In 2024, Governor Jared Polis signed a whopping 519 bills into law. They range in topic from property taxes to gun storage to child care safety, and many took effect on January 1, 2025. 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.

Tolulope Omotunde of Afrik Digest Magazine has compiled a list of some of the laws that will impact Colorado residents the most this 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:

1. Driving Cell Phone Ban

As of January 1, 2025, Coloradans can no longer handle a mobile device while driving. Credit: Getty Images

If you are fond of holding a cell phone while driving to use the GPS, play music or take a call, that act needs to stop. That behaviour is already illegal. A new law prohibits holding, touching or otherwise handling mobile electronic devices while driving, including while stopped at traffic signals. Distracted driving has long been a problem in Colorado. In fact, 718 Coloradans died in crashes due to distracted driving from 2012 to 2022, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Texting and driving was already illegal (and drivers under 18 weren’t allowed to use a smartphone for any purpose), but adult drivers could still legally hold a phone to their ear.

The new law still allows for the use of hands-free devices, however, such as Bluetooth headsets, dashboard mounts and car speakerphone systems. First-time offenders pay a $75 fine and receive two license suspension points. If you’re caught two or three times during the same calendar year, that fee rises to $150 and $250, respectively. You can have your violation waived if you present proof that you’ve purchased a hands-free accessory—but that’ll only work once.

2. Hens Are Going Cage Free (HB20-1343)

A bill passed in 2020 was finally implemented at the beginning of2025. 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). Until now, egg-laying hens at industrial sites could be confined in spaces that did not provide sufficient space for the birds to behave naturally. Caged hens are at higher risk of injury and disease, and Colorado lawmakers have been working with egg producers to improve conditions. Unless you’re operating a farm with more than 3,000 hens, you don’t have to change anything—but you can be confident that any eggs you buy in 2025 were humanely raised.

Egg producers who violate the law will be fined up to $500 and could have their license to sell eggs suspended or revoked.

3. Guns in Cars

As of January 1, 2025, guns must be stored in cases inside locked vehicles. Credit: Getty Images

Coloradans will soon be prohibited from storing guns in cars without taking safety precautions. The law which came into effect on January 1, 2025, reveals 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 Denver Police Department reported that 1,221 guns were stolen in 2023—846 from vehicles. Democratic lawmakers hope that requiring gun owners to securely store their weapons in vehicles will help reduce the amount of firearm theft in the state. According to the wordings of the bill, the unlawful storage of a firearm in a vehicle is considered a civil infraction and may result in a fine up to $100.

4. Say Goodbye to Forever Chemicals (HB22-1345)

Starting on January 1 2025, PFAS chemicals, also known as “forever chemicals,” will be banned from products sold in Colorado in the cosmetics, indoor textile furnishings and indoor upholstered furniture categories. The state law, passed in 2022, already prohibited the chemicals in carpets, rugs, fabric treatments, food packaging, juvenile products and oil and gas products in 2024. Further prohibitions are set for 2027. The state has been working for years to phase out items that contain intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) that take more than a millennium to break down. Not only are these chemicals bad for nature, but they’re bad for humans, too. Studies have shown that exposure to PFAS can lead to decreased fertility, a weaker immune system, and increased risk of certain cancers. Violation of this law is considered a civil penalty and carries a fine up to $5,000 for a first offense and up to $10,000 for each subsequent infraction.

5. Minimum Wage Increases

Colorado’s minimum wage is slated to increase from $14.42 to $14.81 on January 1 2025. For tipped employees, it will go from $11.40 to $11.79. Denver’s minimum wage will rise as well, from $18.29 to $18.81 for standard employees and from $15.27 to $15.79 for tipped employees. The Colorado Constitution mandates that the state minimum wage adjust annually based on the consumer price index, a database of price changes in common goods and services. This yearly recalibration is designed to keep workers’ wages in line with inflation.

6. Child Passenger Safety (HB24-1055)

Car seat laws are changing in 2025 to better align with guidance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Credit: Getty Images

Several state seat belt laws for children came into effect 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 2024. 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. Colorado’s child restraint law is considered a primary enforcement action for police officers, which means drivers can be pulled over if it appears a child is not sitting in a legal car seat. The offense results in a Class B traffic violation and a $65 fine, which can be waived if the driver can prove they’ve purchased the correct car seat by the time they appear in court.

7. Undocumented Immigrants Can More Easily Obtain Driver’s Licenses (SB24-182)

While undocumented immigrants in Colorado can already apply for driver’s licenses, there are barriers to doing so. Currently, immigrants must present either a Colorado income tax return or a federal social security number, plus proof of Colorado residency for the last two years. Moreover, with an increasing number of migrants in the state, the need to expedite the process is urgent. The new legislation waives the two-year waiting period and allows immigrants to produce alternative documentation—including a passport or consular identification card—rather than a tax return or social security number. Applicants will still be required to pass the standard written exam, driving test, and vision screening in order to be eligible. Furthermore, their driver’s license cannot be used to vote or obtain public benefits. This law comes into effect on March 31, 2025.

8. 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 taking effect on January 1 2025. 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.

9. Concealed Carry Requirements Are Getting Stricter (HB24-1174)

To obtain a concealed carry firearm permit in Colorado currently, applicants need to have completed a training class that demonstrates their competency with a handgun within the last 10 years. However, in the state’s eyes, not all of those classes equipped gun owners adequately.

Starting on 1 July 2025, applicants must complete a training course taught by a certified instructor that satisfies the state’s minimum standard. The new standards mandate the course cover a variety of specific topics, including federal and state laws about the purchase, state law regarding the use of deadly force in self-defense, and conflict resolution. Students must pass both a written exam and a live-fire exercise.

10. Delivery Pay Transparency

A new law passed in May 2024 will require delivery companies, such as DoorDash and UberEats, to disclose to drivers and customers how much of the payment goes to the drivers versus the company. Starting on January 1 2025, the law also mandates that companies reveal to drivers the distance of a delivery task before they accept the order and requires that all tips from customers be paid to the drivers. Delivery drivers have been advocating for these changes for years.