Colorado House passes bill allowing supervised drug-use sites, but it still faces roadblocks
A bill to allow supervised drug-use sites to open in willing Colorado cities cleared the state House for the second time in two years on Friday, but it faces a significant uphill battle in the face of opposition in the Senate and from Gov. Jared Polis.
House Bill 1028 is Rep. Elisabeth Epps’ second attempt to allow what advocates call safe-use sites to open in Denver and other cities that allow them. The facilities would provide a place where people could legally use illicit substances under the supervision of medical professionals.
The Denver City Council approved an ordinance allowing a facility to open several years ago, though it also required that the legislature sign off on the program first. The measure now heads to the Senate, where a committee killed last year’s approach and where there is bipartisan opposition to the policy.
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High-ranking Colorado Senate Democrat enters treatment for alcohol abuse, steps down as committee chair
State Sen. Faith Winter, a Broomfield lawmaker and the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said Thursday that she has entered substance-use treatment for alcohol abuse after appearing intoxicated at a community event this week.
Winter apologized for her behavior at the Northglenn event Wednesday night, where she appeared to slur her words when she spoke to the crowd. The meeting was called to address community concerns about a mental health facility opening in the area.
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Police use of “prone restraint,” like officers’ hold on Elijah McClain, targeted by Colorado lawmakers
Colorado lawmakers advanced a bill Tuesday that would target law enforcement’s use of a common hold called prone restraint for stronger regulation, though they scaled back initial plans for broader limitations.
The bill concerns a practice that law enforcement has said is common and necessary but which has come under fire from advocates for police reform. Research indicates that the use of prone restraint has contributed to at least 14 deaths in Colorado in recent years.
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Colorado state senator removed from wage-theft bill after accusation she refused to pay staffer
State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis lost her position chairing a powerful Senate committee and was removed from a bill concerning wage theft — both decisions made by top Democrats earlier this year after she allegedly refused to pay an employee working under her.
Records obtained by The Denver Post show that the senator’s resistance to signing off on an aide’s time card in December was among concerns raised by her party’s leadership over the last year. Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, also was admonished months earlier by Senate leadership for “concerning” behavior reported by staff and other members of the legislature, according to email records.
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Colorado lawmakers eye $11 million plan to keep mentally ill defendants out of jail, improve state’s competency system
Colorado lawmakers hope to improve the state courts’ long-troubled competency system by creating a program aimed at moving mentally ill criminal defendants out of courtrooms and into mental health care.
The sweeping diversion program would create a pathway for thousands of people who are charged with mid- to low-level crimes to receive mental health care instead of facing criminal prosecution if they are mentally ill or developmentally disabled in such a way that they are likely to be found incompetent to proceed — that is, that they cannot understand the court process or participate in their own defense.
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Budget week part 2, tax credits, prone-restraint bills in the Colorado legislature this week
Colorado legislators will work through Budget Madness Part 2 this week, as the state’s spending plan for next year is set to pass the House on Monday before crossing over and restarting the process in the Senate.
The House worked all day and into the night Thursday (before taking Good Friday off) to give initial approval to the budget and a slew of “orbital” spending bills. It’ll pass the Senate in the coming days, too. As the House did last week, the Senate will doubtless toss amendments onto the budget, requiring the same group of legislators who first crafted the document to meet and decide whether to strip any — or all — of the changes. Once that’s done, the budget heads to Gov. Jared Polis.
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