--- source: https://cannabissuretybonds.com/states/colorado/ site: Cannabis Surety Bonds, a Surety One, Inc. platform author: C. Constantin Poindexter, MA, JD, CPCU, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS, CPLP, CICS last_reviewed: 2026-09-21 --- # Colorado cannabis and marijuana surety bonds Colorado requires a surety bond from commodity handlers and commodity dealers, and a hemp operator that buys hemp from growers falls in that category. The old $5,000 marijuana license bond was repealed in 2016. - **Penal sum:** $10,000 to $1,000,000 for hemp handlers and dealers - **Regulator:** Colorado Department of Agriculture - **Underwriting:** Application only, same day in most cases ## What Colorado requires of cannabis and marijuana businesses Colorado requires a surety bond from every licensed commodity handler and from every commodity dealer (the Department of Agriculture's farm products dealer license) that buys on credit. The Department treats unprocessed industrial hemp as a farm product and unsterilized hemp seed and grain as a commodity. A hemp operator that purchases hemp from Colorado growers for processing or resale, brokers it, or stores it for others is therefore a dealer or handler and must be licensed and bonded before it does business. The bond is two percent of annual purchases, with a $10,000 minimum and a $1,000,000 maximum, and it protects the growers who deliver hemp and wait to be paid. The full requirement is set out on our Colorado hemp bond page at /hemp-bonds/colorado/. Marijuana is a different story. Colorado once required every medical marijuana business and retail marijuana establishment to file a $5,000 bond guaranteeing state sales and use taxes, and required retail cultivation facilities to bond their excise tax. House Bill 16-1041 repealed those requirements in 2016 after the General Assembly found that the bonds had become unavailable in the market and that the mandate was therefore unreasonably impracticable under the Colorado Constitution. Denver had dropped its own bond a few months earlier, and Aurora followed the state. The history matters for one reason. It is the clearest example of what happens when a bond mandate outruns surety capacity. The market has since matured, and specialty programs such as ours now write cannabis obligations nationwide, but Colorado has not reinstated a state license bond. **Colorado cannabis, marijuana and hemp bonds written by Surety One** | Bond | Penal sum | Who files it | Obligee | Authority | | [Colorado Commodity Handler Bond (hemp operators)](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/hemp-bonds/colorado/) | 2% of annual purchases, $10,000 minimum, $1,000,000 maximum | Handlers of hemp and other farm commodities | Colorado Department of Agriculture | Colorado Commodity Handler and Farm Products Acts | | [Colorado Commodity Dealer Bond (hemp operators)](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/hemp-bonds/colorado/) | 2% of annual purchases, $10,000 minimum | Dealers buying hemp from producers on credit | Colorado Department of Agriculture | Colorado Commodity Handler and Farm Products Acts | ## What the bond guarantees The commodity handler and commodity dealer bonds guarantee payment to Colorado producers who deliver hemp to a licensed handler or dealer and are not paid. Operating as a dealer or handler without the license and bond is a criminal offense under Title 35. Small volume dealers (no more than $20,000 in annual purchases and no single purchase above $2,500) and dealers that file a cash buyer declaration are the only buyers excused from the bond, and growers selling their own crop need no license. Separately, a home rule municipality may still condition a local marijuana license on a tax or compliance bond. If your city asks for one, send us the ordinance and form. Like every surety bond, this is a three party agreement and it is not insurance for the operator. If the surety pays a valid claim to the obligee, the principal must reimburse the surety under the general indemnity agreement signed when the bond is issued. [Read how the different cannabis bond obligations work.](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/bond-types/) ## How we underwrite Colorado cannabis and marijuana bonds Bonds at this size are transactional. For a penal sum of $25,000 or less we underwrite and quote on the strength of a completed cannabis license bond application alone, and most are issued the same business day. Personal credit is one input and the inquiry is a soft pull that does not affect your score. Damaged credit or no credit history does not mean a decline. It routes the file to our non-standard program. [More on cost, credit and collateral.](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/cost-and-underwriting/) ## The parties to a Colorado bond On a Colorado bond the principal is your licensed business, named exactly as it appears on the license or application. The obligee is Colorado Department of Agriculture, and on the other bonds listed above the agency, county or city shown in the table. The surety is an insurance company admitted in Colorado, placed by Surety One, Inc. as producer and underwriting manager. Who files in Colorado: Handlers of hemp and other farm commodities (2% of annual purchases, $10,000 minimum, $1,000,000 maximum); Dealers buying hemp from producers on credit (2% of annual purchases, $10,000 minimum). ## Claims, cancellation and renewal in Colorado If Colorado Department of Agriculture believes the bonded obligation has been breached, it makes a written claim on the surety. The surety opens a file, asks for documentation and notifies you, and you have the opportunity to respond and to cure. A valid, unresolved claim is paid up to the penal sum, and the surety then recovers that payment and its expenses from the business and the individual indemnitors. Because a Colorado bond of this size secures a defined compliance or tax duty, claims are rare and usually follow an abandoned license or an unpaid assessment. Most forms let the surety cancel on written notice to the obligee, commonly 30 to 90 days. If a replacement is not on file before the effective date, the regulator can suspend the marijuana license. We send renewal notices 45 days ahead, and renewing at least 30 days early removes the risk of a gap. ## Getting a Colorado bond issued, step by step - **Confirm the form and amount.