2022 Legislative Scorecard

Colorado Capitol - Eugene Eric Kim via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

CoPIRG is an advocate for the public interest. We speak out for a healthier, safer world in which we’re freer to pursue our own individual well-being and the common good. In 2022, we worked successfully with members of the Colorado General Assembly to pass bills that will protect consumers, strengthen our democracy, and safeguard public health as well as defeat bills that would fail to do so.

We had tough fights this year. We took on powerful interests in the chemical, tobacco and tech industries. We certainly didn’t win on everything, but with the support of our members we will continue to do research, public education, organizing, and advocacy to deliver tangible results that benefit all Coloradans. 

For a breakdown of votes and to see how your state Representatives and state Senators did on bills CoPIRG scored, click here

For a list of legislators who sponsored CoPIRG-backed bills, click here

To find out who your legislators are, use the state’s Find My Legislator feature.

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HB2-1099 – Online Marketplace And Third-party Sellers. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Terri Carver and Dylan Roberts

Senate Sponsors: Rachel Zenzinger and Rob Woodward

HB22-1099 requires higher-volume third-party sellers on online marketplaces to disclose basic business information that allows the public to verify who and what is actually behind the products they are purchasing. This transparency will help limit the ability for bad actors and counterfeiters to avoid safety and consumer protection measures on everything from KN95 masks to toys

 

HB22-1031- Consumer Right To Repair Powered Wheelchairs. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Brianna Titone and David Ortiz

Senate Sponsors: Rachel Zenzinger and John Cooke

HB22-1031 requires manufacturers of powered wheelchairs to make available parts, tools, repair manuals, documentation and digital access to owners and independent repairers at fair and reasonable prices to fix their wheelchairs. It will also open up the repair marketplace to more competition and give people more repair options. Failing to fix wheelchairs in a timely manner can lead to injuries and emergencies.   

 

HB22-1064 – Prohibit Flavored Tobacco Regulate Synthetic Nicotine. Vote YES.

Status: Failed in Senate Appropriations Committee

House Sponsors: Kyle Mullica and Jennifer Bacon

Senate Sponsors: Rhonda Fields and Kevin Priola

HB22-1064 would end the sale of flavored nicotine products, including synthetic nicotine, in all locations across the state. Recent data shows 25.9% of Colorado teens using e-cigarettes, and more than 80% are choosing flavored products. Flavors like blue razz, menthol, frozen banana and sour tart are enticing a new generation of youth to start, and get hooked, on nicotine. By removing these products from the marketplace, this bill will decrease accessibility by teenagers, helping prevent a new generation of nicotine addicts.    

 

HB22-1345 – Perfluoroalkyl And Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Lisa Cutter and Mary Bradfield

Senate Sponsors: Julie Gonzales and Pete Lee

HB22-1345 requires companies to phase out the use of PFAS in products including carpets, furniture, cosmetics, juvenile products, some types of food packaging, and the fluids used in oil and gas production. PFAS are a class of chemicals that are specially engineered to be resistant to both heat and water and they are known as forever chemicals because they build up over time in our ecosystems and bodies. According to the EPA, PFAS have been linked to serious health impacts like cancer, organ damage, and suppression of the immune system. 

 

HB22-1355 – Producer Responsibility Program For Recycling. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Lisa Cutter 

Senate Sponsors: Julie Gonzales and Kevin Priola

HB22-1355 would require producers to pay dues into a fund based on the packaging around their products, whether that packaging is cans, bottles, boxes, containers, shrink wrap or paper. The dues will disincentivize the excessive packaging and paper that inundate consumers, and would fund an expansion of recycling infrastructure so that everyone in Colorado would have easy access to recycling at no additional cost. Additionally, producers would gain access to a reliable source of recycled materials like glass, aluminum, and paper from our recycling bins instead of from more environmentally harmful virgin sources.

 

SB22-193 – Air Quality Improvement Investments. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Alex Valdez and Meg Froelich

Senate Sponsors: Stephen Fenberg and Julie Gonzales

SB22-193 would fund a package of initiatives designed to improve Colorado’s air quality, including electric school buses, a grant program to reduce air pollution from industrial and manufacturing operation, and electric bikes. With transportation as the leading contributor of Colorado’s air pollution, funding electric transportation options helps mitigate air pollution by eliminating tailpipe emissions from gas and diesel-powered vehicles. Additionally, electric school buses provide a healthier ride for our children and can save school districts money in fuel and maintenance.     

 

HB22-1358 – Clean Water In Schools And Child Care Centers. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Emily Sirota

Senate Sponsors: Rhonda Fields and Faith Winter

HB22-1358 would protect some kids against lead in drinking water at schools with K-5 grades and child care centers. It requires covered entities to test all sources of drinking water for lead and post the results publicly. If lead is detected at concentrations of 5 parts per billion (ppb) the entity must install filters that prohibit lead exposure at that tap. The bill dedicates $21 million to reimbursing the costs of testing and remediation.  Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can affect how children learn, grow and behave. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Our Get the Lead Out toolkit offers ways for school districts to go further and protect all kids by filtering all taps.  

