Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday signed a bill that broadens Colorado’s power to conduct health and safety inspections at federal immigration detention centers and requires the Attorney General’s Office to craft a policy on when personally identifying information must be shared with federal immigration authorities under state or federal law.

House Bill 1276 — sponsored by Reps. Elizabeth Velasco, D‑Glenwood Springs, and Lorena Garcia, D‑Adams County, along with Aurora Democratic Sens. Iman Jodeh and Mike Weissman — also strengthen an existing ban on state and local employees sharing someone’s immigration status with federal authorities by extending civil‑penalty liability to the employer as well.

“As state legislators, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep our communities safe from the violent and unconstitutional overreach of ICE,” said Jodeh. “We hear all too often about death, sickness, overcrowding, and other unacceptable conditions in ICE detention facilities, but there is almost no transparency. This law is about increasing oversight, ensuring frequent inspections, and protecting health and safety.”

The measure, which passed through both chambers on party-line votes, allows the Colorado Department of Health and Environment to conduct more frequent inspections into the food safety, water quality, and confinement conditions at the state’s immigration detention centers.

Colorado currently has one immigration detention facility in Aurora, but there are several temporary holding facilities across the state.

“The Trump administration is abducting members of our community and holding them in secretive, unhealthy, and dangerous facilities. One of them is right in my district,” said Weissman. “That’s why we are taking action to improve transparency and oversight of these facilities. We all deserve the freedom to keep our families together and have due process under the law.” 

Republicans argued that the more than $200,000 outlined in the bill’s fiscal note over the next two years would be better spent elsewhere, such as the state’s strained health care system and deteriorating roads.

“I wanted to get to a yes — I really did — but I just couldn’t get there,” Rep. Ryan Gonzalez, R-Greeley, told bill sponsors during debate last month.

Sponsors have argued that HB 1276 would be budget‑neutral, as it establishes a new fee on immigration detention facilities to fund the inspections.

Confiscating IDs

Polis also signed House Bill 1283 into law on Wednesday, which prohibits employers from confiscating an employee’s identification documents without lawful authority.

The measure — sponsored by Reps. Junie Joseph, D‑Denver, and Naquetta Ricks, D‑Aurora, along with Sens. Adrienne Benavidez, D‑Denver, and Janice Marchman, D‑Loveland — also requires employers to give workers written notice of their rights and classify handing over an employee’s identification to federal immigration authorities, or threatening to do so, as a bias‑motivated crime.

House Bill 1283 passed on a party-line vote in the Senate and a 41-23 vote in the House, with all Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Cecelia Espenoza of Denver, voting against it.