About Legislative Programs

Colorado Legislation

Active Year in the State Legislature

Click here to view the AGC/C Legislative Status Sheet for the 2009 State Legislative Session.  Highlighting bills introduced is construction defect legislation intended to weaken the protections to owners and contractors found in the “Construction Defect Reform Act” that was passed in 2003.

SB 95, Prompt Pay Update

The Colorado State Senate failed to pass SB 95 (Prompt Pay) during the 2009 Legislative Session. The bill did not have enough votes to pass and move on to the House. Therefore, the bill sponsor, Sen. Abel Tapia, requested the Senate to lay his bill over until May 10, a procedural move where a sponsor asks the Senate to deem his bill as lost.

During his remarks on the bill, Sen. Tapia took the opportunity to spell out for the members of the Senate that the prompt payment issue needs to be resolved.  Tapia called upon all parties who opposed SB 95 to sit down this summer with the broad based coalition supporting the bill, Building Jobs4Colorado, to reach a compromise solution that will allow Colorado’s construction industry to be paid in a timely manner which will sustain and create jobs and allow Colorado’s construction industry to thrive.

Much progress was made by the Building Jobs4Colorado coalition to further educate the legislature on the prompt pay issue.  Getting SB 95 through the Senate State Affairs and the Appropriations Committees to the floor of the Senate for discussion was a very significant accomplishment.  The grass root efforts of the coalition and many individual AGC/C members, who spent time visiting with legislators and making phone calls and sending e-mails, were at the heart of making progress on moving SB 95 through the legislative process, though there is a way to go to accomplish a victory.

SB87/HB1338

During the concluded 2007 Session of the Colorado General Assembly, two bills greatly impacting the construction industry were signed into law by Governor Bill Ritter – SB 87, indemnification, and HB 1338, construction defects.

SB 87 applies to all construction contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2007.  HB 1338 became effective on the date the Governor signed the bill, April 20, 2007.

At the request of AGC/C’s Legal Advisory Committee, Sherman & Howard provided an analysis of both pieces of legislation.  Contained in the link for the indemnification legislation, SB 87, there is the following information from Sherman & Howard:  a Client Advisory, an article written by Brian G. Eberle, and a copy of the bill.  Similarly, in the link for construction defects, HB 1338, Sherman & Howard has provided a Client Advisory, an article written by Michael J. Cook, and a copy of the legislation.