Colorado
Colorado has no forensic science commission or analyst license. In 2025 it passed the Forensic Science Integrity Act: employees of law enforcement crime labs must report misconduct, lab directors must investigate and notify prosecutors, and a defendant who proves material wrongful action gets a new trial. Since 2023 the State has also widened post-conviction DNA testing, created a sexual assault evidence review board, required a public DNA backlog dashboard, and required judges to warn about field drug test error rates before taking a possession plea.
- Sources checked
- Part of
- Forensic Ledger
At a glance
- Oversight body
- None. No forensic science commission or lab oversight board exists. The Colorado Forensic Science Integrity Act places duties on each crime lab and its director instead (HB 25-1275, C.R.S. 16-12-301 to -312). It covers only “forensic services providers” that are a unit or section of a law enforcement agency, accredited or not, and excludes coroner labs (16-12-303(1), (5)). Private labs are not covered, though contract workers of a covered lab count as its employees (16-12-303(3)). A standing Colorado sexual assault forensic medical evidence review board in the Department of Law reviews the response to sexual assault and reports to the General Assembly every November 1 (SB 25-304, C.R.S. 24-31-1401). It does not oversee labs generally.
- Lab accreditation
- No general mandate. An “accredited crime laboratory,” meaning a law enforcement lab accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, must “endeavor, subject to available capacity, funding, and personnel” to analyze sexual assault forensic medical evidence within 60 days (C.R.S. 24-33.5-113(6)). The Colorado Bureau of Investigation may contract with outside labs for backlog testing and retesting if they conform to ISO/IEC 17025 and FBI quality assurance standards and are accredited by an ILAC signatory (24-33.5-432(2)–(3)). The Integrity Act’s definition of a forensic services provider includes units that work “without being accredited” (16-12-303(5)); it does not require accreditation.
- Analyst licensing
- None for forensic analysts. A county coroner elected on or after November 5, 2024 in a county over 300,000 people must be a death investigator certified by the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators or a forensic pathologist certified by the American Board of Pathology (C.R.S. 30-10-601.5(1)(d), as amended by SB 26-105). The threshold was 150,000 from 2024 until August 12, 2026.
- Admissibility standard
- CRE 702. The Supreme Court’s list of adopted rule changes shows no amendment to CRE 702 from 2023 through 2026, so Colorado has not adopted the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702 (adopted rule changes). The leading case, People v. Shreck, 22 P.3d 68 (Colo. 2001), could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
- Post-conviction forensic relief
- No changed-science statute. Two routes. (1) A petition based on crime lab “wrongful action,” for convictions involving labs that are units of law enforcement agencies (C.R.S. 16-12-310 to -312). The court must hold an evidentiary hearing if the petition asserts facts that, if true, show material wrongful action. If the defendant proves by a preponderance that a lab employee engaged in wrongful action and that it was material, “the court shall vacate the conviction and grant a new trial.” Materiality has three parts: the employee’s testing or testimony was significant and important evidence; a guilt inference from it was not also established by independent, reliable evidence, or an innocence inference was not known or presented and could be presented at a new trial; and there is a reasonable probability of a different result (16-12-312(5)(a)). Deadlines run from actual receipt of the statutory notice: none for class 1 felonies, 3 years for other felonies, 18 months for misdemeanors and 6 months for petty offenses. Late filing is allowed for justifiable excuse or excusable neglect, and the period is tolled for incompetency, while the trial court lacks jurisdiction, and while a request for counsel is pending (16-12-311). (2) Post-conviction DNA testing for anyone convicted of, or found not guilty by reason of insanity of, a Colorado felony (18-1-411 to -416, as amended by HB 23-1034).
- DNA database scope
- Felony arrestees and convicted offenders. Every adult arrested on or after September 30, 2010 for, or for investigation of, a felony, or charged with a felony, gives a sample at booking (C.R.S. 16-23-103). The Bureau keeps the profile only once a felony charge is confirmed, and destroys the sample if none is confirmed within a year (16-23-104(2)). Convicted felony offenders also give samples (16-11-102.4). No amendment from 2023 to 2026 was found (C.R.S. title 16, 2024).
- Facial recognition
- Statewide rules for state and local agencies since SB 22-113, signed June 8, 2022 (C.R.S. 24-18-301 to -309). Agencies must give notice of intended use, file accountability reports, provide meaningful human review, and test, train and keep records. Police may not use facial recognition for ongoing surveillance, real-time or near-real-time identification, or persistent tracking unless they have a warrant, the use is necessary to develop leads in an investigation, they have probable cause, or a court has ordered it to locate or identify a missing or deceased person (24-18-307(1)). Any one exception is enough, and the investigative-leads exception is broad. Results may not be the only basis for probable cause (24-18-307(4)), and use on a criminal defendant must be disclosed before trial (24-18-308(1)) (SB 22-113). Schools face separate limits under SB 25-143.
