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HB26-1095 • 2026

Digital Publication for Legal Notice

Current law requires a county or municipality to publish legal notices in a physical print newspaper. The bill gives a county or municipality discretion to publish legal notices online on the newspape

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Rep. K. Nguyen, Rep. L. Suckla, Sen. W. Lindstedt, Sen. R. Pelton, Rep. M. Duran, Rep. E. Hamrick, Rep. C. Richardson, Rep. S. Slaugh, Rep. B. Titone, Sen. J. Carson, Sen. J. Coleman, Sen. J. Gonzales, Sen. J. Marchman, Sen. M. Snyder
Last action
2026-04-01
Official status
House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Laid Over Daily
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about how the change will affect newspaper revenue from legal notices, leaving it uncertain.

Digital Publication for Legal Notices

This bill allows counties and municipalities to publish legal notices online instead of in print newspapers, while requiring newspapers to make these notices freely accessible online.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows a county or municipality to choose whether to publish legal notices in a physical newspaper or on the newspaper's website.
  • Requires newspapers to provide free access to legal notices online without paywalls or subscriptions.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Counties and municipalities
  • Newspapers

Terms To Know

Legal Notice
A public announcement required by law, often related to government actions or court proceedings.
Paywall
A barrier that prevents access to digital content unless a user pays for it.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify what happens if a referendum petition is filed against the act.
  • It remains unclear how this change will affect newspaper revenue from legal notices.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

L.001

HOU Transportation, Housing & Local Government

Passed [*]

Plain English: The amendment allows counties, municipalities, or special districts to publish legal notices on their websites if there is no newspaper that meets the requirements for publishing such notices within the county.

  • Adds a new section (3.5) allowing counties, municipalities, or special districts to post legal notices online when local newspapers do not meet the publication requirements.
  • Expands the entities allowed to publish legal notices from just 'county or municipality' to include 'special district'.
  • The amendment does not specify what happens if a newspaper meets the requirements but is no longer in business.
L.002

HOU Transportation, Housing & Local Government

Passed [*]

Plain English: The amendment allows newspapers to post legal notices online for free and provides more options on how they can meet the requirement.

  • Removes the requirement that a newspaper must publish legal notices in print only, allowing them to be published online without charge.
  • Adds details about how newspapers can fulfill their obligation by either posting full text or providing links to where the full text of legal notices is available.
  • The amendment does not specify what happens if a newspaper chooses not to post legal notices online, leaving some uncertainty in this area.
L.007

SEN Local Government & Housing

Passed [*]

Plain English: The amendment requires newspapers publishing legal notices to also post these notices on a statewide website at no extra cost.

  • Adds new section (5) to the bill, which mandates that when legal notices are published in newspapers, they must also be posted on a statewide website maintained by an organization representing most Colorado newspapers.
  • Specifies that this statewide public notice website must include a list of newspapers that meet certain requirements, identified by county.
  • The amendment does not specify the exact criteria for which newspapers satisfy the requirements to be listed on the statewide website.
L.006

Second Reading

Passed [**]

Plain English: The amendment allows newspapers to post legal notices online for free and provides options on how this can be done.

  • Removes the requirement that counties or municipalities publish legal notices in a physical newspaper.
  • Adds new rules allowing newspapers to make legal notices available on their websites without charging fees.
  • Specifies that newspapers can meet the requirement by either posting full text of the notice online or providing a link to where it is available.
  • The amendment does not specify how counties or municipalities will publish legal notices if they choose an online publication over print.

Bill History

  1. 2026-04-01 House

    House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Laid Over Daily

  2. 2026-03-31 Senate

    Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments

  3. 2026-03-30 Senate

    Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee

  4. 2026-03-25 Senate

    Senate Committee on Local Government & Housing Refer Amended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole

  5. 2026-03-16 Senate

    Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Local Government & Housing

  6. 2026-03-11 House

    House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments

  7. 2026-03-10 House

    House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Floor

  8. 2026-03-03 House

    House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments

  9. 2026-03-02 House

    House Second Reading Special Order - Laid Over Daily - No Amendments

  10. 2026-02-25 House

    House Committee on Transportation, Housing & Local Government Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole

