Many new and updated laws took effect in Colorado Jan. 1

As the first regular session of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly begins today, Estes Valley residents should be aware of an array of measures enacted by the Colorado General Assembly during 2024—touching on everything from public safety to environmental protections and business practices to local governance-—that took effect this past week.

Here’s a breakdown of the most significant updates and what they mean for residents and businesses in Larimer County.

Key changes to public safety

One of the most notable new laws is one that mandates hands-free driving. SB 24-065 generally bans drivers from holding mobile devices while operating a vehicle. The new law forbids drivers from watching videos or engaging in video game play while operating a vehicle and from writing, reading, or sending text messaging of any kind.

There are some exceptions, such as in emergency situations, but Estes Valley residents who regularly navigate the region’s busy roads should take care to use hands-free technology, such as Bluetooth headsets or dashboard mounts, for authorized mobile device uses such as telephone calls.

Violators face fines starting at $75 and two points on their driver’s license, with harsher penalties for repeat offenses. But the General Assembly specified that law enforcement officers are prohibited from issuing a ticket unless he or she sees a person “use a mobile electronic device in a manner that caused the individual to drive in a careless and imprudent manner, without due regard for the width, grade, curves, corners, traffic, and use of the streets and highways and all other attendant circumstances.”

HB 24-1055 significantly updates Colorado’s child passenger safety laws, making them among the most comprehensive in the nation. This new law extends age requirements for child safety restraints and introduces stricter guidelines for the use of rear-facing, forward-facing, and booster seats.

Children under 2 years old and weighing less than 40 pounds must now be secured in rear-facing seats, while older children up to age 9 must use appropriate booster seats. The legislation also mandates seat belt use for children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 18 years.

Recognizing disparities in proper restraint use, the law includes public education initiatives funded through federal grants to inform families about these changes. Emergency exceptions ensure flexibility in life-threatening situations. HB 24-1055 brings Colorado’s child passenger safety requirements into conformity with 2018 recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Another public safety measure, HB 24-1348, requires firearm owners to secure their weapons out of sight when stored in unattended vehicles. Acceptable methods include locked trunks, glove compartments, or other fully enclosed containers. This law addresses concerns about firearm thefts and unauthorized access. The new law includes an exception for firearms that are not handguns and that are used on a farm or ranch, persons who live in a recreational vehicle, active duty military personnel and law enforcement officers, and some hunting activities.

Firearms owners should be aware that a new law sets minimum standards for training classes used to obtain a concealed carry permit. HB24-1174 provides that, as of July 1, the class must include instruction on

• the safe handling of firearms and ammunition;
• safe storage of firearms and child safety;
• safe shooting fundamentals;
• federal and state laws that relate to lawful purchase, ownership, transportation, use, and possession of firearms;
• state law on the use of deadly force for self-defense;
• best practices for safely interacting with law enforcement personnel who are responding to an emergency; and
• techniques for avoiding a criminal attack and how to manage a violent confrontation, including conflict resolution and judgmental use of lethal force. The class also must include a written competency exam and a live-fire exercise and include at least eight hours of instruction.

Also as of July 1, this new law also requires renewal of concealed carry permits and the applicant for renewal to show handgun competency.

Economic and environmental impacts

Senate Bill 24-024 standardizes the collection and reporting of local lodging taxes across Colorado, addressing inconsistencies that have long burdened lodging providers, and will allow tax filers to report local lodging taxes on sale tax returns. The law also establishes clear guidelines for marketplace facilitators, such as Airbnb, to ensure they collect and remit taxes accurately on behalf of lodging operators.

The effect will likely be a more predictable business environment, particularly for small operators and those relying on online platforms, which will also encourage compliance and reduce the administrative burden for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions. Importantly, the legislation also safeguards local governments’ ability to conduct audits when necessary.

A law enacted in 2020, HB 20-1343, that regulates the way farmers confine fowl took full effect on the first day of 2025. Poultry farmers who run large operations must now assure that hens have one square foot of “usable floor space” if each if the hens have “unfettered access to vertical space” or 1.5 square feet of usable floor space per hen if that vertical space is unavailable. The requirement applies only to farmers who raise more than 3,000 hens.

Retailers who sell eggs must assure that they sell only those eggs produced in cage-free facilities. This can be done by obtaining a relevant certificate from the state’s commissioner of agriculture.

Healthcare and accessibility

Estes Valley residents who are transitioning between health insurance plans will benefit from SB 24-093. This law allows individuals to continue receiving care from their current healthcare providers, even if those providers are not in the network of a new insurer. This provision applies under specific conditions and is designed to prevent disruptions in medical care.

