The Colorado legislature voted to designate Juneteenth as an official state holiday Monday, sending the proposal to Gov. Jared Polis for its final approval.

The state House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 139 recognizing the holiday in a 61-2 vote. The bill received substantial bipartisan support – previously passing the state Senate in a 32-1 vote last month – though all three lawmakers who voted against the bill are Republicans. 

“This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue,” said Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver. “We have to reckon with our very tough past of slavery and what this country was built upon. But we also have to honor the freedoms that have come and the liberation that is here.”

Herod led the bill with two other Black lawmakers: Aurora Democrat Sen. Janet Buckner and Denver Democrat Sen. James Coleman.

Juneteenth, also called Freedom Day and Emancipation Day, celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The holiday recognizes June 19, when Major General Gordon Granger announced slaves in Texas were free in 1865. This announcement came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln declared the end of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation.

Coloradans have celebrated Juneteenth for decades, including through the annual Juneteenth parade and music festival in Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood. The celebration is one of the largest in the country, attracting around 50,000 attendees each year, according to event organizers. Five Points’ first official Juneteenth celebration was held in 1953.

“This should’ve been a holiday well over a century ago,” said Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock. “It’s long overdue and I think this is a great way to celebrate it. It’s something that we should celebrate as we move forward as a country.”

The bill’s approval comes 10 months after Juneteenth National Independence Day was made a federal holiday – the first since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983 – and more than a year after the city of Denver established Juneteenth as an official city commemorative holiday.

If the bill is signed by Polis, Juneteenth will be Colorado’s 11th state holiday, during which most schools and state services are closed. This would be the first change to Colorado’s state holidays since 2020, when lawmakers repealed Columbus Day, replacing it with Frances Xavier Cabrini Day.