House Committee on Judiciary (03/01/2012)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Date:	03/01/2012	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:30 PM to 04:23 PM	DelGrosso	X
		Duran	X
Place:	HCR 0107	Kagan	X
		Lee	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Nikkel	*
	Representative Gardner B.	Pabon	*
		Ryden	X
This Report was prepared by		Sonnenberg	X
	Jessika Shipley	Waller	*
		Barker	X
		Gardner B.	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
SB12-020 HB12-1300 HB12-1297		Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only

01:31 PM -- Senate Bill 12-020

Representative Summers, sponsor, presented Senate Bill 12-020 concerning immunity from certain offenses when a person reports an emergency drug or alcohol overdose event. He distributed prepared amendments L.010, L.011, and L.012 (Attachments A, B, and C). The bill provides immunity, with certain exceptions, from arrest and criminal prosecution for a person who, in good faith, reports an emergency drug or alcohol overdose. The immunity provided by the bill extends to the individual reporting the overdose, up to two individuals acting in concert with the reporter, and the individual suffering the overdose. The reporter and those acting in concert with him or her must remain at the scene of the event until law enforcement or emergency medical personnel arrive; they must also identify themselves to, and cooperate with, the law enforcement officer or emergency medical responder.

The immunity provided by the bill covers a number of drug-related offenses. The classifications for these offenses range from a class 6 felony to a class 2 petty offense, with penalties including fines, prison and jail sentences, or both.

The Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice is encouraged to create and make publicly available a document describing the immunity provided by the bill.

01:36 PM -- Tom Raynes, representing the Colorado District Attorneys' Council, testified in support of the bill with the adoption of the amendments. Mr. Raynes indicated that the district attorneys support the idea of immunity for reporters of a drug or alcohol overdose, but only for misdemeanor offenses. He also wants to limit the immunity to the reporter and the person subject to the overdose. He responded to questions from the committee.

01:43 PM -- Michael Dougherty, representing the Colorado Attorney General's Office, testified in support of the bill with the adoption of the amendments. Mr. Dougherty stressed the importance of public education about the provisions of the bill. He responded to questions from the committee.

01:45 PM -- Art Way, representing the Drug Policy Alliance, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Way spoke about harm reduction in the area of drug policy and the importance of overdose awareness and reduction campaigns. He expressed his hope that the bill will save at least a handful of lives each year. He indicated that the amendments make the bill less effective.

01:49 PM -- John Buckley, representing the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Buckley spoke about his experience as a paramedic responding to overdose events. He stressed that complete and timely information is absolutely necessary in order for emergency responders to properly administer medical assistance.

01:53 PM -- Lisa Raville, representing the Harm Reduction Action Center and Colorado Organizations Responding to AIDS, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Raville spoke about the importance of harm reduction in the area of drug use.

01:55 PM -- Helen Alvillar and Ruth Harris, representing themselves, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Alvillar spoke about her experience as the mother of a young man who died of a drug overdose. Ms. Harris discussed her experience as the mother of a young man who died of a drug overdose.

01:58 PM -- Christie Donner, representing the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Donner spoke about her experience losing a friend to a drug overdose. She reminded the committee that the bill is targeted toward young people and stressed the importance of including immunity for various situations in which an individual tries to help someone having an overdose.

02:02 PM -- Jean McEvoy, representing the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, testified in support of the bill with amendments. Ms. McEvoy expressed concerns about conflicts between the bill and current law.

02:06 PM

Representative Summers provided closing comments and asked for the committee's support. Members of the committee were provided with a written statement from retired Denver Police Lieutenant Tony Ryan (Attachment D).


BILL:	SB12-020
TIME:	02:07:22 PM
MOVED:	Waller
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.010 (Attachment A). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	DelGrosso
		VOTE
	DelGrosso
	Duran
	Kagan
	Lee
	Nikkel
	Pabon
	Ryden
	Sonnenberg
	Waller
	Barker
	Gardner B.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	SB12-020
TIME:	02:26:37 PM
MOVED:	Lee
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.011 (Attachment B). The motion failed on a vote of 1-10.
SECONDED:	Waller
		VOTE
	DelGrosso	No
	Duran	No
	Kagan	No
	Lee	No
	Nikkel	No
	Pabon	No
	Ryden	No
	Sonnenberg	No
	Waller	No
	Barker	No
	Gardner B.	Yes

YES: 1 NO: 10 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	SB12-020
TIME:	02:27:27 PM
MOVED:	Kagan
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 12-020, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 9-2.
SECONDED:	Duran
		VOTE
	DelGrosso	Yes
	Duran	Yes
	Kagan	Yes
	Lee	Yes
	Nikkel	Yes
	Pabon	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	Barker	No
	Gardner B.	No

Final YES: 9 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:28 PM

The committee took a brief recess.

