Senate Health & Human Services

Wednesday, March 4, 2026·▶ Watch / Listen

Senators advanced two behavioral-health measures, unanimously moving a bill to strip eugenics-era sterilization powers for people with disabilities from Colorado statute while sending a recovery-residence licensing overhaul to Appropriations over a lone dissent.

Key Actions

·Sterilization Rights of Person with DisabilitiesPassed

+ 1 more action

Notable Quotes

“when you first become sober and the time after that is when you are the most vulnerable to overdosing. So you leave some setting and then you go to a recovery home. And if you get there and other people in the building are using intoxicating substances, one of which may have been the thing that you're addicted to and you have access to that and you overdose, that's a very terrible outcome.”
Judy Amabile — The core policy rationale: newly sober residents face the highest overdose risk, which sponsors say demands enforceable state oversight rather than third-party certification.

+ 3 more quotes

Votes

Referred to Committee of the Whole and with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendarAction

Yes (9)Adrienne Benavidez, Scott Bright, John Carson, Lisa Cutter, Lindsey Daugherty, Lisa Frizell, Iman Jodeh, Mike Weissman, Kyle Mullica

Referred to Committee on AppropriationsAction

Yes (8)Scott Bright, Lisa Cutter, Lindsey Daugherty, Lisa Frizell, Iman Jodeh, Mike Weissman, Kyle Mullica, Adrienne Benavidez

No (1)John Carson

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TranscriptPreview

Senate Health and Human Services will come to order. Mr. Brown, please call the roll. Senators Benavidez. Here. Wright. Here. Carson Gutter. Excused. Doherty. Here. Grizzell Excused. Judah. President Weissman. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Malika here. Members, we do have a guest with us today. Senator Benavidez has joined us in Health and Human Services, and so welcome, Senator Benavidez. We're happy to have you. Members, we do have two bills up. First one is Senate Bill 113. We have Senator Mobile and Ball here with us, who would like to start us off. Thank you, Senator ball. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And members of the Health Committee, happy to be here to talk to you about Senate Bill 113. Senate Bill 113 is pretty simple. What it does is it takes the current model that we have for oversight over recovery residences, and it brings that in House. There have been issues with contracting out the oversight over these residences because since these aren't state employees, there's just a limited ability for us to hold that third party accountable if there are issues with oversight. So this bill came at the request of the BHA to help them administer…

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