Suspend Legislative Interim Activities
SB25-199 temporarily suspends or limits a wide range of legislative interim activities during the 2025 interim. It directs the Legislative Council not to prioritize or approve new interim committees or task forces for 2025, limits how many bills interim committees may request and recommend, and bars several existing committees and task forces from meeting, traveling, reporting, or recommending legislation during that interim. The bill also exempts a few committees from the general suspension in limited ways, such as allowing certain committees to continue operating or preserving specific exceptions for travel and field trips.
The bill also makes related changes to committee rules and compensation. It removes or delays interim work for entities including the youth advisory council review committee, emergency preparedness committee, jail standards oversight committee, statewide health care review committee, health insurance exchange oversight committee, opioid and substance use disorders study committee, pension review commission, tax policy oversight committee, and sales and use tax simplification task force. In addition, it bars most legislators appointed to interim committees from receiving per diem and travel expenses during the 2025 interim, with exceptions for certain named committees, and it prohibits the capital development committee from traveling or taking field trips during that period. Most of these restrictions are temporary and repeal on July 1, 2026.
SB25-199 temporarily amends multiple sections of Colorado law governing legislative interim committees, task forces, and related review bodies. It changes statutory duties, meeting schedules, reporting obligations, and bill-introduction limits for the 2025 interim, while also modifying legislative compensation rules to restrict per diem and travel reimbursement. The bill further reduces the legislative department’s 2025-26 appropriations by $272,355 and adds a $45,000 general fund appropriation to the youth advisory council cash fund, affecting the budgets of the General Assembly, Legislative Council, and Committee on Legal Services.
The voting history suggests broad support and little overt opposition. The bill passed the Senate and House with overwhelming margins, including multiple unanimous votes and only one recorded no vote on Senate third reading after conference committee action. The appropriations committees also advanced the bill and adopted amendments unanimously, indicating general agreement with the temporary suspension and budget reductions.
The main policy issue appears to have been how broadly to suspend interim legislative work and whether to preserve exceptions for certain committees and activities. The bill’s restrictions on committee meetings, reporting, and bill drafting could be seen as limiting legislative study and policy development, while supporters likely viewed them as a temporary administrative and fiscal measure. The only visible disagreement in the record is minimal, reflected by a small number of non-unanimous procedural votes and one dissenting Senate vote on conference committee repassage, but no detailed committee debate is provided.