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How to Look Up a Bill in the Colorado Legislature

1.  Go to leg.colorado.gov on the Internet.
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2.  Click on Find a Bill under the picture or on the menu.
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3.  Enter the bill number if you know it. In the example below, House Bill HB-1187 which increases the amount of money that the state government can retain under TABOR is entered. Bills that originate in the State House of Representatives begin with "HB".  Bills that originate in the State Senate begin with "SB".  The "17" is for the year 2017.  If you look up bills from previous sessions you will begin the bill with the year for that session.

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 If you do not know the bill number, you can scroll down on this page and search by general subject. However, you will get a long list of bills!
An easy way to know what major bills are being considered (title and number) is to check with organizations (e.g., Colorado Union of Taxpayers, Principles of Liberty) that rate proposed legislation. Click on Ratings Links.
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4.  After entering your bill number, click "Apply" or click on the bill if you have searched by category. You will then be connected to a bill overview page which give a short description of the bill, the bill status and information on sponsors.  In this case, the sponsors are Rep. Thurlow and Sen. Crowder. By clicking on those names, you can find more information about the sponsors.
5.  The legislator information page details what district the legislator is from, his/her contact information and what committees he/she is on. If you scroll down further on this biography, you will see a listing of all the bills this legislator is sponsoring.
If you have clicked on a legislator page, you can return to the Bill Overview page by clicking on the back arrow.  
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6.  From the bill overview information page, click on the bill title:  in this example "Change Excess State Revenues Cap Growth Factor".  You will now see a detailed bill information page.  This page gives a bill summary, the sponsors and the committees that will be considering this bill. At the bottom of this screen you have the option to view:
  • The actual Bill Text
  • The most recent Fiscal Note.  The fiscal note is a much more readable version of the bill content and tells exactly what this bill will cost or save the government and taxpayers. It is recommended to read this first, if it is available. A fiscal note is not available for every bill.
7.  If you click on "View Recent Bill Text" you will see the most recent version of the bill.  This is a PDF that can be saved or printed. The image below shows the beginning of the bill text for HB 17-1187.
8.  If you click on Fiscal Note, you will see a very readable summary of the bill and its financial impact. This is also a printable PDF and is generally shorter than the Bill Text. The image below shows the first page of the Fiscal Note for HB17-1187.
TAKING ACTION
Now that you have the bill information, you can take action to contact legislators to support or oppose legislation. As is discussed in the Tips For Taking Action section of this website, one of the most effective ways to influence legislation is to contact legislators who are on the committees considering your bill.  The committees considering the bill are listed on the right side of the detailed bill information page.  By clicking on the committee you can access the names of legislators on the committee. By clicking on the individual name, you can get contact information. OR -- go to the Legislative Contacts tab on this website for a complete listing of committees and a downloadable or linked list of contact information.
Below is an example of a committee link.
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