More than half of Colorado lawmakers received perfect scores for their work addressing mental health issues during the 2023 legislative session. 

The advocacy organization Mental Health Colorado released its annual legislative scorecard on Thursday. In addition to grading each lawmaker, the report applauded the session, as a whole, for taking steps to “remove systemic barriers to care and improve the quality of health services.”  

“For too long, Colorado has lagged far behind when it comes to ensuring everyone in our state can access timely, high quality, affordable mental health and substance use services,” said Mental Health Colorado CEO Vincent Atchity. “Thankfully, Colorado lawmakers have been working hard to address this crisis, as evidenced by the 58 lawmakers who received perfect scores.”

This year’s scorecard graded lawmakers based on their votes on six bills that were passed and signed into law during the 2023 legislative session: 

• Senate Bill 174 (support): Requires Medicaid to cover behavioral health care for members under the age of 21 without a formal diagnosis. 
• House Bill 1013 (support): Restricts the use of clinical four-point restraints in prisons beginning in 2027. 
• House Bill 1268 (support): Streamlines access to substance use treatment for people serving a criminal sentence in Colorado for a conviction in another state. 
• Senate Bill 176 (support): Prohibits insurance providers from denying coverage of eating disorder treatment due to weight standards, and restricts the sale of diet pills to minors.
• House Bill 1003 (support): Creates a mental health assessment program for Colorado middle and high school students. 
• House Bill 1167 (support): Extends Good Samaritan immunity to people reporting or seeking aid for substance overdoses. 

The scorecard also considered lawmakers’ positions on two bills that failed to pass the legislature: 

• Senate Bill 109 (oppose): Would have made distributing drugs a Level 1 felony if it results in a user’s death and weighs more than a certain amount. 
• House Bill 1202 (support): Would have let local governments allow sites where people can use illegal drugs under supervision of medical professionals. 

Mental Health Colorado gave 58 lawmakers scores of 100%, meaning they voted with the organization’s stance on all eight of the bills. The 58 lawmakers who received perfect scores were all Democrats, 42 of whom were in the House. 

The organization honored four lawmakers specifically, recognizing them as “legislators of the year.”

Democrat Rep. Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Republican Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton and Republican Sen. Byron Pelton of Sterling were all named “Legislators of the Year” for sponsoring HB 1268 – Lukens was also recognized for sponsoring SB 174. Denver Democrat Sen. Julie Gonzales was awarded for defeating and defending substance use-related bills as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Of the four awardees, only Gonzales got a perfect score from Mental Health Colorado this session. Lukens received an 86% and both Evans and Pelton received a 29%.  

Three lawmakers got scores of 0%, meaning they voted against the organization’s stance on all eight bills. All three were House Republicans: Reps. Scott Bottoms of Colorado Springs, Ron Weinberg of Loveland and Don Wilson of Monument. 

The full list of scores for all lawmakers, as well as how they voted on each of the eight bills, is available at mentalhealthcolorado.org.

Mental Health Colorado, founded in 1953, advocates for Coloradans with mental health and substance use conditions. The organization’s board includes Doug Muir, behavioral health initiatives director of Centura Health; Shannon Van Deman, former vice president of Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Pediatric Mental Health Institute; and, Patrick Fox, Medicaid market president of Elevance Health.

The organization has released legislative scorecards each year since 2016.