# Colorado HB26-1258: Changes to Practices Relating to Death Colorado HB26-1258, Changes to Practices Relating to Death, is a 2026 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Brianna Titone (Democratic), Dylan Roberts (Democratic), Matt Soper (Republican) and 1 others; status signed, last action 2026-06-04 (Governor Signed) (as of 2026-10-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB26-1258-2026A - As of: 2026-10-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Colorado HB26-1258 - State: Colorado - Session: 2026 Regular Session - Title: Changes to Practices Relating to Death - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2026-02-19 - Last action: 2026-06-04, Governor Signed - Sponsors: Brianna Titone (Democratic), Dylan Roberts (Democratic), Matt Soper (Republican), Rod Pelton (Republican) - Cosponsors: 27 - Subjects: Professions & Occupations - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 12 (390 yes, 54 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 17 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Stronger penalties for abusing human remains: benefit, medium. Beginning August 12, 2026, Colorado makes abuse of a corpse a class 5 felony, up from class 6. Covered acts include dismembering, mutilating, concealing, selling, or improperly disposing of human remains. The law also covers improperly allowing decomposition and degrading transport or storage. The… - Families gain options for funeral services: benefit, low. Family members, friends, and friends of the family can conduct a funeral service. Religious groups can conduct both the service and final disposition without a funeral professional when their beliefs require that absence. Neither option applies when the person is known to have died of an infectious… - Families get clearer funeral purchase protections: benefit, low. Funeral providers cannot require a casket or refuse remains because they are not in one. Oral quotes, written price disclosures, and final bills can label charges as cash advances or accommodation items only at cost. The next of kin must pay, or be able to pay, the same amount the establishment pay… - Families get longer burial planning deadlines: benefit, low. For refrigerated or embalmed remains, the deadline rises from 30 to 60 days after death. This covers burial, freezing, cremation, or starting natural reduction. A funeral director or coroner with no business interest in the establishment can approve a written extension. The applicant must show an u… - New supervised licenses for funeral trainees: benefit, low. Beginning January 1, 2027, Colorado offers associate licenses to gain required experience in funeral and mortuary work. Applicants must meet general licensing requirements. Depending on the license sought, they must attend or graduate from an accredited mortuary school, or register for or complete… - Qualified funeral workers gain license portability: benefit, low. Beginning August 12, 2026, applicants meeting Colorado's occupational credential portability requirements must receive a license by endorsement. Covered professions include funeral directors, cremationists, mortuary science practitioners, embalmers, and natural reductionists. - Families gain access to funeral inspections: benefit, low. Beginning August 12, 2026, the director must inspect every funeral establishment at least annually and can hire private inspectors. Inspection reports are available under Colorado's public records law. Photos, audio, video, and details identifying a deceased person are excluded. The scheduled repea… - Funeral professionals face broader conduct standards: benefit, low. Regulated funeral professionals must follow accepted mortuary-science standards and cannot work beyond their skills, training, or education. Certain rules on consumer choice, transfers of remains, preparation-room access, and dishonest or negligent work now cover cremationists and natural reduction… - Funeral providers face safer handling rules: benefit, low. Funeral establishments must transport remains safely, cleanly, and with dignity, following customary professional practices without stacking remains. They must remove implanted devices before transport to a crematory or before cremation begins. Preparation rooms must have access to enough refrigera… - Funeral providers must offer direct services: benefit, low. Funeral establishments are defined by direct services; transportation alone no longer counts, and subcontractor-only brokers cannot register as establishments. Establishments must have an inspectable physical service area and the staff and equipment to provide promised services directly. Profession… - Funeral complaint immunity excludes criminal liability: cost, low. Beginning August 12, 2026, good-faith participants in covered funeral-regulation complaints, reports, investigations, or administrative proceedings have only civil immunity. This protection does not shield them from criminal liability. - Funeral businesses must confirm liability insurance: cost, low. Funeral establishments must attest that they maintain professional liability insurance when renewing registration. Coverage limits must be at least $1 million. - Unclaimed remains bring deadlines and charges: mixed, low. Providers can dispose of unclaimed cremated remains one year after cremation, or naturally reduced remains after 180 days. The person with the legal right to decide must receive advance notice and a reasonable chance to collect them. Providers must document contact efforts and disposal locations, a… - Tissue banks face ownership limits, earlier sunset: mixed, low. A person cannot own an interest in both a funeral establishment and a nontransplant tissue bank. Beginning August 12, 2026, the director can take authorized action against tissue banks or applicants with that ownership overlap. The scheduled repeal of tissue-bank regulation moves from September 1,… - Colorado removes separate crematory regulation provisions: mixed, low. Beginning August 12, 2026, Colorado repeals four specified statutory crematory provisions. Related amendments remove crematory registration from specified regulatory provisions. This removes those requirements and their associated oversight, not every rule governing cremation. - Funeral businesses face fines or warnings: mixed, low. Beginning August 12, 2026, funeral establishments face fines of $100 to $5,000 for each covered violation the director proves. The fine provision covers violations of parts 1 or 3 of the Mortuary Science Code and their rules. Crematories are no longer named in that fine provision. The director can… - Funeral managers gain flexibility, face licensing: mixed, low. An establishment's designated compliance leader must be at least 18 and have authority to require staff to follow the rules. Beginning January 1, 2027, that person must hold a funeral director or mortuary science practitioner license. The law removes former two-year experience and employment requir… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Brianna Titone (Democratic), House - Sponsor: Dylan Roberts (Democratic), Senate - Sponsor: Matt Soper (Republican), House - Sponsor: Rod Pelton (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Andrew Boesenecker (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Bob Marshall (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Cecelia Espenoza (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Eliza Hamrick (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Jennifer Bacon (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Julie McCluskie (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Kyle Brown (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Kenny Nguyen (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Lorena Garcia (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Monica Duran (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Mandy Lindsay (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Matthew Martinez (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Rebecca Keltie (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Sheila Lieder (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Barbara Kirkmeyer (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Byron Pelton (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Cathy Kipp (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Jeff Bridges (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: James Coleman (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Jessie Danielson (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Julie Gonzales (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Janice Marchman (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Katie Wallace (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Larry Liston (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Matt Ball (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Nick Hinrichsen (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Robert Rodriguez (Democratic), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2026-05-12 | House | Conference committee report: Adopt | pass | 64 | 0 | | | 2026-05-12 | House | Conference committee report: Repass | pass | 64 | 0 | | | 2026-05-08 | Senate | Conference committee report: Adopt ccr | pass | 32 | 2 | | | 2026-05-08 | Senate | Conference committee report: Repass | pass | 34 | 0 | | | 2026-05-07 | | Adopt the first conference committee report to House Bill 26-1258. | pass | 5 | 0 | | | 2026-05-04 | House | Senate amendments: Not cncr | pass | 61 | 2 | | | 2026-04-30 | Senate | Third reading: Bill | pass | 35 | 0 | | | 2026-04-28 | Senate | Refer House Bill 26-1258, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. | pass | 7 | 0 | | | 2026-03-31 | Senate | Refer House Bill 26-1258, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. | pass | 5 | 0 | | | 2026-03-11 | House | Third reading: Bill | pass | 64 | 0 | | | 2026-03-10 | House | Committee of the whole: Amd (h.002) | fail | 7 | 50 | | | 2026-03-05 | House | Refer House Bill 26-1258, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. | pass | 12 | 0 | | ## Actions (19) - 2026-06-04: Governor Signed (House) - 2026-06-03: Signed by the Speaker of the House (House) - 2026-06-03: Signed by the President of the Senate (Senate) - 2026-06-03: Sent to the Governor (House) - 2026-05-12: House Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - Repass (House) - 2026-05-08: Senate Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - Repass (Senate) - 2026-05-07: First Conference Committee Result was to Adopt Rerevised w/ Amendments (House) - 2026-05-04: House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Not Concur - Request Conference Committee (House) - 2026-05-01: House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Laid Over Daily (House) - 2026-04-30: Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments (Senate) - 2026-04-29: Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor (Senate) - 2026-04-28: Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole (Senate) - 2026-03-31: Senate Committee on Business, Labor, & Technology Refer Amended to Appropriations (Senate) - 2026-03-16: Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Business, Labor, & Technology (Senate) - 2026-03-11: House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments (House) - 2026-03-10: House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor (House) - 2026-03-05: House Committee on Business Affairs & Labor Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole (House) - 2026-03-04: House Committee on Business Affairs & Labor Lay Over Unamended - Amendment(s) Failed (House) - 2026-02-19: Introduced In House - Assigned to Business Affairs & Labor (House) ## Bill text - Engrossed: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113129/download) - Final Act: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/117040/download) - House Business Affairs & Labor Preamend: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113011/download) - Introduced: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/112336/download) - Reengrossed: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113157/download) - Rerevised: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115512/download) - Revised: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115426/download) - Senate Appropriations Preamend: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115333/download) - Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Preamend: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113933/download) - Signed Act: [PDF](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/117171/download) ## Related bills - HB26-1298: Background Checks for Child Welfare Placements (signed) - HB26-1250: Procedures Related to Civil Asset Forfeiture (signed) - HB26-1414: Medical Record Requests (signed) - HB26-1430: Transportation Funding Adjustments (signed) - SB26-155: Increase Access Homeowner's Insurance Enterprise (signed) - HB26-1429: County Administration Public Assistance Programs (signed) ## Sources - [Engrossed (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113129/download) - [Final Act (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/117040/download) - [House Business Affairs & Labor Preamend (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113011/download) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/112336/download) - [Reengrossed (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113157/download) - [Rerevised (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115512/download) - [Revised (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115426/download) - [Senate Appropriations Preamend (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115333/download) - [Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Preamend (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113933/download) - [Signed Act (PDF)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/117171/download) ## Related - [HB26-1298: Background Checks for Child Welfare Placements](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB26-1298-2026A) - [HB26-1250: Procedures Related to Civil Asset Forfeiture](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB26-1250-2026A) - [HB26-1414: Medical Record Requests](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB26-1414-2026A) - [HB26-1430: Transportation Funding Adjustments](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB26-1430-2026A) - [SB26-155: Increase Access Homeowner's Insurance Enterprise](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-SB26-155-2026A) - [HB26-1429: County Administration Public Assistance Programs](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/CO-HB26-1429-2026A) - [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-HB26-1258-2026A (as of 2026-10-19).