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Officers must offer a voluntary breath screening test after serious crashes
When a driver is in a collision that causes death or suspected serious bodily injury, an officer must, with certain exceptions, offer the driver a voluntary preliminary alcohol screening test of the breath, after telling the driver that they may refuse or agree. If the device malfunctions, cannot give a valid result, or is unavailable for reasons beyond the officer’s control, the officer must record in the crash incident report that no test was given and why. The act appropriates $90,000 from the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund and $30,000 from the wildlife cash fund to the Department of Natural Resources for Colorado Parks and Wildlife to carry it out. This description comes from the legislature’s summary of the act as enacted.
For practitioners: In a fatal or serious-injury crash case, check the incident report for the offer of a screening test or the recorded reason none was given.
Coroner credential rule narrowed to counties over 300,000
The requirement that a coroner be a certified death investigator or a certified forensic pathologist now applies only in counties over 300,000 people, up from 150,000. New section 30-10-625 requires a coroner to disclose on the coroner’s website any financial interest in a death-care business the office regulates, such as a mortuary, funeral home or crematory. A coroner who has disclosed an interest may not take part in official action that would directly and specifically affect that business (30-10-625(4)). The act does not bar coroners from running a death-care business.
For practitioners: In a county between 150,000 and 300,000 people, the coroner no longer needs the credential.
Field drug tests: summons instead of arrest for low-level possession, and a plea warning
The act defines a “colorimetric field drug test” as a presumptive color-change screen done outside a forensic lab by someone other than a forensic chemist (18-18-102(4.5)). When such a test was used and the only basis for arrest is a level 1 drug misdemeanor for possession, or a municipal possession charge, an officer must issue a summons instead of arresting (18-18-403.5(7)); parallel changes were made to 16-2-104, 16-3-105 and 16-5-206. Before accepting a plea from anyone charged with possession under 18-18-403.5(1), (2) or (2.5), or with municipal drug possession, where a field test was used, the judge must advise that these tests “are subject to false positive results,” “have known error rates and are inadmissible in court,” and that the defendant may plead not guilty and “request drug testing by an accredited forensic laboratory” (18-18-403.5(8)). The act applies to offenses committed on or after March 26, 2026.
For practitioners: Before a possession plea in a field-test case, make sure the advisement was given and consider asking for lab testing.
Sexual assault evidence review board, a 60-day lab target, and a wider DNA backlog dashboard
The act creates the Colorado sexual assault forensic medical evidence review board in the Department of Law, chaired by the Attorney General or a designee (C.R.S. 24-31-1401). Members were to be appointed, and the board to convene, by August 1, 2025. Most members serve four-year terms. The board reviews protocols, training and laws on the response to sexual assault and makes recommendations. A preliminary report was due December 15, 2025, and only that duty is repealed, on June 30, 2027; a report is due every November 1 from 2026 with no end date. An accredited law enforcement crime lab must “endeavor, subject to available capacity, funding, and personnel” to analyze forensic medical evidence within 60 days (24-33.5-113(6)). Police must update victims every 90 days while results are outstanding, which they may do in batches in the first week of March, June, September and December (24-4.1-302.5). Section 5 widens the public dashboard created by SB 25-170 to cover the DNA evidence backlog generally, with 14 listed measures, still updated at least every 30 days (24-33.5-432(4)(c)). Section 4 makes the kit tracking reports under 24-33.5-113.5(4) semiannual and sends them to every legislator. The act appropriates $112,365 to the Department of Law for fiscal 2025–26, for 1.0 FTE.
For practitioners: The 60-day target is a best-efforts duty, not an enforceable deadline; the dashboard gives current turnaround figures.
Forensic Science Integrity Act: misconduct reporting, notice, and a new-trial remedy
The act covers crime labs that are units or sections of law enforcement agencies, accredited or not, and excludes coroner labs. “Wrongful action” means knowing misconduct, such as mishandling evidence, misleading or false results, concealment or false testimony, or a “significant event,” a gross deviation from procedures, accreditation requirements or law that could substantially affect the lab’s integrity (16-12-303). Employees must report wrongful action within 7 days, and supervisors must tell the director within 72 hours (16-12-304). A director who receives a report on or after July 1, 2025 must investigate, finish within 91 days or notify every district attorney with cases the employee worked and update them every 35 days, and issue a final report (16-12-305). Investigations from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2025 that led to criminal allegations or sustained internal findings needed final reports by September 1, 2025. District attorneys must notify defendants within 91 days of the initiation notice (16-12-306), and must notify victims in cases involving crimes listed in 24-4.1-302(1) (16-12-307). Defendants have a right to counsel and discovery. The post-conviction remedy, with its three-part materiality test and deadlines, is described under “Post-conviction forensic relief” above. A final report finding wrongful action is an open record, but the custodian may withhold it while a related criminal investigation or case against the employee is pending (24-72-303(4)(a.5)). The act applies to claims filed on or after June 2, 2025, whenever the misconduct occurred. It appropriates $140,443 to the Judicial Department for fiscal 2025–26.
