A ballot initiative backed by the group Advance Colorado has qualified for the November general election, setting up a statewide vote on whether to undo limitations placed upon state and local law enforcement agencies’ ability to work with federal authorities.

Ballot measure 95 would change the state constitution to require law enforcement to notify federal immigration officials when they charge a person who is in the country illegally and the alleged offense is a violent crime or the individual has previously been charged with a felony. This also applies when the person’s legal status could not be determined.

That practice has been prohibited under state law since 2019, when lawmakers passed House Bill 19-1124, which bars Colorado law enforcement from arresting someone solely on the basis of a civil “immigration detainer” request.

An immigration “detainer” is a notice issued to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies informing the latter that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to assume custody of an individual who is no longer subject to the former’s detention.  

ICE said a detainer serves several functions, including requesting information from a local enforcement agency about a person’s impending release and asking the local enforcement agency to maintain custody of the person for a period not to exceed 48 hours — excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays — to provide ICE time to assume custody. 

Since then, state law has also been changed to bar law enforcement from providing personally identifying information about someone’s immigration status to immigration authorities. 

In 2025, Senate Bill 25-276 extended those prohibitions to political subdivisions, including local governments, school districts, special districts, the judicial and legislative branches and higher education institutions.

A violation could earn a $50,000 civil penalty, according to the law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on May 23. Already, Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit against a Mesa County sheriff’s department deputy for providing a woman’s personal information to federal officials during a traffic stop, though the Democratic official did not pursue any monetary penalties.

Under the proposal from Advance Colorado, a law enforcement officer is required to notify the U.S. Department of Homeland Security within 72 hours after charging an individual if a crime if two conditions are met.

First, the person is not “lawfully present” in the U.S. or the legal status cannot be determined. Two, the person is charged with a violence offense or the individual previously was convicted of a felony.

Notably, the notification requirement is not predicated on a person’s conviction. That is, federal authorities must be notified if a person is in the country illegally and has been charged with a violent offense.

The measure said law enforcement must make a reasonable effort to determine someone’s immigration status.

Ballot measures must collect 124,238 valid signatures; Advance Colorado said in December that it turned in nearly 200,000 total signatures.

The Secretary of State’s Office said on Jan. 23 that the ballot measure came in with 188,861 signatures; the Elections Division determined that 142,299 were valid.

Measures that change the state constitution must collect 2% of the total registered electors in each of the 35 state Senate districts. Once on the ballot, the measure must be approved by 55% of the votes cast.

The petition counts showed that the proposal met comfortable margins above the 2%. That included Denver districts home to safe Democratic seats, such as those held by Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, Senate President James Coleman and Sen. Julie Gonzales, who co-sponsored SB 25-276.

Just how much Advance Colorado spent to collect signatures in all 35 Senate districts is unknown. No petition circulator listed with the Secretary of State has cited working on Initiative 95, and Advance Colorado has not filed an issue committee to report any expenditures for petitions.

No issue committees are registered with the secretary of state’s TRACER system to oppose the measure. 

For a statewide ballot measure that changes the constitution, Rick Ridder of RBI Strategies estimated the cost to collect signatures is likely around $2.5 million.

Advance Colorado does not disclose its funders. ProPublica reported the conservative nonprofit raised $5.72 million in 2024, including a $2.65 million donation from the Colorado Opportunity Foundation. 

According to CauseIQ, Michael Fields, the president of Advance Colorado, also runs the Colorado Opportunity Foundation. 

Initiative 95 is the second measure Advance Colorado has pushed to the 2026 ballot. Voters will also decide on Initiative 85, which seeks to make any possession of fentanyl a felony.