Senate committee backs bill to standardize school zones and allow optional 'school streets'

Committee approves HB 1318 with amendment to protect existing local planning and add grandfathering.

The Senate Transportation and Energy Committee unanimously voted to refer House Bill 1318, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole after testimony from families, crossing guards, local transportation staff and safety advocates who urged consistent protections for children traveling to and from school.

Sponsor Senator Cutter told the committee HB 1318 establishes a clear statewide baseline: a school zone would include all roadways within 1,000 feet of a school property boundary. The bill includes optional tools jurisdictions may adopt—most prominently "school streets," short, clearly signed boxes adjacent to schools where a local government can temporarily or permanently reduce speed (the bill’s school-street provision sets a 10-mph speed limit for the boxed area when a community opts in). The bill also allows local governments to designate safe routes to school and to opt into targeted automated enforcement on those routes, subject to statutory guardrails.

Advocates framed the bill as a response to uneven local practices that can leave dangerous crossings outside of a legal school zone. Josh Stewart, a father who said his son was killed 500 feet from a school in October 2023, urged adoption of a consistent minimum so engineers or administrators cannot shrink protections without public notice and a hearing. Crossing guards and parent volunteers described intersections where existing signage and speed limits do not reflect routes children use; one crossing guard said an intersection 528 feet from her school lacked school-zone signage and was dangerous for students.

Senator Cutter offered amendment L006 to address local-government concerns about unfunded mandates; the amendment grandfathered existing school-zone boundaries that are at least 200 feet from school property, required only zones under 200 feet to move to the minimum standard, clarified jurisdictions retain the authority to determine what constitutes a school for the statute, and stated jurisdictions are not required to buy new signs if existing signage is already in place. The Colorado Municipal League said it would move from an oppose-to-amend to a neutral position after the amendment.

After adopting the amendment, the committee voted unanimously to send HB 1318 as amended to the Committee of the Whole and agreed to place it on the consent calendar.

What happens next: HB 1318 will be considered by the Committee of the Whole; interested local governments and safety advocates are likely to follow the bill’s progress and any implementing guidance on signage, enforcement, and school-street procedures.