Hello everyone,
It’s all over Wednesday and things are moving fast. Bills have been introduced, passed committee, passed Second and Third Reading, and have moved to the other chamber within a few days. It takes three days to pass a bill, so today is the last day a bill can be introduced and pass before the end of the session.
While both chambers have been working long hours, the House worked overtime last week staying on the floor until after 10:30 pm Friday night and working most of Saturday. All in all, last week was another very good week for CSPA priorities.
On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee killed SB 176 State Remedies for Constitutional Rights Violation. SB 176 named the “No Kings Act” by its sponsors would have established a state-level cause of action for violations of federal constitutional rights, mirroring federal civil rights law under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Even though the bill provided that defendants could assert absolute or qualified immunity defenses to the same extent as in federal actions, there was concern that expensive litigation would be necessary to establish those defenses for state and local employees. There was an extremely diverse coalition opposed to SB 176. In addition to our regular law enforcement partners, our coalition included schools, hospitals, local governments, chambers of commerce, special districts, and others.
On Wednesday, after a late start due to the snow, we secured another win when the Senate Judiciary Committee killed SB 071 Use of Surveillance Technology by Law Enforcement. SB 071 would have regulated law enforcement agencies’ 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. The Committee heard testimony on SB 071 back in February when its sponsor asked for the bill to be laid over so that she could work on amendments. They finally brought it back up Wednesday and not having been able to find amendments to address law enforcement’s concerns, the sponsor asked for the committee to kill her bill.
Our third win of the week came on Thursday, when the House amended HB 1422 Security Measure for Certain Government Entities on Second Reading. HB 1422 establishes comprehensive security measures for Colorado’s legislative, judicial, and executive branches, including creating an Administrator of Legislative Safety position. Our primary concern is that the Administrator of Legislative Safety, and any employees that the administrator hires, could be POST certified. While we could not get the POST certified language removed, thanks to the hard work of Captain Brandon Nathlich, we were able to get amendments to address our concerns. These changes included striking language that the Administrator provide training to any individual who provides security or protection services to individuals in the Capitol Complex (e.g., troopers) and adding language that “the Colorado State Patrol remains the primary police agency for the state capitol buildings complex and the primary source of security for members of the general assembly.” With these changes both the State Patrol and CSPA moved from an amend to a monitor position. HB 1422 passed Third Reading in the House Saturday and should be introduced in the Senate today.
So far, there have been 626 bills introduced – 433 in the House and 193 in the Senate. Only 2 more days until the General Assembly is required to adjourn sine die.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist