# Colorado HB25-1165: Geologic Storage Enterprise & Geothermal Resources Colorado HB25-1165, Geologic Storage Enterprise & Geothermal Resources, is a 2025 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Amy Paschal (Democratic), Cathy Kipp (Democratic), Cleave Simpson (Republican) and 1 others; status signed, last action 2025-05-27 (Governor Signed) (as of 2026-10-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB25-1165-2025A - As of: 2026-10-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Colorado HB25-1165 - State: Colorado - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: Geologic Storage Enterprise & Geothermal Resources - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-02-03 - Last action: 2025-05-27, Governor Signed - Sponsors: Amy Paschal (Democratic), Cathy Kipp (Democratic), Cleave Simpson (Republican), Matt Soper (Republican) - Cosponsors: 13 - Subjects: Energy, Natural Resources & Environment - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 7 (182 yes, 75 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 16 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Existing fees help fund well inspections: benefit, low. The law directs $40 from each covered statutory fee to the well inspection fund. The Board of Examiners can change that allocation by rule. The State Engineer can use fund money without a new annual appropriation for the fund's legal purposes. Unspent money and interest stay in the fund. This alloc… - Storage claims face state immunity limits: cost, low. The law preserves governmental immunity for public entities involved in geologic carbon storage. Storage sites, stored carbon dioxide, and related facilities do not count as gas facilities under the cited immunity waiver. People bringing covered claims cannot rely on that waiver to sue Colorado pub… - Geothermal operators face reinjection requirements: cost, low. Regulators can require geothermal fluid or water to be put back underground to maintain pressure, prevent sinking land, or dispose of brine. When an operator holds both operations and use permits, the agencies must decide where use and reinjection records go. Records can go to the commission, the S… - Contractor fines rise with procedural safeguards: mixed, high. The board can fine covered violations at least $50 each; the old $1,000 maximum is removed without a replacement ceiling. Fine revenue goes to the well inspection fund. License discipline covers knowingly unpermitted heat-exchanger installation, fee fraud, improper use of a license by others, and m… - Contractors pay licensing and rig fees: mixed, medium. Resident contractor applicants pay $20 to apply and $50 after passing; nonresidents pay $50 and then $400. Required financial backing is $10,000 for residents and $20,000 for nonresidents, through approved deposits, credit, or bonds. Ground heat exchanger contractors must maintain that backing; a l… - Heat-exchanger contractors need licenses and training: mixed, medium. People contracting to install ground heat exchangers need the proper board license and must register rigs they operate or lease. Applicants generally need two years of experience and an exam; approved education or a well-construction license can replace experience. Licensees need eight hours of app… - Storage operators pay fees with caps: mixed, medium. Carbon storage operators must pay a board-set fee for each ton injected in Colorado. Payments are due April 30, 2026, and each April 30 afterward. Total stewardship-fee deposits are capped at $100 million during the enterprise's first five years; that cap is repealed July 1, 2031. An added cleanup… - Groundwater transfers carry geothermal rights too: mixed, low. For transfers, reservations, or severances after September 1, 2025, nontributary groundwater presumptively includes its related geothermal resources, and vice versa. The document can expressly rebut those presumptions, but related geothermal resources cannot be transferred separately from the groun… - Heat-exchanger repairs required, older systems protected: mixed, low. The board oversees ground heat exchanger construction and abandonment and can order investigations, repairs, or closure to correct violations. Orders must protect groundwater and public health, and owners or operators can face costs. Systems that met the rules when built generally do not need upgra… - Cleanup wells covered, above-groundwater basins exempt: mixed, low. An excavation intended for groundwater cleanup now counts as a monitoring and observation well and faces the applicable oversight rules. A recharge or infiltration basin is not a well when designed to stay above groundwater. That exclusion does not cover basins designed to reach or extend below gro… - Geothermal developers face revised resource boundaries: mixed, low. Denver Basin groundwater does not count as an allocated geothermal resource. Neither does groundwater in nontributary aquifers located entirely shallower than 2,500 feet. For oil and gas operations, the deep-geothermal exclusion for heat from produced fluids is narrower. It applies only when using… - Geothermal permits expand with heat-only relief: mixed, low. Operations using allocated geothermal resources need a use permit even when they do not consume the resource. Beneficial uses also face the groundwater-use requirements in section 37-90-137(4), except the specified deep-geothermal operations. A permitted deep-geothermal operation needs no State Eng… - Geothermal safeguards add notice and spacing: mixed, low. Outside designated groundwater basins, well permits must protect existing water rights and earlier geothermal operations from material harm. Wells generally need more than one-fourth mile from an earlier geothermal operation using the same aquifer, with notice-based or water-court exceptions. New g… - Groundwater users face revised classification rules: mixed, low. The law revises which groundwater counts as nontributary groundwater and excludes designated groundwater. It removes the former boundary rule tied to designated groundwater basins existing on January 