House Committee on Judiciary (02/10/2005)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Date:	02/10/2005	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:39 PM to 06:32 PM	Boyd	X
		Brophy	X
Place:	SupCt	Decker	X
		Harvey	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Hefley	X
	Representative Carroll T.	Jahn	X
		Judd	X
This Report was prepared by		Kerr	X
	Jennifer Moe	McGihon	X
		Carroll M.	X
		Carroll T.	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB05-1160 HB05-1169 (testimony) HB05-1116 HB05-1155 HB05-1169 (action) HB05-1106		Referred to the Committee of the Whole Witness Testimony Only Amended and Referred to the Committee on Approp. Postponed Indefinitely Amended and Referred to the Committee of the Whole Postponed Indefinitely

01:39 PM -- House Bill 05-1160

Representative T. Carroll called the committee to order. A quorum was present. He announced the following changes to the printed calendar: HB 05-1160 would be heard first, and HB 05-1090 was removed from the calendar. He also asked witnesses to limit their testimony to what is clear, concise, related to the bill at hand, and non-repetitive. Representative Brophy, the prime sponsor of HB 05-1160, Concerning Unlawful Recordings, explained the problem of piracy, which is the illegal reproduction and sale of copyrighted recordings. He then summarized the bill's provisions and answered questions from the committee.

The following people testified on the bill:

01:46 PM -- Mr. Aaron Aguilar, representing the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), spoke in support of the bill. He described the growth of piracy and its impact on the recording industry. He also indicated how those who make and distribute illegal copies of music view the current penalties they could receive under state law. He responded to questions from the committee. Mr. Don Valdez, Regional Counsel for RIAA, answered questions from the committee about the possible interaction of this legislation with federal copyright law, and clarified that legal rights are tied to the performance of an individual, not the actual recording.

01:58 PM -- Mr. Angelo Coiro, representing Angelo's CD's and More, spoke in support of the bill. He described the impact of piracy on those in the retail industry.

02:00 PM

The chairman closed the public testimony portion of the hearing. No amendments were offered by the committee or the bill sponsor.


BILL:	HB05-1160
TIME:	02:01:21 PM
MOVED:	Brophy
MOTION:	Refer HB 05-1160 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion carried on a vote of 11-0.
SECONDED:	McGihon
		VOTE
	Boyd	Yes
	Brophy	Yes
	Decker	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	McGihon	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Carroll T.	Yes
Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:02 PM -- House Bill 05-1169 (testimony)

The committee recessed.

02:07 PM

The committee reconvened. Representative Todd, the prime sponsor of HB 05-1169, Concerning Housing Issues for Victims of Domestic Violence, provided background information on the issue of domestic violence and landlord/tenant relations, and described how the bill's provisions would address some problems. Committee members were provided with talking points on the bill (Attachment A), Amendment L.001 and a memorandum prepared by Legislative Council Staff regarding the fiscal impact of Amendment L.001 (Attachment B), and Amendment L.009 (Attachment C).

The following people testified on the bill:

02:12 PM -- Ms. Karen Harvey, representing the Colorado Apartment Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. She stated her concerns with the bill, including the landlord's inability to evict a tenant, jeopardizing the safety and "quiet enjoyment" of other tenants, and the landlord's inability to sever a contract with a tenant. She responded to questions from the committee regarding her testimony and various parts of the bill.

02:32 PM -- Ms. Stephanie Brock, representing the Colorado Apartment Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. She described some of the problems that the bill will present for landlords. She answered questions from the committee.

02:40 PM -- Mr. Dan Levin, representing the Colorado Apartment Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. He focused on the quiet enjoyment concerns of tenants and the landlord's inability to sever a contract with the tenant. He answered questions from the committee.

02:51 PM -- Mr. Jamie Glonek, representing the Colorado Apartment Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. He answered questions from the committee. Discussion ensued regarding temporary restraining orders and potential scenarios under the bill's provisions. Committee members were provided with Amendments L.006 (Attachment D), L.007 (Attachment E), and L.010 (Attachment F).

03:09 PM -- Ms. Twanna LaTrice Hill, representing the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV), spoke in support of the bill. She addressed some of the issues raised during prior testimony. She also clarified that victims make reports that are filed by law enforcement. Ms. Hill underscored the importance of the housing issue around the state, as evidenced in town hall meetings held by CCADV. She described the problems that victims might encounter in finding alternative housing, and gave reasons why a victim might not file for a protection order.

03:16 PM -- Ms. Trish Thibido, representing the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence and speaking on behalf of Ms. Kristin Matthews, who was not present at the hearing, spoke in support of the bill. Ms. Thibido read the testimony of Ms. Matthews regarding her experience with an abusive boyfriend who moved into her apartment without her permission and forced her out, and the roadblocks she encountered with landlords in trying to move to another property. Ms. Thibido responded to questions and comments from the committee. Ms. Thibido clarified that her client's goal was to change locations, not get out of contractual payments on housing or personal property. Discussion ensued regarding potential scenarios and Section 1 of the bill.

