The bill prohibits a defendant from bringing a second or subsequent claim for postconviction remedy on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel in a prior postconviction proceeding. The bill creates discovery procedures for postconviction remedy hearings. In the event a motion for postconviction remedy is denied, the bill requires the court to enter a judgment against the defendant for the amount of the costs of prosecution, the amount of the cost of care, and any fine imposed. Furthermore, the bill allows the court to assess against the defendant the costs of transporting and housing the defendant from another facility to appear in court on a motion for postconviction remedy. The bill prohibits the state public defender or an attorney who contracts with the office of alternate defense counsel from representing or advising a defendant on a second or subsequent claim for postconviction remedy, unless the motion is based upon newly discovered evidence of innocence. The bill requires the state public defender and an attorney who contracts with the office of alternate defense counsel to retain records related to the representation of defendants for 7 years, or until the defendant's death, if the defendant was convicted of a class 1 felony. The bill limits the time period that a defendant may collaterally attack the validity of the conviction or adjudication to 5 years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
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The bill states that, as used in the existing criminal offense of obstructing a peace officer, firefighter, emergency medical service provider, rescue specialist, or volunteer, the term 'obstacle' includes an unmanned aircraft system. The bill also adds language stating that the offense does not apply to an unmanned aircraft system operator who complies with certain operational requirements. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) Read More
Current law allows the state board of health to adopt rules concerning the disposal of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) only after the federal environmental protection agency (EPA) has adopted rules concerning the disposal of NORM. The EPA has not adopted the rules. The bill repeals this prohibition and requires the state board to adopt rules, which must also regulate technologically enhanced NORM (TENORM), by December 31, 2020. Before the rules are adopted, the department of public health and environment is required to: Convene a stakeholder group to discuss the development of rules; and Prepare a report and a detailed summary of the stakeholder process and provide them to the general assembly by December 31, 2019. Until the rules become effective, the handling, transportation, beneficial use, and disposal of TENORM is governed by guidance, including specified letters, issued by the department. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
Under current law, there is a crime of false reporting to authorities. The bill creates a crime of false reporting of an emergency by criminalizing an act of false reporting to authorities that includes a false report of an imminent threat to the safety of a person or persons by use of a deadly weapon. False reporting of an emergency is a class 1 misdemeanor, but it can be a felony depending on the harm caused by the false report. For purposes of the crime of false reporting to authorities and false reporting of an emergency, the defendant may be tried in the county where the defendant made the report, the county where the false report was communicated to law enforcement, or the county where law enforcement responded to the false report. For fiscal years 2019-20 through 2022-23, the bill appropriates $16,500 from the general fund to the department of corrections. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
Current law requires each county to publish a report about its expenses and contracts (expense report), the salaries of public employees and officials in the county (salary report), and the financial statements for each fund kept by the county treasurer (financial statement). The expense report is published monthly and the salary report is published twice per year. The bill changes the salary report to an annual report. Commencing January 1, 2020, the bill allows a county to publish the expense report, the salary report, and the financial statement on a county website with a link to the report published in at least one legal newspaper. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
The bill amends the definition of 'marijuana' to exclude prescription drug products approved by the federal food and drug administration and dispensed by a pharmacy or prescription drug outlet registered by the state of Colorado. The bill also specifies that the change does not restrict or otherwise affect regulation of or access to: Marijuana that is authorized the Colorado constitution and statutes; or Industrial hemp and derivatives therefrom, as authorized by the Colorado constitution and statutes.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
In 1999, the voters of the state authorized the executive director of the department of transportation (executive director) to issue transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) in a maximum principal amount of $1.7 billion and with a maximum repayment cost of $2.3 billion in order to provide financing to accelerate the construction of qualified federal aid transportation projects. The executive director issued the TRANs as authorized, and the TRANs have been fully repaid. In 2017, the general assembly enacted Senate Bill 17-267 (SB 267), which requires the state to enter into a total of $1.88 billion of lease-purchase agreements and to use the proceeds of the lease-purchase agreements to fund transportation projects and specifically requires the state to enter into $380 million of the lease-purchase agreements in the 2018-19 state fiscal year and $500 million of such agreements in each of the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 state fiscal years. Section 3 of the bill requires the state treasurer to transfer $500 million from the general fund to the state highway fund on June 30, 2019, and to transfer $250 million from the general fund to the state highway fund annually on June 30 of state fiscal years 2019-20 though 2038-39. Section 4 repeals the requirement that the state enter into $500 million of lease-purchase agreements in each of