---
type: "Bill"
title: "Early Childhood System"
description: "Effective July 1, 2022, the act creates the department of early childhood (new department) to:Provide early childhood opportunities;"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "HB 21-1304"
citation: "Colorado HB 21-1304 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alec Garnett", "Emily Sirota", "Janet Buckner", "Stephen Fenberg"]
version_count: 11
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-05-05T06:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-06-23T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b14d888d-c0e7-4bc3-813a-4fdb6e206bfa"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb21-1304"
source_hash: "4db19b4153da3bee9d05e5cde39c6d7e9d714510a1cf7885ab9ff921c159312c"
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 21-1304 (2021A) — Early Childhood System

Effective July 1, 2022, the act creates the department of early childhood (new department) to:Provide early childhood opportunities;

## 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_hb1304_s_app_002.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (05/21/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (06/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (05/05/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (05/17/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304ed_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (05/21/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304app.pdf)
7. **PA3 (05/26/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304sedu_01.pdf)
8. **Reengrossed (05/24/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304_ren.pdf)
9. **Rerevised (06/01/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304_rer.pdf)
10. **Revised (05/28/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_1304_rev.pdf)
11. **Signed Act (06/23/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_1304_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- REPASS — **45–19** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **44–20** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- CONCUR — **45–19** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alec Garnett — primary (person)
- Emily Sirota — primary (person)
- Janet Buckner — primary (person)
- Stephen Fenberg — 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
- **2021-06-07T06:00:00+00:00** House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **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 - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2021-05-25T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Education Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-24T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Education `introduction`
- **2021-05-24T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-22T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor
- **2021-05-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-13T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Education Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-05T06:00:00+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/b14d888d-c0e7-4bc3-813a-4fdb6e206bfa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).