---
type: "Bill"
title: "Search Warrant Procedures"
description: "Under current law, a court may only grant a no-knock search warrant under certain circumstances. The act adds a requirement that there is either probable cause for an arrest of a suspect or no-knock entry is necessary because of a credible threat to the life of any person including the executing officers."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2023A"
identifier: "SB 23-254"
citation: "Colorado SB 23-254 (2023A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Elisabeth Epps", "Julie Gonzales", "Mike Weissman", "Rhonda Fields"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 12
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-03-27T06:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-06-06T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8461d4cb-1f40-48e4-b122-541acb8e01f3"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-254"
source_hash: "d172f93baefea896018247237791a20ce0e2ec259487adedb4872093e3c6f40d"
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 23-254 (2023A) — Search Warrant Procedures

Under current law, a court may only grant a no-knock search warrant under certain circumstances. The act adds a requirement that there is either probable cause for an arrest of a suspect or no-knock entry is necessary because of a credible threat to the life of any person including the executing officers.

## 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_sb254_h_jud_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (04/14/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_254_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (05/07/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_254_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (03/27/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_254_01.pdf)
5. **Reengrossed (04/17/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_254_ren.pdf)
6. **Rerevised (05/02/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_254_rer.pdf)
7. **Revised (05/01/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_254_rev.pdf)
8. **Signed Act (06/06/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2023a_254_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **42–23** (pass) · lower
- COW * — **9–21** (fail) · upper
- BILL — **27–7** (pass) · upper
- AMEND — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Elisabeth Epps — primary (person)
- Julie Gonzales — primary (person)
- Mike Weissman — primary (person)
- Rhonda Fields — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-06-06T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-08T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-07T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2023-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2023-05-02T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-05-01T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2023-04-27T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-17T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2023-04-17T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed with Amendments - Floor `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-14T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Floor `reading-2`
- **2023-04-12T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-27T06:00:00+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/8461d4cb-1f40-48e4-b122-541acb8e01f3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).