02:29 PM -- House Bill 12-1300

The committee returned to order.

Representative Gardner, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 12-1300 concerning professional review committees. He distributed prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment E), which strikes everything below the enacting clause. He explained his reasons for offering the strike-below amendment and responded to questions from the committee. He indicated that all of the witnesses would likely be testifying to the strike-below amendment, rather than to the printed bill.

02:41 PM -- Dr. Brent Keeler, representing the Colorado Medical Society, testified in support of the bill. Dr. Keeler provided the committee with a written statement (Attachment F). He also provided a letter of support from the Colorado Medical Society (Attachment G). He read his prepared remarks and responded to questions from the committee.

02:55 PM

The committee discussed the need for professional review of medical caregivers.

02:59 PM

Representative Gardner discussed some process-oriented issues with the bill and indicated that he is still working with stakeholders to fine-tune the bill with amendments that will be offered on second reading.

03:01 PM -- Dr. Michael Chase, representing Kaiser Permanente, testified in support of the bill. Dr. Chase stressed that professional review is essential for improving patient safety and insuring physician competence. He discussed the importance of confidentiality with regard to professional review. He talked about sharing information among various medical entities involved in professional review.

03:04 PM -- Brian Tobias, representing the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), came to the table to respond to questions about the sunset review process.

03:05 PM -- Richard Morales, representing DORA, testified that the department has some reservations about the amendment.

03:06 PM -- Ann McCullough, representing the Colorado Hospital Association, testified in support of the bill and potential amendments. Ms. McCullough responded to questions from the committee about the ways the bill brings Colorado law into conformance with federal law.

03:12 PM -- Linda Siderius, representing the Colorado Nurses' Association and the Colorado Association of Nurse Midwives, testified in support of the bill. Ms. Siderius indicated that nurses, advanced practice nurses, and nurse midwives want to participate in the professional review process. She discussed concerns with language in the strike-below amendment pertaining to the advanced practice nurses. Representative Gardner expressed his commitment to continuing to work with the nursing community to get the bill right.

03:16 PM -- John Conklin, representing the Colorado Medical Society, made himself available to respond to technical and legal questions.

03:17 PM -- Mel Sabey, representing a number of Colorado hospitals, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Sabey stressed the importance of confidentiality in the area of professional review. He addressed earlier questions about the "objectively reasonable" and "good faith" standards.

03:22 PM -- Susan Koontz, representing the Colorado Medical Society, provided technical and legal assistance in response to questions from the committee.

03:29 PM

Representative Gardner provided closing comments about the bill. He thanked the stakeholders for their hard work over the last several months.

03:31 PM -- Duane Gall, representing the Office of Legislative Legal Services, came to the table to respond to questions from the committee.


BILL:	HB12-1300
TIME:	03:36:02 PM
MOVED:	Gardner B.
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment E). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Pabon
		VOTE
	DelGrosso
	Duran
	Kagan
	Lee
	Nikkel
	Pabon
	Ryden
	Sonnenberg
	Waller
	Barker
	Gardner B.

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB12-1300
TIME:	03:36:48 PM
MOVED:	Gardner B.
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 12-1300, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 11-0.
SECONDED:	Kagan
		VOTE
	DelGrosso	Yes
	Duran	Yes
	Kagan	Yes
	Lee	Yes
	Nikkel	Yes
	Pabon	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	Barker	Yes
	Gardner B.	Yes

Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:41 PM -- House Bill 12-1297

Representative Gardner, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 12-1297 concerning the Committee on Anticompetitive Conduct (CAC). The bill implements one recommendation of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) in its 2011 sunset review of professional review committees. The bill repeals the CAC, a subcommittee of the Colorado Medical Board in the DORA.

Representative Gardner indicated that he has heard from a number of medical professionals who do not want the CAC to be eliminated. He expressed his opinion that the current form and structure of the CAC is not particularly useful and needs to be modified if it continues to exist. He responded to questions from the committee about continuing the functions of the CAC.

03:57 PM -- Brian Tobias, representing DORA, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Tobias discussed the sunset review of the CAC that was conducted in 2011 and explained the factors considered by DORA during the review process. He discussed the functions and process of the CAC and indicated that the CAC process is used infrequently; it has been used 11 times in 26 years. Colorado is the only state that uses a CAC process. Mr. Tobias responded to questions from the committee.

04:09 PM -- Anne Cox, representing COPIC, testified in support of continuing the CAC in a modified form. Ms. Cox responded to questions from the committee.

04:17 PM

The committee continued to discuss a potential modified form of the CAC.

04:20 PM

Representative Gardner asked for the bill to be laid over for action at a later date.

04:23 PM

The committee adjourned.