Legislative
The Colorado State Legislature is known as the Colorado General Assembly. It is a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature, composed of the Colorado House of Representatives and the Colorado State Senate.
General legislative elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year. The entire House is elected in each general election. Senators are elected in two classes such that, as nearly as possible, one-half of the senators are elected in each general election.
[Ballotpedia]
Regular sessions are held annually and begin no later than the second Wednesday in January. Regular sessions last no more than 120 days. Special sessions may be called at any time by the governor or upon written request of two-thirds of the members of each house, but are infrequent. Some committees of the General Assembly work between sessions and have limited power to take action without General Assembly approval between legislative sessions.
Most bills adopted by the General Assembly include a "safety clause" (i.e. a legislative declaration that the bill concerns an urgent matter) and take effect on July 1 following the legislative session unless otherwise provided. Some bills are enacted without a "safety clause" which makes it possible to petition to subject those bills to a referendum before they take effect, and have an effective date in August following the legislative session unless otherwise provided.
[Wikipedia]
If both chambers approve a bill it is sent to the governor for his or her action. The governor then has three options once their office receives the bill.
- The governor can sign the bill into law
- Veto the bill
- Let the bill become law without his or her signature
A bill will become law without the governor’s signature after 10 days if they receive the bill during the legislative session, or after 30 days if they receive it after the General Assembly. If the governor vetoes the bill before the General Assembly adjourns, it then goes back to the general assembly for more consideration. If a bill can be approved by two-thirds of the members in each chamber, the veto is then overridden and the bill becomes a law. Vetoes occurring after the General Assembly’s session are final and cannot be overriden.
[Colorado Senate Republicans]
How A Bill Becomes Law In Colorado
CO-CURE's Legislative Tracking
CO-CURE's legislative advocacy is primarily focused on legislation introduced by the Colorado General Assembly during it's regular scheduled session held between January and May of each year.
Through the efforts of CO-CURE's members, we track introduced legislation that has the potential to either positively or negatively impact on those involved with the judicial and correctional system within the State of Colorado. Additionally, we make members aware of Federal legislation that may also have the same potential.
When needed, CO-CURE will identify specific legislation that members may wish to testify on at the General Assembly to provide their own facts and opinions regarding the worthiness of what has been introduced.
The following links contain information obtained from the General Assembly website that will aid members in being able to respond to introduced legislation, as well as identify those members of the Colorado House and Senate judiciary Committees that have initial review of any legislation.
We have also included historical information regarding legislation that has been tracked and the specific legislation that was introduced and tracked by CO-CURE during each session of the General Assembly going back to ####.
Tracking for most current legislative session is displayed below. Updated information on selected Bills of Interest will be provided at end of the Governor's 45 period for signing bills.