03:33 PM -- Ms. Jennifer Knight, representing Colorado Legal Services, spoke in support of the bill. She explained the prevalence of the problem and explained how the bill will improve her ability to help victims of domestic violence. Ms. Knight responded to questions from the committee. She clarified that the bill allows landlords to evict a leasee who is abusing a tenant with whom the abuser lives and allows the victim to stay on the property instead of having to find new housing. Also, says Ms. Knight, the bill does not address the issue of non-payment of rent.

03:43 PM

The chairman closed the public testimony portion of the hearing, and the committee recessed so the bill sponsor could vote on a bill in the House Education Committee.

04:07 PM

The committee reconvened, and the chairman announced that the bill would lay over until the end of the day's calendar.
04:07 PM -- House Bill 05-1116

Representative Crane, the prime sponsor of HB 05-1116, Concerning Identity Theft, described the problem of identity theft in Colorado and its financial impact. He noted a recent news article regarding a victim of identity theft, then summarized the bill's provisions. He also answered questions from the committee.

The following people testified on the bill:

04:14 PM -- Mr. Tom Swanson, representing the American Association of Retired Persons, spoke in support of the bill.

04:15 PM -- Mr. Christopher Nelson, representing the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, spoke in support of the bill. Committee members were provided with information about trends in identity theft (Attachment G). He answered questions from the committee regarding current state and federal law, how uniformly the law can be implemented and enforced, and the cost of recovering your identity if it is stolen.

04:27 PM -- Mr. Scott Storey, representing the Colorado District Attorney's Council, spoke in support of the bill. He described his experience with victims of identity theft and told the committee about several situations involving identity theft in which consumers solicited help from the 1st Judicial District. He advocated education and deterrence as a means to address the problem. He then responded to questions from the committee.

04:39 PM -- Mr. Brad Shannon, representing the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and the County Sheriffs of Colorado, spoke in support of the bill. He affirmed the previous witness's testimony, stressed the need to increase penalties for committing identity theft, and encouraged the committee to consider also amending the statute of limitations for the crime.

04:41 PM -- Mr. Kelly England, representing the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, spoke in support of the bill. He cited statistics on identity theft. Committee members were provided with additional written testimony of Mr. England (Attachment H).

04:43 PM -- Mr. Pete Kirchhof, representing the Colorado Credit Union League, spoke in support of the bill, especially increasing the offense level to a class 4 felony. He quantified the impact of identity theft on credit unions in several specific cases.

04:48 PM -- Mr. Rex Wilmonth, representing the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, spoke in support of the bill. He reiterated the previous testimony and mentioned the credit card receipt legislation from 2002 that was alluded to earlier in the committee's discussion.

04:50 PM -- Ms. Rebecca Smith, representing U. S. Bank, spoke in support of the bill. She explained how the bill would help her clients and answered questions from the committee.

04:56 PM -- Ms. Renee Beauregard, Consumers United Association, spoke in support of the bill and explained why it would help her clients.

04:58 PM

The chairman closed the public testimony portion of the hearing, and the committee began considering amendments.


BILL:	HB05-1116
TIME:	05:03:10 PM
MOVED:	Decker
MOTION:	Move a conceptual amendment to the introduced bill: on page 3, line 19, strike "midpoint" and substitute "minimum". The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Judd
		VOTE
	Boyd
	Brophy
	Decker
	Harvey
	Hefley
	Jahn
	Judd
	Kerr
	McGihon
	Carroll M.
	Carroll T.
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

05:04 PM

Committee members commented on the impact of the bill.


BILL:	HB05-1116
TIME:	05:05:55 PM
MOVED:	Decker
MOTION:	Refer HB 05-1116, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion carried on a vote of 11-0.
SECONDED:	Brophy
		VOTE
	Boyd	Yes
	Brophy	Yes
	Decker	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	McGihon	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Carroll T.	Yes
Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

05:07 PM -- House Bill 05-1155

Representative Lundberg, the prime sponsor of HB 05-1155, Concerning the Definition of Pregnancy, described some dilemmas associated with the current definition of pregnancy and summarized the bill's provisions. Committee members were provided with information about fetal development in the first trimester of pregnancy (Attachment I). Representative Lundberg responded to questions from the committee.

The following people testified on the bill:

05:17 PM -- Dr. Stuart Gottesfeld, representing the Colorado Ob/Gyn Society, spoke in opposition to the bill. He provided the medical definition of pregnancy.

05:19 PM -- Rev. Jim Luallen, representing the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, spoke in opposition to the bill and responded to questions from the committee.

05:29 PM -- Ms. Cathryn Hazouri, representing the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, spoke in opposition to the bill and responded to questions from the committee.

05:34 PM -- Father Bill Carmody, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill. He explained why the medical definition of pregnancy was changed in 1965 to its current language. He responded to questions from the committee.

05:39 PM -- Mr. and Ms. Rob and Sandy Pelooz, representing themselves, spoke in support of the bill and answered questions from the committee.

