Colorado
Every law and rule change USCLI tracks for Colorado, across the professions, on one page. Each entry links to its full write-up and official sources.
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Licensing Law Tracker
Colorado has no state private investigator license. Its licensing programs ended August 31, 2021 after the Governor vetoed their continuation, and no bill to restore them was introduced from 2023 through 2026. Since 2024, a person tracked by a GPS device or app without consent can sue the person who caused the tracking, with no exception for investigators.
Full Colorado page: every change, its sources, and what has not changed (7 entries).
Privacy Act protections for minors’ data
Bars controllers that offer online services to known minors from processing their data for targeted advertising or sale, or collecting precise geolocation, without consent, regardless of the Colorado Privacy Act’s volume thresholds.
Biometric identifier rules apply regardless of size
Requires notice and consent before collecting biometric identifiers and a written retention policy, and covers any controller that processes biometric data regardless of the Privacy Act’s consumer thresholds.
Record sealing expanded
Makes deferred judgments eligible for sealing when the underlying offense is, creates sealing for convictions for conduct later legalized, and lets a mistaken-identity defendant petition for expungement.
Concealed handgun permit training standards
A training class counts toward a permit only if it meets new in-person minimum standards, with a written exam and live fire, and was completed within 1 year before applying (C.R.S. 18-12-202.5, -202.7).
Firearms in unattended vehicles must be locked away
A handgun left in an unattended vehicle must be in a locked hard-sided container, out of plain view, in a locked vehicle.
Officer Certification Tracker
Colorado’s Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Board certifies police officers and deputies, must revoke certification permanently for listed uses of force and other misconduct, and keeps a public database of officer conduct by statute. Since 2023 the State has set a minimum age of 21, rebuilt the conduct database, made revocation for civil liability discretionary, added revocation for sexual abuse of people in jail, and barred revoked officers from teaching or sitting on the Board.
Full Colorado page: every change, its sources, and what has not changed (18 entries).
Minimum age 21; larger Board; revoked officers barred from the Board and from teaching
Basic certification requirements “must” now include that the officer is at least 21 (C.R.S. 24-31-305(1)(a)(V)). No statutory age minimum existed before. The act’s title speaks of age 21 to pass P.O.S.T. exams; the enacted text puts it in the certification…
Missing-person alert training for certification and renewal
A person seeking certification, or renewal of an expired certification under 24-31-305(1.7), “shall” complete public safety department training on missing-person alerts. P.O.S.T. “shall” add it to basic, reserve, and renewal training (new 24-31-319(3)).
Training on Colorado’s civil immigration detainer law
P.O.S.T. “shall” set training standards on officer compliance with C.R.S. 24-76.6-102 (new 24-31-303(1)(v)). Officers certified as of July 1, 2026 “shall” complete the training before December 31, 2027. That deadline provision repeals July 1, 2028; the…
Deaths from police force: family video rights, family notice, and limits on officer statements
For a use of force causing death, within 21 days the agency “shall” make reasonable efforts to find the decedent’s immediate family and give them the recordings, unless they decline. If there is a misconduct complaint arising from the death, it then…
Permanent revocation for sexual abuse of people in jail custody
New mandatory ground in C.R.S. 24-31-904(1)(a)(VI): P.O.S.T. “shall” permanently revoke if an administrative law judge, hearing officer, or internal investigation finds the officer committed sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact, or invasion of privacy…
Forensic Science Tracker
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.
Full Colorado page: every change, its sources, and what has not changed (10 entries).
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & Investigation