---
type: "Bill"
title: "Veterans' Hiring Preference"
description: "The act creates a statutory basis to allow a private employer to give preference to a veteran of the armed forces or the National Guard and the spouse of a service member killed in the line of duty when hiring a new employee, as long as the veteran or the spouse is as qualified as other applicants for employment. The act allows a private employer's veterans' preference employment policy to also include the preferential hiring of a veteran who has been discharged from active duty within the last 5 years, a spouse of a veteran killed in the line of duty within 5 years after the death, and a veteran with a disability within 10 after the date of discharge. The act creates a rebuttable presumption that a private employer that adopts a program that gives preferences to veterans or their spouses is not committing a discriminatory or unfair labor practice.The act requires the office of economic development to begin the development of production materials to educate and encourage employers to hire veterans.$25,000 is appropriated to the office of economic development for allocation to the office of film, television, and media for the development of production materials.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "HB 21-1065"
citation: "Colorado HB 21-1065 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David Ortiz", "Leroy Garcia"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 31
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-02-16T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-06-23T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/828b6e5c-063f-4af5-93ea-ccd8b4eaa1a3"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb21-1065"
source_hash: "e8d4dce41f7abb666afc05e51f1a0029e1f0190b33905dcc7dcd6cbbe7194248"
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 HB 21-1065 (2021A) — Veterans' Hiring Preference

The act creates a statutory basis to allow a private employer to give preference to a veteran of the armed forces or the National Guard and the spouse of a service member killed in the line of duty when hiring a new employee, as long as the veteran or the spouse is as qualified as other applicants for employment. The act allows a private employer's veterans' preference employment policy to also include the preferential hiring of a veteran who has been discharged from active duty within the last 5 years, a spouse of a veteran killed in the line of duty within 5 years after the death, and a veteran with a disability within 10 after the date of discharge. The act creates a rebuttable presumption that a private employer that adopts a program that gives preferences to veterans or their spouses is not committing a discriminatory or unfair labor practice.The act requires the office of economic development to begin the development of production materials to educate and encourage employers to hire veterans.$25,000 is appropriated to the office of economic development for allocation to the office of film, television, and media for the development of production materials.(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. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_hb1065_s_app_002.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (05/19/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (06/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (02/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (04/12/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065sa_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (05/25/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065ssta_01.pdf)
7. **Reengrossed (05/20/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065_ren.pdf)
8. **Rerevised (06/01/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065_rer.pdf)
9. **Revised (05/28/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1065_rev.pdf)
10. **Signed Act (06/23/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_1065_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- REPASS — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- ADOPT — **40–25** (pass) · lower
- ADOPT CCR — **20–14** (pass) · upper
- REJECT — **63–1** (pass) · lower
- NOT CNCR — **64–0** (pass) · lower
- 2nd COMMITTEE — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **41–24** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **64–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David Ortiz — primary (person)
- Leroy Garcia — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-06-23T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-17T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-16T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-06-16T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-06-14T06:00:00+00:00** House Consideration of Second Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - Repass
- **2021-06-08T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Consideration of Second Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - Repass
- **2021-06-08T06:00:00+00:00** Second Conference Committee Result was to Adopt Reengrossed w/ Amendments
- **2021-06-07T06:00:00+00:00** House Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Reject, Discharge and Appoint
- **2021-06-07T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Reject, Discharge and Appoint
- **2021-06-07T06:00:00+00:00** First Conference Committee Result was to Adopt Reengrossed
- **2021-06-03T06:00:00+00:00** House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Not Concur - Request Conference Committee
- **2021-06-02T06:00:00+00:00** House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Laid Over Daily
- **2021-06-01T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-28T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor
- **2021-05-28T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-24T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to State, Veterans, & Military Affairs `introduction`
- **2021-05-20T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-19T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor
- **2021-05-17T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over to 05/19/2021 - No Amendments
- **2021-05-14T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-13T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-10T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over to 05/13/2021 - No Amendments
- **2021-05-07T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-03T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over to 05/05/2021 - No Amendments
- **2021-04-28T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over to 05/03/2021 - No Amendments
- **2021-04-16T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over to 04/28/2021 - No Amendments
- **2021-04-13T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-04-08T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-16T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/828b6e5c-063f-4af5-93ea-ccd8b4eaa1a3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).