The Colorado Senate on March 12 adopted Senate Bill 199, a bill pausing selected interim committees for one year to produce savings, after several floor amendments that narrowed and clarified the pause.

Senate leaders said the bill would pause interim committee work for one year and create roughly $347,000 in savings. Members sparred over whether to pause youth engagement and certain task forces. Senator Winter moved an amendment (L‑005) to restore $50,000 for the Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC); that amendment failed after division. Lawmakers then debated and adopted other amendments that preserved some committee work while trimming authority or travel.

Key floor outcomes: amendment L‑004, offered by Senator Mobley, restored the interim committee and task force addressing behavioral health disorders in the criminal and juvenile justice system; that amendment was adopted. Minority Leader Lundin offered and the Senate adopted amendment L‑012 to allow COYAC to continue meeting but to remove COYAC’s drafting privileges in perpetuity (the amendment restored funding for meetings while striking drafting authority). The body also adopted amendments to pause travel or reduce activities for newly added committees and to limit travel costs for capital development site visits (L‑011). After the amendments, the Senate passed SB 199.

Supporters argued the bill was necessary to find near-term savings in a tight fiscal year; opponents said pausing some interim activity would shut out stakeholder voices, particularly youth and people with lived experience of behavioral health and justice system issues. Several senators said subject-matter task forces are composed primarily of state employees who would continue work informally even if an interim committee was paused; others warned that lengthy pauses would delay negotiated policy solutions.