Administering Entity
Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
Recent / Pending Legislation
- SB 25-170 (2025, enacted) – appropriates funding to address testing scandals and boost backlog testing with external laboratories. Also, bill required CBI to maintain a public-facing dashboard on the DPS website, updated at least every 30 days. Dashboard contains total number of pending cases and kits in backlog, split between tests conducted internally and externally, CBI laboratory staffing levels, and average turnaround times for processing evidence.
Enhanced Budget Items
See section above, SB 25-170.
- CBI Cold Case Review Team – state legislative appropriation (2022)
- Budget item created a multidisciplinary CBI cold-case team — supervisory agent, 4 field agents, 2 analysts, 1 forensic genetic genealogist, 2 DNA scientists, 1 fingerprint examiner. Slightly older than the 2–3 yr window; ongoing.
Arrestees: Yes, from adults only, unless the person has previously provided a biological substance sample for testing pursuant to a statute of Colorado and the Colorado Bureau of Investigations has such sample. Not Booking Rapid Ready – requires charges filed before entering sample into database – CRS 16-23-104(2): “The Colorado bureau of investigation shall file and maintain the testing results in the state index system after receiving confirmation from the arresting or charging agency that the adult was charged with a felony.”
Qualifying Crime: All felony arrests and charges qualify, and sample is taken at booking but cannot be entered into database until after charges are filed. See CO Rev Stat § 16-23-104(2).
Time of Collection: Collected at booking where practical; otherwise the sample may be taken at any other point while the person is detained or charges are pending. Samples are not entered into the database until a felony charge is filed.
Expungement: Yes – written request to CBI, after (i) each felony charge has been dismissed, (ii) no felony charges filed within 90 days of arrest, (iii) acquittal, or (iv) conviction for an offense other than a felony offense. If the CBI does not receive confirmation of a felony charge within a year after receiving the sample for testing, the CBI shall destroy the sample and any results from the testing of the sample.
Statutes / Case Law
C.R.S.A. § 16–23–103. COLLECTION OF BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES FROM PERSONS ARRESTED FOR OR CHARGED WITH FELONIES
§ 16–23–104. COLLECTION AND TESTING
People v. Valdez, 405 P.3d 413 (Colo. App. 2017), cert. denied 2017 WL 4872875 (Police may take a DNA sample from anyone they arrest under Katie’s Law, even for a minor (misdemeanor) crime. The crime does not have to be serious. So when officers took Valdez’s DNA after arresting him for aggravated driving, and that sample later linked him to a first degree murder, the collection was constitutional.)
People v. Lancaster, 373 P.3d 655 (Colo. App. 2015) (Police mistakenly took Lancaster’s DNA during booking because his record wrongly showed a felony conviction, which violated Katie’s Law (a law that only authorized DNA collection from felony arrestees). The court still allowed the DNA evidence under the “special needs” exception to the warrant requirement. It reasoned that DNA databases help solve crimes, exonerate the innocent, and deter repeat offenders; that Lancaster already had reduced privacy rights because he was on probation; that a cheek swab is only a minor intrusion; and that the violation was an honest mistake, not intentional.)
Convicted Offender: Yes, unless the person has previously provided a biological substance sample for testing pursuant to a statute of Colorado and CBI has such sample.
Qualifying Crimes: Conviction of any felony.
Time of Collection: Where no arrest-stage sample exists, collection is governed by C.R.S. § 16-11-102.4: every offender sentenced on or after July 1, 2007 for a felony provides a sample, collected within 35 days after intake to a DOC or jail facility, receipt in community corrections, or placement on probation.
Expungement: Yes – by written request to the CBI after the case ends in conviction for a non-felony offense.
Statutes / Case Law
C.R.S.A. §16–23–103. Collection of Biological Samples from Persons arrested for or charged with Felonies.
C.R.S.A. §16–23–104. Collection and Testing
§16–23–105. Expungement
Legislative History
- Senate Bill 00-121 (2000) — “Concerning a Requirement for the Genetic Testing of Certain Criminal Offenders” Signed May 26, 2000 | Effective July 1, 2000 | Ch. 268. Section 1 of this bill created § 16-11-102.3 — the original Colorado DNA database statute — by adding a new section to Part 1 of Article 11 of Title 16. It required blood sample collection and CBI testing from any offender convicted of:
- Any sex offense (unlawful sexual behavior under § 18-3-412.5); Any crime of violence; Second degree murder; First or second-degree assault; Second degree kidnapping; First degree arson; First degree burglary; Aggravated robbery; Any felony, if the person had a prior conviction for any of the above
- It applied retroactively to offenders already in DOC custody, county jail, community corrections, parole, or probation as of July 1, 2000 — not just new convictions. The CBI was directed to conduct testing and maintain the results. The bill also created § 16-11-401.5, requiring genetic testing prior to execution of the death penalty.
- SB 06-150 (2006) — “Concerning DNA Testing of All Felons” Approved June 6, 2006 | Effective July 1, 2007 | Ch. 339. This was the first major consolidation and expansion. Section 1 of the bill explicitly repealed § 16-11-102.3 (the original DNA statute) and also repealed §§ 16-11-104, 16-11-204.3, 16-11-308(4.5), and other scattered provisions. It replaced them all with a new § 16-11-102.4, which for the first time mandated DNA collection from every person sentenced for any felony conviction — not just sex offenders and violent offenders as before.
- HB 07-1343 (2007) — “Concerning Genetic Testing of All Felony Offenders” Approved May 31, 2007 | Effective July 1, 2007 | Ch. 373. Just one year later, this bill repealed and reenacted § 16-11-102.4 in its entirety, with significant amendments. The key expansions: it explicitly covered offenders already in DOC custody before July 1, 2007 (a retroactive sweep), added offenders in county jails, community corrections, the youthful offender system, those on probation under prior sentences, and those with deferred judgments for sex offenses. It also added the $2.50 surcharge mechanism funding the Offender Identification Fund.
- SB 09-241 (2009) – Creating the arrestee mandate. The entire Article 23 of Title 16 — including § 16-23-103 — was created by Senate Bill 09-241, sponsored by Sen. John Morse. Governor Ritter signed it in May 2009. It is formally cited in the session laws as: L. 2009: Entire article added, (SB 09-241), ch. 295, p. 1574, § 1, effective September 30, 2010. The bill created “Katie’s Law” (named after Katie Sepich), establishing the DNA Crime Prevention and Exoneration of the Innocent Act. Section 16-23-103 specifically mandated DNA collection from all adults arrested or charged with a felony as part of the booking process.
- HB 11-1051 (2011) — Amending the expungement provisions. The original 2009 text read: “…resulted in a conviction for an offense other than a felony offense described in title 18, C.R.S.” After HB 11-1051: “…resulted in a conviction for an offense other than a felony offense.” This closed a real legal loophole. Under the original language, a person convicted of a felony outside Title 18 (e.g., under Title 16 or Title 24) could have argued they still qualified for DNA expungement, because their conviction wasn’t technically a “Title 18 felony.” HB 11-1051 removed that qualifier so that conviction of any felony — regardless of which title it appears under — permanently bars expungement. That’s a substantive restriction on who can get their DNA removed from CODIS.
- HB 23-1034 (2023, enacted) – Expanded pos-conviction DNA testing.
No specific program or law.
No program or law found.
CO was early adopter of familial searching, passing its first statewide policy in 2009.
Internal Laboratory Manual on Familial Searching
No program or law found.
No program or law found.