This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Gov. Jared Polis has vetoed his first round of bills from the 2026 legislative session, including a measure that would require social media companies to work more closely with law enforcement regarding content that violates a platform’s policies. It was among four vetoes Polis issued on Thursday.
House Bill 1255 was sponsored in the wake of last year’s Evergreen High School shooting, after Jefferson County officials learned that the shooter had posted disturbing and credible warning signs on TikTok months before the attack.
The bill would have required social media platforms to notify law enforcement about certain flagged content within 24 hours and required a streamlined process, as well as a hotline, to allow law enforcement agencies to contact platforms at all times to process search warrants.
Polis said, while he appreciates the bill’s intent, he has considerable concerns that the measure infringes on First Amendment rights. Polis said the bill was too ambiguous regarding the types of content that would trigger scrutiny and would create a chilling effect on online discussions.
“Under the First Amendment, there is well established case law regarding unprotected speech, including speech that contains incitement of violence or lawless actions and true threats,” Polis wrote in his veto letter. “The loss of constitutional freedom, even for a moment, is an irreparable injury to an individual and to our democracy.”
In March Polis did sign a different bill that requires social media platforms to respond to law enforcement subpoenas within 72 hours.
Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, who is running for Colorado Attorney General condemned the veto and said it was deeply disappointing and a missed opportunity to help prevent future acts of violence.
“Students, teachers, parents, survivors, law enforcement, and legislators came together with one goal: to save lives by helping law enforcement respond more quickly to credible threats posted on social media before violence occurs,” he said in a written statement.
Democratic State Rep. Tammy Story, one of the bill’s main sponsors, said she’s very disappointed, especially knowing how much effort the Evergreen community put into advocating for the bill.
“They were so brave, so courageous, so determined that they were able to set aside their immense trauma and heartbreak over what they had experienced in order to invest in ensuring that this bill moved forward and future incidents could have intervention before they even happen,” she said.
Story said she met with the governor's staff several times to discuss various elements the office took issue with — like the 24-hour timeframe and the requirement for social media companies to report users to law enforcement under certain circumstances.
Polis is term-limited and Story plans to bring the bill forward again next year, with the hope that a different governor may see the bill and what it does differently.
“When these (violent acts) are foreshadowed on social media, we had a perfect opportunity to be able to access that information beforehand in order to intervene, interrupt, disrupt the violent act that was being planned. And we've lost that opportunity for the moment,” she said. “We believe that this is the right policy, and we will keep working on it until we get there.”
The other bills Polis vetoed covered a variety of issues.
House Bill 1418 would have required certain online gaming platforms to impose a fee on each add-on transaction to help fund youth mental health services and after school programs.
Polis said he questioned the legality of the bill’s structure under TABOR and said this type of core government function should be funded responsibly, and not through gamer fees.
“The fee imposed on these add-on transactions means that consumers would not only be charged extra for things like character costumes and upgrades, but also for storyline content for online games. This type of content represents digital storytelling and artistic expression, and I do not support such a fee,” he wrote.
House Bill 1286 would have required that a person be present inside a self-driving commercial motor vehicle.. Polis said he worked with sponsors to try to find a compromise such as narrowing the human presence requirement to automated vehicles transporting hazardous materials or oversized or overweight vehicles, and he was disappointed they couldn’t find a solution. He worried the bill would leave Colorado out of the cutting edge of innovation.
“Driver error is the leading cause of accidents, and we should preserve tools which could make Coloradans safer. While we as a country have yet to see widespread deployment of autonomous CMVs, exciting progress has been made in states such as Texas and Arizona. Wider deployment and testing, including in Colorado, presents potential avenues for improving safety on our roads,” wrote Polis.
House Bill 1355 , backed by the bipartisan budget committee, reduced money for a grant program for non-profit afterschool K-12 programs like the Boys and Girls Club. Polis said these types of programs are a high priority for his administration and greatly benefit students and families. He vetoed the bill and restored $1.75 million to fully fund it for the year.
