Several speeches from Colorado legislators this week have raised new worries about decorum and grandstanding in the state House after two members talked about immigration and Iran using what’s called a “point of personal privilege.”

Under the rules of the chamber, moments of personal privilege are allowed for a member to speak for up to five minutes on matters that “may collectively affect the House, its rights, its dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings, or the rights, reputation, and conduct of its individual members in their respective capacities only.”

In the last few days, two legislators talked about immigration and the war in the Middle East, prompting a Republican leader to caution the chamber about not venturing outside of what’s permissible under the rules.

“The institution is important and these rules exist to protect it,” House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, a Republican from Monument, said. “The rules are clear a point of personal privilege is not meant to grandstand policy or advance a political agenda.”

Caldwell noted there have been three recent instances, in which personal privilege was used to advance policy arguments.

On Monday, Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs, used her personal privilege to criticize the Garfield County Sheriff, who had shared a photo of Velasco at a “No Kings” protest in an email thread.

“Our district 57 state representative… aren’t you proud of her? What a POS,” Velasco quoted the email as saying.

The email had gone to a task force of local law enforcement and federal officers and some responded with insensitive comments, the Democrat said.

Velasco then began criticizing the federal government, specifically U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She claimed that the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office isn’t complying with state laws that ban local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE. She also also talked at length about the 2025 immigration law, as well as the governor’s decision to cooperate with Homeland Security on an administrative warrant seeking personally identifiable information on immigrants.

That case had revolved an administrative subpoena demanding that the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment produce personal information on dozens of immigrants. The subpoena claimed it needed that information to determine if “unaccompanied alien children” in the custody of those individuals to decide whether they were safe and not being used for human trafficking or other forms of exploitation.

The second incident occurred Tuesday, when Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins, spoke first about her Iranian heritage and family and then criticized the U.S. government for attacking Iran.

“The past weekend brought a complicated range of emotions for me,” she began.

Iranian leaders have the blood of tens of thousands of their own people on their hands and they have oppressed women, and that’s why her family left Iran, she said.

“American imperialism has never resulted in successful regime change, and the U.S. invasion of the Middle East” has led to high death tolls and instability, she said, leaving the region “with less humanitarian rights.”

“We bombed a school that left more than 100 little girls dead,” she added. “We are glossing over the humanity of Iranians.”

She called for and to the war with Iran and asked her fellow House members to do the same.

“This is a difficult and complicated time for my community,” she said.

Caldwell, who spoke on Wednesday, said legislators are setting the wrong precedent.

“The credibility of this institution relies on traditions precedence and following the very rules we vote on ourselves. The precedent we’re setting in the first 50 days of the 2026 session is that Points of Personal Privilege are a substitute for personal grievances intertwined with political messaging,” Caldwell told the silent House.

It’s not the first time that the legislature has had to grapple with the boundaries of speech on the floor.

In a memo sent to all House members at the beginning of the 2025 session, House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, wrote that her responsibility is to maintain decorum. Members, she said, would have to submit a 24 hours’ notice to request personal privilege.

The memo also stated that if the member “deviates from the topic of the initial request or violates decorum during their remarks, the Speaker maintains the authority to direct the member to stay within the House’s guidelines of decorum.”

McCluskie did not stop or otherwise address Zokaie or Velasco during their comments this week.

On Wednesday, Caldwell, took to the podium for his own moment of personal privilege, in which he said he did not intend to debunk or offer different perspectives on the recent comments.  

Caldwell suggested he, too, could make his own politically-charged comments, such as criticizing the House for regulation that forced a small business in his district to close, or blame the chamber for someone being harmed in a crime while waiting for a three-day background check.

Expressing political opinions can be done through social media, opinion pieces, news releases or a town hall, Caldwell said. Or someone could run a resolution that would allow for opposing views and differing opinions, he suggested.

But not, he emphasized, during a personal privilege.

In the last two months, he said, the legislature is setting up the wrong precedent.

“The credibility of this institution relies on traditions precedence and following the very rules we vote on ourselves. The precedent we’re setting in the first 50 days of the 2026 session is that points of personal privilege are a substitute for personal grievances intertwined with political messaging,” Caldwell told the House.

“As a body we have all made a commitment to decorum in this chamber and if we want this institution to retain credibility then we must enforce and respect the rules voted on by us that govern it,” Caldwell concluded.

In a 2006 white paper, the National Conference on State Legislatures said decorum is essential to policymaking, since it creates an appropriately formal atmosphere, encourages order and places focus on the issues, rather than the person speaking.

The white paper also noted that legislators’ cooperation is crucial in preserving decorum: “Their actions, awareness of their rights and duties, and knowledge and observance of procedure and rules are perhaps the most critical way to maintain decorum.”