05:45 PM

The chairman closed the public testimony portion of the hearing. No amendments were offered by the committee or the bill sponsor. Representative Lundberg made closing comments on the testimony of the witnesses and the bill.


BILL:	HB05-1155
TIME:	05:48:02 PM
MOVED:	Brophy
MOTION:	Refer HB 05-1155 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 4-7.
SECONDED:	Harvey
		VOTE
	Boyd	No
	Brophy	Yes
	Decker	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	No
	Jahn	No
	Judd	No
	Kerr	Yes
	McGihon	No
	Carroll M.	No
	Carroll T.	No
Not Final YES: 4 NO: 7 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB05-1155
TIME:	05:48:49 PM
MOVED:	McGihon
MOTION:	Postpone indefinitely HB 05-1155. The motion carried on a vote of 7-4.
SECONDED:	Boyd
		VOTE
	Boyd	Yes
	Brophy	No
	Decker	No
	Harvey	No
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Kerr	No
	McGihon	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Carroll T.	Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

05:49 PM -- House Bill 05-1169 (amendments and final action)

Committee members received Amendments L.013 (Attachment J) and L.014 (Attachment K).


BILL:	HB05-1169
TIME:	05:51:20 PM
MOVED:	McGihon
MOTION:	Move Amendment L.013, as amended (Attachment J). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Carroll M.
		VOTE
	Boyd
	Brophy
	Decker
	Harvey
	Hefley
	Jahn
	Judd
	Kerr
	McGihon
	Carroll M.
	Carroll T.
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

BILL:	HB05-1169
TIME:	05:51:39 PM
MOVED:	McGihon
MOTION:	Amend L.013 as follows to correct a technical error: on line 7, strike "4" and substitute "3". The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Boyd
	Brophy
	Decker
	Harvey
	Hefley
	Jahn
	Judd
	Kerr
	McGihon
	Carroll M.
	Carroll T.
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB05-1169
TIME:	05:55:01 PM
MOVED:	McGihon
MOTION:	Move Amendment L.014 (Attachment K). The motion carried on a vote of 10-1.
SECONDED:	Judd
		VOTE
	Boyd	Yes
	Brophy	Yes
	Decker	No
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	McGihon	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Carroll T.	Yes
Not Final YES: 10 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB05-1169
TIME:	05:59:34 PM
MOVED:	McGihon
MOTION:	Refer HB 05-1169, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion carried on a vote of 9-2.
SECONDED:	Carroll M.
		VOTE
	Boyd	Yes
	Brophy	No
	Decker	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Kerr	No
	McGihon	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Carroll T.	Yes
Final YES: 9 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

06:01 PM -- House Bill 05-1106

Representative Brophy, the prime sponsor of HB 05-1106, Concerning the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, described research about the ability of an unborn child to feel pain and provided committee members with a summary of this research (Attachment L). He then summarized the bill's provisions. Committee members were also provided with Amendment L.004 (Attachment M).

The following people testified on the bill:

06:06 PM -- Mr. Lloyd Athearn and Ms. Epovy Atchison, representing themselves, spoke in opposition to the bill. Ms. Atchison described her experience with an abortion, including the events leading up to her decision to have an abortion.

06:15 PM -- Dr. Stuart Gottesfeld, representing himself and the Colorado Ob/Gyn Society, spoke in opposition to the bill. He responded to questions from the committee.

06:22 PM -- Father Bill Carmody, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill.

06:24 PM

The chairman closed the public testimony portion of the hearing, and the committee began considering amendments.


BILL:	HB05-1106
TIME:	06:24:55 PM
MOVED:	Brophy
MOTION:	Move Amendment L.004 (Attachment M). The motion failed on a vote of 5-6.
SECONDED:	Harvey
		VOTE
	Boyd	No
	Brophy	Yes
	Decker	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	No
	Judd	No
	Kerr	Yes
	McGihon	No
	Carroll M.	No
	Carroll T.	No
Not Final YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

Prior to the vote, the committee recessed to retrieve Representative Hefley from another committee hearing.


BILL:	HB05-1106
TIME:	06:29:39 PM
MOVED:	Brophy
MOTION:	Refer HB 05-1106 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 5-6.
SECONDED:	Harvey
		VOTE
	Boyd	No
	Brophy	Yes
	Decker	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Hefley	Yes
	Jahn	No
	Judd	No
	Kerr	Yes
	McGihon	No
	Carroll M.	No
	Carroll T.	No
Not Final YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

Prior to the vote, several committee members commented.


BILL:	HB05-1106
TIME:	06:31:47 PM
MOVED:	McGihon
MOTION:	Postpone indefinitely HB 05-1106. The motion carried on a vote of 6-5.
SECONDED:	Jahn
		VOTE
	Boyd	Yes
	Brophy	No
	Decker	No
	Harvey	No
	Hefley	No
	Jahn	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Kerr	No
	McGihon	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Carroll T.	Yes
Final YES: 6 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

06:32 PM

The committee adjourned.