---
type: "Bill"
title: "Freestanding Emergency Departments Required Consumer Notices"
description: "The bill requires a freestanding emergency department (FSED), whether operated by a hospital at a separate, off-campus location or operating independently of a hospital system, to provide any individual that enters the FSED seeking treatment a written statement of patient information, which an FSED staff member or health care provider must explain orally and which must indicate that:"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2018A"
identifier: "SB 18-146"
citation: "Colorado SB 18-146 (2018A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jim Smallwood", "John Kefalas", "Jonathan Singer", "Lang Sias"]
version_count: 11
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2018-01-29T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2018-04-25T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c4e8af44-bb50-4009-a43c-8130cd40182b"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb18-146"
source_hash: "5493cfb57c9d9a403b85082f32ee69592762bafa073a5d0816d6cdc593eefe0a"
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 18-146 (2018A) — Freestanding Emergency Departments Required Consumer Notices

The bill requires a freestanding emergency department (FSED), whether operated by a hospital at a separate, off-campus location or operating independently of a hospital system, to provide any individual that enters the FSED seeking treatment a written statement of patient information, which an FSED staff member or health care provider must explain orally and which must indicate that:

## Version chain

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

1. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018a/bills/cr/2018a_sb146_h_app_002.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/01/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (04/18/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (01/29/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (02/15/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146shhs_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (02/27/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146shhsapp.pdf)
7. **PA3 (03/16/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146hie_01.pdf)
8. **Reengrossed (03/05/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_ren.pdf)
9. **Rerevised (04/09/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_rer.pdf)
10. **Revised (04/06/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_rev.pdf)
11. **Signed Act (04/25/2018)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018A/bills/2018a_146_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **33–2** (pass) · upper
- CONCUR — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **31–3** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **51–12** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jim Smallwood — primary (person)
- John Kefalas — primary (person)
- Jonathan Singer — primary (person)
- Lang Sias — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-04-25T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2018-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2018-04-17T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2018-04-10T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2018-04-09T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-3, passage`
- **2018-04-06T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2018-04-06T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2018-03-26T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Finance Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-15T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Health, Insurance, & Environment Refer Amended to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-05T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Health, Insurance, & Environment `introduction`
- **2018-03-05T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-3, passage`
- **2018-03-02T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2018-03-01T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor `reading-2`
- **2018-02-27T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2018-02-20T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Finance Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-14T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Health & Human Services Refer Amended to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-29T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Health & Human Services `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c4e8af44-bb50-4009-a43c-8130cd40182b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).