First Day of Special Session in Colorado

Posted by Katie March on August 21, 2025

The Colorado legislature gaveled in on Thursday, Aug. 21 for the first day of its Special Session. The Governor called the Special Session in order to address the looming hole in the budget caused by the Federal passage of H.R. 1. In case you missed it, learn more about the reasons for special session through this previous blog post.

On this first day of the special session, the House and Senate gaveled in with a much more limited amount of the pomp and circumstance than is usually present on the Opening Day of a regular session. Leadership in both chambers have made it clear that they hope this special session will move very quickly, potentially working through the weekend to quickly move bills through the process – this is welcome news to the elected officials, lobbyists and advocates in the building, as air conditioning is limited and the building is swelteringly hot, even with the dress code relaxed. We are anticipating the special session to last between three and five days.

So far, 33 bills have been introduced on the first day of session. You can find all of the bills through this link, and may need to select the “2025 Extraordinary Session.” Some of the notable bills include:

Artificial Intelligence: Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR bills attempting to address the concerns raised with the 2024 Artificial Intelligence Bill. There are two Republican bills, one sponsored by Senator Baisley and one by Representative Weinberg – both of these bills are unlikely to gain traction and will likely be voted down in committee by the end of the day. The final two bills, the first led by Majority Leader Rodroguez along with Reps Titone and Bacon and the second led by Representative Lindstedt along with Rep Carter and Sen Amabile and Frizell. The Rodriguez and Lindstedt bills are being used as negotiating tools against one another with the Rodriguez bill being generally more supported by labor unions and the Lindstedt bill generally being more favored by businesses and technology companies. The end result is still very up in the air and changing minute-by-minute. Your GoWest Team is actively working to negotiate amendments and monitor all four bills.

Budget: The remaining 29 bills introduced are all related to the budget. The Democratic majority plans to address the budget shortfall in Colorado by ‘passing a series of bills to close tax loopholes, cut program spending and dip into the state’s budgetary reserves. Some of these bills have bipartisan sponsorship and support while others are solely sponsored by the majority party. Conversely, the Republican Minority are adamant that ‘cutting overspending is the only way to fix the budget gap’ and are running bills both to cut spending for programs that they dislike (generally those that Democrats aim to protect) and to protect some programs that the Democrats are running bills to cut.

One example of this is the State Sales Tax Vendor fee. A bill sponsored by four Democrats aims to eliminate the State Sales Tax Vendor Fee. The bill would eliminate the current provision that allows retailers to keep 4% of their sales tax collections, up to $1,000 per retailer per filing period, to cover their expenses of collecting state sales tax on behalf of the state. Passing this bill is expected to increase state sales tax revenue by $27.6 million in FY 2025-26 and $56.8 million in FY 2026-27. However, two other bills being run by the minority party are attempting to protect and even increase the vendor fee. HB25B-1021 aims to protect and increase the maximum amount a retailer can claim from $1,000 to $2,000 in 2026. HCR25B-1001 aims to refer the matter to the ballot and require voter approval to change this line item in the budget, despite the fact that voter approval is not required under TABOR. This issue is particularly important for credit unions because if the majority party’s effort to eliminate the vendor fee is successful, it could renew the retailers aim to reform interchange in Colorado, including possibly seeing them push to address the issue during special session. Your GoWest team will continue to monitor the bills and defend your interests at the State Capitol.

Check out some great local news coverage to learn more!

Colorado Sun: Taxes, AI and health care: Everything you need to know about Colorado’s special legislative session

Colorado Politics: Colorado special session bills: What you need to know

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Colorado Advocacy.