Colorado Senate adopts joint memorial for late Sen. Faith Winter after tributes from colleagues and guests

The Colorado Senate on Monday set aside its regular agenda to memorialize the late Sen. Faith Winter, adopting Senate Joint Memorial 001 by roll call after lawmakers and guest speakers offered extended tributes to Winter's legislative record and personal mentorship.

Senator Cutter renewed a motion for adoption and requested a roll call; the memorial was adopted 29–0 with six senators excused. The chamber then observed a moment of silence, rang the chimes in Winter’s memory and recessed briefly to allow members to greet family in the well.

The joint memorial recited Winter’s biography and legislative accomplishments, including her work on transportation funding, climate and air-quality measures, the Environmental Justice Act and efforts that the memorial identifies as contributing to the Paid Family and Medical Leave program. The text read by the clerk records Winter’s date of death as 11/26/2025 and lists surviving family members by name.

Speakers who addressed the chamber emphasized Winter’s role as a mentor and coalition builder. Representative Matt Gray, a member of Winter’s blended family, said Winter “kept showing up” and recounted years of shared work on paid family leave and transportation policy, describing her as “unabashedly herself” and a force that could bring people together across differences. Gray recalled Winter’s decision to come forward about harassment and credited her persistence with helping change rules and practices in the legislature.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Primavera and Congresswoman Brittany Patterson also joined the tributes. Patterson noted Winter’s role in the paid-leave effort and cited figures for the program’s early implementation: “193,000 people received benefits and over 1,000,000,000 had been paid out to support families,” she said, attributing part of that outcome to Winter’s advocacy.

Multiple senators and former members detailed Winter’s policy priorities — free fares and other transportation investments, environmental and climate legislation, support for survivors and measures to expand access to health and family-leave benefits — and her habit of bringing broad stakeholder groups into the drafting process. Several speakers recalled Winter’s informal mentoring, her office traditions and small personal details others said captured her personality and approach to the job.

Procedure and next steps: before the memorial the Senate adopted a motion to proceed out of order for memorials and suspended Senate Rule 31(a) so current and former House members could address the chamber. After adoption of the memorial, Senator Marchman asked that the roll call be added as co-sponsors of the memorial; the request was approved without objection. The Senate then laid over the balance of the calendar to Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, and adjourned until 10 a.m. that day.

The memorial and the roll-call adoption are the most recent formal actions memorializing Winter in the legislative record; the Senate will send copies of the joint memorial as directed in the adopted text. Family members and invited guests were present on the floor during the remarks and met with senators and representatives during the recess that followed the vote.