One of the benefits of being, well, I guess technically, some type of journalist writing here on Colorado Politics, isI get on interesting mailing lists. A while back, some kind soul in the governor’s office added me to the daily press briefing list, so each day I get the press releases related to what Gov. Jared Polis has been up to.

Often this time of year, these emails are a summary of the bills he signed into law. Sometimes the email has information about a single bill, other times up to 20 or more. Many are highly technical bills, such as those that move money around for various purposes. Others are focused on fairly small areas, such as the just signed HB26-1025, that sets rules for auctioneers working for charitable organizations. Frankly, I can’t even guess how many auctioneers work in Colorado, but apparently enough that this bill was thought to be needed.

Other bills are more significant and may affect lots of folks in the Centennial state, such as SB26-032, Promoting Immunization Access. I’d describe this bill as a “pro science” piece of legislation, as Polis said of it, “Vaccines are safe and effective, and in Colorado, we always want to ensure people can make their own choices. From fighting during the pandemic for Coloradans to get vaccines as quickly as possible to combating the Trump administration’s barriers to getting vaccinated, we have expanded access to vaccines for Coloradans who want them. This law will build on that by helping Coloradans make their own informed decisions about health care and protect access.” This bill seeks to improve vaccine access for Colorado across a number of organizations such as pharmacies and schools, and it definitely seems like a step in the right direction, as it is driven by science (it cites the American Academy of Pediatrics, for example). Good work, legislature.

Other new laws are less sweeping in impact but are worthy of mention, as you likely never heard of them. For example, HB26-1040 establishes rights for people with disabilities when it comes to questions of sterilization. Again, I suspect this bill, which seeks to prevent forced sterilization of people with disabilities, but who still retain appropriate mental capacity to make such decisions, is aimed at a relatively small population. Nevertheless, these folks have rights too, and this bill seeks to protect their procreation rights. I confess I don’t know of any of the specific examples this bill might apply to, but like the above bill, it seems like a good idea.

A very interesting new law, SB26-011, may well become a model for the rest of the nation, as questions of online privacy, security and online criminal activity will only increase as time passes. Fundamentally, this bill requires, “operators of certain websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications (covered platforms) to ensure that each covered platform provides a streamlined process to allow Colorado law enforcement agencies to contact the covered platform at all times. The process must, at a minimum, make available a staffed hotline for Colorado law enforcement agencies for the purposes of: Receiving and responding to questions about search warrants; Acknowledging the receipt of a search warrant within eight hours after receipt; and Providing status updates on search warrant compliance to a requesting Colorado law enforcement agency.”

This new law demonstrates a couple of important legal principles. Some legislation is highly technical and serves the purpose of dealing with little details that ultimately make the system work overall.

This law does not address how or when the government might appropriately mitigate online content, but it does establish a technical mechanism that regulators could use if a larger problem arose. This law basically says government agencies need to be able to get ahold of the people who run certain websites, in case there is an emergency. Seems like common sense to me, but legislation was apparently required to properly operationalize day-to-day logistics and oversight.

I’m guessing HB26-1041 is an attempt to help Coloradans live easier lives in the era of everything is online. This new law removes the requirement any vehicle transfers have a physical paper copy of the title. Now, electronic copies of the tile are considered legal and may be used in transactions. I’m guessing this will be a boon to local DMVs and car dealers. As an old guy, this new law never would have occurred to me, perhaps additional evidence we should be electing a younger crowd of leaders, but that is a thought for a later column.

Back when I was teaching American government and the Constitution at the AF Academy, I taught my students legislatures, both national and state, spend most of their time on non-controversial issues. For example, did you know roughly 90% to 95% of the bills passed by the U.S. Senate are passed by unanimous consent? Of course, these are the bills that don’t get national attention but likely have the greatest overall effect on American’s lives.

Colorado law does not allow for unanimous consent (every new law must have come from a recorded vote), but in the last legislative session, some 257 bills passed the two chambers by unanimous votes, which is pretty darn close to unanimous consent.

You’ve heard the phrase, “the devil is in the details,” which is often true, but it is also true most of the time our legislators cooperate and pass lots of bills you never hear of, like the ones I’ve mentioned here (other than the vaccine bill, which I’m guessing some of you heard about?).

Our government works away in the shadows, and we should be grateful for that. Cooperation is the norm, not the exception. And unless you are on the email list of the governor’s office, you may never know about most of these new laws, unless you happen to be one of the people affected by the new legislation.

And, I’d argue, that is a good thing and a good sign of the health of our state legislature.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.