A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill this week that eliminates an exception under current state law that allows certain evidence of a victim’s prior or subsequent sexual conduct with a defendant to be admitted as evidence in sex misconduct suits. It also would prohibit admitting as evidence the victim’s manner of dress, hairstyle, speech or lifestyle.
Also introduced this week is a bill that would create a new crime of “squatting” on private property and classify violations as a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 per offense with additional fines per day of the violation. Repeat offenders could be sentenced to jail time and more fines.
Bill Number: HB25-1097
Title: Placement Transition Plans for Children
Introduced: Jan. 27
Sponsors: L. Gilchrist, M. Froelich, D. Michaelson Jenet, L. Daugherty
Summary: The bill requires the Department of Human Services to develop and adopt a placement transition plan template that outlines how a county or district department of human or social services will transition a child from one out-of-home placement in a foster care home, kinship foster care home or non-certified kinship care home to another or back to the child’s home. The purpose of the plan, according to the bill, is to create consistency in transitioning children from one placement to another.
Bill Number: HB25-1098
Title: Automated Protection Order Victim Notification System
Introduced: Jan. 27
Sponsors: R. Stewart, M. Soper, D. Michaelson Jenet
Summary: The bill requires the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Public Safety to establish an automated protection order victim notification system to provide a victim, a victim’s immediate family and other registered users with information related to a criminal or civil protection order. The notification system must disseminate specific information to registered users in English and Spanish through a telephone call, text message or mobile phone application. The bill authorizes the division to contract with a third party.
Bill Number: HB25-1099
Title: Water Quality Data Standards
Introduced: Jan. 27
Sponsors: T. Mauro, R. Taggart, N. Hinrichsen
Summary: The bill requires the water quality control commission, on or before Jan. 1, 2027, to issue written guidance specific to the development of the daily maximum amount of a pollutant from all sources that is allowed to enter state waters so that an applicable water quality standard is met. The bill also requires the Division of Administration in the Department of Public Health and Environment, on and after Jan. 1, 2028, to determine a total maximum daily load for state waters using credible data.
Bill Number: HB25-1100
Title: Requirements for Filling Certain Vacancies in Offices
Introduced: Jan. 27
Sponsors: S. Luck
Summary: Current law requires the political party central committee of most jurisdictions to select a vacancy committee to fill vacancies in the central committee and in the district and state offices held by members of the political party. Current law also requires a vacancy committee to consist of, at a minimum, the members of the central committee of a jurisdiction. The bill requires that a vacancy committee selected by a central committee to fill a vacancy also consist of, at a minimum, the individuals elected as delegates to the applicable jurisdiction’s district assembly. The bill modifies the vacancy committee statutes for the office of county commissioner and members of the state school board in accordance with this change. It would also extend the deadlines for the governor to fill the position.
Bill Number: HB25-1104
Title: Squatting Prohibited
Introduced: Jan. 27
Sponsors: R. Keltie
Summary: The bill prohibits a person from occupying a premises without the consent of a landowner. A person who occupies a premises without the consent of the landowner commits the new crime of squatting. The first conviction for a violation of squatting is an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $2,000 per offense. Upon conviction, a court shall also fine an individual convicted of squatting not more than $1,000 for each day the individual unlawfully occupied the premises. A person convicted of squatting more than once commits an unclassified misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of no more than $2,000 and by up to six months in jail, in addition to the fine for each day an individual convicted of squatting unlawfully occupied the premises.
Bill Number: HB25-1114
Title: Defense Review of Tangible Object for Criminal Trial
Introduced: Jan. 27
Sponsors: M. Carter, J. Gonzales
Summary: The bill grants a right for defense counsel to review a tangible object related to a criminal case at least 35 days before a trial and create confidential work product following their review. Law enforcement officers and other state officials are prohibited from recording the defense’s review of the tangible object.
Bill Number: HB25-1136
Title: Peace Officer Conduct Database
Introduced: Jan. 29
Sponsors: C. Clifford, J. Bacon
Summary: Law enforcement is required to report to the Peace Officers Standards and Training board, or POST board, certain information related to peace officer conduct for inclusion in a searchable database. The bill requires the head of the law enforcement agency providing the report to certify the accuracy of the information in the report. The agency providing the report shall provide the POST board with all documents relevant to the discipline for which the officer was placed in the database upon request of the POST board. If a law enforcement agency refuses the POST board may subpoena the records. If the court grants the subpoena, the court shall order the law enforcement agency to pay the POST board’s attorney fees, costs and fees related to the subpoena.
Bill Number: HB25-1138
Title: Protect Victims in Civil Sex Misconduct Suits
Introduced: Jan. 29
Sponsors: M. Lukens, R. Pugliese, B. Kirkmeyer, L. Daugherty
Summary: Under current law, certain evidence of a victim’s prior or subsequent sexual conduct is presumed irrelevant and inadmissible in a civil proceeding, but there is an exception for evidence of the victim’s prior or subsequent sexual conduct with the defendant. The bill eliminates this exception. Among other provisions, the bill prohibits the admission of evidence of the victim’s manner of dress, hairstyle, speech or lifestyle as evidence of the victim’s consent, credibility or the existence or extent of damages or harm.
Bill Number: HB25-1140
Title: Disclosing Information to Immigration Authorities
Introduced: Jan. 29
Sponsors: J. Caldwell, R. Pelton
Summary: The bill allows a probation officer or employee to provide personal information about an individual to federal immigration authorities if the individual is on probation for certain violent felony offenses.
Bill Number: HB25-1145
Title: Trafficking Minor for Abortion or Transgender Care
Introduced: Jan. 29
Sponsors: S. Bottoms
Summary: A person, including a corporation or governmental agency, commits human trafficking of a minor for an abortion or gender-affirming health care services if the person transports an out-of-state minor who is under 18 years of age into Colorado for the purpose of assisting the minor in obtaining an abortion or gender-affirming health care services. The bill classifies human trafficking of a minor for an abortion or gender-affirming health care services as a class 2 felony.
Bill Number: HB25-1150
Title: Forfeiture of PERA Benefits by Sex Offenders
Introduced: Jan. 29
Sponsors: R. Weinberg
Summary: Effective Jan. 1, 2026, the bill requires a member or retiree of the Public Employees’ Retirement Association who has been convicted of a sex crime and exhausted all appellate review for such a conviction to forfeit their PERA benefits. It also requires a PERA member to forfeit the option to refund their member contributions and matching employer contributions. The bill creates the sexual assault survivors’ cash fund and requires PERA to transfer an amount of money equal to the forfeited benefits to the fund. The bill also creates the sexual assault survivors’ grant program in the Department of Corrections to provide grants to survivors of a sex crime to use for necessary medical and mental health resources.
Law Week’s legislative tracking is done through State Bill, a product of our publisher, Circuit Media.