Hello everyone,
Another week is in the books. On Monday, the House State Affairs Committee heard HB 1422 Security Measure for Certain Government Entities. HB 1422 establishes comprehensive security measures for Colorado’s legislative, judicial, and executive branches, including creating an Administrator of Legislative Safety position. Both the CSPA and the State Patrol have an amend position on HB 1422. Our primary concern is that the Administrator of Legislative Safety, and any employees that the administrator hires, could be POST certified. This would in essence create a new police department within the legislative branch. While we believe having one point of contact in the legislative branch for security concerns would be beneficial, the position does not need POST certification. Chief Packard testified before the committee about these concerns. Although the committee did not remove the POST certification, we will continue to try to amend the bill as it moves through the legislative process.
Also on Monday, the JBC met as the Conference Committee and adopted the report of the first Conference Committee on the Long Bill. As expected, the report does not include any additional General Fund for CATPA. On Tuesday, both the Senate and House adopted the conference committee report and repassed the Long Bill. The Long Bill is now with the Governor for his consideration.
We had a big win on Wednesday when the Senate laid over Second Reading on SB 070 until after the session thereby killing the bill. SB 070 Ban Government Access Historical Location Information would have prohibited law enforcement from accessing a vehicle’s historical location information except under certain circumstances (e.g., with a warrant). Even though the Senate Judiciary Committee previously amended the bill to allow access to location information for 72 hours and retention of location information for up to 30 days instead of the original four days, the CSPA and our law enforcement partners remained opposed because it would unnecessarily hamper law enforcements’ ability to investigate crimes. While SB 070 is gone for this year, the issue is not going away. We plan to work with our law enforcement partners to develop our own legislation for next year.
Finally, on Thursday morning, the House unanimously passed House Resolution 1006 Supporting Law Enforcement to honor and express its deepest gratitude and appreciation for the men and women of Colorado’s law enforcement agencies for the vital role they play in safeguarding our communities. So far, there have been 619 bills introduced – 430 in the House and 189 in the Senate. Only 9 more days until the General Assembly is required to adjourn sine die.
Bill Skewes
Lobbyist