The Colorado legislature has seven days left in the 2025 session and is working Thursday to push legislation through committee and floor votes. With several ongoing debates unresolved, our reporters are keeping an eye on the progress of bills of note.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
3:15 p.m. update: Gov. Jared Polis today signed Senate Bill 63, which requires public schools’ libraries to create policies for deciding which books to keep on their shelves and which ones to remove.
Under the new law, public schools can remove a book only if it’s been reviewed under that policy. The new bill was inspired in part by controversial book-removal decisions like the Elizabeth School District’s recent removal of books deemed “highly sensitive” from its library shelves; the school district has faced a lawsuit and court orders to restore them.
“People rely on our libraries,” Polis said at the signing. “The public wants some kind of process around how they know that books that should be there are there — and what the process is if there’s a book that shouldn’t be there.”
Only students who attend the school or their parents can request that a school remove a book, according to a nonpartisan summary of the bill. The policies and any requests for a library to remove a book must be considered public records.
12:42 p.m. update: Legislation that would enact new antidiscrimination protections for transgender Coloradans passed a Senate committee early this morning after its backers altered the most controversial provisions to assuage advocacy groups’ concerns.
House Bill 1312 is now two votes and some procedural smoothing away from Gov. Jared Polis’ desk. The proposal, among other provisions, would expand the state’s antidiscrimination law to include intentionally, repeatedly “deadnaming” or misgendering a transgender person. Read more here.
Colorado lawmakers strip trans rights bill’s most controversial provisions before overnight vote
12:22 p.m. update: After a late night for legislative committees, lawmakers were back at it with lengthy floor work underway this morning.
The Senate gave final approval to House Bill 1281, which would allow small cars called “kei vehicles” on Colorado roads (except highways). The lightweight vehicles are common in Japan, but Colorado’s law has been “gray” on whether they’re allowed here, sponsor Rep. William Lindstedt said. HB-1281 fully clears the way for them.
The bill now heads to Gov. Jared Polis, who is expected to sign it, Lindstedt said.
Several hours before HB-1281 passed the Senate, the House’s Health and Human Services Committee gave one last kick to a hospital fight that’s dragged along for months. Hospitals have a bill to protect the federal 340B drug discount program from any drug industry-imposed changes. Pharmaceutical companies, well, don’t want that — and they’re backing their own bill that would require more guardrails around how the program can be used.
The two sides’ bills were both set for a determinative committee vote Wednesday night. Instead, sponsors of both delayed the vote to allow for more negotiations.
Rep. Kyle Brown, who’s backing the pharma bill, said this morning that he doesn’t yet know when the vote will be scheduled. All four possibilities — both bills passing, both bills dying, or one or the other passing — all are still open, he said.
So prolonged has the hospital and pharma lobbying been that if you ask a legislator about the 340B drug discount program, you can practically see the light slowly leave their eyes.
There’s more to come: The Senate is scheduled to take up House Bill 1291, though it’s more likely to come up for a first vote Friday. The bill would add new background check and security protocols for ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft.
The bill’s backed by a state legislator who was sexually assaulted during a Lyft ride last year, and it sailed through the House with bipartisan support. But Uber has said the bill’s requirements are unworkable, and it’s threatened to leave the state if it passes.
The company has also asked drivers and users to get involved. Coloradans who opened the Uber app in recent days were greeted by a warning about the bill, along with a form they could fill out to contact their legislators.
The bill needs to clear two more votes in the Senate.
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