Denver enacts sex- and gender-data rules, sets agency reporting deadlines

Mayor Mike Johnston approved Denver’s ordinance limiting when city agencies may require collection or disclosure of sex- and gender-related information on Oct. 7. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, after City Council passed it Oct. 5. The final ordinance records the approval and sets out the requirements.

The ordinance limits when city departments, agencies and other covered city actors may require collection or disclosure of information about a person’s actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Collection and disclosure remain allowed when required by law or necessary to serve an important city interest, including health and human services, criminal justice, shelter management, workers’ compensation and grant administration.

When covered information is required to be collected, the ordinance generally limits its retention to 30 days. After that, information not covered by an exception must be permanently destroyed from city records. Exceptions include information required by law, subject to an existing state or federal retention schedule, or necessary to serve an important city interest.

The ordinance also restricts city assistance to other governments’ efforts to collect or disclose covered information and bars city resources from helping another law-enforcement agency target people solely because of the listed characteristics. Denver agencies may share the information internally. Contractors may collect or retain it for independent purposes, such as business, clinical, employment or regulatory use, if they do not disclose or transmit it to the city.

Within 90 days after the Jan. 1, 2027, effective date, affected agencies must report to City Council and the Denver LGBTQ Commission, the city’s commission focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues, what covered information they will no longer collect and maintain. After that, they must report annually on compliance to the Council’s Health and Safety Committee, or an equivalent committee, and the commission by Nov. 30.