Coloradans may soon be eligible for in-state college tuition after only one year of residency, thanks to new legislation approved by the state legislature on Wednesday.

If signed into law, House Bill 1155 would shorten Colorado’s residency requirement for in-state tuition from the current three years to one year prior to enrollment. Students would also need to have graduated from a high school or completed a high school equivalency exam in Colorado.

“An educated workforce is a strong workforce,” said bill sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver. “We are really, through this policy, seeking to help employers as much as we are seeking to help students and college administrators.”

More than 200 additional students would be eligible for in-state tuition each year under the bill, according to state estimates.

This comes as Colorado’s annual college enrollment has decreased each year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, falling by 5.2% from 2019 to 2020 alone, according to data from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

The bipartisan-sponsored bill passed the Senate in a 25-9 vote Wednesday, after the House approved the bill in a 41-19 vote earlier this month. In both chambers, only Republicans voted against the bill.

Some opposed the bill because it would build off of the ASSET Bill passed in 2013, which allowed undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition. The new bill would remove ASSET’s requirement that undocumented students be admitted to college within one year of graduating high school in order to receive in-state tuition.

“During the pandemic, we had a number of people who wanted to or were unable to enroll … particularly for ASSET students who did not enroll within that one-year time period after graduating in either 2020 or 2021,” Gonzales said. “They lost their ability to pursue higher education.”

In the House, bill sponsor Rep. Perry Will, R-New Castle, urged his Republican colleagues to put aside their opinions on immigration to support the bill, saying it would bolster the state’s workforce to make sure local businesses can find and retain employees who already live in their communities.

“We truly need this,” Will said. “Having a workforce in these mountain communities is critical and this really helps with serving our businesses.”

Besides Will, a total of seven Republican lawmakers voted in support of the bill in the House and Senate, while 38 voted in opposition.

Other Republican opponents argued that expanding in-state tuition could push the cost difference onto other Coloradans. However, the state’s nonpartisan analysts estimate the bill would increase the number of students enrolled in higher education, actually increasing the amount of tuition revenue collected and spent by schools.

The bill will now be sent to Gov. Jared Polis for final consideration in the coming weeks.