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Federal judge, for now, declines to block Colorado’s gas stove disclosure law

By Michael Karlik 08/12/2025 | updated 2 hours ago

A federal judge on Monday declined to block a 2025 Colorado law requiring health disclosures on new gas-fueled stoves, instead suggesting the state work with the challengers to voluntarily halt enforcement in the near-term.

In June, Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1161 into law, which requires retailers of gas stoves to affix a “yellow adhesive label” that reads “UNDERSTAND THE AIR QUALITY IMPLICATIONS OF HAVING AN INDOOR GAS STOVE.” The label must also include a URL or QR code to a webpage created by the state’s health department that provides “credible, evidence-based information on the health impacts of gas-fueled stoves.”

The law was scheduled to take effect on Aug. 6. However, on Aug. 5, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers filed a complaint asserting a single First Amendment violation and seeking an injunction against the law. The trade association alleged HB 1161’s labeling requirement unconstitutionally compels its members to convey a message they disagree with.

The safety risks associated with gas stoves are “neither purely factual nor uncontroversial — there is no scientific consensus that gas stove use causes any health affects — but the labeling requirements force them to speak this message anyway,” wrote lawyers for the association.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office responded to ask U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews to disregard the association’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order. The office pointed out that the motion was three times longer than Crews’ protocols allowed, and more than twice as long as almost every other federal judge in Colorado permits.

Judge S. Kato Crews

The state asked for additional time and pages to respond, which the association did not oppose so long as Crews blocked HB 1161 right away.

In a brief Aug. 11 order, Crews denied the motion for a temporary restraining order. He noted he was only assigned to the case after the trade association filed its complaint and its motion, so the plaintiffs could not have known about his page limits. Still, Crews agreed with the state that the motion “greatly exceeds” his and almost every other judge’s upper limit, plus those of the intermediate appeals and supreme courts.

Consequently, Crews rejected the motion for a temporary restraining order, while asking the state to consider voluntarily giving stove retailers some breathing room on the disclosure requirement.

“The Court strongly encourages Defendants to consider the propriety of a stay of enforcement of HB25-1161 pending a resolution of Plaintiff’s anticipated re-filed motion for injunctive relief,” he wrote.

The case is Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers v. Hunsaker Ryan et al.

Michael Karlik

Reporter

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