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AIA Colorado is proud to stand up for the profession as your legislative champion. This year was one of our most successful sessions ever. We took a position on 12 bills and each one got the result we lobbied for! We’ll publish our full report next month, but here are the major highlights from the 2025 legislative session.
We supported 9 bills this year, all of which have been signed into law or are awaiting the governor’s signature. We opposed 3 bills this year that would have increased architects’ liability risks and successfully defeated them all.
HB25-1272: Construction Defects & Middle Market Housing creates a new program to promote more housing and condominium projects in particular. Projects that opt into the program will have a mix of incentives and requirements to improve construction quality and promote construction defect solutions before resorting to lawsuits.
Read more about this bill here.
HB25-1273: Residential Building Stair Modernization creates a set of code requirements that large cities will be required to adopt to allow five-story single-stair residential buildings. This space-saving measure will create opportunities for more density on smaller lots and the new code requirements offset the potential reduction in safety for only having one exit stair.
Read more about House Bill 1273 in the Colorado Sun.
SB25-185: Claims Against Construction Professionals would have allowed more tort claims in residential project construction defect lawsuits to be filed instead of contract claims that respect terms negotiated between construction professional parties. We defeated this bill but if it had passed, architects and engineers would have had more lawsuit exposure in for-sale residential projects resulting in greater insurance costs and risk. This would drive firms out of this market and/or raise costs to cover the new risk.
Rea more about Senate Bill 185 here.
To achieve these extraordinary results takes a team effort. Your membership lets us stand up a robust advocacy infrastructure of full-time staff, experienced lobbyist, enhanced bill tracking systems, an Architects’ Day at the Capitol, committee testimony from affected professionals and a dedicated group of Government Affairs Committee volunteers. We hope you feel part of this success and will join us in thanking the Representatives, Senators and Governor who were on our side.
Mike Waldinger, Hon. AIA, CEO, AIA Colorado