Colorado’s AI law won’t take effect until at least May — after next legislative session — under latest special session bills

The earliest Colorado’s first-in-the-nation law regulating artificial intelligence would now take effect is May, after next year’s legislative session, under a pair of proposals being considered by state lawmakers aiming to tweak the policy at the direction of the tech industry and Gov. Jared Polis.

That comes after Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, on Sunday amended his bill on the law to delay the start date from February. 

The seemingly minor change comes after four days of intense, albeit stalled, negotiations on the AI law during the special legislative session that began Thursday. However, it’s a big shift for Rodriguez, the author of the AI law, who was previously wholly opposed to pushing back the start date of the statute because he feared it would only further drag out nearly two years of negotiations on how to regulate AI in Colorado. 

Rodriguez said he was delaying the start date of the law to figure out which government agencies are using AI and how. “There’s more work to do,” he said. 

The delay may present a win for the tech industry, which had been asking for more time to hash out the policy. Polis had also been seeking a delay.

Rodriguez’s bill cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee by a 4-3 vote. It now heads to the full Senate for more debate — and likely more changes.

Rodriguez had to take the extraordinary step of tweaking the makeup of the committee — from a 4-3 Democratic advantage to a 5-2 Democratic majority — to get it out of the panel. A Democratic senator who appeared to be opposed to the policy, Sen. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village, was also replaced to ensure the bill’s passage. 

It’s highly unusual for a committee’s membership to be changed in the middle of a session, especially in order to pass a single bill.

Rodriguez’s measure, Senate Bill 4, would shift some of the regulatory burden onto AI developers instead of the companies and others — like schools, local governments and law enforcement — that deploy the tech. It’s supported by unions and consumer advocacy groups.

Another bill being debated in the Capitol during the special session that began Thursday would delay the start date of the law until October 2026. That bipartisan measure, House Bill 1008, has the backing of the tech industry and schools. However, it wouldn’t change the underlying law, instead fully punting the debate into next year.

The bill is pending in the House.

Assuming one of the bills passes, lawmakers will have an extra three months next year, during the legislature’s 120-day lawmaking term, to further tweak the law before it goes into effect. 

Most tech companies despise the change to the AI law in Senate Bill 4. They’re debating whether it’s better to let the original law go into effect or risk the passage of Senate Bill 4 in the hopes that changes are made during the regular legislative session that starts in January.

When Rodriguez passed Colorado’s law regulating artificial intelligence in 2024, it created an uproar over concerns it was too stringent and would stifle technological advances. At the time, he, the governor and the tech industry agreed to work together to make changes ahead of it going into effect. 

However, an attempt earlier this year during the legislature’s regular session failed — as did a last-ditch effort to postpone when the law takes effect. 

Polis asked lawmakers to take up the AI law again this week when the legislature gathered starting Thursday for a special session primarily aimed at plugging a $750 million hole in the state budget caused by tax policy changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That’s the Republican federal tax and spending bill passed in July and signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The special session is expected to last through at least Tuesday. It could end later in the week pending more negotiations on the AI regulatory measures.

Everyone at the Capitol is “losing their minds”

Rodriguez and his allies on the bill ultimately agreed to the delay because they saw it as the only way to keep AI talks going during the special session. 

The AI law has split the legislature’s Democratic majority, causing deep policy rifts as the legislature also tries to tackle the state’s budget problem. Adding to the pressure is the condensed timeframe of the special session. 

While lawmakers don’t have a deadline to finish their work and adjourn, every day they remain in session costs taxpayers extra money. There’s limited air conditioning in the Capitol. People have Labor Day plans.

“I’m worried that we are rushing through something in this extraordinary session that will cause us to potentially pass some legislation that has a lot of unintended consequences,” said state Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder, the lone Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee who voted “no” Sunday on Senate Bill 4. “I have been hearing that from people all over this building, losing their minds and not being able to agree. I mean, we have every single little fiefdom of stakeholder groups that are fighting with each other.”

Amabile, a member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said her “no” vote stemmed in part from concerns about the new state spending the bill would cause at a time when lawmakers were trying to plug a budget hole. She also said Senate Bill 4 was not addressing the problems raised around the AI law.

“I feel like we have not solved this thing,” she said. “I don’t feel this policy is baked.”

Some Democrats lamented voting the bill out of committee while they still have serious questions about it, including how much the regulations will cost the state to enforce. 

“I’m voting to keep this bill moving on today so that negotiations can continue,” said Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora.

This is a developing story that will be updated.