Dozens of new state laws are scheduled to take effect on Wednesday, January 1. Most of them were passed by state legislators in 2024, though some were passed years ago and are just now becoming operational, while others came directly from Colorado voters in November.
Westword compiled a handy list of some of the laws that will impact Colorado residents the most in the new year, whether to help you avoid being pulled over or to understand upcoming changes at your local grocery store.
Here are ten new state laws that Coloradans should know about in 2025:
Driving Cell Phone Ban
Do you ever hold a cell phone while driving to use the GPS, play music or take a call? That behavior will be illegal in the New Year. A new law prohibits holding, touching or otherwise handling mobile electronic devices while driving, including while stopped at traffic signals.Current law already bans drivers under the age of eighteen from using cell phones, but a bill passed by state legislators in May will expand the prohibition of handheld phones to adult drivers beginning on January 1. The new law still allows for the use of hands-free devices, however, such as Bluetooth headsets, dashboard mounts and car speakerphone systems.
Penalties range from $75 and two license suspension points for the first offense to $250 and four points for three or more offenses. First-time violators can get the ticket dismissed if they show proof that they purchased a hands-free accessory. There are exceptions for parked vehicles and drivers using their phones during an emergency or to contact a public safety entity. Colorado politicians have been pushing for the law since the state banned texting and driving in 2009; they finally got it in 2024.
Cage-Free Eggs
A bill passed in 2020 will finally be fully implemented on January 1: It requires that all eggs and egg products sold in Colorado come from cage-free hens. Egg producers will be prohibited from selling in the state if they keep their hens confined with less than 1.5 square feet of floor space per hen (or one square foot if the hens have unfettered access to vertical space).This law began rolling out in January 2023; initially, it just mandated that hens be given more space in their enclosures. Egg producers caught violating the cage-free law face fines of up to $1,000 per violation.
Some stores have begun raising concerns that the law could result in egg supply issues; however, experts largely blame supply issues on avian influenza outbreaks that have occurred in the past two years. Colorado egg producers have been preparing for the cage-free requirements for more than four years. Major retailers including King Soopers and Safeway say the change should not affect customers.
Sperm Donor ID Disclosure
Anonymous sperm donation will end in Colorado in 2025. Colorado became the first state in the country to pass a law banning the practice in 2022, with the prohibition set to take effect on January 1.Under the new law, sperm and egg donors must agree to have their identity released to children conceived from their donations when the child turns eighteen. The bill already made other changes, including increasing the minimum age of donors to 21 and limiting donors to contributing to no more than 25 families.
Supporters said the legislation is intended to give donor-conceived people access to critical information about their medical and genetic backgrounds — as well as to address fraud in the industry, such as when multiple Colorado fertility doctors were revealed to have used their own sperm to impregnate numerous unknowing patients under the guise of using anonymous donors.
Guns in Cars
Coloradans will soon be prohibited from storing guns in cars without taking safety precautions. Beginning on January 1, it will be a civil infraction to leave a handgun in an unattended vehicle unless the handgun is in a locked, hard-sided container placed out of plain view, and the vehicle itself is locked. The same restrictions apply to non-handgun firearms, though those firearms can be kept in soft-sided containers if a locking device is installed on the firearm.The legislature passed the law in May, just over a year after State Representative Ron Weinberg had two pistols stolen from his truck parked outside of the State Capitol. At the time, Weinberg said he was unsure whether he'd left the truck unlocked or the thieves had broken in.
Parole Eligibility
Certain violent offenders will face longer minimum prison time for crimes committed on or after January 1 as the result of a state ballot measure. Proposition 128 requires offenders to serve their full sentence if they've been convicted of a violent crime twice before, and they are subsequently convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping, first- and second-degree sexual assault, first-degree arson, first-degree burglary or aggravated robbery. For all people convicted of those violent offenses, the required percentage of sentence served before parole will increase from 75 percent to 85 percent.Colorado voters approved the ballot measure in November, with more than 62 percent of ballots cast in favor of the proposal.
Child Passenger Safety
Several state seat belt laws for children will change on January 1, including increasing the ages that teens must wear seat belts in the back seat from under sixteen to under eighteen. Babies must use rear-facing car seats from under one to under two, and children must use booster seats from under eight to under nine.This new law was passed by state legislators in May. Its implementation comes mere weeks after a national analysis by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety found that Colorado's child passenger safety laws were "dangerously" inadequate.
