The House Judiciary Committee advanced four bills — on jury selection reform, adult guardianship, DOC risk assessment records, and POST board reform — while killing a street racing/takeover bill on a failed vote followed by indefinite postponement, after members raised sweeping concerns about overbroad definitions, racial targeting, and inadequate deterrence theory.
+ 5 more actions
Chair Rep. Javier Mabrey challenged the deterrence rationale, citing a nonpartisan JBC staff memo stating 'there's no link between increasing criminal penalties and deterring sentencing deterrence,' and argued the bill criminalizes conduct without a demonstrable safety nexus. Rep. Jennifer Bacon stated 'when people get together to do this, they already know it's illegal' and that the increased penalty argument was not necessarily convincing. Law enforcement witnesses and Rep. Clifford countered that existing laws were inadequate for addressing organized, coordinated events.
+ 2 more controversies
“I have not seen a more racist bill come through this chamber than I am right now. You are literally, in your descriptions, you are targeting what is known to exist within our Latino communities, within our Asian communities. We had a question around oh, no, what about our rural communities, which are largely white? Oh, no, no, no. We don't want to target those truck drivers. We are targeting the inner city challenges here.”
+ 4 more quotes
Subscribe to see all key actions, controversies, quotes, and what's next.
Sign in to subscribeThe committee will come to order. Ms. Shipley, please call the roll. Representatives Bacon. Excused. Clifford. Here. Espinoza. Here. Linnell. Garcia. Kelsey. Here. Sloth. Excused. Soper. Excused. Is it okay? Excused. Carter. Present. Mr. Chair. Here. Okay. In an attempt to make everybody happy, we have shuffled the bill order and I do just want to announce that before we get through this one, this one should go quickly, but we have 1288 and then we're going to. We're going to hear 1288, then we're going to hear 1329, then we're going to hear 1100, then 1312, then 1315. Let's start with 1288. Vice Chair Carter. Rep. Joseph. You want me to go? Yeah. Oh. Whoever would like to begin. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Members of the committee, it's a pleasure to be here to present present House Bill 1288 before the committee. Today we are presenting a strike below in the original bill. It focuses on improving jury selection around voir dire to make trials fairer, more efficient and better at identifying biases before a case began. Key things the bill does or would have done since we have a strike below requires…
Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and search across all Colorado committee hearings.
Sign in to subscribe