1, 1985. The test asks whether continuous pumping reduces natural-stream flow within 100 years by m… - State funds long-term carbon storage care: mixed, low. The law creates a state enterprise and dedicated fund to care for underground carbon storage sites. A five-member board runs the enterprise, which can issue revenue bonds and accept gifts, grants, and donations. Operator fees also support the fund, and money remains available without a new annual a… - State takes closed carbon storage sites: mixed, low. Storage operators must keep required financial assurance until closure approval and contribute enough to fund long-term care before approval. At approved closure, the state takes the stored carbon dioxide and remaining facilities without paying compensation. The enterprise takes over long-term care… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Amy Paschal (Democratic), House - Sponsor: Cathy Kipp (Democratic), Senate - Sponsor: Cleave Simpson (Republican), Senate - Sponsor: Matt Soper (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Alex Valdez (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Brianna Titone (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Julie McCluskie (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Karen McCormick (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Monica Duran (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Mandy Lindsay (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Rep. S. Bird - Cosponsor: Sen. F. Winter - Cosponsor: Kyle Mullica (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Katie Wallace (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Lisa Cutter (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Marc Snyder (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Tony Exum (Democratic), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-11 | House | Senate amendments: Repass | pass | 41 | 21 | | | 2025-04-11 | House | Senate amendments: Concur | pass | 44 | 18 | | | 2025-04-04 | Senate | Third reading: Bill | pass | 28 | 6 | | | 2025-03-31 | Senate | Refer House Bill 25-1165, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. | pass | 8 | 1 | | | 2025-03-14 | House | Third reading: Bill | pass | 42 | 22 | | | 2025-02-27 | House | Refer House Bill 25-1165, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. | pass | 8 | 5 | | | 2025-02-27 | House | Adopt amendment L.008 | pass | 11 | 2 | | ## Actions (15) - 2025-05-27: Governor Signed (House) - 2025-05-13: Signed by the Speaker of the House (House) - 2025-05-13: Signed by the President of the Senate (Senate) - 2025-05-13: Sent to the Governor (House) - 2025-04-11: House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass (House) - 2025-04-06: House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Laid Over Daily (House) - 2025-04-04: Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee (Senate) - 2025-03-31: Senate Committee on Transportation & Energy Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole (Senate) - 2025-03-19: Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Transportation & Energy (Senate) - 2025-03-14: House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments (House) - 2025-03-13: House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor (House) - 2025-03-04: House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments (House) - 2025-02-27: House Committee on Energy & Environment Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole (House) - 2025-02-03: Introduced In House - Assigned to Energy & Environment (House) ## Bill text - Engrossed: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86107/download) - Final Act: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86099/download) - Introduced: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86109/download) - Reengrossed: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86105/download) - Rerevised: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86101/download) - Revised: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86103/download) - Signed Act: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/40581/download) ## Related bills - SB25-279: Colorado Code of Military Justice Updates (signed) - HB25-1234: Utility Consumer Protection (signed) - HB25-1307: Updating Technical References in Education Law (signed) - SB25-163: Battery Stewardship Programs (signed) - SB25-261: Property Tax Deferral Program Administration (signed) - SB25-167: Invest State Funds to Benefit Communities (signed) ## Sources - [Engrossed (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86107/download) - [Final Act (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86099/download) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86109/download) - [Reengrossed (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86105/download) - [Rerevised (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86101/download) - [Revised (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/86103/download) - [Signed Act (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/40581/download) ## Related - [SB25-279: Colorado Code of Military Justice Updates](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-SB25-279-2025A) - [HB25-1234: Utility Consumer Protection](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB25-1234-2025A) - [HB25-1307: Updating Technical References in Education Law](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB25-1307-2025A) - [SB25-163: Battery Stewardship Programs](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-SB25-163-2025A) - [SB25-261: Property Tax Deferral Program Administration](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-SB25-261-2025A) - [SB25-167: Invest State Funds to Benefit Communities](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-SB25-167-2025A) - [Colorado bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/colorado/bills) - [Colorado state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/colorado) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB25-1165-2025A (as of 2026-10-19).