DENVER — Dozens of new laws taking full or partial effect Wednesday will set new regulations on bad landlords, block pharmaceutical companies from limiting discount drugs and allow Coloradans to sue someone who releases an intimate, AI-generated picture of them — an example of “fake revenge porn.”

Aug. 6 marks 91 days since the legislature ended its 2025 session. That’s the default day for newly adopted legislation to go into effect, and it’s typically the busiest law-enactment day of the year. Some new laws, including expanded wage theft rules, are going into partial effect.

Others, like the law designating Agaricus julius — also known as the Emperor mushroom — as the state’s official mushroom, will kick in with full force.

As of Wednesday, online advertisements and display models of gas stoves must include labels about the air quality risks associated with using the stoves indoors. “Cell-cultivated meat,” meaning grown in a lab, must also include a label distinguishing it from the real thing.

Members of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes will be able to enter state parks for free. Candidates undergoing an election recount can have a ballot-watcher of their choosing monitor the process, alongside other election officials.

The legislature also removed gender-specific language from the part of law that describes the duties of Colorado’s agriculture commissioner. The statute previously used masculine pronouns to refer to the position, which has been held by a woman for nearly seven years.

Here’s a look at several other laws that go into effect Wednesday.

Nuclear energy, clean energy

After years of trying, Sen. Larry Liston — with some bipartisan help — finally passed legislation this year that adds nuclear energy to the state’s list of clean energy options.

Under House Bill 1040, the new classification allows nuclear energy to qualify for new state grants. That doesn’t necessarily mean nuclear plants or newer technologies, like small modular reactors, are about to open anytime soon. But the bill’s sponsors have said that the move will help expand the state’s options to meet its electrical needs.

Hospitals’ shield for discount drug program

The legislative positioning over the 340B Federal Drug Pricing program began more than a year ago and pulled in much of the Capitol’s lobbying corps. The program lets nonprofit hospitals buy prescription drugs at a discount, sell them to patients at full price and keep the difference. 340B has provided millions of dollars in additional revenue for hospitals each year, and the industry says it’s a vital lifeline for smaller facilities in particular.

Pharmaceutical companies have moved to limit the program in recent years, and Senate Bill 71 sought to prevent them from doing so in Colorado. The pharma lobby launched its own bill in response, seeking tighter restrictions on how the program’s proceeds can be used.

Ultimately, the hospitals won out and SB-71 passed, meaning pharma can’t curtail the program in the state.

The bill also includes some limitations on how hospitals can spend proceeds from 340B, including blocking its use to pay for taxes, advertising or lobbying.

Fake revenge porn

Amid the rise and expanded capabilities of artificial intelligence, Senate Bill 288 allows Coloradans to sue over a person’s release or threatened release of a fake but “highly realistic” and intimate image of them. The law doesn’t require AI to be used, and it applies if the person depicted in a fake image is identifiable, didn’t consent to the image’s release and suffered emotional distress as a result.

The plaintiff can pursue damages, including up to $150,000 in liquidated damages.

SB-288 also amends the state’s child exploitation laws to include fictional, computer-generated images of children that are sexually exploitative.

Interventions for bad landlords

Senate Bill 20 allows cities, counties and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to seek temporary control of chronically dilapidated apartment buildings. Government officials would have to demonstrate to a judge that a landlord repeatedly refused to clean up its properties, causing a public safety problem. The law lists rat infestations and filthy conditions as examples of what would qualify.

Any properties placed in court-ordered receiverships would be returned to their owners after a few months.

The bill was drafted in response to CBZ Management’s rundown properties in Aurora and Denver, which for years were the subject of complaints of unsafe living conditions and alarming inspection reports. Several of CBZ’s properties have been placed in court-ordered receiverships, either by unpaid creditors or by municipal officials.

SB-20 also gives the attorney general the authority to enforce other housing laws, though some of that new authority will be granted starting Jan. 1.

Regulating ‘claim sharks’

Serving as the middle path between two competing bills, Senate Bill 282 limits how much companies can charge veterans for helping them file disability claims with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Those companies often charge veterans up to five times what the veteran will receive in new benefits; SB-282 caps those fees at $9,200 or 25% of the benefit, whichever is less.

It’s technically illegal to charge veterans for help filing claims. But Congress stripped out the penalties for doing so nearly 20 years ago, just as the number of veterans ballooned thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Further congressional inaction has prompted companies to file legislation around the country allowing them to charge up to $12,500, while veterans groups have sought to ban the companies from charging anything at all.

Reformed vacancy committees

The much-maligned process for quickly replacing legislators who leave office early received a bipartisan facelift this session. House Bill 1315 requires lawmakers appointed through a vacancy committee to serve a maximum of one legislative session before standing for an election.

Depending on the year, that might happen in the regularly scheduled November election, or it may occur in a special November election.

The bill takes the current vacancy process and marries it with a special election. For instance: State Rep. John Smith, a Democrat, resigns three months into his two-year term. Shortly after, a vacancy committee — composed of Democratic volunteers and officials — selects Jane Johnson to step in and replace him. She serves through that year’s legislative session before running in a special election in November. In that race, only Democratic or unaffiliated voters can participate, akin to a primary.

If elected, she serves out the full term.

The bill was an attempt to fix a process for replacing legislators that just about everyone agreed was broken. Resignations are common — five state senators have resigned in the past nine months, out of 35 in that chamber — and more than a quarter of the legislature received a vacancy appointment at one point or another.

The vacancy committees are composed of between several dozen and just a handful of party officials, and under the outgoing rules, they select new legislators who may not face voters for nearly two years in some cases.

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