---
type: "Bill"
title: "Water-wise Landscaping In Homeowners' Association Communities"
description: "Under current law, a unit owners' association (association) of a common interest community may not prohibit the use of xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes to provide ground covering to property for which a unit owner is responsible. There is, however, an exception authorizing an association to adopt and enforce design or aesthetic guidelines or rules that apply to nonvegetative turf grass and drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes or to regulate the type, number, and placement of drought-tolerant plantings and hardscapes that may be installed on a unit owner's property, on a limited common element, or on other property for which the unit owner is responsible."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2023A"
identifier: "SB 23-178"
citation: "Colorado SB 23-178 (2023A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Karen McCormick", "Mandy Lindsay", "Perry Will", "Sonya Jaquez Lewis"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-03-03T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-17T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fbfb793b-7755-4404-8def-4154b49b40ae"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-178"
source_hash: "e6c5b5319987164a9362e12822dd24e18aff8694fccc38a20fdf28b2d601da7f"
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 23-178 (2023A) — Water-wise Landscaping In Homeowners' Association Communities

Under current law, a unit owners' association (association) of a common interest community may not prohibit the use of xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes to provide ground covering to property for which a unit owner is responsible. There is, however, an exception authorizing an association to adopt and enforce design or aesthetic guidelines or rules that apply to nonvegetative turf grass and drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes or to regulate the type, number, and placement of drought-tolerant plantings and hardscapes that may be installed on a unit owner's property, on a limited common element, or on other property for which the unit owner is responsible.

## 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_sb178_h_thl_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (04/03/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (05/05/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (03/03/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/29/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_s_lgh_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (04/19/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_h_thl_01.pdf)
7. **Reengrossed (04/04/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_ren.pdf)
8. **Rerevised (04/26/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_rer.pdf)
9. **Revised (04/24/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_178_rev.pdf)
10. **Signed Act (05/17/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2023a_178_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- REPASS — **30–5** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **48–17** (pass) · lower
- CONCUR — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **30–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Karen McCormick — primary (person)
- Mandy Lindsay — primary (person)
- Perry Will — primary (person)
- Sonya Jaquez Lewis — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-17T06:00:00+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
- **2023-04-27T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2023-04-26T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-25T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-04-24T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2023-04-20T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Transportation, Housing & Local Government Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-12T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Transportation, Housing & Local Government Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
- **2023-04-05T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Transportation, Housing & Local Government `introduction`
- **2023-04-04T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-03T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor `reading-2`
- **2023-03-31T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-03-28T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Local Government & Housing Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-03T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Local Government & Housing `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fbfb793b-7755-4404-8def-4154b49b40ae`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).