Following the Avalanche Sweep, Senate Democrats Skate to the Puck & Push Legislative Priorities Forward As Sine Die Nears

Bills support foster youth, domestic abuse victims, firearm safety & education, and police reform, while stimulus bills bolster creative industries, coal communities, & broadband deployment

DENVER, CO - This week, Senate Democrats are cool as ice as many of their legislative priorities get their shot in committee this week.

Three of the bills being heard are a part of Colorado’s recovery package:

HB21-1290: Funding Just Transition Office, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Fenberg & Senator Rankin.

• In 2019, Democrats in the legislature created the Office of Just Transition to guide communities transitioning from coal toward economic resilience. This bill provides $15 million in funding for workforce programs, local capacity grants, transition-related economic development grants, and critical infrastructure investments to boost economies that have been dependent on coal. 

This bill will be heard by the Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee at 1:30PM today, May 24th in Senate Committee Room 352.

HB21-1289: Expanding Access to Broadband, sponsored by Senators Bridges and Priola.

• Colorado has an opportunity to help bridge the digital divide exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing broadband access for our students, communities and businesses. This bill provides $75M to increase internet access across Colorado through the deployment of devices, and the development of middle and last mile infrastructure to support services that have become a necessity during the pandemic, like telehealth. It specifically includes $20M for the Ute Mountain and Southern Ute Tribes. 

This bill will be heard by the Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee at 1:30PM today, May 24th in Senate Committee Room 352.

HB21-1285: Funding To Support Creative Arts Industries, sponsored by Senators Buckner & Jaquez Lewis.

• Venues, artists, and so many other culturally vital organizations have struggled to make it through the last year. This bill provides $10M to support artists and cultural organizations that have been impacted by COVID-19 throughout the state. This includes funding for the performance based film incentive, cultural facilities and the CO Creative Industries grant program set up during the 2020 special session.

This bill will be heard by the Senate Local Government Committee at 1:30PM on Tuesday May 25th in Senate Committee Room 352.

Other legislative priorities headed to committee this week include:

HB21-1094: Foster Youth In Transition Program, sponsored by Senators Zenzinger & Rankin.

• As foster children transition to adulthood and out of the foster care system, they face a steep cliff where they no longer have adequate resources and support that they had for the first several years of their lives. This bill acknowledges the challenges of the 200+ youths who exit the Colorado foster system by creating a new program called Foster Youth in Transition which allows discharged youths to reenter the foster system in order to receive training and support as they transition into adulthood. The program is implemented through county health or social services departments throughout the state, and seeks to extend client-directed and developmentally appropriate services to foster youth who were in foster care or who were adjudicated dependent and neglected after their 14th birthday and who voluntarily choose to receive certain child welfare services through their 21st birthday.

This bill will be heard by the Senate Health & Human Services Committee at 1:30PM today, Monday May 24th in Senate Committee Room 357.

HB21-1299: Office Of Gun Violence Prevention, sponsored by Senators Hansen & Fields.

• True gun violence prevention requires that we start thinking bigger and more holistically. Making top-down regulations without investing in grassroots education will only limit our policies’ effectiveness. We need to build broad public awareness that empowers communities to take action – protecting their loved ones in moments of crisis and implementing evidence-based initiatives that will interrupt cycles of violence and trauma. To help educate and build awareness, this bill establishes the Office of Gun Violence Prevention under the Department of Public Health and Environment. The Office would be responsible for conducting public awareness campaigns about gun violence prevention. It would educate the public about existing state resources and laws, including how to file an Extreme Risk Protection Order, how to access mental health resources, and how to store firearms securely.

This bill will be heard by the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee at 1:30PM on Tuesday May 25th in the Old Supreme Court Chambers.

HB21-1255: Protection Order Issued Against Domestic Abuser, sponsored by Senators Pettersen & Jaquez Lewis.

• Current law already requires domestic violence offenders who are subject to a protection order stemming from an act of domestic or intimate partner violence to forfeit their firearms and refrain from possessing or purchasing firearms for the duration of the order. HB21-1255 would strengthen and streamline procedures for the relinquishment of firearms by someone who has a domestic violence-related protection order issued against them. This bill simply clarifies the way in which defendants must comply with this requirement, and establishes requirements for courts.

This bill will be heard by the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee at 1:30PM on Tuesday May 25th in the Old Supreme Court Chambers.

HB21-1298: Expand Firearm Transfer Background Check Requirements, sponsored by Senators Gonzales & Pettersen.

• Background checks are one of the most effective tools we have to keep deadly weapons out of dangerous hands. By ensuring that those who have committed violent offenses are unable to purchase a firearm, we will undoubtedly save lives. This bill prohibits a person who has been convicted of specific violent misdemeanor offenses from purchasing a firearm for 5 years. These specific criminal offenses show a propensity for violence or illegal usage of a weapon and include charges like child abuse, hate crimes, cruelty to animals, sexual assault, and third degree assault. The bill also closes the “Charleston loophole”, which allows an individual who may not have otherwise passed a background check to obtain a firearm if the results of said background check take longer than three days to process. 

This bill will be heard by the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee at 1:30PM on Tuesday May 25th in the Old Supreme Court Chambers.

HB21-1250: Measures to Address Law Enforcement Accountability, sponsored by Senator Fields.

• In 2020, Senate Democrats passed one of the most progressive law enforcement reform bills in the nation, SB20-217, which was a historic step toward ensuring transparency, integrity and accountability for Colorado’s law enforcement. However, since it’s passage, conversations around the state have continued on the law’s implementation and there are opportunities to clarify language to ensure it is meeting the intended goals. HB21-1250 clarifies requirements related to the instances when body-worn cameras must be operating to include welfare checks. It directs the Division of Criminal Justice to create a single form to streamline the reporting requirements for peace officers, which will now include whether an ambulance was called to the scene of an incident, whether there was a forcible entry into a residence, and the number of officer-involved civilian deaths.

This bill will be heard by the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee at 1:30PM on Tuesday May 25th in the Old Supreme Court Chambers.

To listen to committee hearings, visit leg.colorado.gov/watch-listen. The full Senate calendar for the week can be found at http://leg.colorado.gov/session-schedule?type=senate.