A law enacted in 2023, SB 23-189, requires health benefit plans that cover sexually-transmitted infections to do so, effective on the first day of 2025, without cost sharing no matter the covered person’s gender. That law also mandates that the coverage include human immunodeficiency virus prevention drugs and associated services.

All children and pregnant women in the state can, as of this month, apply for coverage under the Health First Colorado and the Child Health Plans Plus programs. That 2022 mandate, included in HB 22-1289, applies to all immigrants, regardless of documented status. Income and household income eligibility standards govern access to Colorado’s public healthcare system under that Cover All Coloradans law.

HB 24-1342 ensures that private or government organizations that administer licensing or trade exams provide appropriate accommodations for individuals with disabilities without requiring a diagnostic evaluation or psychological assessment. The new law allows for an affected citizen or the attorney general to sue in an effort to force compliance.

Legal and consumer protections

A range of legal changes also went into effect, including several included in HB 24-1472. That new law increases the maximum allowable damages in civil lawsuits. For general non-economic losses, the cap as of Jan. 1 is $1.5 million, up from $250,000, and for wrongful death cases the damages maximum is now $2.125 million. A plaintiff could recover no more than $1.575 million, with the new maximum instituted over five years, in a successful medical malpractice wrongful death case. The non-economic damages limit in medical malpractice cases has also gone from $300,000 to $875,000 over five years. All of these damage caps are subject to adjustment for inflation.

A new law relating to the availability of protective orders for crime victims streamlines the process for victims to obtain protective orders. HB 24-1122 makes clear that a request for that kind of court order can be made in any county where the acts leading to the effort to seek an order have occurred. The new law also forbids service of the request for a protective order on the person to whom it would apply if the order is denied and, if the order is based on the threatened, attempted, or actual use of physical force, it must include language that forbids possession of firearms and ammunition.

Colorado is now among the states that have adopted a uniform law that relates to digital estate planning documents. Under HB24-1248 the state’s residents can now both digitally store and electronically sign those documents. The Centennial State is the third to adopt the Uniform Non-Testamentary Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act, which was adopted by the Uniform Law Commission in 2022.

A law enacted in 2022 that regulates the sale and distribution of products containing toxic substances known as PFAS chemicals now extends, as of Jan. 1, to cosmetics, furniture, and carpets. Those compounds are linked to increased risks of kidney and testicular cancer, endocrine system disruption, reduced vaccine efficacy and possible immune system suppression, reproductive and developmental effects including low birth weight infants and childhood development delays, and liver and kidney damage.

HB22-1345 previously began to cover fabric treatments, food packaging, juvenile products, and oil and gas products and required disclosure of the existence of PFAS chemicals in cookware. It also bans the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam.

Additional significant laws

HB24-1095: This new law strengthens labor protections for workers under 18, regulating working hours, conditions, and permissible duties. It also increases penalties for wage theft affecting juvenile workers and requires records of wage theft affecting minors to be public. 

HB24-1220: This measure revises workers’ compensation provisions to allow for a higher aggregate level of payment and requires adjustment of those limits each year. The General Assembly also mandated that an injured worker can, in some circumstances, refuse an offer of modified employment and that workers’ compensation be paid via direct deposit if the injured worker requests it.

SB24-167: This legislation establishes standardized training requirements for new workers at assisted living facilities and mandates that those workers be fitted for a respiratory mask and take a tuberculosis test. About 10% of tuberculosis cases originate in long-term residential care establishments.

SB24-182: Under this enacted bill, the Colorado Road and Community Safety Act, the state may issue a driver’s license or identification card to some undocumented immigrants. To be eligible, the immigrant must produce either an unexpired or recently expired passport, consular identification card, or military identification issued by her or his country of origin. This new law takes effect March 31.

SB24-210: This law makes numerous changes to the state’s election code, including lowering the age for voter pre-registration from 16 years to 15 years. It also establishes some prerequisites that must be met in the event the state adopts a ranked voting system similar to that proposed and defeated by the electorate last year.

SB24-226: This expansion allows individuals other than parents to open College Kickstarter accounts for eligible children and expands eligibility to claim funding from the account to eight years, up from five. The College Kickstarter program was set up in 2019 and provides a nominal amount of initial college funding to every child born or adopted in the state after Jan. 1, 2020.

SB22-224: This 2022 law requires, as of Jan. 1, that fertility clinics and sperm or egg banks collect donor identities and medical histories. It also mandates that those facilities “make a good-faith effort to maintain current contact information and updates on [the] medical history of the donor by requesting updates from the donor at least once every three years.”