---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sunset Defense Counsel First Appearance Program"
description: "The act continues the defense counsel on first appearance grant program until September 1, 2028, subject to sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2023A"
identifier: "SB 23-072"
citation: "Colorado SB 23-072 (2023A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Elisabeth Epps", "Matt Soper", "Robert Rodriguez"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-01-27T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-12T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/119674ff-609a-4593-b10b-be05e2ecbd84"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-072"
source_hash: "4d3c366c18ba6024f4876f6abc506c6f767eb807fdc787b9dc6ec54d0ba7a004"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-co"]
---

# Colorado SB 23-072 (2023A) — Sunset Defense Counsel First Appearance Program

The act continues the defense counsel on first appearance grant program until September 1, 2028, subject to sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2023a_sb072_h_app_002.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/23/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (05/05/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (01/27/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/17/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_s_app_01.pdf)
6. **Reengrossed (03/24/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_ren.pdf)
7. **Rerevised (04/24/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_rer.pdf)
8. **Revised (04/21/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_072_rev.pdf)
9. **Signed Act (05/12/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2023a_072_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **54–10** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **20–12** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Elisabeth Epps — primary (person)
- Matt Soper — primary (person)
- Robert Rodriguez — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-05-12T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2023-05-04T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2023-04-24T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2023-04-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-11T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-26T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2023-03-24T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-03-23T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2023-03-21T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-03-17T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-08T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-27T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/119674ff-609a-4593-b10b-be05e2ecbd84`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).