---
type: "Bill"
title: "Suspend Statewide Assessments For Select Grades"
description: "The act suspends the administration of state assessments, contingent on receiving a waiver of federal law from the federal department of education, for the following instructional areas and grade levels for the 2020-21 school year:Science for students enrolled in grades 5, 8, and 11;"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "HB 21-1161"
citation: "Colorado HB 21-1161 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barbara McLachlan", "Don Coram", "Emily Sirota", "Rachel Zenzinger"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 14
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-03-03T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-03-16T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/46349221-4647-4d7b-bb7e-d49e6a56dcb4"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb21-1161"
source_hash: "ca6a5ae4b27282f6a659a86748278ee68f5e740fd1ac8c0ad4a0cb3e4f126d9f"
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 21-1161 (2021A) — Suspend Statewide Assessments For Select Grades

The act suspends the administration of state assessments, contingent on receiving a waiver of federal law from the federal department of education, for the following instructional areas and grade levels for the 2020-21 school year:Science for students enrolled in grades 5, 8, and 11;

## 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_hb1161_s_app_002.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/08/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (03/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (03/03/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/08/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161app_01.pdf)
6. **Reengrossed (03/09/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161_rn2.pdf)
7. **Rerevised (03/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161_rer.pdf)
8. **Revised (03/12/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1161_rev.pdf)
9. **Signed Act (03/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_1161_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- AMD — **16–47** (fail) · lower
- BILL — **30–2** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **51–13** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barbara McLachlan — primary (person)
- Don Coram — primary (person)
- Emily Sirota — primary (person)
- Rachel Zenzinger — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-03-16T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-03-16T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-16T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-03-16T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-03-16T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-12T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2021-03-12T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-11T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Education Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-09T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Education `introduction`
- **2021-03-09T07:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-08T07:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2021-03-08T07:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-05T07:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Education Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-03T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Education `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/46349221-4647-4d7b-bb7e-d49e6a56dcb4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).