For practitioners: A notice under 16-12-306 starts the filing clock; calendar it on receipt.
School facial recognition contracting ban made permanent, with exceptions
The act removes the July 1, 2025 repeal of the ban on schools contracting for facial recognition services. It adds exceptions for contracts in effect when the act became law, for curriculum uses, and for identifying a person who made an articulable and significant threat, a missing student believed to be on school grounds, or a person ordered to stay off school property. Biometric identifiers may not be processed without consent, schools must give notice, and districts must adopt policies naming who may use the systems for threat response. An aggrieved party may seek a restraining order or injunction.
For practitioners: Police use stays under C.R.S. 24-18-307; this act governs only school systems, which may still feed a threat response.
Backlog money, outside-lab contracting, and a public dashboard after 2023 lab misconduct
The act kept a $3,000,000 appropriation made in HB 24-1430 available to the Bureau until June 30, 2026, and required it to be used to prioritize and accelerate testing of the sexual assault kit backlog. The Bureau may contract with qualified outside labs for backlog testing and for DNA retesting of cases tied to “the bureau laboratory misconduct that was discovered in 2023.” The Department of Public Safety had to report progress to the Joint Budget Committee by April 15, 2025, send email updates to the General Assembly every 30 days from March 10, 2025 through June 30, 2026, and build a public dashboard updated at least every 30 days. The appropriation window and the email updates ended June 30, 2026. The dashboard duty has no end date, and SB 25-304 widened it.
For practitioners: In a case the Bureau’s lab handled, ask whether it was among the cases retested after the 2023 misconduct.
Coroners in large counties must hold a death investigation credential
A coroner of a county over 150,000 people elected on or after November 5, 2024 must be a death investigator certified by the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, or a forensic pathologist certified by the American Board of Pathology, in good standing. SB 26-105 later raised the threshold to 300,000.
For practitioners: This is a credential for an elected office, not a license for forensic analysts.
Facial recognition task force recast as an artificial intelligence task force
The task force created by SB 22-113 to consider facial recognition became a 26-member artificial intelligence impact task force, with 4 legislators. Its remit now covers AI systems, automated decision systems and biometric technology, including recommendations on facial recognition. Its report was due February 1, 2025, and the task force is repealed September 1, 2027. The operative agency rules in C.R.S. 24-18-301 to -309 did not change.
For practitioners: The rules on police facial recognition are unchanged; this is a temporary advisory body.
Post-conviction DNA testing opened to people out of custody, and testing made mandatory on a showing
Before the act, only an incarcerated person could apply, and only to show “actual innocence”; that definition was repealed. Now an “eligible person” may apply at any time: anyone convicted of, or found not guilty by reason of insanity of, a Colorado felony, including people in prison, on parole or probation, registered as sex offenders, or done with their sentence (18-1-411(3.3)). The court must order testing if it finds a reasonable probability the person would not have been convicted had favorable results been obtained at the original prosecution, finds by a preponderance that police collected and still hold testable biological evidence, and finds by a preponderance either that DNA results were not available before conviction, that previously tested evidence can now get more advanced, scientifically reliable testing likely to give more probative results, or that the person did not get testing for a listed reason (18-1-413(1)). A later petition on new grounds may be heard, if the petitioner meets due-diligence or no-prior-hearing conditions, for good cause or in the interests of justice (18-1-413(2)). If results are favorable, the court must hold a hearing within 30 days and enter an order within 30 days after it, which may vacate the conviction (18-1-416(1.5)).
For practitioners: A client who has finished the sentence can now seek testing, including retesting with newer methods.
Pending bills
No bill on these topics is pending. Both 2026 bills below are marked “Lost.”
- SB 26-071 (use of surveillance technology by law enforcement) was postponed indefinitely by Senate Judiciary on May 6, 2026. SB 26-071
- HB 26-1049 (prohibiting use of a personally identifying feature) was postponed indefinitely by House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs on February 12, 2026. HB 26-1049
Checked and unchanged
- CRE 702 has no amendment on the Supreme Court’s adopted rule-change list from 2023 through 2026.
- C.R.S. 16-23-103 to -105 (felony-arrestee DNA) and 16-11-102.4 (convicted-offender DNA): no amendment from 2023 to 2026 was found.
- C.R.S. 24-18-301 to -309 (agency facial recognition): HB 24-1468 changed only the task force, and SB 25-143 only the school rules.
- No statute on genetic genealogy, rapid DNA or digital forensics was enacted from 2023 to 2026.
- The current official C.R.S. is hosted by a vendor and could not be reached on October 19, 2026; statute text here comes from the 2024 C.R.S. and the enacted acts. Whether the Integrity Act’s retrospective final reports, due September 1, 2025, were issued was not found.
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Colorado forensic science oversight: Forensic Ledger,” uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/colorado (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.