| Bill # | Short Title | Bill Summary |
| 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. |
| HB24-1054 | Jail Standards Commission Recommendations | The oversight committee and commission are set to repeal on July 1, 2024. The bill repeals the commission and extends the oversight committee until September 1, 2033. Each county jail shall comply with the standards adopted by the oversight committee beginning July 1, 2026. |
| HB24-1072 | Protection of Victims of Sexual Offenses | Under current law, certain evidence of a victim’s or witness’s prior or subsequent sexual conduct is presumed irrelevant, but there is an exception for evidence of the victim’s or witness’s prior or subsequent sexual conduct with the defendant. The bill eliminates this exception. The bill expands the criminal rape shield law to prohibit the admission of evidence of the victim’s manner of dress or hairstyle as evidence of the victim’s consent. |
| HB24-1074 | Aggravated Cruelty to Law Enforcement Animals | Under current law, aggravated cruelty to animals is a class 4 felony. The bill specifies that a person commits the offense of aggravated cruelty to animals if the person knowingly or recklessly kills or causes serious physical harm resulting in the death of a law enforcement animal or causes serious physical harm to a degree that the law enforcement animal must be decommissioned from active duty for at least 3 months. |
| HB24-1079 | Persons Detained in Jail on Emergency Commitment | Beginning July 1, 2025, the bill prohibits a law enforcement officer or emergency service patrol officer who takes a person juvenile into protective custody from detaining the person juvenile in jail. Beginning July 1, 2024, the bill requires each local law enforcement agency that has taken a person into protective custody to provide an annual report to the behavioral health administration that includes disaggregated and nonidentifying information concerning persons who were taken into protective custody in an approved treatment facility or detained in an emergency medical facility or jail. |
| HB24-1090 | Privacy Protections Criminal Justice Records | Subject to limited exceptions, current law requires that a victim’s name and identifying information be deleted from criminal justice records released to the public if the person was a victim of certain sexual offenses. The bill permits the release of unredacted records to the named victim, or victim’s designee, or victim’s lawful representative. |
| HB24-1103 | Prohibiting Term Excited Delirium | The bill prohibits training for law enforcement personnel, emergency medical service providers, or other first responders from including the term “excited delirium;” except in an emergency medical service provider training the term may be used in teaching the history of the term . A peace officer is prohibited from using the term “excited delirium” to describe a person in an incident report. |
| HB24-1118 | Authority of Attorney General to Operate District Attorney’s Office | The attorney general is authorized to appear for the state and prosecute and defend all actions and proceedings, civil and criminal, in which the state is a party or is interested when required to do so by the governor. In these circumstances, the bill allows the attorney general to also expend funds, manage staff, and perform other administrative functions essential for the operation of a district attorney’s office. |
| HB24-1122 | Protection Orders for Victims of Crimes | The bill clarifies that venue for filing a motion or complaint for a civil protection order is proper in any county where any one of the acts or behaviors that are subject to the motion or complaint occurred. The bill authorizes a judge or magistrate to continue the temporary protection order for a period of not more than one year after the date when the permanent protection order hearing takes place. |
| HB24-1133 | Criminal Record Sealing & Expungement Changes | Under current law, when a person is arrested in a case of mistaken identity, the arresting agency is required to petition the court for an expungement order. 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. |
| HB24-1174 | Concealed Carry Permits & Training | Beginning July 1, 2025, the bill requires concealed handgun training classes to be a law enforcement training firearms safety course or a firearms safety course taught by a verified instructor, held in person, and include instruction regarding: Knowledge and safe handling of firearms and ammunition; Safe storage of firearms and child safety; Safe firearms shooting fundamentals; Federal and state laws pertaining to the lawful purchase, ownership, transportation, use, and possession of firearms; State law pertaining to the use of deadly force for self-defense; and Best practices for safely interacting with law enforcement personnel who are responding to an emergency; and Techniques for avoiding a criminal attack and how to manage a violent confrontation, including conflict resolution and judgmental use of lethal force. |
| 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. The bill is contingent on the adoption at the 2024 general election of a state constitutional amendment concerning bail exceptions. |
| HB24-1241 | Alignment of Petty Property Crime Threshold | The bill removes the monetary threshold and instead states that the court cannot impose a monetary condition of release for a comparable municipal offense that would be a petty offense property crime under state law. |
| 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. The bill requires certain court filings to incur an additional $20 filing fee that must be annually deposited into the equal justice fund. The bill prohibits a judge from requiring indigent parties to pay the docket fee for a civil action. |
| 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. The bill requires the office of state public defender to consult with employees of the office of state public defender in creating the standards. |
| 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. |
| HB24-1292 | Prohibit Certain Weapons Used in Mass Shootings | The bill defines the term “assault weapon” and prohibits a person from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of an assault weapon. The bill further prohibits a person from possessing a rapid-fire trigger activator. A person in violation of the prohibitions will be assessed a first-time penalty of $250,000 and $500,000 for each subsequent violation. |
