Summary#

HJR-1031, titled “2027 Session Convening Date & Deadlines,” is an enacted Colorado joint resolution. It sets the 2027 session’s start date and changes the legislature’s joint rules; it does not create a new statute or public benefit program. Its stated goal is to set the session schedule and deadlines for considering legislation.

• The First Regular Session of the 76th General Assembly is set to convene on January 11, 2027.
• New Joint Rule 22B sets a one-session deadline schedule. It overrides some conflicting deadlines in Joint Rules 23 and 24 for that session, and is repealed on January 1, 2028.
• The schedule sets deadlines for bill requests and introductions, committee reports, and passage in each chamber. For example, the final deadlines to introduce Senate and House bills are February 5 and February 12.
• The resolution also changes Joint Rule 23’s general deadline schedule. Rule 22B takes precedence where the rules conflict during the 2027 session.
• The rules limit how members may use their bill requests and require majority leaders to prepare memos identifying certain bills excluded from passage deadlines.

What it means for you#

• Legislators: Members must follow the session’s bill-request and introduction deadlines. One of a member’s three early bill requests must be filed by January 6 for printing, distribution to legislative staff for fiscal-note preparation, and introduction on January 11. The rules also set limits on later bill requests and on draft requests kept on file.
• Committees and legislative leaders: The rules set deadlines for committee reports and bill passage. Majority leaders must arrange memos listing bills covered by certain deadline exclusions. Leaders may include some bills recently referred out of an appropriations committee.
• People outside the legislature: The resolution does not directly change individual rights, taxes, fees, benefits, or public services. It changes the timetable and procedures for lawmakers’ work.
• Calendar dates: The listed dates are informational. They may change if legislative days are not counted consecutively.

Money#

No publicly available information on the resolution’s cost is included in the supplied material.

• The resolution does not state an appropriation, cost estimate, savings, fee, or tax change.
• It assigns legislative staff work, including preparing fiscal notes, but does not state staffing levels or costs.

What is unclear#

• The supplied material does not include the full current Joint Rules, so the changes could not be checked against the complete rules currently in force.
• The resolution lists calendar dates but says they may change if legislative days are not counted consecutively.
• It does not estimate the staff time or other administrative costs of meeting the new schedule.
• The schedule includes exceptions for certain bills in appropriations committees or before the Legislative Council. Some exclusions can also depend on a majority leader’s discretion.

Case for#

• A possible argument for the resolution is that it gives members and committees a stated calendar for drafting, reviewing, and passing bills.
• Requiring an early bill to be filed for printing and fiscal-note preparation could give legislative staff time to prepare that information before the session begins.
• The rules set dates for key steps, including the long appropriation bill and bills about public-school funding.

Case against#

• One concern is that firm deadlines can leave less time for a bill to move through the legislative process; the resolution does not explain what happens to bills that miss them.
• The bill-request limits and early filing deadlines could constrain when members can bring forward proposals.
• The schedule allows some bills to be excluded from passage deadlines, and gives majority leaders discretion over part of the exclusion list. The rules do not explain why that discretion is the best way to handle those cases.