The Colorado House of Representatives passed the updated End-of-Life Options Act (SB24-068) Friday to provide more equitable access to medical aid in dying in a verbal floor vote. The full Senate passed the bill in a bipartisan 24-11 vote last month.

The legislation next moves to Governor Jared Polis for his consideration. By law, he has 10 days after he receives the bill to sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.

The bill would significantly improve access to medical aid in dying by:

• Shortening the mandatory minimum waiting period between oral requests from 15 days to seven days

• Allowing the prescribing provider to waive the waiting period if the patient is not likely to survive it and meets all other qualifications

• Allowing qualified advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to be prescribing providers

“We thank the Colorado House of Representatives for hearing Colorado voters’ pleas today and taking this important step to ensure greater equity in accessing medical aid in dying in our state,” said Gina Gentry, Colorado Campaign Manager for Compassion & Choices. “We urge Gov. Polis to sign this bill into law so these critical updates will come to fruition as soon as possible.”

Legislative champions shared their reasons for supporting the bill just before the vote on the House floor.

“I am just coming down to speak wholeheartedly in favor of this bill, and the good work that our representative from Louisville has put into making sure that the guardrails are still there but the barriers have been removed from this process, and I urge an ‘aye’ vote,” said Rep. Karen McCormick (Boulder County).

Rep. Elisabeth Epps (Denver County) shared her experience of losing her mother at age 9, and thanked Rep. Kyle Brown (Boulder & Broomfield County) for leading SB24-068’s success in the House.

“I am really, really appreciative of the House sponsor, the thoughtfulness that he’s put into this. And, while ultimately, the decision for each of us whether we would ever avail ourselves of this is a personal one, it’s very much a community, loving, supportive decision that we made to make sure that folks have this option,” Rep. Epps said.

Bill sponsor Rep. Brown and bill champions, Reps. Epps and McCormick

Nine other states and Washington, D.C. allow the option of medical aid in dying, and similar access improvements have been made to the laws in other states, including California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.

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