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Read. Follow. Verify.Colorado Raises Prison Vacancy Threshold to 4% and Appropriates $303,812 for Population Management
Last action · June 1, 2026: Governor SignedSponsors: Julie Gonzales and 28 others
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What This Bill Does
Colorado raises the trigger from 3% to 4% to prompt mandatory prison population management measures and notifications. The act requires notifications within 48 hours to expanded entities, mandates receipt acknowledgments, and appropriates $303,812 to the Department of Corrections while cutting local jail inmate payments by $478,778.
State correctional management shifts by requiring faster emergency notifications, mandatory compliance confirmations, and increased community corrections referrals whenever overall prison bed availability drops to 4%.
- State correctional policy in Colorado includes statutory mechanisms to manage prison overcrowding and bed shortages when facilities approach full capacity. context
Who It Affects
Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Department of Corrections
The department must implement expanded notification procedures within 48 hours, request increased community corrections capacity, make parole board referrals, receive an appropriation of $303,812, and experience a funding decrease for local jail inmate daily rate payments.
parole board
The board receives mandatory referrals from the Department of Corrections under the population management measures.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What triggers the prison population management measures under the new law?
How much money does the act appropriate to the Department of Corrections?
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News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Current status: Signed into law.
Procedural history
15 actions- Jun 1, 2026Office of the GovernorEnrolledGovernor Signed
- May 22, 2026SenateFloorSigned by the President of the Senate
- May 22, 2026HouseFloorSigned by the Speaker of the House
- May 22, 2026Office of the GovernorEnrolledSent to the Governor
- May 8, 2026SenateSenate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- May 7, 2026HouseFloorHouse Third Reading Passed - No Amendments
Show 9 earlier actions
- May 6, 2026HouseCommitteeHouse Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole
- May 6, 2026HouseHouse Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor
- Apr 28, 2026HouseCommitteeHouse Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended to Appropriations
- Apr 22, 2026SenateFloorSenate Third Reading Passed with Amendments - Floor
- Apr 22, 2026HouseIntroducedIntroduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary
- Apr 21, 2026SenateCommitteeSenate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole
- Apr 21, 2026SenateSenate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor
- Apr 13, 2026SenateCommitteeSenate Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to Appropriations
- Jan 26, 2026SenateIntroducedIntroduced In Senate - Assigned to Judiciary
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Voting Record
Refer Senate Bill 26-036, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole.
Total
7
- Yes
- 5
- No
- 2
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 0
- Abstain
- 0
Show 3 earlier roll calls
Refer Senate Bill 26-036 to the Committee on Appropriations.
Total
10
- Yes
- 7
- No
- 3
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 0
- Abstain
- 0
How they voted (10)
Refer Senate Bill 26-036, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole.
Total
7
- Yes
- 4
- No
- 3
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 0
- Abstain
- 0
Refer Senate Bill 26-036, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations.
Total
7
- Yes
- 4
- No
- 3
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 0
- Abstain
- 0
Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 24 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Fiscal Reallocation in Corrections
The bill simultaneously increases funding for implementation ($303,812) while reducing appropriations for inmate daily rate payments to local jails ($478,778).
Connected Entities
Sources
leg.colorado.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz35Current news / social attention level
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