The Denver Gazette reports that Senate Bill 4, the Democrats’ “fix” to last year’s first-in-the-nation AI law, squeaked through its first stop on a 4–3 party-line vote in Senate Business Affairs and Labor. The bill, carried by Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, aims to patch SB24‑205 at the very start of the special session that was already drowning in an $800 million deficit. Gov. Jared Polis signed the 2024 law, then asked lawmakers to tweak it before the 2026 start date because state-level rules can tamper with innovation and deter competition. Translation: they built the Rube Goldberg machine, then realized it runs on taxpayer money.
Cost is the landmine. The fiscal analysis flags $4.5 million this year for courts and the state IT shop and $7 million in out years, with no estimate for the hit to other public entities (IE, local governments, who you pay for, as well). A coalition of schools, colleges, tech, and medical groups already warned that the 2024 law creates unexpected and costly problems for ordinary AI software in K‑12, universities, hospitals, banks, and local governments.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Committee greenlight: SB 4 advances on a 4–3 party-line vote. Rodriguez is again at the wheel on “fixing” the law he passed. Same driver. New bumper.
- Polis hedged from the jump: he signed SB24-205, then warned it could deter competition and urged edits before 2026. Even the salesman will not vouch for the car without a tune-up.
- Price tag problem: $4.5 million now, $7 million later for state agencies. No clue what cities, counties and schools will eat. That silence sounds like “unfunded mandate.”
- Paperwork parade: Rodriguez amended disclosure rules. Public entities can push requests to CORA instead of handing over lists of “personal characteristics” used by AI. Compliance by scavenger hunt.
- “Compliance theater,” say tech groups: Chamber of Commerce calls both the 2024 law and this “fix” mountains of red tape. One drowns in risk frameworks, the other in disclosures. Pick your paperwork.
My Bottom Line
Why did we have to regulate AI in the first place? Because Democrats regulate. This “fix” stacks more crap on top of crap. Bottom line, you get a taller pile of crap. SB25B-004 punts real transparency into open records requests for governments, inflates costs the state admits on its own books, and leaves local governments guessing how deep the bill goes.
That is how “state leadership” works at the Capitol. They kick the can. They kick the cost. They kick it straight to counties and cities that have to implement this circus while guarding taxpayers’ wallets. If lawmakers want AI to be fair, great. Start by not burying schools, counties, and small agencies in disclosure games and liability booby traps. Repeal or rewrite it to target real harms. Until then, spare us the compliance cosplay and stop turning local government into your unfunded help desk.
