---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public Benefits Theft"
description: "The act creates specific elements for public benefits theft in the theft statute. A person commits public benefits theft when a person intentionally misrepresents or withholds a material fact for determining eligibility, and does so for the purpose of obtaining or retaining public benefits for which the person is not eligible."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2022A"
identifier: "HB 22-1224"
citation: "Colorado HB 22-1224 (2022A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Julie Gonzales", "Kerry Tipper", "Matt Soper"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-02-10T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2022-04-21T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dd9baa54-8423-4b89-8a8d-2f27b10505a5"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb22-1224"
source_hash: "77d6c98c579dbcaa95f7af1e4acf9acbedcd27c8d462969a6f2ad2205a7d6543"
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 22-1224 (2022A) — Public Benefits Theft

The act creates specific elements for public benefits theft in the theft statute. A person commits public benefits theft when a person intentionally misrepresents or withholds a material fact for determining eligibility, and does so for the purpose of obtaining or retaining public benefits for which the person is not eligible.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2022a_hb1224_s_jud_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/15/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (04/18/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (02/10/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/11/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_h_jud_03.pdf)
6. **Reengrossed (03/16/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_ren.pdf)
7. **Rerevised (04/05/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_rer.pdf)
8. **Revised (04/04/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1224_rev.pdf)
9. **Signed Act (04/21/2022)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2022a_1224_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **57–6** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **31–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Julie Gonzales — primary (person)
- Kerry Tipper — primary (person)
- Matt Soper — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-04-21T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2022-04-19T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2022-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2022-04-05T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-04-04T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2022-03-31T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-18T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2022-03-16T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-03-15T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2022-03-14T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2022-03-09T07:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-02-10T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dd9baa54-8423-4b89-8a8d-2f27b10505a5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).