republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2026a/sb-181.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Works Program Reserves & Cost of Living Adjustment"
description: "Current law requires counties to offer Colorado works program (works program) applicants and participants that demonstrate good cause an extension beyond the 60-month lifetime maximum. Good cause includes an applicant or participant who is a child-only case, who is the head of a single parent household unit and has a child less than one year old, or who is experiencing hardship. The act makes the extension permissible rather than a requirement and removes an applicant or participant who is a child-only case or experiencing hardship from the good cause determination. The act suspends the works program basic cash assistance grant cost of living adjustment during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 state fiscal years. Current law establishes minimum reserve balances for the total statewide county temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) reserve and the Colorado long-term works reserve (reserves). The act removes those reserve minimums. The act eliminates a requirement for each reserve to replenish money in the other under certain conditions and for the general assembly to effectively backfill the balances of both reserves if their balances fall below specified minimums.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "SB 181"
citation: "Colorado SB 181 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Human Services"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Kirkmeyer", "E. Sirota", "J. Amabile", "J. Bridges", "K. Brown", "R. Taggart"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 13
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-04-27"
last_action: "2026-06-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0396314b-c917-477c-9bea-b2c1e197ccac"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-181"
source_hash: "aac458b5ae8ab91f842f16681850277aeee8a58cb84420369b47d6e201015a72"
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 181 (2026A) — Works Program Reserves & Cost of Living Adjustment

Current law requires counties to offer Colorado works program (works program) applicants and participants that demonstrate good cause an extension beyond the 60-month lifetime maximum. Good cause includes an applicant or participant who is a child-only case, who is the head of a single parent household unit and has a child less than one year old, or who is experiencing hardship. The act makes the extension permissible rather than a requirement and removes an applicant or participant who is a child-only case or experiencing hardship from the good cause determination. The act suspends the works program basic cash assistance grant cost of living adjustment during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 state fiscal years. Current law establishes minimum reserve balances for the total statewide county temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) reserve and the Colorado long-term works reserve (reserves). The act removes those reserve minimums. The act eliminates a requirement for each reserve to replenish money in the other under certain conditions and for the general assembly to effectively backfill the balances of both reserves if their balances fall below specified minimums.(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/115309/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115787/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116603/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115882/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116285/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116202/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116957/download)

## Votes

- Refer Senate Bill 26-181 to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Refer Senate Bill 26-181 to the Committee of the Whole and with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- B. Kirkmeyer — primary (person)
- E. Sirota — primary (person)
- J. Amabile — primary (person)
- J. Bridges — primary (person)
- K. Brown — primary (person)
- R. Taggart — primary (person)
- B. Pelton — cosponsor (person)
- C. Clifford — cosponsor (person)
- C. Kipp — cosponsor (person)
- C. Simpson — cosponsor (person)
- J. Coleman — cosponsor (person)
- J. McCluskie — cosponsor (person)
- J. Rich — cosponsor (person)
- K. Mullica — cosponsor (person)
- M. Duran — cosponsor (person)
- M. Froelich — cosponsor (person)
- M. Lindsay — cosponsor (person)
- M. Rutinel — cosponsor (person)
- R. Pelton — cosponsor (person)
- S. Bright — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-06-02** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **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`
- **2026-05-11** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-05-09** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2026-05-08** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-05-08** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-05-06** Introduced In House - Assigned to Appropriations `introduction`
- **2026-05-06** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-05-05** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-05-05** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2026-04-27** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Appropriations `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0396314b-c917-477c-9bea-b2c1e197ccac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).