House Business Affairs & Labor

Thursday, February 19, 2026·3h 3m·▶ Watch / Listen

A House Business Affairs & Labor hearing dominated by hours of testimony from blind Coloradans advanced HB26-1043 to curb rideshare denials of service-animal users on a unanimous vote, while a bill giving older workers a formal seat on state workforce boards, HB26-1010, cleared committee over three Republican dissents. A routine sunset repeal of the Business Intelligence Center Advisory Board passed without opposition.

Key Actions

·Older Adult Support & Representation in WorkforcePassed

+ 2 more actions

Notable Quotes

“In 2024 alone, drivers refused to pick me up on 63 separate occasions because I was traveling with my guide dog. I report each incident to Uber and documented every denial. One day after finishing classes in 98 degree weather, four drivers arrived, saw my guide dog, and cancelled. I waited two and a half hours for a ride that normally takes 15 minutes.”
Karis Glather (National Federation of the Blind) · witness — Concrete scale of the problem the bill targets — repeated, documented denials of legally protected service-animal users.

+ 5 more quotes

Votes

Referred to Committee of the WholeAction

Yes (10)Ryan Gonzalez, Rebecca Keltie, Sheila Lieder, Javier Mabrey, Bob Marshall, Tisha Mauro, Gretchen Rydin, Rebekah Stewart, Sean Camacho, Naquetta Ricks

No (3)Max Brooks, Chris Richardson, Larry Don Suckla

Referred to Committee on FinanceAction

Yes (13)Max Brooks, Ryan Gonzalez, Rebecca Keltie, Sheila Lieder, Javier Mabrey, Bob Marshall, Tisha Mauro, Chris Richardson, Gretchen Rydin, Rebekah Stewart, Larry Don Suckla, Sean Camacho, Naquetta Ricks

Referred to Committee of the WholeAction

Yes (11)Max Brooks, Ryan Gonzalez, Rebecca Keltie, Javier Mabrey, Bob Marshall, Tisha Mauro, Chris Richardson, Gretchen Rydin, Rebekah Stewart, Larry Don Suckla, Sean Camacho

Excused (2)Sheila Lieder, Naquetta Ricks

Unlock the full summary

Subscribe to see every key action, the full discussion, amendments, and notable quotes.

TranscriptPreview

Welcome to Business affairs and Labor. We have our bill sponsors in front of us, but before that, Ms. Gerard, please call the roll. Representative Sprooks? Present. Gonzalez. Here. Kelty. Here. Leader. Here. Mabry, you got a lot to say today. Excused. Marshall. Here. Morrow. Here. Richardson. Here. Ryden. Here. Stuart R. Here. Suklev. Here. Camacho? Here. Madam Chair. Here. Here. Okay, bill sponsors, you are before us. Who wants to go first? Rep. Right in. Thank you, Madam Chair. Greetings, everybody. Representative PASCAL and I bring you House Bill 1043 today. And we have a problem in the state of Colorado, but honestly it's a problem nationwide. And what's happening is a lot of folks who have service animals when they are trying to access their ride share, whether that's Uber or Lyft or whatever that might be, they have found that their ride gets canceled last minute and that results in not being able to make it to their job or to their other appointments. And it's a problem. It's a habitual problem. Current statute makes it kind of difficult for us to fix this, hence why we're here today with a solution to try to address this.…

Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and the assistant across all Colorado committee hearings.