the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 state fiscal years but takes effect only if, as specified in section 12 , the voters of the state approve a ballot measure that authorizes the state to issue TRANS and that is either initiated and voted on at the 2018 general election or referred to the voters as specified in section 10 at the 2019 statewide election. Section 5 restricts the authority of the department of transportation (CDOT) and any enterprise of CDOT, such as the high-performance transportation enterprise, to construct or designate or enter into a public-private partnership to construct or designate a managed lane, which is defined as a toll lane, high-occupancy tool lane, or high-occupancy vehicle lane on any state highway. Section 6 requires CDOT to expend the $500 million transferred from the general fund to the state highway fund pursuant to section 3 only for new highway construction projects and further specifies that: If the voters of the state approve an initiated ballot measure that authorizes the state to issue TRANs at the November 2018 general election, CDOT shall expend the $250 million annually transferred from the general fund to the state highway fund pursuant to section 3 first, to the extent needed, for maintenance of the transportation infrastructure projects financed by the TRANs and thereafter exclusively for maintenance of the state highway system; and If the voters of the state approve a ballot measure that authorizes the state to issue TRANs that is referred pursuant to section 10 at the November 2019 general election, CDOT shall expend the $250 million annually transferred from the general fund to the state highway fund pursuant to section 3 first, to the extent needed, to make the full amount of payments due on the TRANs and thereafter exclusively for maintenance of the state highway system. Section 7 expresses the intent of the general assembly that CDOT strongly consider, when choosing between a standard low bid process or a design-build process for the procurement of a project contract, whether the use of the design-build process is likely to reduce competition and increase project costs. Section 8 requires CDOT to include specified information about the general fund money transferred to the state highway fund pursuant to section 3 and the proceeds of SB 267 lease-purchase agreements in its annual report to the transportation committee of the senate and the transportation and energy committee of the house of representatives. Section 9 is nonsubstantive and changes the previously defined term 'revenue anticipation notes' to 'transportation revenue anticipation notes' to reflect the use of the latter term throughout the bill. If no citizen-initiated ballot measure that authorizes the state to issue TRANs is approved by the voters of the state at the November 2018 general election, section 10 requires the submission of a ballot measure seeking voter approval for the state to issue TRANs in an amount of $3.5 billion with a maximum repayment cost of $5 billion at the November 2019 statewide election. Any TRANs issued following approval of the ballot measure must have a maximum repayment term of 20 years, the certificate, trust indenture, or other instrument authorizing their issuance must provide that the state may pay the TRANs in full before the end of the specified payment term without penalty, and the transportation commission must pledge to annually allocate from legally available money under its control any money needed for payment of the notes until the notes are fully repaid. Section 11 requires TRANs proceeds not otherwise pledged for TRANs payments to be credited to the state highway fund and expended by CDOT only for qualified federal aid transportation projects that are included in CDOT's strategic transportation project investment program and designated for tier 1 funding as 10-year development program projects on CDOT's development program project list. At least 25% of the TRANs net proceeds must be used for projects in counties with populations of 50,000 or less and at least 10% of the TRANs net proceeds must be used for transit purposes or transit-related capital improvements.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
Sunset Process - House Judiciary Committee. Under current law, a grant program exists in the department of corrections (department) to provide funding to eligible community-based organizations that provide reentry services to offenders. The grant program is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2018. The bill reschedules the repeal of the grant program to September 1, 2023. The bill also provides that, in awarding grants from the grant program, the department shall release as much as one quarter of the amount annually appropriated to the grant program to an intermediary at the beginning of each fiscal year. The intermediary shall determine how much of this amount is awarded to each community partner as an advance portion of grant money to be awarded to the community partner. The bill requires the department to expand the grant program in the 2018-19 fiscal year to maximize the number of grantees; add grantees in underserved communities, especially in rural areas; and add one or more grantees that specialize in serving the reentry needs of women offenders. The bill makes an appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
Sentencing in the Criminal Justice System Interim Study Committee. Current law repeals the Colorado commission on criminal and juvenile justice, effective July 1, 2018. The bill extends the repeal date to July 1, 2023, and requires the department of regulatory agencies to perform a sunset review of the commission prior to such repeal. The bill adds 4 new voting members to the commission and reduces the number of at-large members from 3 to 2, thereby increasing the number of voting members of the commission from 26 to 29. The bill requires the commission to annually request a letter from the governor suggesting topics for the commission to study. The bill makes an appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) Read More
Under the Colorado open records act (CORA), records related to sexual harassment complaints are not open records; except that those records are available to a person making a sexual harassment complaint and the subject of the complaint. The bill makes the judicial department subject to the sexual harassment provision of CORA until May 1, 2021. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More