A slew of legislation tackling housing, guns and taxes dominated this year’s legislative session, which is expected to wrap up on Wednesday night after 120 days of hearings, debates and behind-the-scenes negotiations that culminated in the passage of several landmark bills.   

Notably, the 2024 session ended with a series of bipartisan proposals that resulted from intense negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, along with other organizations. 

The state Capitol was, at times, the scene of fierce partisanship but also of kumbaya moments.   

The 120th and final day of the 2024 legislative session began with 66 bills, out of a total of 705 introduced, awaiting their final fate.

One of the last bills to pass the General Assembly was Senate Bill 233, which supporters expect to cut $3.7 billion in property tax relief over the next three years. The measure won a 57-6 vote in the House on Wednesday afternoon; the Senate concurred with House amendments.

In many ways, that the property tax proposal was the final bill to receive approval underscored this session’s oscillations between instances of cooperation and fights, both between the parties and also among the Democratic majority.   

The vote over S223 was delayed for a few hours, while lawmakers and supporters tried to work out a deal with Colorado Concern, a CEO-based group that advocates for a pro-business environment, over the timeline for reducing the assessment rate for commercial buildings.

Initially, the bill set that timelines at two years — to go from 29% to 25% — but it was amended to three years. Colorado Concern, according to Speaker Pro tem Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, had hoped to get it back to two years. 

In return, lawmakers wanted a pledge by Colorado Concern to support SB 233 and back off of supporting two ballot measures, including one that’s already on the November ballot that would cut property taxes more steeply but without backfilling lost revenue for schools and local governments. 

Several more bills fell by the wayside in the last 24 hours, including one intended to shake up the Regional Transportation District’s board.

House Bill 1447, the bill seeking significant changes to RTD, died Tuesday night on the calendar of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Democrat-sponsored bill sought to require RTD to develop a 10-year strategic plan by September 2027, notably details on how the agency would increase ridership, improve transparency, update parking policies, and support state and regional climate, housing, and transportation goals.

As introduced, the bill would have changed the makeup of the RTD board by reducing the number of elected members and adding appointed seats. That was met with resistance from the RTD board and several others, who claimed the changes would likely result in the board not having any minority representation.

Several significant bills got their final approvals on the session’s last day, including a measure to create a new Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund mechanism that included an income tax rate cut.

In sharp contrast to the final day of the 2023 session, the mood in the House and Senate was decidedly relaxed and even playful, and included tributes to departing members in both chambers.

Housing

Although housing was the major issue of the 2023 session, the major housing bill of that year was defeated on the final day.

Housing also took center stage in 2024, with lawmakers tackling dozens of bills, instead of an “omnibus” or all-in-one measure, as was the case last year.

About 20 bills attempted to address the state’s affordable housing crisis, and most passed.

Here are the major housing bills:

House Bill 1313 mandates 31 municipalities located within five metropolitan planning organizations on the Front Range and in Grand Junction to incorporate housing density goals along transit routes. The bill initially contained penalties for municipalities that refused to obey its mandates. That language was stripped by the Senate and it won final approval in the chamber on Tuesday with a 19-16 vote. The House approved the amendments, and lawmakers sent the bill to the governor.

House Bill 1259 prevents landlords and other building owners from what they described as price-gouging rent during a natural disaster. It was sponsored by Rep. Kyle Brown, D-Louisville, whose district, he said, felt squeezed during the Marshall fire in 2021.

House Bill 1152, a rare bipartisan bill that made it to the finish line, also applies to metropolitan planning organizations and requires local governments to allow accessory dwelling units, also known as granny flats or tiny homes, on single-family properties. The measure includes an $8 million grant program through the Department of Local Affairs and won final approval on Tuesday with the House’s adoption of Senate amendments.

House Bill 1175, which received final approval on Wednesday, allows local governments the right of first refusal to purchase affordable multifamily housing.

House Bill 1098 requires landlords to show cause for evicting residential tenants. Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law on April 19.

Finally, House Bill 1007 lifts limitations on the number of unrelated people who could live in rental properties. Polis signed into law on April 15.

What did not make it:

Construction defects: Two major measures attempted to change the state’s construction defects law, but negotiations failed, and both bills died this week. A third bill requiring a study of liability insurance costs for construction companies, a major issue cited by home builders for not building condos, also failed to advance this week.

House Bill 1239 would have required local governments to allow a single exit to serve five stories of a multifamily residential building. It failed largely because first responders complained that such a scenario could be dangerous.

Taxes

Every year, Gov. Jared Polis calls on lawmakers to work on reducing the state’s income tax rate. While Republicans have offered measures year after year, it has been a nonstarter for Democrats.

Until this year.

Senate Bill 228 brought both sides to the table: Democrats who wanted Polis to sign off on certain tax credits and Republicans who have always wanted income tax rate reductions. The measure won final support in the House on Wednesday.

The effort to address skyrocketing property taxes also received a bipartisan boost in the session’s final three days with Senate Bill 233, which reduces property tax assessment rates for homeowners and commercial building owners. It’s a sharp contrast to the property tax bill that turned into Proposition HH, which voters overwhelmingly rejected at the ballot box last November.  

Ballot measures

Lawmakers are sending three requests to voters to change the Colorado Constitution in November.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 asks voters to remove language banning same-sex marriages from the state constitution. That was approved by voters in 2006 but deemed void with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages in 2015.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 makes a one-week change in certain election deadlines.

House Concurrent Resolution 1002 asks voters to ensure that those charged with first-degree murder are not bail-eligible.

What did not make it:

A request to voters to bar lawmakers chosen by vacancy committees from running in the succeeding election; a measure to retroactively extend the statute of limitations on child sex abuse, which failed by one vote in the Senate; a cap on property tax revenue growth; and, Republican efforts on school choice and a parent’s “bill of rights.”

Guns

Democratic lawmakers continued their campaign for gun control this year via a dozen measures, but major wins on some issues remained elusive to the majority party.

House Bill 1174, which will require more stringent training to obtain a concealed carry permit, won final approval in late April.

Under Senate Bill 3, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation would be tasked with investigating illegal firearms transfers and other violations of state firearms law.

Senate Bill 131, which among its provisions bans lawmakers from bringing firearms into the state Capitol, won final approval on Tuesday.

Voters, meanwhile, will be asked to approve a new excise tax on firearms under House Bill 1349, which won final approval on Wednesday.

Finally, after several attempts at compromise between the House and Senate, the Senate approved a measure dealing with the safe storage of firearms on Wednesday.

What did not make it:

For the second year in a row, progressive Democrats’ efforts to pass a bill banning so-called “assault weapons” failed to win passage. The 2024 version made it further than the one a year earlier, making it to the state Senate before being postponed by its sponsor on Tuesday.

A firearms insurance bill that would have required renters or homeowners who own guns to hold liability insurance in case of accidental or unintentional discharge died on the Senate calendar on Wednesday.