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Senate Health & Human Services

Wednesday, April 1, 2026·19m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Colorado Senate Health & Human Services Committee advanced two health-related House bills on the same day: HB 26-1238, designating emergency medical services as an essential service, passed unanimously and was placed on the consent calendar, while HB 26-1107, directing CDPHE to create a standardized dementia care disclosure form, passed five to two over dissenting votes from Senators Bright and Frizell.

Key Actions

·HB 26-1238 – Emergency Medical Services as Essential ServicePassed

+ 1 more action

Controversies

HB 26-1107 dissenting votes

Senator Bright voted no and Senator Frizell voted 'Respectfully, no' on HB 26-1107. The transcript does not record any verbal argument or stated rationale from either senator explaining their opposition.

Notable Quotes

“The one that has never been considered essential is emergency management services. So the struggle for them in funding is a constant and they are always concerned about losing employees to better paying jobs. That happens a lot. The ambulance operators get hired up by hospitals a lot because they offer more consistent and better pay.”

Senator Mark Baisley — Baisley was explaining the rationale for HB 26-1238, which would designate EMS as an essential service on par with law enforcement and fire protection.

+ 3 more quotes

Votes

Move HB 26-1238 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendationPassed
Yes (7)Scott Bright, Lisa Cutter, Lindsey Daugherty, Lisa Frizell, Mike Weissman, Iman Jodeh, Kyle Mullica
Move HB 26-1107 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendationPassed
Yes (5)Lisa Cutter, Lindsey Daugherty, Mike Weissman, Iman Jodeh, Kyle Mullica
No (2)Scott Bright, Lisa Frizell
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TranscriptPreview
Mr. Brown, please call the roll. Senators Bright. Here. Hutter. Excused. Jordy. Here. Frizzell. Excused. Weissman. Good morning. Judah. Present. Mr. Chair. Malika. Here. Members, first item on the agenda is House Bill 1238. We have the sponsors here with us. Who wants to start us off? Senator Basley, welcome to the Senate Health and Human Services committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's an honor to be before you all and to introduce House Bill 2612 38. Now, when we dial 911, then essential services respond and that 911 dispatch operator determines which of the three primary functions they're going to respond to that call. Houses on fire gotta send and the fire department or there's a law enforcement issue, there's someone breaking in the house, there's an accident on the freeway, you call the law enforcement. Well, that's who responds that 911 or there's a medical emergency and emergency management services responds. The first of those two. The first two of those three, the fire department and law enforcement are essential services, meaning that they are required to be provided, to be funded by the counties, by the local jurisdictions. The one that has never been considered essential is…
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