Recognition of same-sex unions in Colorado
In January 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court made a ruling to retroactively recognise common-law same-sex marriage.A UCLA study of the impact domestic partnerships for same-sex couples would have on Colorado's budget concluded that allowing same-sex couples to enter into domestic partnerships under the "Colorado Domestic Partnership Benefits and Responsibilities Act" would result in a net gain of approximately $1.2 million each year for the state, resulting from savings on expenditures on state means-tested public benefits programs and from an increase in sales tax revenue from registration celebrations.[4] The law, House Bill 1260,[5] was enacted by the legislature and is valid for estate planning, property purchases, medical decisions and certain benefits such as life insurance and retirement-plan disbursements.[16] Unlike earlier versions of the legislation, it did not include language allowing adoption agencies to withhold their services from a couple in a same-sex civil union.Following the House vote, Denver's Roman Catholic Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila purported that "The ability for religious-based institutions to provide foster care and adoption services for Colorado's children is now dangerously imperiled".[23] Governor Hickenlooper signed a bill permitting joint state income tax filing for civil union and out-of-state same-sex married couples.