Talk:Colorado General Assembly

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WikiProject United States

This article has been reclassified from Top to Low importance, consistent with other state legislature articles. It's assessed as a Start because it cites no references. Lagrange613 (talk) 18:12, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

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Wikidata list

Colorado state legislatures from 1876 through 2021 are in Wikidata. -- M2545 (talk) 11:33, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Proposed addition: Bill drafting process section

This article covers the legislative session and procedural rules, but it doesn't describe how bill text is produced before introduction. This seems like a meaningful gap, since the drafting process is a distinctive feature of Colorado's system. Particularly the interaction between external stakeholders, sponsoring legislators, and the Office of Legislative Legal Services.

I propose adding a short subsection titled "Bill drafting" before the state budget process section. The section would include a brief paragraph of context followed by a summary table. Here is a draft:

Proposed text

Bill drafting

Before a bill is introduced in the General Assembly, the text typically passes through several stages. Policy proposals often originate with advocacy organizations, subject-matter experts, or attorneys who identify a need for statutory change. A legislator who agrees to sponsor the proposal then submits it to the Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS), the non-partisan in-house legal counsel for the General Assembly. At this point OLLS will draft the text, often in collaboration with the initial advocates or subject-matter experts, to conform to the Colorado Revised Statutes and applicable constitutional requirements.(1,2) Co-sponsors may join the bill after the text has been formalized.

Entity	Role in process	Contribution to bill text
External originator (e.g., advocates, subject-matter experts, attorneys)	Identifies the need for statutory change and prepares initial proposed language	Produces an initial working draft of the policy
Prime sponsor (legislator)	Agrees to carry the measure and manages its progress through the General Assembly	Provides the draft to OLLS as the basis for a formal bill request
Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS)	Non-partisan staff attorneys who formalize the bill for introduction	Rewrites the text to ensure conformity with the Colorado Revised Statutes and state drafting standards
Co-sponsor (legislator)	Adds their name to signal support for the measure	Typically joins after the bill text has been finalized or introduced

Sources I'm working with

1. Office of Legislative Legal Services overview, Colorado General Assembly website https://content.leg.colorado.gov/agencies/office-of-legislative-legal-services — describes OLLS's role in drafting bills and providing legal counsel. 2. "Understanding Colorado's Legislative Process," One Colorado https://www.one-colorado.org/resources/understanding-colorados-legislative-process — describes the sponsor-to-OLLS handoff and stakeholder involvement in refining bill language.

Open questions

- I'm looking for a stronger published source that explicitly describes the role of external originators (advocates, attorneys, etc.) in producing initial draft language before a sponsor submits a bill request. This is well understood in practice but less often described in official publications. If anyone is aware of a good source, I'd welcome suggestions. - I'm open to feedback on column headings, wording, or whether the table format is the best way to present this.

Thoughts? Bluedages (talk) 00:42, 6 April 2026 (UTC)