republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2026a/sb-159.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Inmate Earned Time Formula for Sentence to Department of Corrections"
description: "An inmate who is serving a sentence to the department of corrections (DOC) for certain lower level criminal offenses, has not incurred a penal discipline violation within a specified time period, and is program compliant is currently eligible to earn 12 days of earned time per month. The act increases eligibility to 14 days per month. An inmate who is serving a sentence for, or who has been previously convicted of, certain higher level criminal offenses, including a felony offense listed in the 'Victim Rights Act', is currently eligible to earn 10 days of earned time per month. The act increases eligibility to 12 days per month. An inmate who completes a milestone or phase of a behavioral health program in an area related to recovery from a condition that contributed to the inmate's underlying offense may be awarded up to 150 days of earned time. The DOC is directed to enact policy changes to incentivize inmates to pursue activities that award earned time. The act creates a working group to make recommendations for a capacity management plan (plan) for the DOC with input from impacted groups. The plan must be informed by strategies to assess prison programming and clinical care, inmate release processes, services for successful release outcomes, prison population management, and prison capacity changes. Members of the house of representatives judiciary committee, the senate judiciary committee, and the joint budget committee may submit in writing to the chair of the working group a request to prioritize specific issues or provide other relevant information. The working group shall submit an interim and a final report to the general assembly, the DOC's certified employee organization, and the governor's office.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "SB 159"
citation: "Colorado SB 159 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes", "Corrections", "& Enforcement"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["J. Gonzales", "J. Mabrey", "M. Martinez", "M. Weissman"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 13
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2026-04-09"
last_action: "2026-05-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9d628e05-2de1-419f-9a24-8ac0350c74e3"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-159"
source_hash: "e90e2358c844ed5b5d9a08d24f5862eca35332524ba9106e5da05eed966da3fb"
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 159 (2026A) — Inmate Earned Time Formula for Sentence to Department of Corrections

An inmate who is serving a sentence to the department of corrections (DOC) for certain lower level criminal offenses, has not incurred a penal discipline violation within a specified time period, and is program compliant is currently eligible to earn 12 days of earned time per month. The act increases eligibility to 14 days per month. An inmate who is serving a sentence for, or who has been previously convicted of, certain higher level criminal offenses, including a felony offense listed in the 'Victim Rights Act', is currently eligible to earn 10 days of earned time per month. The act increases eligibility to 12 days per month. An inmate who completes a milestone or phase of a behavioral health program in an area related to recovery from a condition that contributed to the inmate's underlying offense may be awarded up to 150 days of earned time. The DOC is directed to enact policy changes to incentivize inmates to pursue activities that award earned time. The act creates a working group to make recommendations for a capacity management plan (plan) for the DOC with input from impacted groups. The plan must be informed by strategies to assess prison programming and clinical care, inmate release processes, services for successful release outcomes, prison population management, and prison capacity changes. Members of the house of representatives judiciary committee, the senate judiciary committee, and the joint budget committee may submit in writing to the chair of the working group a request to prioritize specific issues or provide other relevant information. The working group shall submit an interim and a final report to the general assembly, the DOC's certified employee organization, and the governor's office.(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/114302/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114849/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115674/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/114905/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115519/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115459/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116542/download)

## Votes

- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Refer Senate Bill 26-159 to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Adopt amendment L.002 (Attachment F) — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer Senate Bill 26-159, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- J. Gonzales — primary (person)
- J. Mabrey — primary (person)
- M. Martinez — primary (person)
- M. Weissman — primary (person)
- A. Benavidez — cosponsor (person)
- A. Boesenecker — cosponsor (person)
- C. Kipp — cosponsor (person)
- E. Sirota — cosponsor (person)
- G. Rydin — cosponsor (person)
- I. Jodeh — cosponsor (person)
- J. Coleman — cosponsor (person)
- J. Jackson — cosponsor (person)
- J. Marchman — cosponsor (person)
- K. Wallace — cosponsor (person)
- L. Smith — cosponsor (person)
- M. Lindsay — cosponsor (person)
- N. Ricks — cosponsor (person)
- R. English — cosponsor (person)
- T. Exum — cosponsor (person)
- T. Sullivan — cosponsor (person)
- Y. Zokaie — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-05-19** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-05** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-05** Signed by the Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-05-04** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-04-30** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-29** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2026-04-28** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-04-20** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2026-04-20** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-17** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor `reading-2`
- **2026-04-16** Senate Second Reading Laid Over to 04/17/2026 - No Amendments
- **2026-04-13** Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-04-09** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9d628e05-2de1-419f-9a24-8ac0350c74e3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).