HB 21-1022: Colorado Surrogacy Agreement Act

• Creates Article 4.5 of Title 19 to establish enforceable legal standards for surrogacy agreements in Colorado, protecting all parties and promoting children's best interests.

• Requires surrogates and intended parents to be at least 21 years old, complete medical evaluations and mental health consultations, have independent legal counsel, and execute notarized agreements before any medical procedures.

• Establishes that intended parents become legal parents by operation of law upon birth of the child, while surrogates and their spouses have no claim to parentage unless genetic testing reveals the surrogate is the genetic parent.

• Allows parties to terminate agreements before gamete or embryo transfer with only reimbursement of expenses owed; prohibits specific performance to force a surrogate to become impregnated or terminate pregnancy, but allows it to enforce intended parents' acceptance of parental duties.

• Provides that surrogacy agreements are not adoptions and that payment of reasonable expenses does not violate adoption laws; makes surrogacy agreements unassignable with the child as the only third-party beneficiary.