Two bills that would require law enforcement to take new steps when responding to domestic violence calls were approved by their first legislative committees on Wednesday.
The bipartisan measures would require that officers conduct earlier screenings for high-risk survivors and would increase inter-agency coordination when cases involve military service members. Sponsors say the goal is to close response gaps in the most critical domestic violence cases.
House Bill 26-1009, known as the Colorado Mandatory Lethality Assessment Act, is centered around how police officers screen survivors when they respond to domestic violence incidents.
The measure would require officers to ask 11 standardized questions as part of a screening tool, known as a lethality assessment.
Lethality assessments have been available to Colorado police departments and sheriff’s offices since 2020, but their use is optional. Roughly 44 of Colorado’s 64 counties already use them voluntarily, and HB-1009 would make it mandatory statewide beginning in 2027. The assessment is designed to flag when domestic violence situations are at high risk of becoming deadly.
The bill would require that officers ask if a weapon has been used or threatened, if threats to kill have been made, if a gun is accessible, if strangulation has occurred, and if the survivor has recently left the relationship.
If the answers result in a finding that someone is high risk, or if an officer determines they are high risk based on the circumstances, the officer would have to immediately contact a community-based victim advocate, either by phone or in person.
Survivors could decline to answer the questions and would not be required to accept services.
“For someone to be there that can calmly ask you these 11 questions, things that you probably haven't even thought of — I would have given anything for this,” said Democratic House Majority Leader Monica Duran, a lead sponsor of the bill and a survivor of domestic violence.
“Had I had this tool, or if law enforcement actually had this tool, I may have gotten out of the situation I was in a lot sooner.”
Backers of the bill include advocates for survivors, who testified during the bill’s first legislative hearing Wednesday.
“It is a very different outcome when a survivor is offered a warm connection to a confidential advocate in the moment, rather than being handed information and expected to navigate everything later alone,” said David Karnes, public policy and community impact specialist for the domestic violence coalition Violence Free Colorado.
Supporters said the measure responds to a 2025 report from Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office that showed a sharp rise in domestic violence incidents and deaths across the state.
The bill directs the Attorney General’s Office to develop law enforcement training for the lethality assessment protocol. It also requires annual reporting on how many domestic violence incidents officers respond to, how many assessments are conducted, how many high-risk survivors are identified, and how many referrals are made.
A second measure, Senate Bill 26-085, focuses on domestic violence cases involving military protection orders.
Military protection orders are issued by a member of the military’s commanding officer. They can prohibit contact, threats, proximity to a protected person, and other harmful conduct.
Under the bill, when responding to a domestic violence call in which one of the people involved is a current member of the armed forces, officers would be required to determine whether a military protection order has been issued in the past using a search of the National Crime Information Center database.
If an order exists, the officer must notify the agency that filed the original order. The bill would also require Colorado courts to treat military protection orders as evidence when deciding whether to issue an additional protection order.
State Sen. Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican who is a lead sponsor of the measure, said that “Colorado is following other states in passing this policy — both increasing access to civilian protection orders and requiring a reciprocation of information between the pertinent law enforcement authorities.”
SB-085 now moves to the Senate floor and HB-1009 heads next to another legislative committee.
Anyone experiencing domestic violence or in crisis should call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-(800)-799-7233, or visit thehotline.org.
