---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bias-motivated Crimes"
description: "The act specifies that for harassment that is bias-motivated or a bias-motivated crime, the bias motivation only needs to be part of the defendant's motivation in committing the crime.The act makes the crime of harassment when the harassment is bias-motivated a victim rights act crime, which provides a victim certain statutory rights.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "SB 21-280"
citation: "Colorado SB 21-280 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John Cooke", "Matt Soper", "Mike Weissman", "Rhonda Fields"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 13
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-05-19T06:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-06-28T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/96ed1196-a7d8-404d-a4d7-f1f444b986f5"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-280"
source_hash: "93403d5df0bae384c688229bab3e96d26a5bf0d0bd97aa452ac0a2d54589b2f8"
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 21-280 (2021A) — Bias-motivated Crimes

The act specifies that for harassment that is bias-motivated or a bias-motivated crime, the bias motivation only needs to be part of the defendant's motivation in committing the crime.The act makes the crime of harassment when the harassment is bias-motivated a victim rights act crime, which provides a victim certain statutory rights.(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_sb280_h_jud_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (05/26/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (06/23/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (05/19/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (06/03/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280jud_01.pdf)
6. **Reengrossed (05/27/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280_ren.pdf)
7. **Rerevised (06/04/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280_rer.pdf)
8. **Revised (06/03/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_280_rev.pdf)
9. **Signed Act (06/28/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_280_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- AMD — **62–1** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- PERM — **58–4** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **55–8** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- CONCUR — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **32–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John Cooke — primary (person)
- Matt Soper — primary (person)
- Mike Weissman — primary (person)
- Rhonda Fields — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-06-28T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-23T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-23T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-06-23T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-06-07T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2021-06-04T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed with Amendments - Floor `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-06-03T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2021-06-02T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-28T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2021-05-27T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-26T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2021-05-25T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2021-05-19T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to State, Veterans, & Military Affairs `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/96ed1196-a7d8-404d-a4d7-f1f444b986f5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).