---
type: "Bill"
title: "Legal Protections for Dignity of Minors"
description: "Beginning July 1, 2026, if a petitioner is under 18 years old at the time of filing a petition seeking to change the petitioner's name, the act requires the court to suppress the record unless the petitioner was previously convicted of a felony. The act authorizes the court to use the suppressed court record for administrative purposes, but the court is prohibited from publishing the petitioner's name or the petitioner's new name online. A petitioner who is under 18 years old is not required to give public notice of the name change. The act authorizes an individual to access a suppressed court record without a court order if the individual obtains verbal consent from a party to the case and submits an affidavit to the court, upon penalty of perjury, that the individual has obtained the verbal consent.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "SB 18"
citation: "Colorado SB 18 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children & Domestic Matters", "Courts & Judicial"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["C. Kolker", "K. Wallace", "L. García", "M. Froelich"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 13
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7d8670f5-4238-44c1-b5c3-7bde28edcb26"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-018"
source_hash: "eca121bb8e7beabf4696b8e63da832ef6740d9691031a0d0639b9b416f50f7a3"
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 18 (2026A) — Legal Protections for Dignity of Minors

Beginning July 1, 2026, if a petitioner is under 18 years old at the time of filing a petition seeking to change the petitioner's name, the act requires the court to suppress the record unless the petitioner was previously convicted of a felony. The act authorizes the court to use the suppressed court record for administrative purposes, but the court is prohibited from publishing the petitioner's name or the petitioner's new name online. A petitioner who is under 18 years old is not required to give public notice of the name change. The act authorizes an individual to access a suppressed court record without a court order if the individual obtains verbal consent from a party to the case and submits an affidavit to the court, upon penalty of perjury, that the individual has obtained the verbal consent.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/110723/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/112513/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114173/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/112539/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113986/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113947/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114965/download)

## Votes

- Adopt amendment L.005 (Attachment D) — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AMD (H.003) — **fail** (fail) · lower
- AMD (H.002) — **fail** (fail) · lower
- Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment G) — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.003 (Attachment I) — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-018 to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AMD (H.001) — **fail** (fail) · lower
- LIMIT — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Refer Senate Bill 26-018, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Adopt amendment L.002 (Attachment H) — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- C. Kolker — primary (person)
- K. Wallace — primary (person)
- L. García — primary (person)
- M. Froelich — primary (person)
- A. Boesenecker — cosponsor (person)
- A. Paschal — cosponsor (person)
- A. Valdez — cosponsor (person)
- B. Titone — cosponsor (person)
- C. Kipp — cosponsor (person)
- E. Sirota — cosponsor (person)
- E. Velasco — cosponsor (person)
- G. Rydin — cosponsor (person)
- I. Jodeh — cosponsor (person)
- J. Bacon — cosponsor (person)
- J. Joseph — cosponsor (person)
- J. Willford — cosponsor (person)
- K. Brown — cosponsor (person)
- K. McCormick — cosponsor (person)
- K. Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- L. Gilchrist — cosponsor (person)
- L. Smith — cosponsor (person)
- M. Carter — cosponsor (person)
- M. Duran — cosponsor (person)
- M. Lindsay — cosponsor (person)
- M. Martinez — cosponsor (person)
- M. Weissman — cosponsor (person)
- N. Hinrichsen — cosponsor (person)
- S. Camacho — cosponsor (person)
- S. Woodrow — cosponsor (person)
- T. Story — cosponsor (person)
- Y. Zokaie — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-04-20** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-07** Signed by the Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-04-07** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-04-02** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-01** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-03-30** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2026-03-25** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-02-25** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2026-02-24** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-23** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor `reading-2`
- **2026-02-18** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-01-14** 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/7d8670f5-4238-44c1-b5c3-7bde28edcb26`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).