---
type: "Bill"
title: "Reduce Child And Incarcerated Parent Separation"
description: "The act requires the department of human services to promulgate rules that facilitate communication and family time between children and their parents who are incarcerated."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2023A"
identifier: "SB 23-039"
citation: "Colorado SB 23-039 (2023A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Janet Buckner", "Judy Amabile"]
version_count: 11
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-12T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-15T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fe4fd17e-895d-4c29-9264-0f172dfa6a2c"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-039"
source_hash: "a74c70c528dfde0ca7088c7e344836ac1d83e64130df7f36802c7f332b7972f5"
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 23-039 (2023A) — Reduce Child And Incarcerated Parent Separation

The act requires the department of human services to promulgate rules that facilitate communication and family time between children and their parents who are incarcerated.

## 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/2023a_sb039_h_app_003.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/23/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (05/05/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (01/12/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (02/15/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_s_jud_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (03/17/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_s_jud_app_01.pdf)
7. **PA3 (04/18/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_h_app_01.pdf)
8. **Reengrossed (03/24/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_ren.pdf)
9. **Rerevised (04/21/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_rer.pdf)
10. **Revised (04/19/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_039_rev.pdf)
11. **Signed Act (05/15/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2023a_039_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **60–2** (pass) · lower
- CONCUR — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **22–10** (pass) · upper
- AMEND — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **25–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Janet Buckner — primary (person)
- Judy Amabile — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-15T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2023-05-04T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2023-04-24T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2023-04-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-20T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-04-19T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2023-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-05T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-26T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services `introduction`
- **2023-03-24T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed with Amendments - Floor `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-03-23T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor `reading-2`
- **2023-03-21T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-03-17T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-13T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-12T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - 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/fe4fd17e-895d-4c29-9264-0f172dfa6a2c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).