  11. 2026-02-03 House

    Introduced In House - Assigned to Transportation, Housing & Local Government

Official Summary Text

Current law requires a county or municipality to publish legal notices in a physical print newspaper. The bill
gives a county or municipality discretion to publish legal notices online on the newspaper's website instead.

requires a newspaper to also publish these notices online, either on its own website or by providing a link to the notice to a location where the full text of the notice is available, such as the statewide public notice website.
Legal notices published online must be free to access and cannot be kept behind a paywall or subscription.
(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
Second Regular Session
Seventy-fifth General Assembly
STATE OF COLORADO
REREVISED
This Version Includes All Amendments
Adopted in the Second House
LLS NO. 26-0578.01 Jacob Bennington x2371 HOUSE BILL 26-1095
House Committees Senate Committees
Transportation, Housing & Local Government Local Government & Housing
A BILL FOR AN ACT
CONCERNING UNPAID ONLINE ACCESS TO PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLISHED101
IN LEGAL NEWSPAPERS.102
Bill Summary
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does
not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill
passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that
applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at
http://leg.colorado.gov.)
Current law requires a county or municipality to publish legal
notices in a physical print newspaper. The bill gives a county or
municipality discretion to publish legal notices online on the newspaper's
website instead. Legal notices published online must be free to access and
cannot be kept behind a paywall or subscription.
SENATE
3rd Reading Unamended
March 31, 2026
SENATE
Amended 2nd Reading
March 30, 2026
HOUSE
3rd Reading Unamended
March 11, 2026
HOUSE
Amended 2nd Reading
March 10, 2026
HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
Suckla and Nguyen, Duran, Hamrick, Richardson, Slaugh, Titone
SENATE SPONSORSHIP
Pelton R. and Lindstedt, Carson, Coleman, Gonzales J., Marchman, Snyder
Shading denotes HOUSE amendment. Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment.
Capital letters or bold & italic numbers indicate new material to be added to existing law.
Dashes through the words or numbers indicate deletions from existing law.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:1
SECTION 1. In Colorado Revised Statutes, 24-70-103, amend2
(5); and add (6) as follows:3
24-70-103. Requisites of legal newspaper.4
(5) When any legal notice is required by law to be published in5
any newspaper, the newspaper publishing the notice shall, at no additional6
cost to the person or entity placi ng the no tice, place th e notice on a7
statewide website established and maintained by an organization8
representing a majority of Colorado newspapers as a repository for the9
notices. THE STATEWIDE PUBLIC NOTICE WEBSITE MUST INCLUDE A LIST OF10
NEWSPAPERS THAT SATISFY THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUBSECTION (1) OF11
THIS SECTION, IDENTIFIED BY COUNTY.12
(6) W HEN ANY LEGAL NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW TO BE13
PUBLISHED IN A NEWSPAPER PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION , THE14
NEWSPAPER SHALL ALSO MAKE THE NOTICE AVAILABLE ON ITS WEBSITE15
WITHOUT CHARGE, AND THE NEWSPAPER SHALL NOT REQUIRE PAYMENT OR16
SUBSCRIPTION TO ITS PHYSICAL OR DIGITAL PRINT IN ORDER TO VIEW THE17
NOTICE. A NEWSPAPER SATISFIES THE REQUIREMENT OF THIS SUBSECTION18
(6) EITHER BY POSTING THE FULL TEXT OF THE NOTICE ON ITS WEBSITE OR19
PROVIDING A LINK ON ITS WEBSITE TO A LOCATION WHERE THE FULL TEXT20
OF THE NOTICE IS AVAILABLE, SUCH AS THE STATEWIDE PUBLIC NOTICE21
WEBSITE ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO SUBSECTION (5) OF THIS SECTION.22
SECTION 2. Act subject to petition - effective date. This act23
takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the24
ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly (August25
12, 2026, if adjournment sine die is on May 13, 2026); except that, if a26
1095-2-
referendum petition is filed pursuant to section 1 (3) of article V of the1
state constitution against this act or an item, section, or part of this act2
within such period, then the act, item, section, or part will not take effect3
unless approved by the people at the general election to be held in4
November 2026 and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the5
official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor.6
1095-3-