For media inquiries, please contact Cynthia Eveleth-Havens at [email protected] or Teresa Busk at [email protected].
DENVER – The Colorado Chamber of Commerce today announced bipartisan legislation that creates more robust standards and criteria for how state agencies review existing regulations. Senate Bill 137, introduced today, is sponsored by leadership from both parties in the House and Senate, including Senate President James Coleman, Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson, House Speaker Julie McCluskie and House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell.
SB 137 is the Colorado Chamber’s priority legislation for 2026 following several years of reports and studies indicating the impact state-level regulations are having on the business community. The latest Chamber report revealed that Colorado is still the sixth most regulated state in the nation, experiencing 2.4% growth in regulations from 2024-25.
“A balanced and effective regulatory system is essential to a strong economy, but an increasingly complex regulatory environment continues to make it harder for employers to grow and create jobs,” said Colorado Chamber President and CEO Loren Furman. “This legislation takes a pragmatic approach to regulatory reform, ensuring regulations work as intended for employers, workers and consumers alike. Greater transparency and accountability in the rulemaking process will help protect jobs, strengthen our economy and improve Colorado’s long-term competitiveness.”
The Chamber’s bill aims to increase transparency, accountability and consistency in the rule review process mandated for state agencies. Under existing law, all state agencies are required to perform a mandatory review of their regulations and submit those findings to the legislature in a report. Beyond this, there is currently no process in place that requires any action by lawmakers on these reports. The Chamber’s proposal strengthens this entire review system from start to finish.
“Ensuring that Colorado’s laws and regulations are working as intended is critical for good governance,” said President Coleman. “SB 137 strengthens the transparency and accountability of our rulemaking processes by ensuring regular, meaningful review of existing regulations. Bolstering regulatory review across the board will improve how state government functions, which will benefit Colorado businesses, workers and local communities across the state.”
SB 137 will create more robust standards and criteria for how state agencies review their current regulations, including assessing whether rules are outdated, duplicative, cost-effective and overly burdensome. These provisions would ensure state agencies review their rules no less than once every three years and to clearly demonstrate the continuing need and cost-effectiveness of those rules.
“When Colorado sits at the top of the pack for most regulated states in the nation, it’s clear we need a more disciplined review process at the state level,” said Minority Leader Simpson. “We can’t afford a system where rules continue to accumulate without meaningful oversight. I applaud the Colorado Chamber’s work and focus on regulatory reform over the years to make our state more competitive and lower costs for Colorado businesses and families. This legislation is a pivotal step in the right direction in improving our economic climate so job creators can do what they do best.”
The bill also improves accountability and good governance by creating new requirements that these reports be reviewed in state agency SMART Act hearings, ensuring these priorities are brought to light in a public forum and empowering lawmakers to determine if further audits or reviews need to be made. Lawmakers would determine whether a program or function should be subject to the state’s sunset review process or a performance or financial audit by the Office of the State Auditor.
“As lawmakers, we always strive to make our public institutions more effective and responsive to the needs of the public and business community. This good governance legislation establishes important new steps for how state agencies review existing rules to make our regulatory system more transparent and accountable. We look forward to working with the Colorado Chamber on building a better regulatory system for all Coloradans,” said Speaker Julie McCluskie.
“Too often Colorado’s increasingly complex regulatory environment stands in the way of innovation and economic growth,” said Minority Leader Caldwell. “The Chamber’s data is clear – if we don’t take steps to address this issue long-term, our business climate will continue to feel the consequences. SB 137 puts common sense standards in place to ensure the regulations that Coloradans must navigate every day are necessary, cost effective, and working the way they were designed.”
Last legislative session marked the beginning of the Colorado Chamber’s initiative to bring broad regulatory reform to state government with the passage of SB 25-306, which placed certain state agencies under regular performance audits. This legislation followed the Chamber’s original 2024 study on regulations. In addition to its finding that Colorado was the sixth most regulated state in the nation that year, the report found that 45% of the state’s regulations were deemed excessive or duplicative. This regulatory burden has created a costly economic climate for business and consumers, threatening the state’s long-term competitiveness.
To view SB 137, please click here.
###
The Colorado Chamber of Commerce champions free enterprise, a healthy business environment and economic prosperity for all Coloradans. It is the only business association that works to improve the business climate for all sizes of business from a statewide, multi-industry perspective. What the Colorado Chamber accomplishes is good for all businesses, and that’s good for the state’s economy. It was created in 1965 based on the merger with the Colorado Manufacturers’ Association.