Senate panel advances bill to create an "artist company" business form to protect creators' rights

Senate Bill 133, a measure to create an optional "artist company" business form, advanced out of the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee on a unanimous committee vote and will go to the Appropriations Committee for further review.

Sponsor Senator Bridges told the committee the bill is designed to reflect how creative professionals work, saying existing business structures can force artists to give up control of their intellectual property or pay for bespoke legal arrangements. "When we get the structures right, we unlock economic activity here in Colorado," he said, asking for the committee's support.

Supporters — including Meredith Badler of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts and Josh Blanchard of Colorado Creative Industries — described SB133 as a small-business tool that would expand access to capital, recognize collaborative creative production, and require that artists retain a majority stake in creative ownership. Blanchard told the committee the creative sector accounts for about $19.7 billion of the state's GDP and more than 120,000 jobs, and said the bill would formalize pathways for investment while preserving artists' control.

Local leaders and practitioners also testified. John Clark, mayor of Ridgeway, said the form would help artists build equity and protect intellectual property, and artist-entrepreneur Yancey Strickler, founder of Artist Corporations, argued the new form would lower legal barriers to collective ownership and enable shared benefits such as access to group health plans.

A witness speaking for himself and the Colorado Bar Association cautioned against the bill, calling it unnecessary and "horribly drafted," and warning it could create federal tax complications and other legal problems if adopted without careful, lawyer-driven implementation. "There is nothing that this statute provides that cannot be done with an existing limited liability company," he told the committee.

Committee members asked how the structure would be implemented and whether the Secretary of State would provide standardized forms; witnesses said private platforms could offer guided filing tools and that they had been in discussion with the Secretary of State about practical acceptance of the filings. On healthcare access, witnesses said making artists a clearly addressable market could make group plans more feasible.

Vice Chair Henriksen moved the bill with a favorable recommendation to the Appropriations Committee; the committee recorded a unanimous vote to refer SB133. Sponsors indicated technical amendments are forthcoming to address fiscal-note concerns before floor or finance committee consideration.

The committee’s favorable referral sends SB133 to the Appropriations Committee for a fiscal review and further consideration.