The Colorado State Legislature convened Jan. 10 to begin its 2024 legislative session. Following a special session convened in November after the failure of Proposition HH, it’s expected to be a busy session as the legislature looks to address cost of living, property tax, education, public safety, transportation and more.
Both Republicans and Democrats will be working this session to address the rising cost of living in Colorado. Senate President Steve Fenberg, told Law Week via email state Democrats “plan to consider bills that will cut red tape, increase housing near public transit, and bring down housing prices.”
Included in the Republican plan to address the cost of living crisis is “providing a long-term solution for property taxes, which this past session failed to bring,” House Minority Leader Mike Lynch told Law Week via email.
The parties also viewed improving public safety as a priority for the legislative session, albeit with different focuses. Fenberg told Law Week that committees worked during the interim on criminal justice reform, and he expects to see committee members introduce policies on recidivism, competency and diversion of people with behavioral health disorders from the criminal justice system. In addition to these policy recommendations, Fenberg noted a discussion about an entity that would replace the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice would likely come up.
Front and center for Lynch on public safety is fentanyl and he told Law Week he wants to bring forward legislation focused on penalties for possession of fentanyl.
The Colorado District Attorneys’ Council’s Focuses on Four Affirmative Bills
Jessica Dotter, Colorado District Attorneys’ Council’s sexual assault resource prosecutor, said CDAC is looking for legislation that implements technical fixes for first-degree murder cases. This issue is also one Lynch noted in his email response to Law Week.
The first of the two fixes related to these cases involves no bond holds, according to Dotter. Dotter said the issue came about when Colorado repealed the death penalty, as the no bond statute applied to capital offenses, which included first-degree murder. After the repeal, the Colorado Supreme Court heard the case In re People v. Smith, which ruled the statute allowed a no bond hold no longer applied to first-degree murder.
Dotter said the bill essentially turns back the clock, “putting the language back in that first degree murder cases will be eligible for a no bond hold with that special proof evident presumption.”
The other technical fix involves jury selection in these cases. Dotter said the repeal “accidentally repealed the portion that would allow expanded peremptory challenges in first degree murder” cases, and the bill would restore the allowance for those peremptory challenges during jury selection.
Another bill CDAC is focusing on involves the pay rate for district attorneys and assistant DAs. Dotter told Law Week the current pay structure for DAs is set statutorily, with any excess to their salaries paid by county commissioners. Dotter said the bill would “basically put the district attorney in line with the compensation of a full time district court judge,” and would allow for the assistant DA to be compensated in “proportion to that of a county court judge and would require the state to pay 50% of that compensation.”
According to Dotter, the bill’s impact would be felt most by rural DAs, whose counties don’t have the same resources as the wealthier counties of the metropolitan areas of Colorado.
Another bill CDAC is looking out for addresses the lack of a Crime Victim Compensation Board in the new 23rd Judicial District. The creation of the board was not done statutorily, and Dotter said this technical fix would enable victims to get victim compensation in the new district like they would in others.
A fourth bill CDAC is focusing on concerns what evidence can be introduced in a criminal case involving a sexual crime, according to Dotter. The bill “provides additional protection for therapy records when the offender is a psychotherapist” and adds in extra procedural safeguards to ensure consistency across the state with the evidence that “can come in against a victim report,” said Dotter.
In addition, Dotter told Law Week the bill “essentially remove[s] the automatic allowance of previous sexual conduct with the offender,” and puts a ban on using the way a victim was dressed or their hairstyle being used as evidence of consent in an assault case.
Dotter said CDAC had secured sponsors on all four of these bills.
The Colorado ACLU focuses on Criminal Justice Reform, Privacy and Equality
Anaya Robinson, senior policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union, told Law Week via email the ACLU has three core issue areas for the upcoming session, smart justice, systemic equality and privacy and liberty.
Under the privacy and liberty focus, Robinson wrote the ACLU is working on a biometric data privacy bill that expands on what data can be collected and accessed under the new Colorado Privacy Act. Robinson noted the bill had bipartisan support.
In its smart justice and systemic equality focus, Robinson wrote the ACLU is working on bills that would “help create greater stability in both re-entry from incarceration and housing.” Robinson wrote the ACLU hopes to see “real movement this year on increased access to housing and economic stability across the state, as well as lower rates of re-incarceration and fees associated with parole and probation.”
