Lien law changes usually cut against the party filing the claim. This one doesn’t.
Colorado Senate Bill 26-074 takes effect today, August 12, as Chapter 39 of the state’s 2026 session laws. It does two things that matter to any contractor or sub working public projects in Colorado, and both of them expand what you can put in a claim rather than restrict it.
Delay and disruption are now expressly claimable
The act states plainly that a private mechanic’s lien or a public verified statement of claim may include costs otherwise allowed under the contract, specifically including costs arising from delay, lost productivity, or other disruption to the work.
That resolves a real problem. Colorado contractors have been claiming defensively for years, stripping inefficiency and delay costs out of bond claims because including them risked a court finding the claim “excessive,” which under Colorado law forfeits the entire claim. So subs secured the direct costs, then chased the disruption number later in litigation with no security behind it. Now both can sit in the same claim.
The second clarification does the same work from the other direction: a court award for less than the amount claimed does not, by itself, make the claim excessive. Losing on quantum is not proof of bad faith.
The penalty gets aligned, not softened
The bill isn’t a giveaway. It also confirms that a contractor who knowingly files a verified statement of claim for an excessive amount on a public project forfeits all rights under that claim, which brings the public-works penalty in line with the existing private mechanic’s lien rule. Knowingly is the operative word.
The legislation grew out of the Colorado Court of Appeals decision in Wadsworth, which had left contractors guessing about where the excessive-claim line sat on public bond claims.
Unanimous, which is unusual
SB26-074 passed the Senate 30-0 on February 17, the House 59-0 on March 17, and cleared Senate concurrence 34-0 on March 19. Both judiciary committees moved it without dissent. Prime sponsors were Sens. John Carson and Marc Snyder and Reps. Sean Camacho and Kenny Nguyen. Gov. Polis signed it April 6, and because the bill carries no safety clause, it takes effect 90 days after the General Assembly adjourned on May 13.
Unanimity on a construction claims bill generally means the surety and contractor lobbies both signed off, which is worth knowing when you’re arguing about legislative intent later.
What changes on Colorado public jobs
Claim amounts on Colorado public work should go up, and owners and sureties should plan for that. Subs on large state and municipal projects, from municipal water plants to corridor work like the $900 million I-70 Floyd Hill reconstruction, now have a reason to paper impact costs into the claim rather than reserving them.
The discipline that comes with it: “knowingly excessive” is still a forfeiture trigger, so the delay and inefficiency numbers going into a verified statement need to be supported by a measured-mile analysis or comparable methodology, not a percentage markup. The statute opened the door to disruption costs. It didn’t lower the standard of proof behind them.