The state legislature approved a measure Thursday to create an emergency stockpile of supplies to prepare Colorado for the next potential pandemic.

If signed by Gov. Jared Polis, House Bill 1352 would spend nearly $2 million each year to maintain a supply of face masks, gloves and other medical-grade personal protective equipment to distribute to hospitals, vaccine clinics, schools, community centers and other organizations if the governor declares a disaster emergency.

Sponsors of the bill said Colorado was woefully unprepared for COVID-19, with frontline hospital workers forced to reuse single-use masks and gowns due to a lack of supplies in the early days of the pandemic.

“The pandemic has really made it clear to us that we have vulnerabilities, and we need to be ready for that,” said Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Boulder, who is sponsoring the bill. “We need to have more planning ahead of time to make sure we can respond to those emergencies.”

State public health officials said, when the COVID-19 pandemic first reached Colorado in early 2020, the national supply chain quickly crumbled. Colorado spent approximately $50 million on PPE by June 2020, said Amanda Hettinger, director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Kevin Klein, director of the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the state nearly entered a $10 million contract to buy PPE, before they found out at the last minute that the seller had forged the documents.

The bill passed the Senate in a 20-13 vote on Thursday, with all Democrats voting in support and all Republicans voting in opposition. The House previously approved the bill in April in a similar 42-21 mostly party-line vote.

Some opponents said the bill was too vague and questioned the source of the funding, while others criticized the practicality of preparing for future pandemics at all.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but it feels to me that you’re focusing on another (pandemic) similar to what we just experienced,” said Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, who voted against the bill. “What if we have some other pandemic when a ventilator is not the appropriate avenue? How do we deal with that?”

Director of Emergency Management Michael Willis said the bill provides flexibility for what they can stockpile and requires coordination with state health department to make sure they’re stockpiling in a forward-thinking way, instead of just relying on information from COVID-19.

Under the bill, the stockpile could even include other essential materials like shelf-stable foods and diapers.

“We all learned a painful lesson about the fragility of the supply system,” Willis said. “This is an important step for making sure Colorado is more prepared to face the next disaster.”