Hello everyone,
We are approaching the half-way point in the session, and we had a lot of action on CSPA priority bills this past week. On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on two priority bills – SB 070 Ban Government Access Historical Location Information Database and SB 071 Use of Surveillance Technology by Law Enforcement. The CSPA opposes both bills because they would unnecessarily hamper law enforcements’ ability to investigate crimes.
SB 070 would prohibit law enforcement from accessing a vehicle’s historical location information (e.g., FLOCK) except under certain circumstances. SB 070 would also prohibit a governmental entity from keeping historical location information for more than four days except under certain circumstances. All Colorado law enforcement is opposed to SB 070. After hours of testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee amended the bill to allow access to location information for 72 hours and retention of location information for up to 30 days before referring the bill to the Appropriations Committee. While the amendments improve the bill, the CSPA and our law enforcement partners remain opposed. SB 070 will likely sit in the Appropriations Committee until after the budget is passed in mid-April.
Next the Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 071. SB 071 seeks to regulate law enforcement use of surveillance technologies such as facial recognition systems, automated license plate readers, traffic cameras, and drones, requiring warrants for certain uses and imposing strict data retention and destruction requirements. Again, all Colorado law enforcement is opposed. Many of the same people who testified against SB 070 also testified against SB 071. However, after testimony was finished the sponsor of SB 071 asked to lay the bill over so that she could work on amendments. SB 071 will be brought back later.
On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation Committee heard two bills CSPA supports. SB 035 increases penalties for illegal passing in no-passing zones and for multiple speeding violations. As expected, the Committee amended SB 035 to establish an additional driver license point penalty of 4 additional points for speeds over 100 mph and to double the fine for Hazmat Unauthorized Routes from $250 to $500. With those amendments the Committee referred SB 035 to Senate Appropriations Committee and CSPA changed its position from amend to support. The Senate Transportation Committee also heard SB 026, a CSP Agenda Bill, that increases the gross vehicle weight rating for certain passenger vehicles required to have a child restraint system from less than 10,000 pounds to less than 16,000 pounds. With the increasing weights of passenger automobiles, it is necessary to amend statute to ensure all passenger vehicles are required to have child restraint systems. The Committee unanimously referred SB 026 to the Senate floor where it will likely be heard on Second Reading this week.
Later Wednesday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee heard HB 1037 Ban Gov’t Purchase of Personal Data from Third Party. HB 1037 prohibits law enforcement from purchasing or obtaining personal data from third parties in exchange for anything of value, with certain exceptions including judicial warrants, emergencies, and individual consent. Like SB 070 and SB 071, all Colorado law enforcement is opposed. After more than seven hours of testimony, the sponsors of HB 1037 asked to lay the bill over so that they could work on amendments to address the law enforcement concerns. HB 1037 will be brought back later.
So far, there have been 439 bills introduced – 307 in the House and 132 in the Senate. Only 72 more days until the General Assembly is required to adjourn sine die.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist