---
type: "Bill"
title: "Death Benefit for State Employee Surviving Spouse"
description: "Pursuant to the \"Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado\", death benefits will be paid to a dependent surviving spouse of a deceased employee for life, regardless of remarriage, rather than until remarriage, if the surviving spouse receives death benefits pursuant to law and the deceased employee was a state employee who worked in a job with a high-risk classification."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2024A"
identifier: "HB 24-1139"
citation: "Colorado HB 24-1139 (2024A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Perry Will", "Ryan Armagost", "Sheila Lieder", "Tony Exum"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 13
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2024-01-29T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2024-04-04T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9d3c2bad-0621-4635-83a0-01a8637b6efd"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1139"
source_hash: "e6eee6579be8d99672c8078ec97c8a055698493d430953bd89244e1c0c8a96ce"
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 24-1139 (2024A) — Death Benefit for State Employee Surviving Spouse

Pursuant to the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado", death benefits will be paid to a dependent surviving spouse of a deceased employee for life, regardless of remarriage, rather than until remarriage, if the surviving spouse receives death benefits pursuant to law and the deceased employee was a state employee who worked in a job with a high-risk classification.

## 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/2024a_hb1139_s_blt_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (02/09/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (03/27/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (01/29/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (02/09/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_h_bus_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (03/08/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_s_blt_01.pdf)
7. **Reengrossed (02/12/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_ren.pdf)
8. **Rerevised (03/13/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_rer.pdf)
9. **Revised (03/12/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024A/bills/2024a_1139_rev.pdf)
10. **Signed Act (04/04/2024)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2024a_1139_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **56–8** (pass) · lower
- CONCUR — **63–0** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **29–5** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **57–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Perry Will — primary (person)
- Ryan Armagost — primary (person)
- Sheila Lieder — primary (person)
- Tony Exum — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-04-04T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-28T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-27T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2024-03-26T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2024-03-15T06:00:00+00:00** House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2024-03-13T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-03-12T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2024-03-07T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Business, Labor, & Technology Refer Amended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-13T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Business, Labor, & Technology `introduction`
- **2024-02-12T07:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-02-09T07:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2024-02-08T07:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Business Affairs & Labor Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2024-01-29T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Business Affairs & Labor `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9d3c2bad-0621-4635-83a0-01a8637b6efd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).