2022 Colorado Code
Title 31 - Government - Municipal
Article 15 - Exercise of Municipal Powers
Part 5 - Regulation of Businesses
§ 31-15-501. Powers to Regulate Businesses

1. The governing bodies of municipalities have the following powers to regulate businesses:
   1. To prohibit within the limits of the municipality any offensive or unwholesome business or establishment and also to prohibit the carrying on of any business or establishment in an offensive and unwholesome manner within the limits of the municipality;
   2. To compel the owner of any grocery, cellar, soap or tallow candlery, tannery, stable, pigsty, privy, sewer, or other unwholesome or nauseous house or place to cleanse, abate, or remove the same, and to regulate the location thereof;
   3. To license, regulate, and tax, subject to any law of this state, any lawful occupation, business place, amusement, or place of amusements and to fix the amount, terms, and manner of issuing and revoking licenses issued therefor; except that, for purposes of the application of any occupational privilege tax, oil and gas wells and their associated production facilities have not been, are not, and shall not be considered an occupation or business place subject to such tax;
   4. To direct the location and regulate the management and construction of slaughterhouses, packing houses, renderies, tallow candleries, bone factories, soap factories, tanneries, and dairies within the limits of the municipality;
   5. To direct the location and regulate the use and construction of breweries, distilleries, livery stables, blacksmith shops, and foundries within the limits of the municipality;
   6. 1. To license, regulate, and control the laying of railroad tracks, to provide for and change the location, grade, and crossing of any railroad, and to control, regulate, and prohibit the use of steam engines and locomotives propelled by steam power within the corporate limits;
      2. To require railroad companies to fence their respective railroads or any portion of the same and to construct cattle guards at crossings of streets and public roads and keep the same in repair within the limits of the municipality;
      3. To require railroad companies to keep flagmen at railroad crossings of streets and to provide protection against injury to persons and property in the use of such railroads;
      4. To compel such railroads to raise or lower their railroad tracks to conform to any grade which may at any time be established by such municipality and, when such tracks run lengthwise of any street, alley, or highway, to keep their tracks on a level with the street surface so that such tracks may be crossed at any place on such street, alley, or highway;
      5. To compel and require railroad companies to make, keep open, and keep in repair ditches, drains, sewers, and culverts along and under their railroad tracks so that filthy or stagnant pools of water cannot stand on their grounds or rights-of-way and so that the natural drainage of adjacent property shall not be impeded;

   7. To license, tax, regulate, suppress, and prohibit hucksters, peddlers, pawnbrokers, and keepers of ordinaries, theatrical and other exhibitions, shows, and amusements and to revoke such license at pleasure;
   8. To license, tax, and regulate hackmen, omnibus drivers, carters, cabmen, porters, expressmen, and all others pursuing like occupations and to prescribe the compensation;
   9. To license, regulate, tax, and restrain runners for stages, cars, public houses, or other things or persons;
   10. To license, regulate, tax, or prohibit and suppress billiard, bagatelle, pigeonhole, or any other tables or implements kept or used for a similar purpose in any place of public resort and pin alleys and ball alleys;
   11. To regulate the sale of meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, and all other provisions and to provide for the place and manner of selling the same. It is unlawful for any municipality to impose by ordinance or otherwise any license, assessment, or other charge upon any person bringing food products to such municipality for sale, either in bulk or by retail, from house to house if said food products were grown or raised by the person so having them for sale and are products of the state of Colorado.
   12. To regulate the sale of bread in the municipality and to prescribe the weight and quality of the bread in the loaf;
   13. To provide for and regulate the inspection of meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese, lard, vegetables, flour, meal, and other provisions;
   14. To provide for the inspection and sealing of weights and measures;
   15. To enforce the keeping and use of proper weights and measures by vendors;
   16. To tax, license, and regulate auctioneers, lumberyards, livery stables, public scales, money changers, and brokers; except that the exercise of their powers shall not interfere with sales made by sheriffs, tax collectors, coroners, marshals, executors, guardians, any assignees of insolvent debtors, bankrupts, or debtors under the federal bankruptcy code of 1978 (title 11 of the United States Code), or any other persons required by law to sell real or personal property at auction;
   17. To tax, license, and regulate secondhand and junk stores, to forbid their purchasing or receiving from minors without the written consent of their parents or guardians any article, and to compel a record of purchases to be kept, subject at all times to the inspection by the police;
   18. To charge a fee for a local license and establish licensing requirements on businesses engaged in the storage, extraction, processing, or manufacturing of industrial hemp, as defined in section 35-61-101 (7), or industrial hemp products, as defined in section 25-5-426 (2)(g.5). A municipality shall not impose additional food production regulations on industrial hemp processors or products if the regulations conflict with state law.

2. Repealed.

Source: L. 75: Entire title R&RE, p. 1110, § 1, effective July 1. L. 80: (1)(p) amended, p. 785, § 12, effective June 5. L. 96: (1)(c) amended, p. 346, § 2, effective April 17. L. 99: (1)(a) and (1)(d) amended, p. 63, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2006, 1st Ex. Sess.: (2) added, p. 29, § 3, effective January 1, 2007. L. 2019: (1)(r) added, (SB 19-240), ch. 351, p. 3245, § 3, effective May 29. L. 2021: (2) repealed, (SB 21-077), ch. 186, p. 998, § 6, effective September 7; (2) repealed, (SB 21-199), ch. 351, p. 2283, § 6, effective July 1, 2022.

Editor's note: The provisions of this section are similar to provisions of several former sections as they existed prior to 1975. For a detailed comparison, see the comparative tables located in the back of the index.