislative session, with lawmakers expecting debates about immigration enforcement, tax policy, data centers and more. Here’s the latest on Monday’s action.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
7:12 p.m. update: Well, so much for Colorado Democrats’ plans to undercut another prospective conservative ballot measure.
Three days after she unveiled the plan to reporters, House Speaker Julie McCluskie said in a statement Monday night that she would not bring forward legislation intended to establish guardrails for Initiative 177, should it make the ballot and win approval from voters. That measure aims to establish a right to use natural gas. (See the 3:43 p.m. update below for more on the effort.)
The bill that she and other lawmakers had hoped to bring — and that various outside groups could agree to — “would not meaningfully change the impacts of Initiative 177 or mitigate the harms of this measure.” She called on Advance Colorado, the conservative group backing the proposal, to withdraw it before it reaches the ballot.
6:15 p.m. update: Lawmakers killed a pair of bills Monday afternoon that were designed to undo some of the state impact of recent federal tax changes as a way to direct money to low-income families.
House Bills and , which were postponed indefinitely in committee votes at their sponsors’ requests, would have limited some of the tax cuts enacted last summer with the federal tax bill. Colorado automatically mimics changes made to the federal tax code. The extra money raised by the bills would have helped fill the gap left by the flagging Family Affordability Tax Credit. That credit, which went into effect for tax year 2024, was credited with helping to cut Colorado’s child poverty rate by more than a third.
Revenue collected over the growth cap set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights funded the credit. State revenue did not hit that cap this year in part because of the federal tax changes — meaning the family credit won’t be dispersed.
The bills would have limited the tax deductions businesses could claim for things like CEO pay, operating losses and interest deductions. That money would have then been diverted to a new credit designed to mirror the Family Affordability Tax Credit.
“We are giving preferential treatment to CEOs and corporations who are doing fine, and we are giving not-preferential treatment to people who are really struggling, who are working and contributing to our society,” said Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat who sponsored HB-1221.
Sponsors of these bills couldn’t wrangle enough support to create a substitute credit to help those families. Sen. Cathy Kipp explicitly blamed a veto threat by Gov. Jared Polis when she killed HB-1222.
“It is clear that this bill will be vetoed unless we agree to reducing the state income tax, something that I believe is irresponsible,” Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, said shortly before killing her bill.
Polis said in an interview at the start of the session that he would want broad-based tax changes to support any targeted tax credits.
“The governor has long supported providing tax relief, including income tax relief for Colorado families,” spokesman Eric Maruyama said in a statement after the bills were killed. “Colorado’s Family Affordability Tax Credit helped cut child poverty rates … and the governor supported strengthening this credit to help families while saving every Coloradan money on taxes.”
A third bill that would help fund the new credit, , is still alive after sponsors altered the benefits to include tax credits for restaurants’ utilities.
3:43 p.m. update: Democratic lawmakers have fewer than nine hours left to introduce and advance legislation that, they hope, would curb the impacts of a potential conservative-backed ballot measure.
Democratic lawmakers told reporters late last week that the bill would add “guardrails” to , which would give Coloradans the right to buy and use natural gas and for companies to sell it. It’s in the petition-circulation phase and hasn’t yet made the November ballot.
But the new bill still hadn’t been unveiled as of mid-afternoon. If lawmakers hope to pass it before the end of the session Wednesday, they’ll need to introduce it today, shepherd it through any and all House committees and then move it through a first full vote in the chamber — all before the clock strikes midnight. Otherwise, there won’t be enough time to pass the bill through both chambers before lawmakers call it a year.
Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Jefferson County Democrat sponsoring the bill, said today that discussions were underway with outside stakeholders. She said the bill’s fate had been back and forth in recent days. Last she heard, she said, “we might be alive.” She added: “We’re still trying to figure it out. I hope we do.”
To protest the late introduction of the bill, House Republicans have begun having every bill read aloud in the chamber — a constitutionally approved request that largely functions as a delay tactic.
“This isn’t good governance,” Rep. Ty Winter, the assistant minority leader, said. “Since they didn’t give us the time and what we need to do the due diligence … we’re figuring it out now.”
2:20 p.m. update: Colorado lawmakers passed a $174 million effort to reform the state’s competency and civil commitment systems. aims to create a clear pathway within criminal cases to institutionalize people accused of serious crimes who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled and to ensure such defendants are not set free without care when their criminal cases end.
The bill, which was finalized today when the Senate approved House amendments, is expected to cost Colorado $174 million by 2030 and then roughly $73.5 million annually in subsequent years, according to a fiscal note. The new approach will include increased bed capacity and outpatient care.
The bill’s proponents say the effort will close loopholes in Colorado’s current competency process. Critics worry it will not solve broader problems within the state’s under-resourced mental healthcare system.
“These systems that have been put in place under the competency bill attempt to reform the way people are shuffled through our courts, and reform some of the ways that people are held during their crises at hospitals or other behavioral healthcare provider institutions, but the underlying problem is they are getting to this level of crisis where they are committing a crime,” said Jack Johnson, a public policy liaison at Disability Law Colorado.
Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and a sponsor of the bill, said the effort went through “tense” times as stakeholders and others weighed in on the expansive proposal, but she noted that the bill ultimately saw nearly unanimous support from lawmakers.
“At the end of the day we all had the same basic goal, which is (that) people who are dangerous because they have an illness should not just be put out on the street,” she said. “This is not a good solve. And we have been doing that in Colorado for 50 years.”