| HB24-1350 | Parental Responsibilities Proceedings Child Safety | The bill: Prohibits investigators and evaluators from including information based on theories that are not evidence-based or peer-reviewed in a report to the court, but requires investigators and evaluators to provide options for the court to consider; Requires investigators and evaluators to adhere to certain interviewing and forensic reporting standards; Requires investigators and evaluators to provide certain written disclosures to each party before performing duties; Allows the court to implement caps on charges for duties performed by evaluators; Requires investigators and evaluators to include all information obtained concerning domestic violence and child abuse; and Amends training requirements for investigators and evaluators. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) |
| 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. The bill requires each judicial district to develop a process to identify and refer eligible individuals to the wraparound program as a community-based alternative to competency proceedings. |
| HB24-1372 | Regulating Law Enforcement Use of Prone Restraint | The bill prohibits peace officers from using prone restraint to subdue a subject, except in cases in which the use of deadly physical force is justified. The bill requires officers who use prone restraint to immediately reposition a person to facilitate breathing once the person is in handcuffs or the person’s hands are tied. The bill applies a similar prone restraint prohibition and recovery position requirement to guards and peace officers employed in detention facilities. |
| HB24-1374 | Judicial Contractor Loan Forgiveness Eligibility | 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. |
| HB24-1432 | Repeal CBI Criminal Justice Record Sealing Fee | The bill repeals the requirement for a defendant to pay to the Colorado bureau of investigation any costs related to sealing the defendant’s criminal justice records in the bureau’s custody. The bill requires the bureau to, on or before June 30, 2026, waive the costs for a person whose records are in the bureau’s custody but are not yet sealed. |
| HB24-1433 | Remove Governor Approval Parole Juvenile Offender | The bill removes the requirement for the governor’s approval of an early parole application by an offender who completes the program and instead gives the parole board the authority to grant early parole.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) |
| HB24-1437 | Prohibit Flat Fees for Defending Indigent Clients | Beginning January July 1, 2025, the bill requires a municipality that prosecutes an act of domestic violence and that contracts directly with one or more defense attorneys to provide counsel to indigent defendants to ensure that the municipality’s contract does not use a fixed or flat-fee payment structure for indigent defense services. |
| HB24-1460 | Law Enforcement Misconduct | The bill requires a law enforcement agency that receives an allegation of misconduct, criminal conduct, or other unprofessional conduct regarding a peace officer employed by the agency to investigate the allegation. If a peace officer receives an allegation of misconduct, criminal conduct, or other unprofessional conduct or is reasonably aware of the misconduct of another peace officer, the peace officer shall report the allegation to the subject of the allegation’s employing agency. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) |
| HCR24-1002 | Constitutional Bail Exception First Degree Murder | The constitution guarantees all persons the right to bail pending disposition of charges, with exceptions for capital offenses and crimes of violence under certain circumstances. The concurrent resolution amends the Colorado constitution to add an exception for the offense of murder in the first degree when proof is evident or presumption is great. |
| SB24-003 | Colorado Bureau of Investigation Authority to Investigate Firearms Crimes | The bill authorizes the Colorado bureau of investigation to investigate particular illegal activity involving firearms statewide. The bill requires the bureau to communicate with the appropriate local law enforcement agency and deconflict investigative operations prior to taking investigative or enforcement action and to collaborate with the local district attorney in the beginning stages of the investigation. |
| 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. |
| SB24-035 | Strengthening Enforcement of Human Trafficking | The bill adds human trafficking of an adult or a minor for the purpose of involuntary servitude and human trafficking of an adult or a minor for sexual servitude to the list of as per se crimes of violence that are subject to enhanced sentencing. |
| SB24-131 | Prohibiting Carrying Firearms in Sensitive Spaces | The bill prohibits a person from carrying a firearm, both openly and concealed, in public locations specified in the bill. |
| SB24-187 | CSP Authority for Judicial Center & Judges | The bill gives the Colorado state patrol authority to provide law enforcement services for the Ralph L. Carr Colorado judicial center and its grounds , subject to available appropriations, and to provide protection for Colorado judges and justices when they are present in the state capitol buildings group. The bill gives additional administrators of judicial security temporary peace officer status pending application and review by the P.O.S.T. board. |
| SB24-189 | Gender-Related Bias-Motivated Crimes | The bill adds gender identity and gender expression to the classes identified in bias-motivated crimes and harassment. The bill redefines sexual orientation for purposes of bias-motivated crimes as an individual’s identity, or another individual’s perception thereof, in relation to the gender or genders to which the individual is sexually or emotionally attracted and the behavior or social affiliation that may result from the attraction. |
This special bill report is courtesy of State Bill Colorado, a product of our publisher Circuit Media.