A bill that would have eliminated criminal penalties for prostitution in Colorado will be abandoned this week when it comes up for its first vote Wednesday in the state Capitol.
State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, a Pueblo Democrat and main sponsor of Senate Bill 97, said the measure does not have enough support to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee, its first hurdle, and so he will ask that the measure be delayed until after the 2026 legislative session ends.
That will effectively kill the legislation.
Hinrichsen said he reached the decision after consulting with the sex workers who persuaded him to bring the bill.
“Ultimately, we all decided that having a very tense, long committee hearing, where they’d have to be in a room with a lot of law enforcement, religious leaders and other hostile voices — where they’d understandably feel at risk of surveillance, doxxing and threats/intimidation — wasn’t worth it given the lack of reason to believe the outcome will be changed,” he said.
Senate Bill 97, should it have passed, would have made Colorado the first state to fully remove criminal penalties for prostitution among consenting adults.
While prostitution is legal in Nevada at licensed brothels in certain counties, and in 2023 Maine decriminalized the selling of sexual services, no state has fully legalized prostitution.
In Maine, for instance, while selling sex is no longer illegal, paying for sex remains illegal. That’s called the “Nordic model” — or the “end-demand model” — and has been adopted by a handful of countries.
Senate Bill 97 wouldn’t have just erased the state offenses for commercial sexual activity. It would also have prohibited local laws against prostitution and soliciting for prostitution.
Under current law, both a sex worker and their client can face criminal charges. Prostitution is generally a petty offense in Colorado and is punishable by a fine and/or up to 10 days in jail. Soliciting and patronizing a prostitute are also generally petty offenses with the same penalties.
Keeping a place of prostitution is a Class 2 misdemeanor in Colorado, punishable by up to 120 days in jail, in addition to possible fines.
Republicans were rallying opposition to the bill and celebrated Hinrichsen’s decision as a victory.
“We aren’t going to legalize prostitution in Colorado,” state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican who is running for governor, said in a video posted to social media. “We got ’er done. It’s dead.”
Senate Bill 97 would not have affected Colorado’s laws against human trafficking.
The bill would also have kept in place Colorado’s law against pimping — defined as living off money earned by another person’s prostitution. Pimping is a Class 3 felony in Colorado punishable by up to 12 years in prison.