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House Finance

Thursday, February 19, 2026·4h 20m·▶ Watch / Listen

House Finance advanced two bills after a marathon hearing, restoring lost 911 and suicide-hotline funding on a near-unanimous vote and sending a hotly contested earned-wage-access licensing bill to Appropriations over a five-Democrat revolt led by the committee's own chair.

Key Actions

·Regulate Earned-Wage Access ServicesPassed

+ 1 more action

Notable Quotes

In June of 2025, DOR ruled that unlimited prepaid cell phone plans are exempt from the prepaid point surcharges resulting in a $17 million annual funding loss for 911 services and 4 million annual funding loss for 988 services, which is the suicide hotline.

Representative Stewart (bill sponsor)The core rationale for the bill: a Department of Revenue interpretation that inadvertently drained emergency-services funding the measure seeks to restore.

+ 5 more quotes

Votes

Referred to Committee on AppropriationsAction
Yes (6)Max Brooks, Jarvis Caldwell, Sean Camacho, Ryan Gonzalez, Anthony Hartsook, Rebekah Stewart
No (5)Lorena Garcia, Bob Marshall, Yara Zokaie, Brianna Titone, Steven Woodrow
Referred to Committee of the WholeAction
Yes (10)Jarvis Caldwell, Sean Camacho, Lorena Garcia, Ryan Gonzalez, Anthony Hartsook, Bob Marshall, Rebekah Stewart, Yara Zokaie, Brianna Titone, Steven Woodrow
No (1)Max Brooks
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TranscriptPreview
The committee will come to order. Ms. Culver, please call the roll. Representative Brooks. President Caldwell. Excused. Camacho. Excused. Garcia. Gonzalez. Excused. Artsuk. Here. Marshall. Here. Stuart. Here. Zokay. Here. Tone. Here. And Mr. Chair. Here. We have a quorum. Good to see everyone. We're going to go a little bit out of order due to scheduling. The minority leader is here for the record and Representative Gonzalez is also here for the record. We are going to go a little bit out of order and here House Bill 1115 first Representatives Stewart and Mr. Speaker pro tem Basenecker, who would like to go first? Representative Stewart, tell us about 11:15. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you committee members. Very excited to be here today with Speaker Pro Tem to present this bill. First and foremost, you all need to know that 62 out of 64 counties in Colorado are mental health deserts. So I feel this bill is pretty important and working to help address that. In short, this bill reinstates the existing 911 surcharge on prepaid cell phone plans to fund 911 and 988 emergency service systems. Historically, all wireless phones, including prepaid wireless service were subject to
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