The Colorado General Assembly website provides public access to the activities and work product of the state legislature. If you’re looking for information about a particular bill, then it is very likely that information is – or will be – available at that website. It’s probably just a matter of knowing where and when to look for it.
When visiting the website, you’ll find a menu of topics that organize that massive and growing library of information into general topics. Where that menu will appear on your screen and how you might go about selecting a category depends on whether you are using a desktop or laptop computer versus a mobile device such as tablet or phone. From a computer, the menu will likely appear horizontally along the top of your browser window. From a mobile device, look for three horizontal bars and then press that icon to open the menu.
The second category in that menu is titled “Bills”, which provides links to the following information:
- Find A Bill – provides a link to a quick, single-field, search engine
- All Bills – provides a link to a five-field search
- All Bills – Condensed – provides a four-field search along with a list of all bills introduced during the current or prior session
- Bill Digest – provides a link to the Digest of Bills for each annual general session
- Prior Sessions – provides a link to the legacy website of the Colorado General Assembly, which applies to 2015 and prior legislative sessions
The “Find a Bill” link provides quick access to a bill if you already know its complete Bill Number. That complete number would include the chamber abbreviation (HB or SB), two-digit Session Year, a hyphen, followed by the three-digit Senate Bill Number or four-digit House Bill Number. Keep in mind that the numbering for House, Senate, and Joint Memorials and Resolutions contain characters (HM, SM, HJM, SJM, HCR, SCR, HR, SR, HJR, SJR) unique to each chamber and device. Be sure to click the “Apply” button once you have entered your data.
The “All Bills” link provides access to a five-field search, which can be helpful if you do not know the complete Bill Number for a bill. The first field enables you to enter some or all of the Bill Number, Sponsor Name, or a Keyword relating to your bill of interest. The second field, “House of Origin”, enable to you select either “House” or “Senate”, which indicates the original chamber of introduction. Third, “Measure Type” allows you to select the type of measure (Bill, Memorial, or Resolution). Fourth, “Session” should default to the current session. Clicking on the “Session” field would allow you to select a prior general session or extraordinary (special) session. Fifth, the “Subject” field allows you to select from a menu of general topics based on existing statutory categories. Be sure to click the “Apply” button once you have entered your data.
The “All Bills – Condensed” option provides a four-field search (Bill Number, Bill Type, Session, and House of Origin) that appears above a list of all bills introduced during the current or prior session.
The “Bill Digest” page provides links to the annual digest of bills and concurrent resolutions (the device type used to refer constitutional questions to voters) that passed into law during each annual general session.
The “Prior Sessions” link provides access to the former website of the Colorado General Assembly. That site was used for sessions held in 2015 or earlier.