---
type: "Bill"
title: "Increased Penalty for Vehicular Homicide & Assault"
description: "The act clarifies the conduct by which a person can commit criminally negligent homicide to include proximately causing the death of another person while operating or driving a motor vehicle with criminal negligence. The act repeals the class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense of a person being the proximate cause of death to another person while driving a motor vehicle, while clarifying it can be charged as a class 5 felony elsewhere in statute.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "SB 72"
citation: "Colorado SB 72 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes", "Corrections", "& Enforcement"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Marshall", "C. Espenoza", "J. Carson", "M. Snyder"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 12
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2026-01-28"
last_action: "2026-05-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/08bd619e-515a-4d66-88be-ecdd8d7be429"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-072"
source_hash: "6aeb74c4943ef28314ce8e9b5dc70c2e6f9dfd86a3b0074f03a02d7c4f98a18f"
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 72 (2026A) — Increased Penalty for Vehicular Homicide & Assault

The act clarifies the conduct by which a person can commit criminally negligent homicide to include proximately causing the death of another person while operating or driving a motor vehicle with criminal negligence. The act repeals the class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense of a person being the proximate cause of death to another person while driving a motor vehicle, while clarifying it can be charged as a class 5 felony elsewhere in statute.(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/111035/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114289/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116579/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114366/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116458/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116409/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116815/download)

## Votes

- Refer Senate Bill 26-072 to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-072, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole and with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment A) — **pass** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B. Marshall — primary (person)
- C. Espenoza — primary (person)
- J. Carson — primary (person)
- M. Snyder — primary (person)
- A. Boesenecker — cosponsor (person)
- A. Paschal — cosponsor (person)
- B. Kirkmeyer — cosponsor (person)
- B. Pelton — cosponsor (person)
- C. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- C. Simpson — cosponsor (person)
- D. Roberts — cosponsor (person)
- J. Coleman — cosponsor (person)
- J. Marchman — cosponsor (person)
- J. McCluskie — cosponsor (person)
- K. Mullica — cosponsor (person)
- L. Frizell — cosponsor (person)
- M. Duran — cosponsor (person)
- M. Soper — cosponsor (person)
- R. Gonzalez — cosponsor (person)
- S. Lieder — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-05-28** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-21** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-21** Signed by the Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-05-21** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-05-13** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-05-12** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-05-11** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-04-14** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2026-04-10** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-09** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2026-04-06** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-28** 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/08bd619e-515a-4d66-88be-ecdd8d7be429`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).