Skip to main content
CivicGate

HB 1236 CO
Vetoed

Arbitration Reform

CO · session 2026A · Assembly / House · bill

A state bill is a proposed law in a state legislature — separate from the U.S. Congress. Learn more →

Introduced Feb 18, 2026

Latest action (Jun 2, 2026) Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary

Summary

This bill reforms Colorado arbitration practices in several ways. It prohibits arbitration agreements from requiring employees or consumers to pay fees that substantially exceed court filing costs, and prohibits individuals with discriminatory practices from serving as arbitrators. The bill requires parties to comply with arbitration award documentation requirements within 120 days or face liability for additional damages. It also repeals the prohibition on exemplary damages in arbitration proceedings, allowing such damages to be awarded in arbitration cases.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill (from the OpenStates abstract — no full text available yet) — neutral, and may be imperfect.

Official abstract

The act:Prohibits a provision in an arbitration agreement that requires an employee to an employer and employee contract or a consumer to a business and consumer contract to pay fees that substantially exceed the costs required to file a claim in state or federal court, except as preempted by federal law, and disallows the waiver of this prohibition;Prohibits an individual from serving as an arbitrator if the individual has a rule, policy, procedure, or demonstrated pattern of conduct that discriminates, or prevents, or has the effect of preventing, a certain party, type of party, or attorney from asserting the party's right in arbitration or bringing a claim in arbitration; andRequires a party to fully comply with requirements of a record of an award, within 120 days after the date of the award, or be liable for additional damages caused by their failure to comply.     Under current law, exemplary damages are prohibited in arbitration proceedings. The act repeals this prohibition.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Sponsors (4)
10 coauthors / cosponsors

Action history (17)
  1. May 8, 2026 Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee · upper
  2. Jun 2, 2026 Governor Vetoed · executive
  3. May 29, 2026 Sent to the Governor · executive
  4. May 29, 2026 Signed by the President of the Senate · upper
  5. May 29, 2026 Signed by the Speaker of the House · lower
  6. May 13, 2026 House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass · lower
  7. May 13, 2026 Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments · upper
  8. May 12, 2026 Senate Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments · upper
  9. May 11, 2026 Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor · upper
  10. May 8, 2026 Senate Second Reading Special Order - Laid Over to 05/11/2026 - No Amendments · upper
  11. May 6, 2026 Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole · upper
  12. Apr 30, 2026 Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Judiciary · upper
  13. Apr 28, 2026 House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments · lower
  14. Apr 27, 2026 House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee · lower
  15. Apr 22, 2026 House Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole · lower
  16. Apr 7, 2026 House Committee on Judiciary Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only · lower
  17. Feb 18, 2026 Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary · lower
Subjects
Courts & Judicial

Full text

The full text hasn’t been imported yet. CivicGate fetches it from the state legislature’s published version documents — check now.

Comments

Comments

Loading comments…

Data from OpenStates. View on OpenStates →