Energy Office Celebrates a Banner 2024 for Climate Action in Colorado

HB24-1007 repealed occupancy limits and got the government out of the business of telling people who they can live with. Repealing occupancy limits supports affordable housing and much lower energy use and emissions. See Colorado poised to ban cities' limits on how many people can live together.

HB24-1304 removed parking mandates along transit corridors. This is the key reform for making it possible to build more housing near transit. See Many Colorado cities require parking with new housing. Here's why lawmakers just passed a bill that will undo some of those rules.

HB24-1313 required cities to legalize multifamily housing along transit corridors. See Transit-oriented communities bill passes Colorado legislature.

HB24-1152 legalized ADUs (also known as "granny flats") in the cities and towns where most people in Colorado live. This halts key barriers to strategic growth, including parking requirements, ongoing owner occupancy requirements, and restrictive design standards. See A new Colorado law opens the doors wider for ADUs. Here's what it does - and doesn't do.

HB24-1346 was an important step toward enabling carbon capture in Colorado, clarifying pore space ownership and the ability to "unitize" projects involving multiple pore space owners. See Energy & Carbon Management Regulation.

Three additional big transit bills provided funding for transit agencies and passenger rail and support free transit fares for youth. The biggest one created a new fee on oil and gas production to help mitigate their climate impact by expanding public transit. See Colorado advocates hail 'year of transit' as Gov. Polis signs funding bills into law.

HB24-1173 streamlined permitting for EV chargers. See New Bill to Boost Electric Vehicle Charging Signed Into Law.

HB24-1370 set up a process at the Public Utilities Commission for cities to work with their gas utility on neighborhood scale projects to electrify or install geothermal energy networks instead of expensive gas system investments. See Colorado Sierra Club Celebrates Signing of Gas Infrastructure Cost Saving Bill.

SB24-218 improved grid planning by making sure that our biggest utilities are making needed investments in electric distribution so that customers can quickly interconnect EV charging, heat pumps, in-fill housing and other loads that reduce emissions. See Bill Passes to Power Up Colorado.

SB24-212 improved and streamlined siting of large renewables projects, which enhanced Colorado's ability to deploy additional wind and solar - the low-cost workhorses of our clean energy grid. See Colorado legislature passes crucial bill advancing renewable energy siting, helping state meet ambitious decarbonization goals.

SB24-207 expanded Colorado's community solar program, while requiring a significant amount to be paired with storage to better support the grid. See Colorado modernizes community solar program.

SB24-214 created a state sustainability office to lead by example and help Colorado make the maximum use of federal direct pay tax credits, while decreasing energy and water costs for state government. See Implement State Climate Goals.

SB24-229 required deep cuts in nitrogen oxide (NOX) pollution from oil and gas - which will lead to cleaner air, more electrification and cut in greenhouse gas emissions. See Colorado Senate passes oil and gas compromise package.