This amendment gives county commissioners the power to remove commission members for bad behavior or inaction and allows them to order changes to redistricting plans that do not follow the law.
Colorado2026Enacted
HB26-1038
County Commissioner Redistricting Integrity Act
Last scannedAug 24, 2026, 8:22 AM
In one sentence
This law requires certain Colorado counties to use independent commissions instead of current officials or advisory committees to draw new election maps for county commissioners.
What it does
- Requires boards of county commissioners in specific counties to appoint independent redistricting commissions to create district plans.
- Removes the role of advisory committees and assigns their duties to nonpartisan staff, contractors, or the commission itself.
- Allows any qualified voter in a county to challenge a new district plan by filing a lawsuit in district court.
- Requires commissions to use a specific formula to calculate a competitiveness score for each county commissioner district.
- Gives boards of county commissioners the power to remove commission members for cause or direct them to modify a proposed plan under certain conditions.
Who it affects
- Boards of county commissioners in counties with populations over seventy thousand that elect some or all commissioners by district.
- Independent redistricting commissions created to draw new maps.
- Qualified voters who wish to challenge the adoption of a new district plan.
Limits and unknowns
- This law only applies to redistricting plans adopted after the date this act becomes effective.
- The text does not specify which counties must use these commissions beyond those with populations over seventy thousand that elect commissioners by district, though it notes most counties currently elect commissioners at-large.
Plain language
Terms to know
- Redistricting
- The process of drawing lines for election districts so that each area has roughly equal population and fair representation.
- Independent Commission
- A group made up of an equal number of members affiliated with the state's two largest political parties and unaffiliated voters, where all members must have held their affiliation status for at least three years prior to appointment.
- Competitiveness Measure
- A percentage score calculated by a formula used to determine how competitive county commissioner districts are likely to be in elections.
Official record
Sources
Official summary
Under current law, certain boards of county commissioners must appoint county commissioner redistricting commissions to adopt plans to divide the relevant counties into as many county commissioner districts as there are county commissioners elected by voters of their district (plan). The act requires these boards of county commissioners to appoint independent county commissioner redistricting commissions (commissions), modifies the criteria for who may serve on these commissions, allows these boards of county commissioners to remove members from the commission for cause, allows these boards of county commissioners to direct a commission to modify a proposed plan under certain conditions, and requires these boards of county commissioners to adopt a final plan that was one of the final plans approved by a commission. The act also removes the role of advisory committees in the process of adopting a plan and divides that role among staff and the commissions. The act expands the definition of staff to include contractors and explicitly excludes the county clerk and recorder or their employees from acting as staff unless expressly agreed to in writing. The act explicitly allows any qualified elector of a county to challenge the adoption of a plan by an action in the district court. Further, the act requires a commission to adopt a composite formula to generate a competitiveness measure expressed as a percentage of county commissioner district competitiveness and to use that measure, and any other measure of competitiveness adopted by the commission, in determining highly competitive and moderately competitive county commissioner districts. The act applies to the adoption of a county commissioner district redistricting plan that occurs after the effective date of the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Official activity
Bill history
- Governor SignedGovernor
- Sent to the GovernorGovernor
- Signed by the President of the SenateSenate
- Signed by the Speaker of the HouseHouse
- House Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - RepassHouse
- Senate Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - RepassSenate
- First Conference Committee Result was to Adopt Rerevised w/ AmendmentsConfComm
- House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Not Concur - Request Conference CommitteeHouse
- House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Laid Over DailyHouse
- Senate Third Reading Passed with Amendments - FloorSenate
- Senate Third Reading Laid Over to 03/20/2026 - No AmendmentsSenate
- Senate Third Reading Laid Over to 03/17/2026 - No AmendmentsSenate
- Senate Second Reading Passed - No AmendmentsSenate
- Senate Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Refer Unamended to Senate Committee of the WholeSenate
- Introduced In Senate - Assigned to State, Veterans, & Military AffairsSenate
- House Third Reading Passed - No AmendmentsHouse
- House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No AmendmentsHouse
- House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - CommitteeHouse
- House Committee on State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Refer Amended to House Committee of the WholeHouse
- Introduced In House - Assigned to State, Civic, Military, & Veterans AffairsHouse
Changes
Amendments
11 stored
This amendment changes a sentence about what happens when lobbyists do not report their information correctly.
This amendment requires county commissioners to finish specific steps before they can move on with the redistricting process.
This amendment changes the bill to only require county commissioner redistricting commissions if a specific need for new districts exists.
This amendment allows any registered voter in a county to file a lawsuit in the local district court if they disagree with how the county is divided into commissioner districts.
This amendment allows redistricting commissions to use methods other than a specific formula to measure district competitiveness and sets clear definitions for what counts as highly or moderately competitive districts.
This amendment fixes the bill text by adding the specific number '26-1038' to two places where it was previously missing.
This amendment creates a special rule for small counties with fewer than 70,000 people so they do not have to form an independent redistricting commission.
This amendment would allow home rule counties to skip creating an independent redistricting commission and instead let their county commissioners handle the process themselves.
This amendment would remove the word 'Integrity' from a specific committee report about county commissioner redistricting.
This amendment clarifies who counts as staff for county redistricting commissions and protects the County Clerk from being automatically sued in legal challenges.