Notable Opening Day Bills In The Colorado General Assembly In The 2022 Session

Here are summaries of six notable bills from the eighty-five bills introduced on "opening day" of the 2022 legislative session of the Colorado General Assembly, that have a meaningful chance of enactment because they are not partisan bills with solely Republican sponsors.

* HB22-1038 "Right To Counsel For Youth: Concerning client-directed legal representation for youth in court proceedings for youth."

Current law requires the appointment of a guardian ad litem for children or youth in dependency and neglect cases. The bill requires that client-directed counsel for youth be appointed for children or youth 12 years of age or older to provide specialized client-directed legal representation.

The bill prohibits the waiver of a child's or youth's right to counsel in dependency and neglect proceedings. The bill also allows a child or youth to be a party in a dependency and neglect proceeding. For a child or youth 12 years of age or older with diminished capacity, a guardian ad litem shall remain in the role and separate counsel for the child or youth must be appointed.

SB22-023 "Deceptive Tactics Juvenile Custodian Interrogation: Concerning prohibiting deceptive tactics during interrogation of a juvenile."

The bill prohibits a law enforcement officer or an agent who assists, cooperates with, or otherwise facilitates a custodial interrogation with a juvenile (law enforcement official) from using deception and false facts or beliefs (deception) to obtain a statement or admission from the juvenile. Any statement or admission obtained during the course of a juvenile custodial interrogation in which a law enforcement official knowingly uses deception is presumptively inadmissible against the juvenile in an evidentiary hearing unless the prosecution proves by clear and convincing evidence that the statement or admission was made voluntarily.

The bill requires law enforcement officials to electronically record all juvenile custodial interrogations.

SB22-008 "Higher Education Support For Foster Youth: Concerning postsecondary education support for certain students who have been in out-of-home placement."

Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee. The bill requires all public higher education institutions (institutions) in Colorado to waive undergraduate tuition and fees for Colorado resident students who have been in foster care or, following an adjudication as neglected or dependent, in noncertified kinship care in Colorado at any time on or after reaching the age of 13 (qualifying students). The institutions are required to designate an employee to serve as a liaison to qualifying or prospective qualifying students.

Under existing law, school districts and the state charter school institute must designate an employee to act as the child welfare education liaison. The bill requires child welfare education liaisons to provide students in out-of-home placement with information and assistance regarding the tuition waiver for qualifying students.

SB22-019 "Access To Suppressed Court Eviction Records: Concerning access to automatically suppressed court records of eviction proceedings."

Under existing law, a court record in an eviction proceeding is automatically suppressed and only available to judges; court staff; a party to the case and, if represented, the party's attorneys; authorized judicial department staff; and a person with a valid court order authorizing access to the court record. The bill permits an attorney, with permission of a party included in a suppressed court record, to access the record for the purpose of providing legal advice to, or evaluating whether to enter an appearance on behalf of, the party included in the record.

SB22-034 "Business Filing Address And Name Fraud: Concerning measures to counteract the filing of fraudulent business documents with the secretary of state."

Under current law, a business entity submits to the secretary of state for online filing documents that concern the creation, organization, and operations of the entity. By submitting a document, an individual affirms under penalty of perjury that the individual is authorized to file the document, the facts in the document are true, and the document otherwise complies with the secretary of state's filing requirements. The secretary of state files the document in an online database as a ministerial act and does not independently verify whether the document is accurate.

The bill creates a complaint process for a person whose business identity or personal identifying information has been used in the filing of these documents with the secretary of state without authority or for fraudulent activity. If a complaint is submitted with the secretary of state, the secretary may forward the complaint to the attorney general for further investigation. The attorney general may investigate the complaint and refer the complaint to an administrative law judge.

If an administrative law judge determines that an entity has been created fraudulently or without authorization, the secretary of state will:

* Mark the business record with a notice that the entity is fraudulent or unauthorized;

* Redact each address that was used without authorization from the entity's filing and from any other relevant filings; and

* Disable additional filing functionality on the entity's records. 

