A slew of elected Democratic officials on Monday asked the legislature to delay the implementation of a measure enacted last year that would impose a first-in-the-nation regulatory structure around the use of artificial intelligence in employment, health care, education and governments.

The letter to the General Assembly comes in the wake of the failure of a proposal this year intended to resolve what many said are problems around the 2024 measure, whose implementation date is slated for Feb. 1, 2026.

Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette and Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, made the request to lawmakers just hours after Senate Bill 25-318 was killed in a Senate committee. 

Over the past year, stakeholders and legislators together have worked to find an agreement on the AI regulatory framework created by Senate Bill 24-205. The law seeks to lower the risk of “algorithmic discrimination” in AI-based decision-making technology. 

“The stakeholder collaboration that took place over many months leading up to and during the 2025 legislative session brought many ideas, concerns, and priorities to the table from a wide range of communities,” the letter said. “However, with just hours remaining in the 2025 legislative session, it is clear that more time is needed to continue important stakeholder work to ensure that Colorado’s artificial intelligence regulatory law is effective and implementable.”

The Democrats asked the Colorado General Assembly to act now in order to delay the implementation of SB 24-205 until January, 2027.  

“This pause will allow consumer advocates, Colorado’s business community, and other states to collaborate on a balanced, future-ready framework — one that protects privacy and fairness without stifling innovation or driving business away from our state,” they said. 

The failure of SB 318 took place in the Senate Business Affairs and Labor Committee on Monday, when its sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, asked the committee to postpone the bill indefinitely. He had the option of seeking a delay in the 2024 law’s implementation date, and he had an amendment to postpone it until April 1, 2026.

Another amendment from Sen. Mark Baisley, R-Woodland Park, would have delayed the bill to January 2027. 

The committee never considered either amendments. Had the committee adopted the April 2026 delay from Rodriguez, there was a chance the Senate would have adopted the Baisley amendment to delay until January 2027.

There are no other options left in the 2025 session for that delay.

A bill to delay until January 2027 would require a late bill permission, and sources said that might be impossible with just hours left on Monday. The Senate is currently debating House Bill 1312, which deals with transgender issues. That debate is expected to go past midnight. 

Monday is the final day for any bill to be introduced in the General Assembly that would have a chance of passage by midnight on Wednesday, when the General Assembly adjourns.

However, that doesn’t mean there are no avenues at all for that implementation delay. 

It’s not uncommon for lawmakers to rush bills through in the first days of the next legislative session in order to fix problems that surface in the interim, and a proposal to delay SB 24-205 in the session’s opening days next year could be on the governor’s desk before the Feb. 1, 2026 implementation date. 

The other option is for the legislature to hold a special session, and a conversation around that possibility is already alive in the state Capitol. The Colorado Sun reported last week the possibility of a special session to deal with cuts to federal Medicaid funding, and a special session call from the governor could include a request for a delay on the AI law.