---
type: "Bill"
title: "Prohibiting Legacy Preferences In Higher Ed Insts"
description: "Current law does not prevent a higher education institution (institution) from considering legacy preferences and familial relationships to alumni of the institution as eligible criteria for admissions standards. The act prohibits a governing board of a state-supported higher education institution (governing board) from considering legacy preferences and familial relationships to alumni of the institution in the admissions process. The act allows a governing board to ask questions regarding familial relationships to alumni of the institution in order to collect data.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "HB 21-1173"
citation: "Colorado HB 21-1173 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brittany Pettersen", "Jeff Bridges", "Kyle Mullica", "Matt Gray"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-03-04T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-05-25T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/99cb4593-16b7-4ee9-b1e1-0fbea1bb2ff2"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb21-1173"
source_hash: "9f01dd537382ad4ad41340a815594d844d47b103891c03b5feb737140fda8ab2"
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 21-1173 (2021A) — Prohibiting Legacy Preferences In Higher Ed Insts

Current law does not prevent a higher education institution (institution) from considering legacy preferences and familial relationships to alumni of the institution as eligible criteria for admissions standards. The act prohibits a governing board of a state-supported higher education institution (governing board) from considering legacy preferences and familial relationships to alumni of the institution in the admissions process. The act allows a governing board to ask questions regarding familial relationships to alumni of the institution in order to collect data.(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_hb1173_s_ed_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (04/07/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1173_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (05/19/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1173_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (03/04/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1173_01.pdf)
5. **Reengrossed (04/08/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1173_ren.pdf)
6. **Rerevised (05/05/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1173_rer.pdf)
7. **Revised (05/04/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1173_rev.pdf)
8. **Signed Act (05/25/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_1173_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **29–5** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **43–20** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brittany Pettersen — primary (person)
- Jeff Bridges — primary (person)
- Kyle Mullica — primary (person)
- Matt Gray — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-05-25T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-21T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-19T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-05-19T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-04T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-2`
- **2021-04-29T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Education Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-09T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Education `introduction`
- **2021-04-08T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-07T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-2`
- **2021-04-01T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Education Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-04T07:00:00+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/99cb4593-16b7-4ee9-b1e1-0fbea1bb2ff2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).