If an administrative law judge determines that an unauthorized filing was made for a legitimate entity, the secretary of state will:

* Mark each unauthorized filing for the entity to notify the public that the filing is unauthorized;

* Redact from the entity's filing and from the relevant filings each address and name that was used without authorization; and

* Mark the business record on the entity's filing to notify the public that the entity has been the victim of fraudulent or unauthorized acts.

If a person alleged to have committed fraud or unauthorized acts fails to respond to the complaint, the allegations are deemed conceded, and the secretary of state will take the appropriate steps listed above in the same manner as if the finding had been made by an administrative law judge.

Additionally, the bill states that fraudulent filings are unfair or deceptive trade practices under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act" and as such are subject to enforcement by the attorney general's office.

SB22-013 "Boards And Commissions: Concerning requirements for boards and commissions."

The bill makes changes related to the requirements for various boards and commissions (boards).

Section 1 of the bill includes standard provisions that generally apply to boards for which membership is based in full or in part on representation from the congressional districts of the state. Specifically, unless a statute or constitutional provision creating a board provides otherwise:

* If a member appointed to represent a district no longer resides in the district due solely to a change in the district's boundaries following redistricting, the member may serve the remainder of their term notwithstanding the nonresidency;

* If a board increases in size due to the addition of a new congressional district in the state, the appointing authority shall appoint a new member to represent the new district as soon as practicable; and

* If a board decreases in size due to the loss of a congressional district in the state, the appointing authority shall determine which current member's term should be terminated, or, if the member will be replaced by an at-large or other member, which member should be replaced at the expiration of the member's term. The appointing authority must attempt to ensure that the remaining membership adequately represents the remaining congressional districts.

Section 2 establishes standard provisions that apply to all boards unless the statute or constitutional provision creating a board provides differently. The standard provisions include: requiring an appointing authority to fill a vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term, allowing the designee of a state official to fulfill the official's duties on the board, defining the term "minimum majority" to mean the lowest number of members that is more than half, allowing members to participate in meetings of the board remotely, and clarifying how partial terms count towards any applicable term limit. 

Sections 33 and 40 update the statutes that establish the membership of the state board of education and the board of regents of the university of Colorado, respectively, both of which are elected boards created in the state constitution. 

For the state board of education, section 33 provides for the election of one new member to represent the eighth congressional district and one new member from the state at large at the 2022 general election. 

For the board of regents, section 40 requires the election of a member to represent the eighth congressional district in place of the election of a member representing the state at large at the 2022 general election. 

Sections 37, 42, 52, 60, 73, 85, 86, 90, 101, and 107 amend statutes governing boards for which membership is based on the number of congressional districts in the state. For each board, the total number of members is no longer specified. Instead, each statute provides for the appointment of members from each congressional district in the state plus, as applicable, additional members as is currently provided for each board. Provisions requiring staggering of terms and limits on the number of board members who may be affiliated with a single political party are amended to refer to a "minimum majority" of the board to accommodate any future changes in board membership resulting from changes in the number of Colorado congressional districts. 

Section 133 repeals a statute that addressed the impact of redistricting on boards following the 2000 federal decennial census, and a statute that adjusted the lengths of terms of members of certain boards in 1987.

The remaining sections of the bill make changes to statutory provisions governing various boards with appointed members, including:

* Repealing deadlines for events or actions that have already occurred;

* Repealing language setting specific expiration dates or requirements for board members' terms in order to create staggering of the board members' terms, and replacing it with a general requirement that the terms of office are staggered;

* Repealing requirements for notice and hearing before a board member can be removed for cause by an appointing authority;

* Repealing, for certain boards, the requirement that a board member serve until the board member's successor is confirmed by the senate;

* Updating archaic language to conform to current drafting standards;

* Reorganizing sections to clarify requirements related to appointments, qualifications for appointees, and terms of office;

* Clarifying requirements related to the number of board members that may be affiliated with one political party; and

* Making conforming amendments.