Colorado Adds Open-Source Exemption to Age-Attestation Bill

Colorado’s SB51 age-attestation bill has moved forward from a House committee with new language that exempts open-source operating systems, applications, code repositories, and containerized software distribution from key requirements.

The bill, officially called SB26-051, focuses on operating system providers and application stores. Its main requirement is that these providers supply an age-related signal via an interface, so applications can determine whether a user is a minor.

This changed with the amended version approved by the Colorado House Business Affairs & Labor Committee. System76 founder Carl Richell shared on Fosstodon that the updated bill now includes “a strong exemption for open source distros and apps” and has passed in the House committee.

He also quoted the key part, which says Article 30 does not apply to an operating system provider or developer that distributes software under license terms that let recipients copy, redistribute, and modify the software without restrictions from the provider or developer.

The amendment is important because it does not mention Linux by name. Instead, it describes software distributed under free and open-source licenses. This wording covers Linux distributions and many open-source applications without linking the exemption to any specific project, company, or ecosystem.

The amendment also excludes applications from free, public code repositories from being considered covered applications. It also excludes code repository providers and containerized software distribution from being defined as covered application stores. This is meant to prevent platforms like GitHub, GitLab, Docker, or Podman-based distributions from being treated like commercial app stores under the bill.

Richell also later said there are still more steps to go, but the effort is moving toward protecting Colorado’s open-source community. In a reply about the GPL, he explained that the concern is not about GPL-style licenses themselves, but about whether the operating system vendor or developer stops users from installing modified versions of the software.

However, the bill is not law yet. The committee’s action means SB51 has moved forward with changes, but it still has to go through the rest of the Colorado legislative process. This is important because amendments can change before the final vote, and the bill still needs to pass more steps before it becomes law.