Colorado Lawmakers Pass Bill Extending AI Law’s Effective Date to June

Delaying implementation is a “difficult but necessary” decision, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez (D), who authored the bill, said in a statement: “Working on changes to AI policy was always going to be extremely challenging on an abbreviated special session timeline. Over the past few days, weeks, and even years, we have had difficult but important conversations on how best to protect consumers while still allowing Colorado’s tech industry to innovate and thrive. Although we were able to identify common ground that advances both of these goals, our time constraints made it impossible to iron out a solution that works for everyone.”

The extension is the "best path forward to build on the progress we’ve made, resolve our areas of agreement, and achieve a policy that works for both Colorado consumers and the tech industry,” he said.

Rep. Brianna Titone (D), who dropped her sponsorship of the bill, voted against the measure on the floor. She said state legislators need to take a stand against the dominance of Big Tech: “We have done things here in a very short amount of time that were very big policies. We can do it again, and I welcome that next session.”

Sen. Mark Baisley (R), who filed a bill to repeal the Colorado AI Act in favor of strengthening anti-discrimination law (see 2508210056), told us Tuesday that delaying implementation of the AI law will allow legislators to “fix that monstrosity.”

“It is a punt, but it’s a good punt,” he said. “I detest the bill that was signed into law last year.”

While not an original sponsor of SB-4, Baisley ultimately co-sponsored the bill. The biggest issue with the AI law as written is that it requires companies to turn over their intellectual property and source code to the attorney general’s office, he said: It’s “unacceptable” to smaller companies trying to “hold onto what makes them unique.”

Tuesday’s agenda included a second bill, HB-1008, which would delay implementation until October 2026. The bill had not received floor time by our deadline.

Colorado labor and consumer advocacy groups had reached agreement on an amended bill over the weekend with schools, hospitals and small businesses in the state, said Anaya Robinson, American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado policy director, in an emailed statement. “However, as soon as news of successful negotiations surrounding [SB-4] got out,” the governor’s staff “and Big Tech lobbyists flooded the Senate to kill a deal they hadn’t even seen.” As a result, Colorado AI protections will be further delayed, she said.

“It is disappointing that during this special session some of our elected leadership in Colorado chose Big Tech over people, but the fight is not over,” added the ACLU official. “We will continue working to make reasonable changes to [the Colorado AI Act] throughout the next nine months, and beyond, to ensure that deployers and individuals get the information they deserve, and that Big Tech is held accountable when they build systems that discriminate.”

Polis didn't comment by our deadline.

Although the Software & Information Industry Association is “disappointed” the legislature failed in the special session to address the governor’s concerns with the “problematic” Colorado AI Act, “postponing the effective date is a positive step that will allow time to do so during regular session,” said Paul Lekas, SIIA senior vice president of global public policy, in an emailed statement.

But the delay dismayed the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "While it is encouraging that the substance of the original Colorado AI Act is intact for now, it is deeply concerning that the Legislature is not moving more quickly to protect residents from the ongoing harms of these discriminatory, inaccurate algorithmic systems,” EPIC Law Fellow Kara Williams emailed us Tuesday. “The Colorado AI Act has been on the books for over a year now -- to hear companies claiming that ensuring algorithms they're using are fair and accurate and giving basic information to Coloradans is somehow too burdensome to be feasible is extremely frustrating.”

Nina DiSalvo, policy director for Towards Justice, another group that was part of the deal with ACLU Colorado, added "that this delay should strengthen our resolve to advance a new and meaningful framework for AI regulation that includes ensuring that Big Tech can be held to account when the systems it develops cause illegal discrimination." In an email to us, she said "it will take community solidarity and political courage to stand up to Big Tech" and "Colorado has a new opportunity to do that next session."

Colorado Chamber of Commerce CEO Loren Furman thanked Rodriguez “for amending his bill and allowing Colorado businesses more time to work on the current AI law instead of pushing bad policy through a rushed special session process.” In a statement, Furman said her group of businesses “worked in good faith to find a compromise” on SB-4, but “the changes certain groups were seeking would have made Colorado the only state in the country with a liability system that would result in higher legal risks for all businesses, fewer opportunities for AI development, and serious harm to Colorado’s business climate and competitiveness.”

“Reasonable minds have to agree on all parts of this ... for it to go through,” observed Hudson Cook privacy attorney Megan Nicholls during her firm’s webinar Tuesday, “so perhaps just delaying the compliance date makes sense at this point.”