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AIA Colorado and our Government Affairs Committee were proud to present seven awards this year to state legislators. In addition to our two annual awards, a busy legislative session justified additional recognition for our growing number of allies at the state Capitol.
Rep. Andrew Boesenecker is our 2025 Legislator of the Year for his dedication in support of two key AIA Colorado bills, HB25-1272: Construction Defects & Middle Market Housing and HB25-1273: Residential Building Stair Modernization. As a co-prime sponsor of both bills, Rep. Boesenecker put in countless hours working with various stakeholder groups with unique, and often competing, needs and concerns. He also helped us defeat SB25-185: Claims Against Construction Professionals, which would have resulted in more lawsuits against architects who do for-sale residential projects.
Senator Matt Ball is our 2025 Outstanding New Legislator for a long list of bills passed that align with AIA Colorado’s positions in housing and sustainability. On the Senate side, Senator Ball introduced SB25-182: Embodied Carbon Reduction and was a key “no” vote against SB25-185: Claims Against Construction Professionals that helped set us up for our successful campaign against the bill. He also got HB25-1273: Residential Building Stair Modernization and HB25-1269: Building Decarbonization Measures over the finish line in the House.
We are also pleased to recognize Rep. Chad Clifford, Rep. Cecelia Espenoza, Rep. Ryan Gonzalez, and Rep. Michael Carter as 2025 Legislative Champions for their efforts to help AIA Colorado defeat SB25-185: Claims Against Construction Professionals in the House after it was aggressively pushed through the Senate by leadership. Due to a vaguely worded bill and an unlikely partnership between homebuilders and trial lawyers, we had to pull out all the stops educating legislators on how unfair this bill was to architects and professional engineers who do work on for-sale residential projects, and that passing it would undercut Colorado’s efforts to increase supply and lower housing costs. Our champions did not just vote against the bill, they stood up for architects during the House Judiciary Committee hearing and during the bill’s floor debate to help us defeat it.
Last but not least, we recognized Rep. Shannon Bird for seven years as one of our strongest legislative allies over her tenure in the House. We have previously recognized Rep. Bird as our 2022 Legislator of the Year, and she has been a champion for construction defect reform in both 2024’s unsuccessful effort and 2025’s HB25-1272: Construction Defects & Middle Market Housing, where she organized more than 100 stakeholder meetings and devised a novel opt-in program approach for for-sale multifamily residential projects that will strengthen liability protections for architects and all construction professionals while preserving the rights of homeowners. Rep. Bird was also an important ally in our arguments against SB25-185: Claims Against Construction Professionals, which would have undone the other work she was doing.
Congratulations to all our award recipients!
More details on the bills listed here can be found in our annual legislative summary Part 1 and Part 2.
