SB18-241 Summary

• Establishes the "Colorado Children First Act" to protect individuals and religious organizations providing adoption and foster care services from state discrimination based on sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions regarding same-sex marriage and gender identity.

• Prohibits state government from taking discriminatory actions (including denying licenses, contracts, tax benefits, or employment) against adoption/foster care providers based on religious beliefs, while preserving state authority to protect minors from conditions that imminently and seriously endanger their physical health.

• Allows individuals and organizations to assert violations as claims or defenses in any judicial or administrative proceeding without exhausting administrative remedies, with a two-year statute of limitations.

• Provides remedies including declaratory relief, injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees for successful claims; waives sovereign and governmental immunity to suit (except as limited by the Eleventh Amendment).

• Takes effect 90 days after final adjournment of the general assembly (August 8, 2018), unless subject to a referendum petition, in which case it requires voter approval at the November 2018 general election.