 

HB22-1284 – Health Insurance Surprise Billing Protections. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Daneya Esgar and Marc Catlin

Senate Sponsors: Bob Gardner and Brittany Pettersen

HB22-1284 is an important bill that makes changes to Colorado’s state law to align with the federal “No Surprises Act,” which protects consumers from surprise medical bills. A surprise medical bill is an unexpected bill from an out-of-network provider or an out-of-network facility; The problem is so rampant that 1 in 5 Americans who visit an emergency room or have surgery  receive them.  With the existence of both state and federal laws around surprise billing practices in effect, this bill will effectively merge the two laws, providing insured Colorado residents the maximum protections against surprise medical billing practices.

 

HB22-1362 – Building Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Tracey Bernett and Alex Valdez

Senate Sponsors: Chris Hansen and Faith Winter

HB22-1362 would require local communities to adopt stricter energy codes in key areas like electric, solar, low energy, carbon, and green building codes. It provides funding for training to help builders and owners better understand the new codes, a grant program to electrify public buildings, and an electric heating and appliances grant program. Fuel used in residential, commercial, and industrial spaces is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas pollution in Colorado. Changes like high efficiency electric heating equipment like heat pumps and electric appliances, solar technologies, and incorporating electric vehicle charging capacity in parking areas are important ways to reduce overall energy use, saving consumers money, and improve both indoor and outdoor air quality. 

 

SB22-151 – Safe Crossings For Colorado Wildlife And Motorists. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Julie McCluskie and Perry Will

Senate Sponsors: Jessie Danielson and Tammy Story

SB22-151 will dedicate $5 million to add wildlife crossings in our state. There are thousands of vehicle to animal collisions every year because we have not adequately designed a transportation system that gives animals the ability to move through their environment without walking across a busy road. Colorado has had success with wildlife crossings reducing collisions by as much as 92%. 

 

SB22-180 – Programs To Reduce Ozone Through Increased Transit. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Matt Gray and Jennifer Bacon

Senate Sponsors: Faith Winter and Nick Hinrichsen

SB22-180 will invest $58 million in transit programs including the elimination of transit fares statewide for at least a month during summer ozone season and more than doubling existing statewide Bustang service over the next three years. Coming off a record-breaking ozone air pollution summer, recruiting more people to ride transit by cutting fares and increasing service can reduce tailpipe emissions that are a leading contributor to our ozone problem.

 

HB22-1244 – Public Protections From Toxic Air Contaminants. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Chris Kennedy and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez

Senate Sponsors: Julie Gonzales

HB22-1244 will require Colorado to establish target health-based air quality standards and meet those levels. It will also increase reporting of toxic emissions across the state, strengthen monitoring, and create a system to identify toxics of concern that are emitted from industries and refineries. According to the American Lung Association, toxic or hazardous air pollutants like hydrogen chloride, benzene or toluene, cause or are suspected of causing cancer, birth defects, or other serious harms. The bill follows other states like CA, TX and KY, which have adopted state-level strategies to tackle toxic air pollutants.

 

HB22-1357 – Rate Increases homeowner’s And Auto Insurance. Vote YES.

Status: Failed in House Finance Committee

House Sponsors: Mike Weissman

Senate Sponsors: None

HB22-1357 would reclassify auto insurance for passenger vehicles and homeowners insurance as type 1 kinds of insurance for rate filing increases. Among other things, this requirement limits how often insurers can change rates, and it protects consumers from random or discriminatory increases. This helps protect consumers from arbitrary rate increases, increases transparency of the process, and allows consumers additional time before their bills rise.  

 

HB22-1314 – Towing Carrier Nonconsensual Tows. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Naquetta Ricks and Edie Hooten

Senate Sponsors: Julie Gonzales and Jerry Sonnenberg 

HB22-1314 strengthens consumer protections from predatory towing by banning kickbacks from towing companies to property owners, capping consumer notification fees and reducing notification time, increasing transparency around fees, and empowering the state’s towing task force to examine towing rates and problem companies. These protections will protect consumers from many unfair or predatory towing practices and bad actors.   

 

HB22-1290 – Changes To Medicaid For Wheelchair Repairs. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Brianna Titone and David Ortiz

Senate Sponsors: Rachel Zenzinger and Don Coram

HB22-1290 tackles many of the challenges that Medicaid customers face when trying to get their wheelchairs fixed including eliminating burdensome prior authorization processes for simple repairs. If the companies entrusted to fix and repair powered wheelchairs fail to provide timely, adequate service, the state will also be better able to hold them accountable and remove additional barriers for getting the repairs completed.  

 

SB22-176 – Early Stage Front Range Passenger Rail Funding. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Julie McCluskie

Senate Sponsors: Chris Hansen and Bob Rankin 

SB22-176 invests millions to help move a front range passenger rail system forward as a transportation option along our fast growing Front Range. Specifically, the bill zeros in on a key bottleneck in Denver – the Burnham Yard. Using this old train yard in a way that allows for passenger rail from Denver to Colorado Springs and beyond, will provide a necessary transit option and reduce the need to waste billions adding new lanes to I-25 that won’t actually reduce traffic.  

