DENVER — In a rare move, lawmakers in the Colorado Senate voted on Friday to override Gov. Jared Polis’ veto of a bill aimed at regulating social media platforms.
The Colorado House of Representatives is expected to follow the Senate in the coming days. If successful, it will mark the first time in 14 years that both chambers of the legislature have overridden a gubernatorial veto.
Senate Bill 25-086 would require large social media companies to flag and remove accounts that are selling guns or drugs and accounts that are engaging in the sex trafficking or sexual exploitation of minors. It would also establish a timeline for social media companies to comply with Colorado law enforcement warrants and require annual reporting on user policies and their enforcement.
Polis vetoed the legislation on Thursday just before 5 p.m., saying that while well-intentioned, the bill erodes privacy, freedom and innovation and could potentially stifle free speech.
“This law imposes sweeping requirements that social media platforms, rather than law enforcement, enforce state law,” Polis wrote in his veto letter. “It mandates a private company to investigate and impose the government’s chosen penalty of permanently deplatforming a user even if the underlying complaint is malicious and unwarranted.”
Polis had been under pressure from both sides to sign the bill into law since it was sent to his desk on April 14.
- Read the full veto letter below
Sixteen hours after he issued the veto, the Colorado Senate voted 29 to 6 to override the veto. That's more than the two-thirds majority (24 votes) it takes to override a governor's veto.
“It was important for the Senate to override the governor's veto because this is a great bill and it's important that we protect the kids of Colorado,” said State Sen. Lisa Frizell, R-Castle Rock, one of the bill’s prime sponsors. “Unfortunately, the governor has chosen to take the narrative that it is a First Amendment right to sell drugs on social media or to sextort children on social media. These are not First Amendment rights. Crime is not a First Amendment right.”
State Sen. Lindsey Daugherty, D-Arvada, another prime sponsor of the bill, said it had broad, bipartisan support.
“We had a veto-proof majority in both chambers before it was vetoed,” said Daugherty. “I think the message that we are sending is a policy message that we are here to protect our kids from social media companies, where there are predators and kids are dying, and in the meantime, these social media companies are making billions of dollars.”
While rare, lawmakers say it’s sometimes necessary to override a governor, even one of their own party.
“This is my fifth year here, and this is the first time this override talk has been coming up,” said Daugherty. “Look, I think we're here to answer tough policy questions, and legislators can disagree with the governor. But when that happens, there's a process.”
In response to the Senate overriding the governor’s veto, a spokesperson for the governor issued the following statement:
“The Governor vetoed the bill because the bill in its current form is unworkable, contains no safeguards for private information that could be leaked, gives big tech too much power to deplatform people, and is he is worried about preserving civil rights and defending vulnerable Coloradans, which are so important at this critical moment. He was supportive of other aspects of the legislation, such as those giving law enforcement new tools to crack down on online criminal activity, especially targeted at children. Gov. Polis offered specific improvements to the language that would’ve strengthened law enforcement’s ability to crack down on illegal activity online without impeding people’s privacy and freedom. He remains open to future legislation that accomplishes those objectives.”
Coloradans react to veto override
Matt Riviere lost both of his sons to fentanyl poisoning in 2021. He supports the bill because he believes it will help save other children's lives.
"We are losing so many kids to drugs, sex trafficking, and illicit guns, and we need to do something about it," Riviere said.
His sons, Andrew and Stephen Riviere, died after purchasing drugs online.
"They got their drugs on Snapchat, and the dealer was never caught, and this bill is incredibly important to me and other affected families where their kids have died and been affected by social media," Riviere said.
On the other hand, Hazel Gibson, political director for ProgressNow in Colorado, said she fully supports protecting children but doesn't think this bill is the solution.
"I'm a mom, first and foremost," Gibson said. "I completely understand why people want to do something. However, I will say this bill is not it."
Gibson believes SB 25-086 has constitutional issues.
"The Supreme Court has ruled that access to social media is a First Amendment right, and in this bill, it requires social media to kick people off, so that is taking away their First Amendment right," Gibson said. "It would go to the courts, and that’s going to cost our state a considerable amount of money."
"We do believe that protecting our kids is important, we just don’t believe taking away Americans’ rights is the right way to do it," Gibson continued.
Dawn Reinfield, executive director for Blue Rising, is in support of the bill and believes it is constitutional.
"The attorney general released a memorandum today saying this does not in any way violate the First Amendment. Illegal behavior is never protected under the First Amendment," Reinfield said, "Right now, the governor of Colorado is standing with the companies that knowingly are harming our children."
History of gubernatorial vetoes
Last week, Polis issued his first veto of the legislative session. He vetoed Senate Bill 25-077, which would make several changes to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).
Lawmakers in the Senate will consider overriding that veto, too. They were originally set to take a vote to override that veto on Friday as well, but delayed the vote for one week.
Polis has issued 34 vetoes since taking office in 2019, according to the Legislative Council Staff. Last year, Polis issued 6 vetos. The year before that, he issued 10, which was the most vetoes he had issued in a year.
Denver7 also looked back at the vetoes previous Colorado governors issued while in office. Former Gov. John Hickenlooper issued 23 vetoes while he was in office from 2011 to 2019. Former Gov. Bill Ritter issued 24 vetoes while he was in office from 2007 to 2011. Former Gov. Bill Owens issued more vetoes than all of his successors combined — a staggering 149 vetoes during his time in office from 1999 to 2007.
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