Rose Community Foundation, in addition to its grantmaking work, advocates for legislative priorities aligned with our mission to improve systems that impact Greater Denver communities. We are proud to support five bills moving through the Colorado General Assembly that align with these goals and aim to mitigate gun violence, create vital protections for low-income Coloradans and renters, and strengthen the nonprofit ecosystem.
While we cannot endorse every policy proposal our grantee partners advocate for, we are honored to fund and partner with many of the nonprofits driving meaningful, mission-aligned policy change at the Colorado State Capitol. Our 2025 state legislative endorsements are listed below.
SB25-003 | Detachable Firearm Magazine Ban
Colorado’s existing high-capacity magazine ban – passed after the 2013 Aurora theater shooting – would be strengthened by this proposal that limits the sale, manufacture or transfer of most semi-automatic firearms that can accept high-capacity magazines. This legislation would close a loophole that currently allows buyers to easily obtain high-capacity magazines in other states and attach them to semi-automatic weapons purchased in Colorado. The bill also would prohibit rapid-fire conversion devices (bump stocks) and require additional firearm-safety training for gun owners to help keep our communities safer from high-powered firearms.
HB25-1004 | Prohibiting Pricing Coordination Between Landlords
This legislation would prohibit landlords from engaging in practices that artificially inflate rental prices through coordinated efforts. Many large landlords currently utilize shared rent algorithms that automatically set and systematically increase costs, allowing hundreds of unaffiliated landlords to effectively act as a single dominant entity, using collective market power to increase profits by setting higher prices than a naturally occurring rental market would produce. A single pricing tool was recently found to be artificially raising rents in Denver by $136 per month. The bill would help ensure that corporate landlords cannot manipulate rents to extract excessive profits at the expense of tenants, and would also give independent landlords a fairer opportunity to compete in the rental marketplace.
HB25-1090 | Prohibiting Deceptive Pricing Practices
This second consumer-protection proposal aims to ensure more transparent pricing practices by limiting unfair or surprise charges. Specifically, the bill would require businesses to disclose total consumer costs, including fees, up front, and bar landlords from charging fees beyond utility costs. Junk fees make it difficult for consumers to compare prices, leading to financial uncertainty and strain on tightening budgets. The Foundation supports reducing these hidden costs that create additional financial burdens for consumers and undermine housing affordability.
HB25-1170 | Nonprofit Lobbying Reform
This bill would enable nonprofit employees to advocate in a limited capacity for or against specific policies that affect their work without formally registering as professional lobbyists. Under current Colorado law, nonprofit employees who participate in any type of lobbying activity – even as limited as communicating their organization’s view regarding a single policy proposal to a single state official – are considered professional lobbyists, which comes with a negative stigma and prohibitive fees and reporting requirements. Rose Community Foundation believes nonprofit employees should have the opportunity to share their organization’s perspective on policies that affect their operations or the people they serve without fear of breaking the law.
HB25-1101 | State Procurement Reform
Nonprofits that currently receive state grants or contracts often must complete the project before receiving funding from the state, a backwards system that deters many smaller nonprofits from seeking state disbursements. This bill would require state agencies to provide nonprofits with at least 35 percent of grant or contract funding upfront, stabilizing and simplifying the procurement process. By ensuring a portion of funds upfront, this legislation would make it easier for smaller community organizations to access state grant programs at a time when many of those nonprofits are experiencing financial challenges and uncertainty.