NOTE:  This bill has been prepared for the signature of the appropriate legislative
officers and the Governor.  To determine whether the Governor has signed the bill
or taken other action on it, please consult the legislative status sheet, the legislative
      history, or the Session Laws.
      
      
      HOUSE BILL 10-1023
      
      
      BY REPRESENTATIVE(S) Waller, Gagliardi, Kagan, Kefalas, Summers,
      Baumgardner, Casso, Court, Fischer, Gardner B., Gerou, King S., Labuda,
      Merrifield, Murray, Nikkel, Pace, Pommer, Priola, Ryden, Schafer S.,
      Solano, Stephens, Todd, Tyler, Vigil, Carroll T.;
      also SENATOR(S) Hudak, Boyd, Sandoval, Scheffel, White, Gibbs, Heath,
      Newell, Whitehead.
      
      
      Concerning clarifying civil liability regarding negligent hiring
           practices for an employer that hires a person with a
           criminal record.
       
      
      Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
      
           SECTION 1.  Legislative declaration.  (1)  The General Assembly
      hereby finds that:
      
           (a)  Employers may be reluctant, in part, to hire employees with a
      criminal record due to a lack of clarity regarding the employer's risk of
      liability for such hire;
      
           (b)  Since there is a direct correlation between employment and
      reduced recidivism, it is in the public interest to clarify employer liability
      for employers who hire persons with a criminal conviction.
      
           (2)  Therefore, it is necessary and appropriate for the General
      Assembly to reduce unnecessary barriers to employment for persons with
      a criminal conviction and thereby promote economic opportunity, poverty
      reduction, and public safety in the state of Colorado.
      
           SECTION 2.  8-2-201, Colorado Revised Statutes, is amended to
      read:
      
           8-2-201.  Damages - fellow servant rule and abolition thereof -
      limitation on admission of criminal history.  (1)  Every corporation or
      individual who employs agents, servants, or employees, such agents,
      servants, or employees being in the exercise of due care, shall be liable to
      respond in damages for injuries or death sustained by any such agent,
      servant, or employee resulting from the carelessness, omission of duty, or
      negligence of such employer, or which may have resulted from the
      carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence of any other agent, servant, or
      employee of the employer, in the same manner and to the same extent as if
      the carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence causing the injury or death
      was that of the employer.
      
           (2) (a)  Information regarding the criminal history of an
      employee or former employee may not be introduced as evidence
      in a civil action against an employer or its employees or agents
      that is based on the conduct of the employee or former employee
      if:
      
           (I)  The nature of the criminal history does not bear a direct
      relationship to the facts underlying the cause of action; or
      
           (II)  Before the occurrence of the act giving rise to the civil
      action, a court order sealed any record of the criminal case or
      the employee or former employee received a pardon; or
      
           (III)  The record is of an arrest or charge that did not result
      in a criminal conviction; or
      
           (IV)  The employee or former employee received a deferred
      judgment at sentence and the deferred judgment was not revoked.
      
           (b)  This subsection (2) does not supersede any statutory
      requirement to conduct a criminal history background
      investigation or consider criminal history records in hiring for
      particular types of employment.
      
           SECTION 3.  Act subject to petition - effective date.  This act
      shall take effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the
      ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly (August
      11, 2010, if adjournment sine die is on May 12, 2010); except that, if a
      referendum petition is filed pursuant to section 1 (3) of article V of the state
      constitution against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within
      such period, then the act, item, section, or part shall not take effect unless
      approved by the people at the general election to be held in November 2010
      and shall take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote
      thereon by the governor.
      
      
      
      
      ________________________________________________________
      Terrance D. Carroll                Brandon C. Shaffer
      SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE                     PRESIDENT OF
      OF REPRESENTATIVES                         THE SENATE
      
      
      
      
      
      
      ____________________________  ____________________________
      Marilyn Eddins                          Karen Goldman
      CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE                 SECRETARY OF
      OF REPRESENTATIVES                         THE SENATE
      
      
      
      
                  APPROVED________________________________________
      
      
      
      
      
                                    _________________________________________
                                    Bill Ritter, Jr.
                                    GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF COLORADO