| Bill # | Short Title | Bill Summary |
| HB24-1013 | Victim Programs in New Twenty-Third Judicial District | The new twenty-third judicial district exists beginning January 7, 2025. The bill makes changes so that the crime victim compensation board and the victims and witnesses assistance and law enforcement board may provide compensation and services once the new judicial district exists. |
| HB24-1014 | Deceptive Trade Practice Significant Impact Standard | The bill establishes that evidence that a person has engaged in an unfair or deceptive trade practice constitutes a significant impact to the public. |
| HB24-1034 | Adult Competency to Stand Trial | The bill reforms and clarifies the criminal competency to proceed process. The bill provides necessary parties with access to information related to the defendant’s claim of incompetency to proceed. |
| HB24-1071 | Name Change to Conform with Gender Identity | The bill states that good cause includes changing the petitioner’s name to conform with the petitioner’s gender identity. The bill authorizes the court to require a petitioner to give public notice of a name change if the name change was requested by a petitioner with a felony conviction and is for the purpose of changing the petitioner’s name to conform with the petitioner’s gender identity. |
| HB24-1099 | Defendant Filing Fees in Evictions | The bill eliminates the fee for a defendant filing an answer in an eviction proceeding. Current law permits a party to submit and a county court to grant a motion to waive filing fees in a residential eviction action. The bill removes the process for securing a waiver of these filing fees. |
| HB24-1101 | Empower Victims through Access Restorative Justice | The bill makes changes to increase access to restorative justice practices in Colorado. |
| HB24-1102 | Independent Agency Appointment Requirements | The bill removes the requirement that the directors be licensed to practice law in Colorado and requires the directors to either be licensed to practice law in Colorado at the time of the appointment or be able to become licensed to practice law in Colorado within 6 months after the appointment. |
| HB24-1107 | Judicial Review of Local Land Use Decision | The bill requires a court to award reasonable attorney fees to a prevailing defendant governmental entity in an action for judicial review of a local land use decision involving residential use with a net project density of 5 dwelling units per acre or more, except for an action brought by the land use applicant before the governmental entity. Filing an action for judicial review of a local land use decision does not affect the validity of the local land use decision. |
| HB24-1133 | Criminal Record Sealing & Expungement Changes | The bill allows the defendant in a mistaken identity case to petition for an expungement order if the arresting agency does not file a petition. The defendant is not subject to any fees or costs associated with expunging the record. |
| HB24-1212 | Board & Committee of 23rd Judicial District | The bill makes changes so that the judicial district drug offender treatment board and the local juvenile services planning committee may begin work before the new judicial district exists. |
| HB24-1213 | General Fund Transfer Judicial Collection Enhancement | The bill requires the state treasurer to transfer $2.5 million from the general fund to the judicial collection enhancement fund on April 1, 2024. |
| HB24-1225 | First Degree Murder Bail & Jury Selection Statute | Under current law, all persons have the right to bail pending disposition of charges, with certain exceptions, including an exception for persons charged with capital offenses. The bill adds an exception for murder in the first degree when proof is evident or presumption is great. Under current law, in capital cases, each side is entitled to 10 peremptory juror challenges, and if there is more than one defendant, each side is entitled to an additional 3 peremptory challenges for every defendant after the first. The bill applies that existing law to cases in which a defendant is charged with murder in the first degree. |
| HB24-1274 | Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act | The bill enacts the “Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act,” drafted by the uniform law commission. The act requires that for a default judgment to be entered on a claim for a consumer debt, certain information must be contained in the complaint or amended complaint, including language notifying the debtor of the debtor’s rights and obligations. |
| HB24-1275 | Sunset Continue Underfunded Courthouse Commission | The underfunded courthouse facility cash fund commission is set to repeal on September 1, 2024. The bill implements the department of regulatory agencies’ recommendation to continue the commission until September 1, 2035. |
| HB24-1286 | Equal Justice Fund Authority | The bill creates the equal justice fund authority as a special purpose authority to administer the equal justice fund for the purpose of providing monetary support to local organizations that provide legal representation and legal advice to low-income individuals. |
| HB24-1289 | Workload Standards for Office of State Public Defender | No later than July 1, 2025, the bill requires the office of state public defender to implement workload standards for determining when a deputy public defender’s workload is excessive pursuant to the federal and state constitutions and the Colorado rules of professional conduct. |
| HB24-1291 | Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals | The bill amends the relevant statutory provisions to align with the Colorado supreme court rule authorizing the licensure of LLPs. |
| HB24-1355 | Measures to Reduce the Competency Wait List | The bill creates the bridges wraparound care program in the office of bridges of Colorado to increase the success of eligible individuals referred from the criminal justice system by connecting the individuals to necessary wraparound care coordination services, resulting in case dismissal, continuity of care, and increased social stability. |
| HB24-1374 | Judicial Contractor Loan Forgiveness Eligibility | Three independent judicial agencies, the office of the alternative defense counsel, the office of the child’s representative, and the office of respondent parents’ counsel primarily use contractors to provide legal representation on behalf of the agencies because providing the same services through state employees would create ethical conflicts. To enable these contractors to qualify for the program if they otherwise meet program requirements, the bill: Clarifies that state employees cannot provide the legal services that the independent contractors provide; Allows the agencies to certify that a contractor appears to be eligible for the program; and Because some contractors provide or have provided legal services on behalf of more than one of the agencies, authorizes the agencies to share contractor information to the extent necessary to certify a contractor’s eligibility for the program. |
| HB24-1380 | Regulation of Debt-Related Services | The bill makes the following actions by a debt collector or collection agency that is subject to the “Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” unfair or deceptive trade practices under the “Colorado Consumer Protection Act:” Taking any legal action on a debt against a consumer if the debt collector or collection agency is the named plaintiff unless the debt collector or collection agency has purchased complete ownership of the debt, without any ownership interest retained by the seller, original creditor, or other third party; and Seeking or supporting a warrant or otherwise promoting the arrest or detainment of a consumer, including on motions related to discovery or contempt of court, in any legal action against the consumer in connection with an action to collect or attempt to collect a debt. |
| SB24-006 | Pretrial Diversion Programs | The bill requires a district attorney’s office, or the office’s designee, to consider the use of a juvenile diversion program to prevent a juvenile who demonstrates behaviors or symptoms consistent with an intellectual and developmental disability, a mental or behavioral health issue, or a lack of mental capacity from further involvement in formal delinquency proceedings. |
| SB24-063 | Confidentiality of Group Peer Support Services | The bill prohibits a peer support team member or recipient of group peer support services from being examined as a witness without the consent of the person to whom the examination relates. |
| SB24-064 | Monthly Residential Eviction Data & Report | The bill requires the judicial department to collect, compile, and publish online, on a monthly basis, aggregate residential eviction data for all forcible entry and detainer actions filed in each county in the immediately preceding month. The judicial department shall make individual case level residential eviction data available upon request. The bill requires the judicial department to publish online in a searchable format, and make available free of charge, every final order issued by Colorado district courts regarding residential eviction actions. |
| SB24-074 | Jurisdiction over United States Military Property | The bill permits, subject to conditions, concurrent legislative jurisdiction between the state of Colorado and the United States over specified United States military installation property. |
| SB24-106 | Right to Remedy Construction Defects | The following applies to the remedy: The construction professional must notify the claimant and diligently make sure the remedial work is performed; and Upon completion, the claimant is deemed to have settled and released the claim, and the claimant is limited to claims regarding improper performance of the remedial work. Currently, a claim may be held in abeyance if the parties have agreed to mediation. Section 3 also adds other forms of alternative dispute resolution for which the claim would be held in abeyance. |
| SB24-112 | Construction Defect Action Procedures | Section 1 of the bill adds disclaimers to the “Construction Defect Action Reform Act” that: Are not intended to impose an obligation upon construction professionals to provide an express or implied warranty; Apply to implied warranty claims; and Do not amend or change the terms of or limitation upon an express or implied warranty. The bill states that a construction professional is not vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of a licensed design professional for any construction defects. |
| SB24-120 | Updates to the Crime Victim Compensation Act | The bill makes the following updates to the “Crime Victim Compensation Act”: Changes verbiage concerning an award of compensation to approval of compensation for consistency with how crime victim compensation programs operate; Revises language to be gender neutral; Changes the terminology for court administrator to court executive to reflect the accurate position title as changed by the state court administrator’s office; Includes state offenses specified in the “Victim Rights Act” under the definition of compensable crime; Includes as property damage expenses incurred for a motor vehicle determined by law enforcement to be where a compensable crime was committed; Modifies the requirement to notify appropriate law enforcement officials to be eligible to receive compensation under the act by removing the 72-hour requirement. |
| SB24-130 | Noneconomic Damages Cap Medical Malpractice Actions | Beginning January 1, 2025, the bill incrementally increases the noneconomic damages limitation to $500,000 over the course of 5 years. |
This special bill report is courtesy of State Bill Colorado, a product of our publisher Circuit Media.