** Ask Colorado Department of Agriculture for the current bond form and penal sum, or send us the license type and we will confirm them. - **Apply.** Complete the [online application](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/apply/?state=colorado). It collects the business details and the name, home address and Social Security number of each owner for a soft inquiry credit report. - **Receive the quote, usually the same business day.** No financial statements are needed at this size. - **Bind and file.** Pay the premium and sign the indemnity agreement. We deliver the executed bond to you and, where it accepts electronic filing, to the obligee. Wet signature originals go out overnight. ## Keeping a Colorado bond in good standing - File and pay every marijuana tax and fee on time. Delinquent taxes are the most common trigger for claims. - Keep seed to sale records reconciled to physical inventory, and document every destruction event with photographs, witnesses and waste manifests. - Tell us before you change the business name, ownership, location or license type, so the bond can be amended by rider before the regulator notices a mismatch. - Protect the personal credit of every indemnitor and keep quarterly financial statements. Both are reviewed at renewal. Terms such as penal sum, obligee and indemnitor are defined in the [glossary](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/glossary/). Changes to Colorado and other state requirements are logged with dates in [regulatory updates](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/updates/), and an underwriter is available through the [contact page](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/contact/). ## What to send us - [Cannabis license bond application](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/downloads/cannabis-license-bond-application.pdf) Send documents to [Cannabis@SuretyOne.com](mailto:Cannabis@SuretyOne.com) or [apply online](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/apply/). Confirm the current form and amount with the [Colorado Department of Agriculture](https://ag.colorado.gov/) before you file. A note on vocabulary: cannabis and marijuana are the same plant and, for bonding purposes, the same business. Colorado law uses the term "marijuana". Operators look for this bond as a Colorado marijuana bond, a Colorado marijuana license bond, a Colorado cannabis bond and a Colorado cannabis surety bond. They are one instrument, and this site uses the words interchangeably. See [marijuana surety bonds](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/marijuana-surety-bonds/). ## Primary sources Official texts behind this page. We link to citation based addresses on legislature, code and agency sites because those are the least likely to move. - [House Bill 16-1041, Repeal Bonding Requirement Marijuana Businesses (Colorado General Assembly)](https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB16-1041) - [Colorado Department of Agriculture, Farm Products and Commodity Handler Programs FAQ](https://ag.colorado.gov/farm-products-commodity-handler-programs-faqs) ## Colorado marijuana and cannabis bond questions **Q: Does a Colorado hemp business need a surety bond?** Yes, if it buys hemp from growers on credit, brokers it or stores it for others. That makes it a commodity dealer or commodity handler under Title 35, and the Department of Agriculture requires a bond of two percent of annual purchases, $10,000 minimum. Growers selling their own crop, cash buyers and small volume dealers are excused. **Q: Does Colorado require a marijuana license bond today?** Not at the state level. HB 16-1041 removed the $5,000 bond for medical and retail marijuana businesses and the cultivation excise tax bond. Check your local licensing authority for municipal requirements. **Q: I buy hemp from Colorado farmers. Do I need a bond?** Probably. The Department of Agriculture licenses commodity handlers and farm products dealers, and hemp falls inside that program. The bond amount is set from your purchase volume. **Q: Is a Colorado marijuana bond the same as a Colorado cannabis bond?** Yes. Marijuana bond, cannabis bond, marijuana license bond and cannabis surety bond are different names for the same instrument. Colorado law uses the term marijuana, operators search under all of these names, and the bond form and amount are the same whichever word you use. **Q: How much does a Colorado cannabis or marijuana surety bond cost?** You pay a premium, not the penal sum. The premium is a small fraction of the bond amount and depends on the size and wording of the obligation, your credit and your financial strength. Small compliance bonds carry low fixed annual premiums. Larger Colorado bonds are rated individually. Quotes are free. **Q: Can I get a Colorado marijuana bond with bad credit?** Yes in most cases. Surety One does not automatically decline any applicant. Files with damaged or limited credit go to our non-standard program, which carries a higher rate and sometimes partial collateral. **Written and reviewed by [C. Constantin Poindexter](https://www.linkedin.com/in/constantinpoindexter/), MA, JD, CPCU, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS, CPLP, CICS.** Founder of Surety One, Inc., Cannabis Insurance Coverage Specialist, attorney and surety underwriter for more than thirty years. Author of [The Contractor's Guide to Surety Bonds](https://constantinpoindexterauthor.com/). [View his cannabis insurance credentials.](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/about/) Last reviewed September 21, 2026. ## Need your Colorado cannabis or marijuana bond? Application review and quoting are free, and there is no obligation to buy. Bonds of $25,000 or less are usually issued the same business day. [Apply for a bond](https://cannabissuretybonds.com/apply/)[Talk to an underwriter: (919) 859-5294](tel:+19198595294)[Toll free (800) 373-2804](tel:+18003732804)