republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2026a/sb-61.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Publication Counties Without Legal Newspapers"
description: "Current law requires a legal notice or advertisement (notice) to be published in a newspaper within the county in which the notice is required to be published that satisfies certain requirements, including a publication period requirement and a periodicals license with paid distribution (legal newspaper). If a legal newspaper does not exist in a county, the notice may be published using certain alternatives. The act clarifies the order of priority of the type of newspaper in which the notice should be published. First, the notice should be published in a newspaper in the county that satisfies the requirements for publication and that has been published for at least one year. Second, the notice should be published in a newspaper in the county that would otherwise satisfy the requirements for publication but for the fact that it lacks a periodicals license, and that has been published for at least one year. Third, the notice should be published in a newspaper in the county even if it does not have a periodicals license or has not been published for at least one year. If there is no newspaper in the county or an adjoining county, notice may be published in a newspaper that satisfies the requirements for a legal newspaper chosen with primary consideration for geographic proximity. Additionally, the act gives municipalities and special districts with territory in two counties permission to publish notice in a newspaper in either county, so long as the newspaper meets the legal requirements for publication.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "SB 61"
citation: "Colorado SB 61 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Local Government", "State Government"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["C. Richardson", "D. Roberts", "J. Rich", "M. Lukens"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 14
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2026-01-28"
last_action: "2026-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d0df20d1-a24f-44e3-89da-65e91e2d24f4"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-061"
source_hash: "4a1d6c173381b8bf4b60cb6f7235cb38ce8a90a8a211a74ebc79fd20985e7cc1"
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 61 (2026A) — Publication Counties Without Legal Newspapers

Current law requires a legal notice or advertisement (notice) to be published in a newspaper within the county in which the notice is required to be published that satisfies certain requirements, including a publication period requirement and a periodicals license with paid distribution (legal newspaper). If a legal newspaper does not exist in a county, the notice may be published using certain alternatives. The act clarifies the order of priority of the type of newspaper in which the notice should be published. First, the notice should be published in a newspaper in the county that satisfies the requirements for publication and that has been published for at least one year. Second, the notice should be published in a newspaper in the county that would otherwise satisfy the requirements for publication but for the fact that it lacks a periodicals license, and that has been published for at least one year. Third, the notice should be published in a newspaper in the county even if it does not have a periodicals license or has not been published for at least one year. If there is no newspaper in the county or an adjoining county, notice may be published in a newspaper that satisfies the requirements for a legal newspaper chosen with primary consideration for geographic proximity. Additionally, the act gives municipalities and special districts with territory in two counties permission to publish notice in a newspaper in either county, so long as the newspaper meets the legal requirements for publication.(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/111011/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/112742/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114171/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/112798/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113983/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113903/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114957/download)

## Votes

- Adopt amendment L.002 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-061, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole and with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.001 — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-061 to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- C. Richardson — primary (person)
- D. Roberts — primary (person)
- J. Rich — primary (person)
- M. Lukens — primary (person)
- C. Kipp — cosponsor (person)
- J. Carson — cosponsor (person)
- J. Coleman — cosponsor (person)
- J. Marchman — cosponsor (person)
- J. McCluskie — cosponsor (person)
- L. Liston — cosponsor (person)
- M. Duran — cosponsor (person)
- R. Pelton — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-04-20** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-08** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-07** Signed by the Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-04-07** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-04-02** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-01** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2026-03-31** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-03-27** House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2026-03-24** House Committee on Transportation, Housing & Local Government Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03** Introduced In House - Assigned to Transportation, Housing & Local Government `introduction`
- **2026-03-03** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-02** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2026-02-25** Senate Committee on Local Government & Housing Refer Amended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-28** 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/d0df20d1-a24f-44e3-89da-65e91e2d24f4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).