Colorado committee kills girls’ sports bill; voters decide next

Colorado's House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee killed HB26-1083, the Protect Female Sports Act, on March 9, 2026¹. The bill would have kept male students off girls' school teams. The 8-3 motion to postpone the bill indefinitely passed² on a reverse roll call, with no objection to that procedure.

Reps. Scott Bottoms, the bill's prime sponsor, Brandi Bradley and Stephanie Luck voted No². Michael Carter, Cecelia Espenoza, Lisa Feret, Meg Froelich, Kenny Nguyen, Naquetta Ricks, Chad Clifford and Jenny Willford voted Yes, and no member was absent or excused.

An earlier motion to send the bill to the Committee of the Whole failed 3-8¹, and the General Assembly now lists the bill's status as Lost.

The ballot route

Colorado voters have a separate route to the same question. Rocky Mountain Voice reports that Bottoms introduced three bills in early February, on girls' sports, child trafficking penalties and medical procedures involving minors, and that none made it out of committee³. Protect Kids Colorado executive director Erin Lee said the repeated dead ends at the Capitol drove her campaign to voters: “Our representatives are not truly representing the majority of their constituents.”

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What the bill proposed

Bottoms introduced HB26-1083 on Feb. 2, 2026, with no co-sponsors listed, and it was assigned to the same committee¹. Its terms were plain. The bill would have required every school-sponsored or athletic-association-sponsored interscholastic or intramural team to be designated as biological male, biological female, or coeducational or mixed. A team designated for females could not be open to a male student or participant; females could play on male-designated teams only if no female team was offered or available for that sport.

It would have barred state agencies, licensing or accrediting bodies and athletic associations from entertaining complaints or taking adverse action against a school that keeps a separate team for female students. Enforcement ran through the commissioner of education, who would notify a noncompliant public school or higher-education institution and allow reasonable time to comply; if the institution still had not complied or made a good-faith attempt, the commissioner could take remedial action.

1. March 9, 2026The committee postponed HB26-1083 indefinitely
2. March 16, 2026The Secretary of State’s Elections Division announced the initiative qualified for the ballot
3. November 3, 2026Colorado’s general election
4. January 1, 2027The measure’s effective date

How the measures compare

The ballot measure covers much of the ground the dead bill did. Colorado Politics reports that the initiative, which it calls Initiative No. 109, requires schools and athletic associations to designate teams as girls, boys or coed⁴. It allows a female student on a male team if no female team is available, and it bars a government entity or athletic association from investigating a school over maintaining separate sports for females. The outlet also reports that Democrats recently rejected Bottoms' efforts to implement a policy similar to the initiative.

The initiative's final text, which uses the same commissioner, also requires the governing body of each school to adopt a policy implementing the measure⁵. The measure takes effect January 1, 2027.

One week after the committee vote, on March 16, 2026, the Secretary of State’s Elections Division announced that Proposed Initiative #109 had submitted the required signatures to appear on the November 3, 2026, ballot⁶.

Arguments on both sides

Both sides of the ballot fight have staked out their ground. Mardi Moore, CEO of Rocky Mountain Equality, called the measure “an attack on Colorado families modeled after national extremist efforts.”⁴ Moore said her group will work until November so voters understand the effort. Supporters answer on the girls' side of the ledger. Colleen Enos of Christian Home Educators of Colorado said, “To allow males to compete against females when they are physically advantaged in muscle mass, bone density, and muscle capacity makes a mockery out of Title IX protections for girls.”

Voters decide next

The next decision belongs to Colorado voters: the general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and mail ballots reach voters in October⁷. Lee said the campaign's biggest opposition is people not turning in their ballots³. Dr. Travis Morrell, whom Lee credits as a key collaborator, said the campaign’s grassroots structure remains central as its volunteer network faces the test of turning the effort into votes: “It remains David against Goliath.”

Sources

1. HB26-1083 Protect Female Sports Act | Colorado General Assembly
2. HB26-1083 Vote Summary | Colorado General Assembly
3. The grassroots upset: How 3,320 volunteers pushed three child-focused measures onto Colorado’s ballot | Rocky Mountain Voice
4. Colorado voters will decide whether transgender students can join girls’ sports | Colorado Politics
5. 2025-2026 #109 - Final Text
6. Proposed Initiative #109 Qualifies for General Election Ballot | Colorado Secretary of State
7. Our earlier article (our own reporting, not an independent source): Athletes for Action joins Colorado girls’ sports ballot fight, 2026-10-09