republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2026a/sb-20.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Child Care Provider Licensing & Quality"
description: "The act requires the executive director of the Colorado department of early childhood (CDEC) to adopt rules concerning the requirements for licensed child care facilities to maintain up-to-date employee records in the professional development information system currently administered by CDEC. The act requires CDEC, on or before July 1, 2026, to begin phasing out its reliance on third parties to investigate and inspect facilities applying for certain types of child care licenses where feasible and to prioritize the use of CDEC personnel to conduct the investigations and inspections instead. The act exempts certain health and sanitation inspections from the phase-out. CDEC must establish standardized training, protocols, and supervision for CDEC personnel and authorized or contracted third parties. A local governing authority that imposes requirements related to the inspection, permitting, licensing, or approval of a child care center or family child care home beyond the state-level licensing standards (local approval process) shall limit associated fees and prioritize concluding a local approval process that has been delayed or disputed. The act creates the child care licensure task force (task force) to study and report on recommendations for a streamlined child care licensure system in the state. On or before January 1, 2027, the task force must report on its recommendations to the health and human services and education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, the governor, and CDEC. The performance of the task force's work is dependent upon the receipt of sufficient gifts, grants, and donations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "SB 20"
citation: "Colorado SB 20 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children & Domestic Matters", "Education & School Finance (Pre & K-12)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["E. Sirota", "M. Ball", "R. Gonzalez", "S. Bright"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 17
vote_count: 14
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-06-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ea72c3b9-116b-4598-b993-225e52dc3c30"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-020"
source_hash: "d4a4945dda6c6b3379d2ee902294e20d1d3b2d57e8deb31443945521ee7679f5"
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 20 (2026A) — Child Care Provider Licensing & Quality

The act requires the executive director of the Colorado department of early childhood (CDEC) to adopt rules concerning the requirements for licensed child care facilities to maintain up-to-date employee records in the professional development information system currently administered by CDEC. The act requires CDEC, on or before July 1, 2026, to begin phasing out its reliance on third parties to investigate and inspect facilities applying for certain types of child care licenses where feasible and to prioritize the use of CDEC personnel to conduct the investigations and inspections instead. The act exempts certain health and sanitation inspections from the phase-out. CDEC must establish standardized training, protocols, and supervision for CDEC personnel and authorized or contracted third parties. A local governing authority that imposes requirements related to the inspection, permitting, licensing, or approval of a child care center or family child care home beyond the state-level licensing standards (local approval process) shall limit associated fees and prioritize concluding a local approval process that has been delayed or disputed. The act creates the child care licensure task force (task force) to study and report on recommendations for a streamlined child care licensure system in the state. On or before January 1, 2027, the task force must report on its recommendations to the health and human services and education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, the governor, and CDEC. The performance of the task force's work is dependent upon the receipt of sufficient gifts, grants, and donations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/110719/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114370/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116627/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114472/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116073/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115975/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116928/download)

## Votes

- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Refer Senate Bill 26-020 to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-020 to the Committee of the Whole and with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- CONCUR — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Refer Senate Bill 26-020, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-020 to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.003 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.007 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- REPASS — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Adopt amendment L.004 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.006 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.001 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.005 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-020, as amended, to the Committee on Finance. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- E. Sirota — primary (person)
- M. Ball — primary (person)
- R. Gonzalez — primary (person)
- S. Bright — primary (person)
- A. Benavidez — cosponsor (person)
- A. Boesenecker — cosponsor (person)
- C. Clifford — cosponsor (person)
- C. Kipp — cosponsor (person)
- E. Hamrick — cosponsor (person)
- I. Jodeh — cosponsor (person)
- J. Amabile — cosponsor (person)
- J. Bacon — cosponsor (person)
- J. Bridges — cosponsor (person)
- J. Coleman — cosponsor (person)
- J. Gonzales — cosponsor (person)
- J. Jackson — cosponsor (person)
- J. Marchman — cosponsor (person)
- J. McCluskie — cosponsor (person)
- J. Phillips — cosponsor (person)
- K. Brown — cosponsor (person)
- K. Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- K. Wallace — cosponsor (person)
- L. Cutter — cosponsor (person)
- L. Goldstein — cosponsor (person)
- M. Duran — cosponsor (person)
- M. Lindsay — cosponsor (person)
- M. Rutinel — cosponsor (person)
- S. Lieder — cosponsor (person)
- T. Exum — cosponsor (person)
- T. Mauro — cosponsor (person)
- T. Story — cosponsor (person)
- W. Lindstedt — cosponsor (person)
- Y. Zokaie — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-06-01** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-10** Senate Second Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-2`
- **2026-05-22** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-22** Signed by the Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-05-22** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-05-08** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2026-05-07** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-05-06** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2026-05-06** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-04-30** House Committee on Finance Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-23** House Committee on Education Refer Amended to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-13** Introduced In House - Assigned to Education `introduction`
- **2026-04-13** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-10** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-04-10** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-25** Senate Committee on Education Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-14** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Education `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ea72c3b9-116b-4598-b993-225e52dc3c30`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).