 

HB22-1060 – Contribution Limits School Dist Dir Candidate. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Emily Sirota

Senate Sponsors: Julie Gonzales 

HB22-1060 caps the size of campaign contributions to school boards. Elections should be about broad support, not about the size of any one individual’s wallet. Colorado had contribution limits for every other major electoral office. Now, school board races have been brought under the same contribution caps as other offices.

 

HB22-1218 – Resource Efficiency Buildings Electric Vehicles. Vote YES.

Status: Passed, Vetoed by the Governor

House Sponsors: Alex Valdez 

Senate Sponsors: Faith Winter and Kevin Priola

HB22-1218 would set statewide EV readiness requirements for multifamily residential and large commercial buildings, as well as require contractors to include certain energy efficiency measures in new residential construction. The installation of EV charging infrastructure such as the conduit, pre-wiring, and electrical panel capacity, is up to six times less expensive when the infrastructure is installed during the initial construction phase as opposed to retrofitting existing buildings with new electrical equipment. As EVs become increasingly common, these new codes help ensure buildings are ready for this transition.  

 

SB22-199 – Native Pollinating Insects Protection Study. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Cathy Kipp and Meg Froelich

Senate Sponsors: Sonya Jaquez Lewis and Kevin Priola

SB22-199 mandates an immediate study on the decline of pollinating insects in Colorado, and their associated ecosystems, health and resilience in the state. Over ninety percent of wild flowering plants need animal pollinators, and more than 20,000 species of bees have evolved to rise to the occasion. However, in recent years, beekeepers have reported losses averaging 29 percent of all honeybee colonies each winter, and our ecosystem cannot afford to keep losing bees at this rate. This bill is an important and urgent first step towards enacting the necessary protections that our native pollinators need to survive and thrive in Colorado.  

 

HB22-1134 – Measures To Reduce Single-use Meal Accessories. Vote YES.

Status: Bill was withdrawn in committee

House Sponsors: Brianna Titone

Senate Sponsors: Kevin Priola

HB22-1134 establishes that anytime someone orders food for pick-up or delivery, they need to be asked if they want accessories. Some online ordering already has a checkbox that the consumer can select. But not all. Given how much food is ordered for pick-up and delivery every day, we can’t afford the thousands of unnecessary plastic straws and cutlery that will just go to a landfill or worse yet pollute our parks and waterways for centuries.

 

SB22-131 – Protect Health Of Pollinators and People. Vote YES.

Status: Failed in House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee

House Sponsors: Cathy Kipp and Meg Froelich

Senate Sponsors: Sonya Jaquez Lewis and Kevin Priola

SB22-131 would protect the health of pollinators by restricting the use of pesticides on the grounds of schools, preschools, child care centers, and children’s camps, as well as mandate a study on how to address pollinator decline and increase pollinator health in the state. Because certain pesticides are a leading factor in pollinator population decline, reducing the use of these products would protect the pollinator habitats that are critical to the future survival of these species. 

 

HB22-1315 – Colorado 2-1-1 Collaborative Funding. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Marc Snyder and Janice Rich

Senate Sponsors: Chris Hansen and Kevin Priola

HB22-1315 – allocates $1 million to support the 2-1-1 program, a statewide call system that allows people to access trained professionals with information on everything from legal services to tax preparation, rental and utility assistance. 2-1-1 is a way to help people avoid predatory traps and cycles of debt. 

 

HB22-1359 – Colorado Household Financial Recovery Program. Vote YES.

Status: Passed and Signed by Governor

House Sponsors: Jennifer Bacon and Marc Synder

Senate Sponsors: Robert Rodriguez and Pete Lee

HB22-1359 – would create a pilot program to help Coloradans struggling to make ends meet by helping expand affordable small dollar loans. With $5.2 million, the State Treasurer’s office will have an opportunity to develop ways to keep people away from predatory lending products. 

 

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Legislative Scoring Methodology

To see how legislators voted on the above bills, click here

A 100 is the best possible score a lawmaker can receive on the scorecard; a 0 is the worst possible score. Scores are calculated by dividing the number of times someone voted with the public interest by the total number of eligible votes the member was present for. Our primary vote that we scored was full House and full Senate votes. We scored the vote that was the latest in the process. For most votes, that would be what is known as “3rds” but if a bill came back to chamber with amendments we scored the “Repass” vote. Some bills did not move to the full chamber and in that case we scored committee votes. 

In 2022, we tracked 23 bills. We indicated our support or opposition via the Secretary of State’s lobbyist tracking system, which records organization’s positions in an open and searchable format.

A plus (+) indicates a vote for the CoPIRG position on a bill.

A negative (–) indicates a vote against a CoPIRG position on the bill. 

Excused absences (E), are not counted towards score.

There was one district where the legislator resigned (Senate District 3 – Senator Leroy Garcia was replaced by Senator Nick Hinrichsen during the session). We scored both legislators on the votes they were present for.

One CoPIRG-backed bill that we did not score was HB22-1134 because the sponsor withdrew the bill during the committee. 

 

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