Colorado House attempts late-night move to delay AI regulations, but effort fails

In a dramatic 11th hour move, House Democrats late Tuesday night tried to resurrect a dead-and-buried plan to slow Colorado’s first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence regulations from taking effect — a day after a senior Democratic lawmaker killed the planned delay and threw parts of the Capitol into chaos.

But the plan collapsed in even more dramatic fashion: The House needed to insert the regulatory delay into an unrelated bill before midnight to ensure it had time to pass before the legislature adjourns Wednesday night. But another House Democrat effectively filibustered the effort until the clock struck midnight, ending the attempted bill hijacking.

The late drama escalates what had already been a tense showdown between the legislature and a swath of senior Democratic politicians and the tech industry. It throws the implementation of Colorado’s first-in-the-nation AI regulations into further chaos as the legislature moves into its final day, and it effectively means that the regulations will go into effect as planned early next year — unless lawmakers return to the Capitol for a special session in the coming months.

Rep. William Lindstedt brought forward the attempted resurrection as an amendment to Senate Bill 322. That bill concerned the attorney general’s office and was up for a vote Tuesday. Linstedt’s amendment would’ve delayed the implementation of AI regulations, currently set to take effect Feb. 1, by almost a year.

Lindstedt’s amendment was introduced with about 25 hours left in the 2025 legislative session. He said pausing the implementation of the AI regulations was the “right thing to do” and that “cooler heads need to prevail.”

The proposal mimicked what some AI backers had sought with Senate Bill 318, before that bill’s sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, unexpectedly killed his bill Monday. Monday was the last day a standalone bill could start and finish the legislative process this session.

The amended SB-322 also faced a tight timeline. It needed to pass the House by midnight to have enough time to clear at least two more votes Wednesday. Before Lindstedt unveiled the amendment, House Majority Leader Monica Duran limited debate on the underlying bill to one hour — an unusual move typically reserved for hyper-partisan bills that prompt lengthy Republican filibusters.

Once that hour was over, Duran then tried to call for a vote swiftly to ensure the bill passed by midnight. But the House rejected Duran’s request.

Rep. Brianna Titone — a Democrat who co-sponsored Rodriguez’s now-dead bill and the regulations law that passed last year — then took to the mic and ran out the clock.

Lindstedt’s amendment represented a Hail Mary attempt to undo Rodriguez’s decision to kill a negotiated pause on new AI regulations that were signed into law last year by Gov. Jared Polis. The regulations require companies to notify users when they interact with AI and remove underlying bias from AI tools.

But even if the attempt had worked Tuesday night, it’s unclear if Rodriguez — who, as the Senate’s majority leader, controls that chamber’s calendar — would’ve ever pull the amended bill up for a vote Wednesday.