With the 2024 legislative session in the book, let’s review the bills of interest to AIA Colorado. This year, there were 46 bills on our tracking list out of 705 introduced. Most importantly, our practice act was renewed! Five of the nine bills we supported passed and both bills we opposed failed. 2024 was a tight budget year so many bills that otherwise had a chance of passing did not have funding available.
Given the number of bills of interest to architects this year, we’ll review highlights in both June newsletters. In this second part of the summary, we’ll cover additional bills that apply either to portions of our membership or impact the way firms are managed as businesses.
Read 2024 Legislative Sessions Summary – Part 1 here.
HB24-1091: Fire-Hardened Building Materials in Real Property
Bill status: Signed into law
AIA position: Support
Summary: The bill generally prohibits covenants and other restrictions that disallow the installation, use, or maintenance of fire-hardened building materials in residential real property, including in common interest communities. An exception is made allowing a unit owners’ association to develop reasonable standards regarding how fire-hardened building materials used for fencing within the community.
Impact: The driving force behind this bill was the 2021 Marshall Fire. Three years after the fire, more and more home rebuild projects are at or near completion and many are located within neighborhoods governed by homeowner associations. Individual homeowners started to receive reminders that certain building materials, fences and roofs in particular, had to be wood and of certain styles to meet HOA covenants or rules. These homeowners were rightly outraged, as flammable fences and roofs were a big part of why the wind-driven fire spread faster than firefighters could contain it. Architects will now be free to select appropriate building materials for our client who want fire-resistant homes.
HB24-1173: Electric Vehicle Charging System Permits
Bill status: Signed into law
AIA position: Monitor
Summary: The bill promotes an expedited permitting process for the approval of electric motor vehicle (EV) charging systems for local governments. They must adopt an application procedure for an applicant to apply for an EV charger permit to install an EV motor vehicle charging system. Once the application is complete, the county permitting agency or municipal permitting agency will review and approve, conditionally approve, or deny an EV charger permit:
Impact: Local governments in cities above 10,000 people and counties above 20,000 people will use objective standards for EV charger permits and report to the state periodically on how many applications were submitted as well as if they were approved or not. This may assist architects who’s projects incluce EV charges. An increase in EV chargers statewide may impact how individual clients consider whether or not to include chargers in their projects or local grid capacity.
HB24-1267: Metropolitan District Covenant Enforcement Policy
Bill status: Signed into law
AIA position: Monitor
Summary: The bill requires a metropolitan district engaging in covenant enforcement and design review services to comply with certain procedural requirements, including refraining from prohibiting residents from engaging in certain activities regarding the use of their property, including displaying flags and signs; parking a motor vehicle in a driveway; removing certain vegetation to create a defensible space for fire mitigation purposes; performing reasonable property modifications to accommodate disabilities; using xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant landscaping ; using a rain barrel; operating a family child care home; using renewable energy generation devices; and installing or using an energy efficiency measure. Additionally, a metropolitan district is prohibited from requiring residents to use cedar shakes or other flammable roofing materials.
Impact: Metro districts are a common means of funding development in land areas that require substantial up-front infrastructure investment. Architects working with clients whose project is within a metro district (most commonly single-family homes) will face fewer restrictions on sustainable and resilient design elements.
HB24-1307 HVAC Improvements for Public Schools
Bill status: Vetoed by governor
AIA position: Monitor
Summary: The bill requires a school administrative entity to satisfy certain requirements concerning installation, inspection, and maintenance of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools if the school administrative entity undertakes HVAC infrastructure improvement. It establishes mandatory criteria that an HVAC contractor must satisfy in order to perform work described in the bill. A school administrative entity that undertakes HVAC infrastructure improvements using money made available by a federal government source or by a federal government source in combination with a state government source must do so using only contractors on the certified contractor list established by the department of labor and employment.
Impact: In addition to periodic HVAC system maintenance and replacement, more school districts wish to install air conditioning systems in existing buildings in response to hotter temperatures. If this bill had been signed into law, districts would have been forced to use pre-approved HVAC contractors when accepting funding for such projects. Such contractors are located primarily along the front range, likely resulting in higher construction costs and therefore fewer/smaller projects for schools in more rural parts of the state.
SB24-073: Maximum Number of Employees to Qualify as Small Employer
Bill status: Signed into law
AIA position: Monitor
Summary: For the purposes of providing health insurance coverage, current law defines a “small employer” as any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, or association that employs between one and 100 employees during a calendar year. Effective January 1, 2026, the bill amends the definition to define a “small employer” as any person that employs between one and 50 employees during a calendar year.
Impact: “Small group health benefit plans” are offered to smaller businesses but may be kept for a certain duration after a company grows beyond a certain size. Principals for firms that are between 51-100 employees or approaching the new 50-person threshold are encouraged to consult with your health insurance provider to determine how 2026 plans may be affected.
SB24-214: Implement State Climate Goals
Bill status: Signed into law
AIA position: Monitor
Summary: The bill implements specific climate goals across numerous state agencies The most notable items include:
- Creation the Office of Sustainability in the Department of Personnel, who will work with state agencies and institutions of higher education to implement environmentally sustainable practices and oversee related available federal funding.
- A revolving fund to replace gas- and diesel-powered equipment located in ozone nonattainment areas.
- Extension of the deadline for the state energy code board to develop a model low energy and carbon code and specifies that the model low energy and carbon code can include appendices and resources to the international energy conservation code.
Impact: There may be an increase in sustainability-related projects for state agencies. The deadline changes for the state energy code board are minor and primarily based on accommodating the format and magnitude of updates in the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), now that it has been published.
SB24-218 Modernize Energy Distribution Systems
Bill status: Signed into law
AIA position: Monitor
Summary: Larger utilities are directed to modernize their electrical distribution systems to facilitate the transition away from fossil fuel utility connections and towards all-electric buildings. The bill details how such plans will be implemented and how costs to do so will be approved by the state. This bill will also create grants to support electrical linework apprenticeship programs.
Impact: The state wants to reduce carbon emissions over time and has identified all-electric buildings as an important part of that reduction. We anticipate that all-electric buildings will become the norm and then ultimately a code requirement in most parts of the state. Utilities need to update electric grids to facilitate this transition.
