The 2023 Colorado Legislative Session ended Monday, May 8, with Senate Bill 23-213 failing to pass after legislators were unable to find a compromise between the Senate and House versions of the bill.
The City of Greenwood Village would like to thank everyone who reached out to their legislators to voice their concerns with the bill throughout the session. Your input was vital to getting our local perspective heard—that land use and zoning decisions should be made locally, and any effort to preempt home rule would not be supported.
The City would also like to thank legislators from across the state that heard concerns from residents and neighboring city officials and worked to amend the bill. This includes our local senator, Sen. Jeff Bridges, who listened to his constituents and supported the amended Senate version of the bill, which removed many of the preemptive measures that would have impacted our ability to maintain the character and quality of our neighborhoods. Unfortunately, our local representative, Rep. Ruby Dickson, co-sponsored SB 23-213 and was the prime sponsor for a bill that preempts local authority over residential building permits.
But this fight isn’t over. Based on Gov. Jared Polis’ stated housing policy priorities, we are confident that similar measures are likely to be introduced in next year’s legislative session.
Greenwood Village will continue to work alongside the Colorado Municipal League and our neighboring cities to defend our constitutional right as a home rule municipality and will continue to oppose any measures that allow the state to regulate land use decisions of local concern.
For more information, visit greenwoodvillage.com/homerule.