Colorado Call Recording Laws: One-Party Consent

Colorado is a one-party consent state: you may record a phone call you are part of, or one where at least one party consents. Recording a call you are not part of without any party's consent is wiretapping, a felony in Colorado.

For businesses, the one-party rule makes recording your own customer calls lawful under state law. Colorado's felony penalties for third-party interception and its proximity to all-party states make a simple notice policy worth adopting anyway.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Colorado recording law at a glance

Question	Answer in Colorado
Consent rule for phone calls	One party
Phone and electronic statute	C.R.S. § 18-9-303 (wiretapping)
In-person statute	C.R.S. § 18-9-304 (eavesdropping)
Can a participant record without telling others?	Yes
Wiretapping penalty	Felony
In-person eavesdropping penalty	Misdemeanor
Texts and email	Covered by the definition of electronic communication

The wiretapping statute: phone calls

C.R.S. § 18-9-303(1) applies to "any person not a sender or intended receiver of a telephone or telegraph communication." That person commits wiretapping by knowingly overhearing, reading, taking, copying or recording a telephone, telegraph or electronic communication "without the consent of either a sender or a receiver thereof," or by attempting to.

The structure is clear. If you are the sender or intended receiver, the statute does not apply to you. If you are not, you need consent from either side.

The statute also reaches people who use information knowing it was obtained by wiretapping, and people who use any apparatus to unlawfully do these things.

Texts and emails

According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), Colorado's definitions (§ 18-9-301) describe electronic communication as "any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence" of any nature. Reading or copying another person's texts or emails in transit without a party's consent falls under the same rule.

The eavesdropping statute: in-person conversations

C.R.S. § 18-9-304 covers in-person conversations. A person not visibly present who records or overhears a conversation without the consent of at least one party commits eavesdropping. It applies only where the parties have a reasonable expectation of privacy; Colorado courts have read "oral communication" and "conversation" together (People v. Lesslie, 1996).

Colorado also has an express news-media exemption in § 18-9-305 for using the accepted tools of a news medium in reporting a public and newsworthy event.

Penalties

According to the RCFP:

Violation	Classification	Range cited by RCFP
Wiretapping (§ 18-9-303)	Felony	Fine of $1,000 to $100,000 and 1 to 2 years
Disclosing information known to be obtained illegally	Felony	Same range
Recording cordless phone communications	Misdemeanor	Up to $5,000, 6 to 18 months
Eavesdropping on in-person talks (§ 18-9-304)	Misdemeanor	Up to 1 year, up to $1,000

Colorado restructured its felony and misdemeanor sentencing classes in recent years, so check the current sentencing statutes for exact ranges. The key point holds: intercepting phone calls you are not part of is a felony.

Civil liability

The RCFP's Colorado entry does not identify a civil remedy in the state recording statutes. Civil exposure still exists through privacy torts and through the federal Wiretap Act, which lets people sue over unlawful interceptions under 18 U.S.C. § 2520. The federal rule, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), is also one-party consent, unless the recording is for a criminal or tortious purpose.

Calls between Colorado and other states

Neighboring state	Rule for phone calls
Wyoming	One-party
Nebraska	One-party
Kansas	One-party
Oklahoma	One-party
New Mexico	One-party
Arizona	One-party
Utah	One-party

Colorado's neighbors are all one-party states. But Colorado's resort towns, outdoor outfitters and tech companies serve many callers from California, Washington, Illinois and other all-party states. Courts have applied the stricter state's law to interstate calls. Read interstate call recording consent, and see the call recording laws by state table.

What this means for Colorado businesses

Resorts, rentals and outfitters

Booking lines in mountain towns hear from visitors nationwide, many on cellphones from California. A short automatic notice at the start of every recorded call removes any question.

Property managers and HOAs

Recording calls you are on is lawful. Recording calls between tenants or homeowners, or placing recorders in common areas to capture private conversations, is not. Keep recording to your own business lines.

Supervisors and quality monitoring

Silent monitoring by a manager is lawful when an employee on the call consents. Document that consent with a written policy staff sign, and play a caller-facing notice so customers are informed as well.

Using recordings from others

Colorado makes it a felony to use or disclose information you know was obtained by unlawful wiretapping. If someone gives you a recording of a call they were not part of, do not use it until you know it was lawfully made.

Three Colorado scenarios

A Denver dental office records appointment calls. The receptionist is a party to each call, so § 18-9-303 does not apply to the office. A short greeting notice still covers patients calling from out of state.

A ski shop owner forwards the shop line to a personal cellphone and records with an app. Still lawful in Colorado, because the owner is a party. But if the app records silently and the caller is a California tourist, California's all-party rule for cellphone calls may apply. Turn on an announcement or turn off auto-recording.

A landlord installs a recorder in a shared hallway to capture tenant conversations. The landlord is not a party and has no one's consent. If the tenants had a reasonable expectation of privacy, that is eavesdropping under § 18-9-304, and using what was captured can create further liability.

The news-media exemption is not a business exemption

Colorado's § 18-9-305 protects news agencies using the accepted tools of their medium to report a public and newsworthy event. It does not cover businesses recording customers or employees, and it does not extend to marketing content. A company recording customer testimonials or podcasts should get explicit consent from every participant.

Colorado recording checklist

• Recording notice at the start of recorded inbound calls
• Staff disclose recording on outbound recorded calls
• Signed employee policy covering recording and monitoring
• No interception of calls, texts or email you are not party to
• No use of recordings known to be unlawfully made
• Recording access restricted, retention period set
• Caller objections handled by stopping the recording

For example wording, see call recording disclosure scripts.

Recording calls in Colorado with Callata

Callata lets your team answer the business line from a browser or cell phone, from the front desk or the trailhead. With recording turned on, Callata plays "This call may be recorded." to both sides when a call connects, inbound or outbound, and records the call. Recordings are transcribed and summarized with sentiment and action items, saved to the contact's history. Callata's terms leave consent-law compliance with you, and the notice helps. Pricing starts at $99 a month for five users, and each user after that adds $20 a month. Get started.