---
type: "Bill"
title: "Prescription Drugs For Chronic Pain"
description: "The act allows a health-care provider to prescribe, dispense, or administer a schedule II, III, IV, or V controlled substance (drug) to a patient in the course of treatment for a diagnosed condition that causes chronic pain. The act also clarifies that the prescribing health-care provider is not subject to disciplinary action by the appropriate regulator for prescribing a dosage of a drug that is equal to or more than a morphine milligram equivalent dosage recommendation or threshold specified in state or federal opioid prescribing guidelines or policies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2023A"
identifier: "SB 23-144"
citation: "Colorado SB 23-144 (2023A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Javier Mabrey", "Joann Ginal", "Mary Young"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 18
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-02-08T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-04T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d94523fa-0de1-449c-b63d-428e8489366f"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-144"
source_hash: "acf489ab5dbb09fb3897a1d3117152cd8d0a111a115365b7163dfdf8277b7bf2"
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 23-144 (2023A) — Prescription Drugs For Chronic Pain

The act allows a health-care provider to prescribe, dispense, or administer a schedule II, III, IV, or V controlled substance (drug) to a patient in the course of treatment for a diagnosed condition that causes chronic pain. The act also clarifies that the prescribing health-care provider is not subject to disciplinary action by the appropriate regulator for prescribing a dosage of a drug that is equal to or more than a morphine milligram equivalent dosage recommendation or threshold specified in state or federal opioid prescribing guidelines or policies.

## 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_sb144_h_hi_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/07/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (04/27/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (02/08/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/03/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_s_hhs_01.pdf)
6. **Reengrossed (03/09/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_ren.pdf)
7. **Rerevised (04/13/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_rer.pdf)
8. **Revised (04/12/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023A/bills/2023a_144_rev.pdf)
9. **Signed Act (05/04/2023)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2023a_144_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **44–19** (pass) · lower
- BILL — **33–1** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **30–4** (pass) · upper
- CONCUR — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **33–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Javier Mabrey — primary (person)
- Joann Ginal — primary (person)
- Mary Young — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-04T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2023-04-27T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-04-27T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2023-04-26T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2023-04-17T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2023-04-13T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-12T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Floor
- **2023-04-10T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-03-31T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-03-28T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Health & Insurance Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-11T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Health & Insurance `introduction`
- **2023-03-09T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-03-09T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Reconsidered - No Amendments
- **2023-03-09T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-03-08T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2023-03-07T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor `reading-2`
- **2023-03-02T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Health & Human Services Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-08T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Health & Human Services `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d94523fa-0de1-449c-b63d-428e8489366f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).