2:13 p.m. update: The second of two bills seeking to regulate data centers died this afternoon under the weight of a proposed last-minute rewrite.
was an attempt to mix regulations and incentives to rein in data center development in Colorado. Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, worked through the final weeks of the legislative session trying to find alignment between data center companies, Xcel Energy, environmental groups, labor unions and other interests.
The bill would have required new data centers to include community and wildlife protections and meet water efficiency standards and limits on backup generators. The proposed rewrite also included new incentives for data centers that follow best practices on environmental protections, renewable energy, and grid and ratepayer protections.
But the rewrite was going to be introduced ahead of the bill’s initial committee vote today. That left the measure with a series of extremely tight deadlines to meet before the legislature adjourns Wednesday. Kipp voluntarily killed the bill after hearing from colleagues that there wasn’t enough time.
“We really thought we were threading the needle,” Kipp said.
She promised to spend another year working on the issue. She also warned: “These (data center) companies need to come to the table, understanding the harms their operations can cause to our communities and to our grid.” The death of this bill follows the death of a competing data center bill last week. would have offered tens of millions of dollars in incentives to comply with regulations.
2:07 p.m. update: The Colorado Senate passed legislation requiring increased inspections of immigration detention centers in Colorado — but only after stripping several provisions from the bill at the behest of Gov. Jared Polis.
Once lawmakers clear a procedural vote in the House, will move to Polis’ desk for signature. As itap now written, the measure would require health officials to conduct at least four annual inspections of detention facilities. Those visits would probe whether the facilities sufficiently meet food, water and medical standards, while also examining their temperature control and detainees’ access to medical care and legal counsel.
Colorado has only one immigrant detention center, a privately run facility in Aurora owned by the GEO Group and contracted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The bill would apply to any state, county or privately run facility, but it would not cover future detention centers owned wholly by the federal government.
The bill no longer includes several provisions drafted in direct response to how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has unfolded in Colorado. Lawmakers stripped provisions requiring more transparency around federal immigration subpoenas received by the state, an issue Gov. Jared Polis has faced scrutiny over.
A section that would’ve prohibited ICE from entering nonpublic areas of jail facilities was removed, as was another provision, which would’ve fined state or local agencies that illegally shared information with ICE. Employees can face those penalties, but lawmakers sought to strengthen them after a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy helped get a college student arrested last year, only to quit and end a subsequent state lawsuit against him.
HB-1276’s sponsors said those changes were made to avoid a veto from Polis.
“It’s disappointing to have not been able to move forward with some of these provisions,” said Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat who sponsored the bill. “I think we still have a worthwhile bill here, particularly from the standpoint of being the senator whose district includes the GEO facility, which is obviously the hub of a lot of these conversations.”
Sen. Iman Jodeh, another Aurora Democrat and sponsor, said Polis’ opposition just meant “that we have to come back, and there’s a lot more work to do.” Polis is term-limited and will leave office early next year.
The governor has told reporters that he supported some provisions of the bill. “The Governor has consistently called out the federal governmentap complete lack of transparency regarding immigration enforcement and detention in Colorado,” Polis spokeswoman Ally Sullivan said in a statement this afternoon. “We appreciate conversations with the sponsors on this bill, and the Governor will review the final version.”
12:58 p.m. update: A bill that would regulate AI-powered chatbots has cleared the Senate, while the legislation faces renewed calls for a veto from a mother whose daughter died by suicide following sexual grooming by one of the chatbots.
would require chatbots to announce to users regularly that they operate on artificial intelligence. Their developers also must implement measures to prevent emotional dependence and to refer users to a crisis services provider if the user exhibits any suicidal ideation. The bill passed the Senate 24-11 with bipartisan support and opposition.
The original version required companies to try to prevent artificial intelligence bots from producing sexually explicit content. Sen. Kyle Mullica, a Thornton Democrat, sought to toughen that language by requiring chatbots to shut down any conversation that veered in that direction; that also would apply if the botap programming led it to produce that content without being directly spurred by the user. That amendment passed.
Mullica invoked the death of Juliana Peralta, a 13-year-old girl whose mother still live in his district. Cynthia Montoya, Peralta’s mother, said her daughter was sexually groomed by a chatbot and the AI agent did nothing when Peralta shared suicidal thoughts with it.
Peralta died in November 2023. Montoya has fought the bill on the grounds it does not go far enough.
In a statement sent late Sunday, Montoya said she still opposed the bill. The measure would set the standard of “technically feasible” for implementing new protections — which Montoya contends would give tech companies too much power in determining if they needed to implement the protections or not.
If tech companies “cannot prevent their products from exploiting children, they need to keep them off the shelves — itap that simple,” Montoya said in the statement. The bill, including the new amendment, will just codify “widely gaping loopholes,” she said.
“The language is again very loose, and tech companies will likely use the same loopholes to continue their sexual abuse of children,” Montoya said. “When tech is allowed to make the laws, as they undoubtedly did behind the scenes on 1263, our children pay the price.”
Montoya called on Gov. Jared Polis to veto the bill, which still needs to return to the House for concurrence on amendments run in the Senate. Mullica said he was sorry that Montoya felt that way. He noted that he voted for a separate amendment that would have addressed Montoya’s concerns about the “technically feasible” language, but that amendment failed.
Mullica said he didn’t want to let that be the end of trying to shut down sexual exploitation by the AI bots.
“There’s more work to be done, obviously, but I don’t think that we just sit idly by and allow the sexual exploitation of children to happen,” Mullica said.
