Key point: Colorado lawmakers will have another opportunity to amend the Colorado AI Act.
On August 6, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced that he is calling back the Colorado legislature for a special session starting Thursday, August 21, at 10:00 a.m. The special session is primarily directed at dealing with the impacts of the federal government’s One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1), which reportedly created a nearly $1 billion hole in Colorado’s state budget. However, the governor’s press release states that the special session will address “the fiscal and implementation impact of SB24-205 (Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence) on consumers, businesses and the state and local government.”
Rumors have circulated that the governor would call a special session to include a review of the Colorado AI Act. When the legislature passed the Colorado AI Act in 2024, it also established a work group to review the law and propose amendments prior to its effective date. Eventually, the law’s primary sponsors, Majority Senator Robert Rodriguez and Representative Brianna Titone, introduced SB 318, which would have significantly narrowed the law’s scope and applicability. However, stakeholders could not reach agreement on the amendments, and the bill eventually failed. Last-minute efforts to extend the law’s effective date (currently set for February 1, 2026) also failed.
The length of the special session is unclear. According to local reports, the session will need to last at least three days, which is the minimum amount of time necessary to pass a law in Colorado. However, the Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services explains:
After the Governor issues a call for a special session, the Executive Committee of the Legislative Council traditionally meets to establish the estimated length of the special session, based at least in part on the number and complexity of the items on the Governor’s call. Additionally, the Executive Committee typically establishes limits on the number of bills each legislator may introduce and sets deadlines for requesting and introducing bills and by which bills must pass out of committee and out of the first and second house. The Executive Committee communicates the bill limits, deadlines, and proposed schedule for the special session by means of a letter sent to all legislators. Traditionally, the Senate and House Committees on Delayed Bills operate during special sessions to consider requests for waivers of bill limits and deadlines.
The Colorado legislature is not new to special sessions, having held them the past two years.
