A bipartisan bill that would eliminate certain filing fees for defendants in eviction cases passed unanimously in the Colorado House Committee on Transportation, Housing and Local Government on Feb. 27.
House Bill 24-1099 eliminates the answer filing fee for a defendant in an eviction proceeding, removes the process for securing a waiver for filing fees, removes the reference in current law to indigent parties, prohibits a county court from charging defendants for filing motions, answers or other documents in evictions and prohibits the court from charging a fee for the timely serving of any answers or other filings to a plaintiff on a defendant’s behalf.
The bill is sponsored by Republicans Rep. Matt Soper and Sen. Byron Pelton and Democrats Rep. Mandy Lindsay and Sen. Janet Buckner.
“Having a safe and warm place to sleep at night is critical to the daily function of being a human being,” said Lindsay. “So when it comes to court proceedings that impact this very basic need, we must ensure that all parties are able to participate, and that includes removing barriers for people. In this case, filing fees for respondents.”
Soper told the committee his perspective was a little different and he spoke to the broader legal principle that spurred his involvement in the bill.
“If you’re being sued, which is what an eviction is, it’s pretty unbelievable to think that the person who is being required to answer in that suit is also being charged a fee by the courts,” said Soper.
Soper added the bill had no carve-outs based on wealth and everyone would be treated the same way in an eviction proceeding if the bill were to become law.
Lindsay noted that taking away the fee would mean the judicial system would not be collecting that money. According to the bill’s fiscal note, the revenue from those fees for fiscal year 2025 is projected to be $191,412.
The note requests an appropriation of $258,703 to make up for the shortfall and breaks down to $21,296 for personal services, $23,617 for mailing costs, $213,790 for information technology updates and $5,449 for centrally appropriated costs.
Drew Hamrick, general counsel for the Colorado Apartment Association, told the committee the CAA was in an amend position on the bill.
“This approach of simply waiving the filing fee for each and every defendant, regardless of income, waives the fee for rich defendants who neither need the benefit nor deserve the benefit,” said Hamrick. “Filing fees are not much of a safeguard as to frivolous litigation, but it is some, and my industry is the target of that frivolous litigation.”
Hamrick added that these types of proceedings are very expensive, and claimed the typical rental housing provider loses almost $10,000 in an eviction action. He said the state would be subsidizing the defense in eviction actions and the defense’s movement forward of related claims.
Several organizations testified in support of the bill. Included in this support were the Colorado Poverty Law Project, the Colorado Fiscal Institute, the Colorado Children’s Campaign, the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Colorado, the Colorado Center for Aging, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Enterprise Community Partners.
One amendment passed in committee. Lindsay said the amendment was suggested by the state judicial branch, and clarifies the judiciary’s obligation to provide free mailing applies to pro se defendants, not defendants with legal representation as well.
The bill was moved to the House Appropriations Committee on a vote of 9-0, with one representative absent from the committee hearing.