Our Work

The role of the COYAC is to:

• Advise state legislators on issues most relevant to youth
• Build relationships between youth and elected leaders
• Develop policy recommendations for consideration at the legislature’s Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee (summer interim committee)
• Educate students about the critical skills of civil discourse and provide them with opportunities to practice those
  skills

Policy Recommendations and Interim Committee

Each year, the COYAC youth members choose policy priorities to examine, evaluate, and recommend. You can listen here (live or recordings) to the Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee meetings.

2023-2024 Proposals

On August 1, August 15, and October 1, 2024, COYAC members will meet with the legislators of the Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee to present and discuss the students’ policy proposals. (Listen live or to recordings of the meetings.) From these proposals, the committee of legislators may recommend up to six proposals to become draft bills with fiscal notes and may refer up to three bills for introduction at the 2025 legislative session. The 2023-24 COYAC cohort created eight policy proposals:

• Increasing Accessibility in School Buildings
• Increasing Health Literacy for Youth
• Piloting Innovative Options for School Transportation
• Funding Solar Panels for Schools
• Adding Youth Representatives to the Environmental Justice Advisory Board
• Educating Youth on the Transition to Renewable Energy
• Reducing Food Waste in Schools
• Distributing Naloxone to Prevent Overdoses

2022-2023 Proposals

COYAC members presented six policy proposals to the legislature on August 9 and August 17, 2023. Members worked with Legislative Council Staff on bill drafts with fiscal notes, which the committee discussed on October 25, 2023. The legislators on the Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee referred three bills for introduction at the 2024 legislative session.

• HB24-1049 School Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program did not pass.
• HB24-1039 Non-Legal Name Changes passed multiple committee votes and floor votes in both the House and Senate. Governor Polis signed it into law.
• HB 24-1040 Gender-Affirming Health-Care Provider Study did not pass, and legislators funded the idea in another bill.
• HB 24-1164 Free Menstrual Products to Students incorporated elements of the students’ Resource Assistance in Public Schools proposal.

2021-2022 Proposals

2023 Bill Signing Ceremony for SB23-014 Disordered Eating Prevention

COYAC members presented seven policy proposals to legislators at the 2022 Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee (summer interim committee). The legislators on the committee recommended six proposals to become draft bills with fiscal notes. Four proposals became bills and then laws!

• SB23-008 Youth Involvement Education Standards Review
• SB23-014 Disordered Eating Prevention
• SB23-029 Disproportionate Discipline In Public Schools
• HB23-1009 Secondary School Student Substance Use

2020-2021 Proposals

COYAC members Taleen Sample and Aimee Resnick hold pens from Governor Polis after the bill signing for HB 22-1052 Promoting Crisis Services To Students

In the summer of 2021, COYAC members presented three policy proposals at the legislature’s Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee (summer interim committee). The legislators on the committee recommended all three proposals to become bills with fiscal notes. During the 2022 legislative session, all three bills passed multiple committee votes and floor votes in both the House and Senate. Governor Polis signed them into law.

• HB 22-1052 – Promoting Crisis Services To Students
• SB 22-008 – Higher Education For Foster Youth
• SB 22-014 – Colorado Youth Advisory Council Updates

Here is the 2021 final report.

Past Years

2019 Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee page

COYAC 2018 – 2019 Policy Recommendations (PDF) – Youth Budget, Youth Impact Statement, Youth Advisory Committee Review

COYAC 2017 – 2018 Policy Recommendations (PDF) – Teacher Based Mental Health Training, Youth Substance Use, K-12 Funding

COYAC 2016 – 2017 Policy Recommendations (PDF) – Youth Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention, Education and Technology, Secondary Education/Individual Career and Academic Plan Review, Teen Homelessness

COYAC 2015 – 2016 Policy Recommendations (PDF) – 21st Century Learning, Teen Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Issues of Underrepresented Populations in Colorado (refugee/LGBTQ+), Access to Mental Health Services

COYAC 2014 – 2015 Policy Recommendations (PDF) – K12 Standardized Testing, Behavioral Health, Public Safety: Includes School Safety & Human Trafficking, Water

COYAC 2013 – 2014 Policy Recommendations (PDF) – Narrowing the Achievement Gap, Exploring Jobs and Higher Education Opportunities, The Future of Energy Development, Access to Behavioral Health Care (Includes Mental Health Access and Drug and Alcohol Prevention)