Robinson wrote that some of the legislation the ACLU will take a defensive posture on is designed to protect workers in healthcare, and the ACLU is also anticipating that legislation on drug-induced homicides will be reintroduced this session.
“[T]raining and support given to healthcare workers, and focusing on better supporting the workforce is a much more humane and sustainable path forward than criminalizing the actions of individuals with disabilities, kids who are scared, and parents, spouses, and siblings on some of the worst days of their lives,” Robinson wrote of the healthcare legislation.
For the drug-induced homicide legislation, Robinson wrote the ACLU wants to ensure passage of legislation that targets real solutions to the overdose crisis instead of legislation that focuses on a symptom of the issue.
The NFIB and Colorado Competitive Council Focus on the Cost of Doing Business in the State
The National Federation of Independent Business and the Colorado Competitive Council are both focused on working to improve the state’s business environment.
Tony Gagliardi, state director for the Colorado Chapter of NFIB, told Law Week the organization would be focusing on affordable healthcare for employers and employees, a sensible regulatory environment, a tax structure “that doesn’t penalize someone for having a successful business” and property tax.
Gagliardi said that affordable healthcare in particular is a primary issue for small business owners.
In addition to these focuses, Gagliardi said “employers need to be able to negotiate with employees on hours worked with schedule,” and that the NFIB will be “adamantly opposed to another attempt at a predictive scheduling bill.”
Rachel Beck, executive director of the CCC, which is an affiliate of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, said the two big focuses for the CCC are the state’s litigious environment and insurance.
Beck told Law Week the state of Colorado was ranked as the ninth costliest state for litigation in 2022 by the Institute for Legal Reform, with an average cost of $4,011 per household. Beck said the CCC is hearing from businesses that “some of their most pressing issues and challenges have much more to do with liability and risk and the costs associated,” than with other areas where businesses were focusing their attention in the past.
Beck also said that in CCC’s work with the Common Sense Institute, the CCC found the state legislature “passed at least 43 bills that create, expand or modify civil causes of action.” Beck said the CCC will watch for bills like this during the session and oppose them.
Beck echoed Gagliardi’s emphasis on resolving the cost of property taxes in the state of Colorado. “We’ve got to come up with a long term solution that’s going to result in meaningful tax relief,” said Beck.
Gov. Jared Polis, responding to a question from Law Week about the cost of business and the state’s litigious environment, said, “If there are bills in that area, we’re happy to look at them. We want to make Colorado the best place to live, raise a family and grow a business. And there’s a lot we need to do to be able to do that. That includes reducing costs for businesses, I hope reducing the commercial property tax rate, but also looking at where we can streamline regulation and cut red tape.”
Waste Reduction and Reducing Pollution Top of Mind for CoPIRG
Danny Katz, the executive director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, told Law Week the state has a “really important milestone in March, when our Joint Budget Committee will have a vote to approve the initial scope of a producer responsibility system in Colorado.”
The producer responsibility system would charge a fee on the producer side for any company that produces a product in packaging, and companies, if the committee signs off, will have to pay a fee on the packaging. Katz said these fees will then go to Colorado to help fund the expansion of recycling services in the state.
The vote follows a bill on this issue passed in 2022, which Katz said CoPIRG supported and advocated for.
In addition to this waste reduction focus, Katz said a focus for CoPIRG will be tackling ozone pollution. He said this will include a focus on permits for pollution, so that new permits won’t undermine reductions in pollution already being made.
Kats said CoPIRG will also continue its work on Right to Repair Legislation, a significant focus of the NFIB as well. This focus comes after the legislature passed previous Right to Repair bills for agricultural equipment and electric wheelchairs. Katz said the focus this time around will be on expanding right to repair protections to include more electronics.
Transit was a further focus for CoPIRG in the upcoming legislative session. Katz said “there will be some bill, likely looking at ways to streamline funding opportunities for transit agencies.” He noted “there’s a lot of pieces to a transit bill,” and making transit a better option “has a huge impact on reducing pollution, tackling climate change and giving people a safer way to get around.”