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Colorado Senate kicks off 2026 session with bills on competency law, housing, schools and public safety

By January 14, 2026 | updated 1 day ago

Sen.William Lindstedt (D) gets a kick out of Sen. Larry Liston (R) during a speech they made during a visit to the Colorado House of Representatives on the first day of legislation at the Colorado State Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)

The Colorado Senate opened the 2026 legislative session Wednesday with a flurry of policy proposals, including changes to the state’s competency law, tougher penalties for child trafficking, early action on school funding and measures addressing housing, firearms and immigration enforcement.

The first of several expected bills addressing the state’s competency law was introduced at the start of the 2026 legislative session.

Senate Bill 14, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Judy Amabile of Boulder and Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Commerce City, arose from an interim committee on behavioral health disorders in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

It permits community placement of a defendant for treatment and rehabilitation and clarifies the legal standard for a defendant’s release from the Department of Human Services.

It won’t be the only bill on the competency issue. Amabile told Colorado Politics she’s working on another.

Last week, a bipartisan quartet of lawmakers announced a bill to change the penalties for those who use children for sexual exploitation purposes. Senate Bill 15 will change the penalty from a Class 4 to a Class 3 felony, which would remove any chance of probation for those convicted of child trafficking.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers have complained for years that the School Finance Act is introduced too late in the legislative session, usually after the General Assembly has finished its work on the budget.

Not this year. The School Finance Act, sponsored by Sen. Chris Kolker, D-Littleton, and Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, was among the first measures rolled out on Wednesday.

Under the bill, per-pupil funding would increase by $217.30 to $8,909.10. The bill’s total K-12 budget is $10.2 billion.

The first bill introduced in the Senate on Wednesday deals with workforce housing and housing tax credits, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Dylan Roberts of Frisco and Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village. Senate Bill 1 would allow county commissioners to use property tax revenue or other general fund revenue for workforce housing and for housing authorities.

The state’s “red flag” law, which allows law enforcement, educators, and mental health professionals to seek the removal of firearms from someone who is a danger to themselves or others, could be tweaked under a bill offered by Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Aurora.

Senate Bill 4 would expand the categories of those who can seek extreme risk protection orders to include mental health facilities that employ the mental health professionals pursuing the action; school districts and higher education institutions that employ faculty or teachers who seek those orders; and hospitals and behavioral health facilities that provide crisis services. The bill also adds faculty at community colleges, area technical colleges, and local district colleges to those who can seek the orders.

Finally, Democratic Sens. Julie Gonzales of Denver and Mike Weissman of Aurora are sponsoring Senate Bill 5, which would allow injured individuals to sue those involved in federal civil immigration enforcement actions.

Marianne Goodland

Reporter

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