by Michael Dohr
For a casual observer of the Colorado General Assembly, the process may seem chaotic and disorganized, and seasoned veterans of the General Assembly can attest to the chaos and uncertainty. But behind the constant hive of activity, there are rules intended to keep the General Assembly on track to sine die. Those rules include deadlines that determine when bills must be requested, introduced, heard in committee, considered on the floor, and ultimately passed. Did you know those deadlines changed in the 2024 session?
During the 2024 session, the General Assembly adopted SJR 24-001, Changes to the Deadline Schedule. Prior to 2024, the deadlines had not changed for decades, but the way the General Assembly operates has changed, and the former deadlines became a mismatch for the current General Assembly. One of the most notable changes in the General Assembly’s operation was the introduction of SMART act hearings at which the committees
of reference hear presentations from the departments and agencies that each committee oversees and from stakeholders that frequently appear before the committee.
From 2014 to 2019, the SMART act hearings were held in December before a new session would begin. Since 2020, the SMART act hearings have been held during the first two weeks of session. The result was the General Assembly was usually not hearing bills when SMART act hearings were conducted. But according to the old deadlines, three-fifths of the bills were supposed to be introduced by the seventh day of session. That meant there were a lot of introduced bills, but no committees to hear them. It also meant that a lot of bills received introduction deadline extensions. SJR 24-001 aimed to change that.
SJR 24-001 changed the deadlines for when bills needed to be introduced. Each session, each member may introduce five bills unless granted additional bills. The five bills are designated as 1 prefile bill, 2 early bills, and 2 regular bills. This chart shows how the introduction deadlines changed.
| Old Deadline | New Deadline | |
| Prefile Bill | Day 1 | Day 1 |
| Senate 2 Early Bills | Day 3 | Day 10 |
| House 2 Early Bills | Day 7 | Day 17 |
| Senate 2 Regular Bills | Day 17 | Day 24 |
| House 2 Regular Bills | Day 22 | Day 31 |
The changes resulted in spreading out the introduction of early and regular bills to four consecutive Fridays with all the bills introduced within the first month of session. The previous deadline schedule was more compact with all the bills introduced within almost the first three weeks and had some deadlines within the same week. The change in the deadlines in 2024 gave members and Office of Legislative Legal Service attorneys more time to work on the bills before introduction, which resulted in more bills being introduced within the deadlines and fewer deadline extensions being granted.
With later introduction deadlines, the deadlines for committees to hear bills and for bills to be considered
on the floor had to change as well. For example, the deadline for committees to hear bills in the first house, other than the appropriations committee, was extended 15 days. Correspondingly, the time for each house to pass its bills on the floor was extended by 16 days.
With all the changes, you may wonder if any of the deadlines stayed the same. Some did. The deadlines for submitting bill requests and the deadlines related to the introduction, consideration, and passage of the long bill did not change. The deadline to request and introduce resolutions and memorials also remained the same. The bill to fund public schools also still must be passed by the 101st legislative day.
With fewer individual deadline extensions needed in 2024, it appears SJR 24-001 resulted in a bit of a smoother session. We will see in the coming sessions whether the deadline changes result in a more serene 120 days of legislative activity.
Click here for the deadline schedule for the 2025 Colorado General Assembly.
