2025 Special Legislative Session Update
Colorado lawmakers returned to the Capitol for a six-day special legislative session on August 21st to address the effects of tax policy changes made by House Resolution 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, the Republican federal bill signed by President Trump in July. The changes in the federal tax code made in the bill left Colorado with a roughly $750 million hole in the state budget. Part of the strategy to close the gap was a series of changes in the Colorado tax code aimed at wealthy corporations and other filers. These changes will raise revenue in the state by roughly $200 million. They will defer to the Governor to issue executive orders to cut approximately $300 million in state programs and services. They will then use the state’s reserves to shore up the remaining amount.
While the budget was the primary focus of the special session, the legislature used the opportunity to address multiple other issues. This included changes to Colorado’s first-in the-nation artificial intelligence regulations, expanding the Healthy School Meals for All ballot measure to include SNAP, and authorizing the sale of tax credits for the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise (HIAE), transferring gray wolf reintroduction funds to the HIAE, and requiring the Governor to consult with the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) when reducing program funding during an economic downturn.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SPECIAL LEGISLATION
The four bills related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) were of primary interest to REALTORS®. All four were introduced, intending to clean up or fix a past bill, Senate Bill 24-205, “Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence.” Our sole focus for assessing the AI bills was the policy impact on REALTORS® to work safely using tools to understand better who they are possibly working with on a showing. Unfortunately, SB24-205 captures the use of certain safety tools, including some identity verification or fraud prevention applications, such as FOREWARN, based on the broad and loose definitions of an “artificial intelligence system.” This then triggers certain disclosures and “unfair or deceptive trade practice” penalties if reporting and disclosures are not properly made.
The two Republican bills (HB25B-1009 and SB25B-008) were killed early during the session, leaving two competing Democratic bills in play: HB25B 1008 “Consumer Protections for AI Interactions” by Reps Lindstedt and Carter, Sens Amabile and Frizell; and SB25B 004 “Increase Transparency for Algorithmic Discrimination” by Sen. Rodriguez, Reps Titone and Bacon.
Both bills better defined AI systems than the current law and would have removed the use of most identity verification applications, including Forewarn. For strategic purposes, CAR’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) took the position of Amend on both Democratic bills to keep us at the table for negotiations between them.
Ultimately, the “Increase Transparency for Algorithmic Discrimination” (SB 004) bill moved through the legislative process. It was stripped down to delay the implementation of the current law (from SB24-205) by 5 months from February 1 to June 30, 2026. This allows another shot at reforming AI laws during the full 2026 legislative session. A sticking point for a comprehensive AI fix during the Special Session was potential liability for developers of AI systems that may have biased outcomes. In current law, liability is entirely on deployers or users of an AI system.
CAR staff testified late Monday evening, August 25th, in House Appropriations on the amended SB 004 supporting the delay. This was to counter several groups and witnesses urging the committee to kill SB 004 and keep the current implementation date of February 1, 2026. The Governor signed SB 004 into law on August 28th. We still need an AI fix and will pursue a standalone solution during the 2026 legislative session.
2025 ELECTIONS
In addition to local elections, there will be two statewide ballot measures referred by the Legislature and related to the Healthy School Meals for All Program approved by voters in 2022 (Prop FF):
- Proposition LL “Retain and Spend State Revenue Exceeding the Estimate for Proposition FF”
- Proposition MM “Increase State Taxes for School Meals and Food Assistance Programs”
Both statewide measures fall outside our scope of real estate, housing, or property rights, so CAR’s Political Action Committee (CARPAC) will not take positions on them. Ballots will start being mailed out on October 10th.
CARPAC Trustees approved a statewide poll to help support local associations in messaging on local “NIMBY” measures that affect private property rights and housing development. This poll will be conducted in early September, with data and analysis by mid-September.