Rep. Joseph Gets to Work for Boulder and Colorado in First Week of Legislative Session

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2026

DENVER, Co — The first week of the 2026 Legislative Session is officially in the books, and Rep. Joseph is already hard at work delivering results for Boulder and communities across Colorado. In just the opening days of the session, Rep. Joseph introduced three bills focused on strengthening health care access, advancing equity for Black mothers, and protecting renters from unfair practices.

“From day one, my focus has been on making sure Colorado’s laws reflect our values—fairness, dignity, and opportunity for everyone,” said Rep. Joseph. “These bills are about protecting people at vulnerable moments in their lives and making sure our systems actually work for the folks who rely on them.”

Legislation Introduced This Week:

Nursing Home Transitional Care improves care transitions for nursing home residents by making individuals presumptively eligible for Medicaid long-term services upon discharge, ensuring support services are in place before they return home, and holding counties and facilities accountable when care is delayed or denied.

Colorado Momnibus advances Black maternal health equity by strengthening cultural competency requirements, improving data collection and transparency, requiring investigations and accountability when discrimination or negligence contributes to severe maternal harm or death, and reinvesting penalties into support for affected families and prevention efforts.

Protections for Residential Tenants strengthens protections for residential tenants by increasing transparency and privacy in eviction proceedings, keeping most eviction records suppressed unless there is a serious lease violation, and ensuring renters have at least one fee-free, non-online option to pay rent.

Rep. Joseph emphasized that this is only the beginning of the work ahead this session and reaffirmed a commitment to listening to constituents and fighting for policies that improve lives across the state.

“I was sent here to get things done,” Rep. Joseph said. “And we’re just getting started.”

Coloradans who wish to participate in the legislative process can sign up to testify in committee, track legislation, and engage with lawmakers by visiting https://leg.colorado.gov/.