Hello everyone,
Last week was a short week with both the House and Senate closed in observance of Good Friday. As we get closer and closer to sine die, both chambers are in a race to get bills passed before the end of the session. Last week, the House spent a lot of time on second reading to try to get House bills out of the House and on to the Senate. The Senate has a consent calendar which allows senators to quickly pass noncontroversial bills in groups instead of one at a time, so they have not had to spend as much time on second reading. I anticipate we will again see the House spend a lot of time on second reading this week.
On Wednesday morning, the Senate Health & Human Services Committee heard SB 283 14 Days Hospital Retain Blood Draws for Investigations for action only (the committee heard testimony on SB 283 on April 10th). As introduced, SB 273 would have required health care facilities to retain blood draws for 14 days if a law enforcement officer served a retention form on the facility. However, given the constitutional concerns raised by the ACLU and the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar during testimony and the little time left in the legislative session, at the sponsors’ request, the committee amended the bill to limit it to death investigations. SB 281 is scheduled to be heard on second reading in the Senate later today.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 281 Increase Penalties Careless Driving. SB 281 changes the penalty for careless driving causing death from a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense to a class 6 felony. In addition, it allows DOR to suspend the driver license of a person convicted of careless driving causing death or careless driving causing serious bodily injury for up to one year. After hearing testimony, the chair of the committee laid the bill over until this afternoon to allow the sponsors to work with stakeholders, including the State Patrol, on amendments. The CSPA supports SB 281 with the amendments being requested by the State Patrol.
On Thursday, the JBC, acting as the conference committee on the Long Bill, voted to reject the House amendment that sought to move $1 million from CATPA to the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program. As a result, CATPA funding will remain whole next year. Next, the House and then the Senate must adopt the conference report and repass the Long Bill before it can go to the Governor for his consideration.
So far, there have been 631 bills introduced – 332 in the House and 299 in the Senate. Only 16 more days until the General Assembly is required to adjourn sine die.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist