Colorado
Colorado AI Act Is Another Nudge for Urgent Federal Regulation
Absent any major federal legislation, leadership, or policy, states are more actively trying to regulate a technology that some fear encroaches on many aspects of our lives. On May 17, Colorado became the first state to pass a comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, focusing on algorithmic discrimination.
The White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights warned that technology, data, and automated systems benefit but also threaten the public, and that algorithmic discrimination occurs when “automated systems contribute to unjustified different treatment or impacts disfavoring people based on their race, color, ethnicity, sex … religion, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by law.”
While some argue that various civil rights laws contain relevant discrimination protection, AI and other new technologies may be particularly susceptible to misuse. There is no consistent effort in Congress indicating the US will be prepared to prevent or address it—or even to anticipate the risks these technologies pose.
Colorado took an inclusive approach to passing the new law, effective Feb. 1, 2026. State lawmakers heavily collaborated with tech companies, civil rights organizations, academics, and other policymakers to develop a set of rules.
Elsewhere this year, 633 AI-related bills were introduced in 45 states, and 111 in Congress. Fifty-one state bills were enacted into law. But all except Colorado’s AI Act regulate AI in very specific instances. For example:
- Deepfake political advertisements (regulated in 16 states)
- Labor and employment discrimination (New York City’s Local Law 144 and automated employment decision tools; Illinois’ Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act)
- Performers’ right of publicity in their digital appearance and voice (Tennessee’s sweeping ELVIS Act, effective July 1)
- Deepfake sexual content (regulated in 20 states)
- Generative AI in consumer protection (Utah’s Artificial Intelligence Policy Act, effective May 1)
- Facial recognition in law enforcement (Maryland law, effective Oct 1)
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission, the most active federal agency in AI, but limited to enforcing antitrust and consumer protection laws, initiated the first facial recognition enforcement this spring, and recently issued 6(b) inquiries to generative AI companies.
Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO)’s signing statement frames the Colorado AI Act as an urgent plea to federal lawmakers rather than a proud moment for local politicians, echoing many popular anxieties.
Without federal AI regulation, states have to step up. But a patchwork of local laws won’t provide consistent protections—and it would be difficult for companies and developers to parse, track, and comply. It’s also unlikely that individual states will have the money, infrastructure, logistical capacity, or even legal authority to enforce their laws effectively.
State politicians may also be less interested in the broader, indirect effects and implications of AI regulation. The tech, public policy, and financial sectors are concerned about state AI laws—and the failure to formulate a national AI policy—both of which could stifle innovation, investment, and competition.
This work can only be done at the top. The European Council formally adopted the EU AI Act, the world’s first legal framework, on May 21. While leaving implementation up to individual member states, the EU created a centralized AI office to support compliance. Hopefully Colorado’s law and its collaborative model will help motivate the US to follow suit to fast-track unified AI legislation and governance.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.
Author Information
Anuj Gupta is managing partner of First Gen Law, with focuses on matters in technology and entertainment.
Rebecca Neipris is senior attorney at First Gen Law, focusing on entertainment and intellectual property.
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Colorado
Two-alarm fire damages hotel in Estes Park, 1 person taken to a Colorado hospital
A two-alarm fire damaged a hotel in Estes Park on Friday night. It happened at Expedition Lodge Estes Park just north of Lake Estes.
The lodge, located at 1701 North Lake Avenue on the east side of the Colorado mountain town, was evacuated after 8:30 p.m. and the fire chief said by 10 p.m. the fire was under control.
One person was hurt and taken to a hospital.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. So far it’s not clear how much damage it caused.
A total of 25 firefighters fought the blaze.
Colorado
Warm storm delivers modest totals to Colorado’s northern mountains
Lucas Herbert/Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
Friday morning wrapped up a warm storm across Colorado’s northern and central mountains, bringing totals of up to 10 inches of snowfall for several resorts.
Higher elevation areas of the northern mountains — particularly those in and near Summit County and closer to the Continental Divide — received the most amount of snow, with Copper, Winter Park and Breckenridge mountains seeing among the highest totals.
Meanwhile, lower base areas and valleys received rain and cloudy skies, thanks to a warmer storm with a snow line of roughly 9,000 feet.
Earlier this week, OpenSnow meteorologists predicted the storm’s snow totals would be around 5-10 inches, closely matching actual totals for the northern mountains. The central mountains all saw less than 5 inches of snow.
Here’s how much snow fell between Wednesday through Friday morning for some Western Slope mountains, according to a Friday report from OpenSnow:
Aspen Mountain: 0.5 inches
Snowmass: 0.5 inches
Copper Mountain: 10 inches
Winter Park: 9 inches
Breckenridge Ski Resort: 9 inches
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area: 8.5 inches
Keystone Resort: 8 inches
Loveland Ski Area: 7 inches
Vail Mountain: 7 inches
Steamboat Resort: 6 inches
Beaver Creek: 6 inches
Irwin: 4.5 inches
Cooper Mountain: 4 inches
Sunlight: 0.5 inches
Friday and Saturday will be dry, while Sunday will bring northern showers. The next storms are forecast to be around March 3-4 and March 6-7, both favoring the northern mountains.
Colorado
Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild
The Colorado Avalanche had a chance Thursday night to regain some real separation between them and the Minnesota Wild.
It didn’t happen, and special teams were again an issue.
Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored a pair of power-play goals, while the Avalanche took too many penalties and did not convert its chances with the extra man in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena. The Wild scored on two of six power plays, both in the second period, then added a shorthanded goal into an empty net for good measure.
“We took six (penalties). Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a slow start to the second and then just kind of started getting going, then took a bunch of penalties and kind of took the momentum away and swung it back in their favor again.”
Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent early in this contest and stopped 31 of 34 shots for the Avs in his first start since the Olympic break. Colorado, which went 0-for-3 on the power play, has not scored an extra-man goal in back-to-back games since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The Avs are 2-for-31 with the man advantage since Jan. 16, and at 15.1% are last in the NHL.
The Wild are now just five points behind the Avs in the Central Division, though Colorado has two games in hand. Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for the visitors.
“I think we crated enough chances to win the hockey game,” Bednar said. “We give up the (second power-play goal) and that’s the difference in the hockey game for me. We had a chance (on the power play) … we score and it’s a tie game. We haven’t had an easy time capitalizing on some of our chances that we created in the last month.
“I’d like to see that turn around a little bit.”
Minnesota took advantage of three penalties on Colorado in a span of 53 seconds to take the lead with 2:23 left in the second period. Captain Gabe Landeskog was sent to the box for elbowing Eriksson Ek away from the play at 14:15 and Valeri Nichushkin was called for cross-checking at 15:04.
That gave the Wild a 5-on-3, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry for the home side. Brock Nelson won the 3-on-5 in his own end, but Brent Burns’ backhanded attempt to clear the puck out of the zone went into the stands for a delay of game.
Minnesota had a 5-on-3 for 1:56, which Colorado successfully killed off, but because Burns’ two minutes didn’t start until Landeskog’s penalty ended, there was more 5-on-4 time and Eriksson Ek scored his second of the night. The Swedish Olympian was trying to send a cross-crease pass to Kirill Kaprizov, but it hit the inside of Blackwood’s right leg and pinballed across the goal line.
Because of the extended penalty time, both Eriksson Ek and Boldy officially logged a shift of more than four minutes, leading to that goal.
“I’m not a big fan of the penalties we took, necessarily,” Landeskog said. “Obviously, mine is a penalty. Val, I felt like he was protecting himself and Burns, that’s a penalty. There’s nothing to argue about there. But yeah, that tilts the ice for sure and just gives them unnecessary momentum.
“So yeah, undisciplined and we’ve got to be better there for sure.”
Eriksson Ek put Minnesota in front at 7:48 of the second period. Cale Makar was called for slashing when his one-handed swipe while Yakov Trenin was attempting to shoot from the left wing. Trenin’s stick broke, so Makar went to the box.
Blackwood made the initial save on Matt Boldy’s shot from the high slot, but Eriksson Ek was there near the left post to clean up the rebound.
Martin Necas continued his hot run with a goal to even the score at 13:30 of the middle frame. Nathan MacKinnon picked up the puck in his own zone and carried it into the offensive end. He left a drop pass for Necas near the right point and then played fullback, driving Wild defenseman Daemon Hunt back to give Necas space and then providing a screen on a lethal wrist shot from his Czech linemate.
That was Necas’ 24th goal of the season. He added a second goal in the final minute after the Wild had built a three-goal advantage to give him 25 on the season.
It’s also three in two games since the Olympic break. Necas had three goals and eight points in five games for Czechia at the Olympics in Milan, equaling his country’s record for points at the event.
MacKinnon missed Colorado’s first game back on Wednesday because of maintenance. He actually slipped to third in the NHL scoring race as of Thursday morning, in part because Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov has now has 53 points in his past 23 games to track down MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid to make it a three-man race for the Art Ross Trophy.
McDavid (five times) and Kucherov (three) have combined to win the Art Ross in eight of the past nine years. MacKinnon has never won it, but has finished second each of the past two seasons.
Minnesota scored a second goal off a Colorado player to make it a 3-1 game and then added two empty-net tallies around Necas’ second goal to seal the Wild’s sixth win in a row.
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