NOTE: The governor signed this measure on 6/5/2015.
      
      
      SENATE BILL 15-184
      
      
      BY SENATOR(S) Holbert, Crowder, Heath, Hill, Kerr, Merrifield, Todd;
      also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Fields, Arndt, Becker K., Brown, Hamner,
      Kagan, Lontine, Pabon, Primavera, Van Winkle, Young, Hullinghorst.
      
      
      Concerning enforcement of compulsory education requirements.
      
      
      Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
      
           SECTION 1.  In Colorado Revised Statutes, add 13-5-145 as
      follows:
      
           13-5-145.  Truancy detention reduction policy - legislative
      declaration. (1)  The general assembly finds that:
      
           (a)  Imposing a sentence of detention on a juvenile who
      violates a court order to attend school does not improve the
      likelihood that the juvenile will attend school and does not
      address the underlying causes of the juvenile's truancy;
      
           (b)  The best methods to address truancy and its underlying
      causes and the resources needed to implement those methods are
      different in each community;
      
           (c)  Since 2014, the juvenile courts in many judicial districts
      around the state have successfully reduced the use of detention
      for juveniles who are truant by implementing pilot projects
      through which the juvenile court imposes reasonable sanctions
      and, where possible, provides incentives to attend school,
      reserving detention as a sanction of last resort; and
      
           (d)  These pilot projects need additional time to produce
      meaningful data regarding the effectiveness of the alternate
      sanctions and incentives and to determine whether they result in
      improved outcomes for juveniles and their families.
      
           (2)  The chief judge in each judicial district, or his or her
      designee, shall convene a meeting of community stakeholders to
      create a policy for addressing truancy cases that seeks
      alternatives to the use of detention as a sanction for truancy.
      Community stakeholders may include, but need not be limited to:
      
           (a)  Parents;
      
           (b)  Representatives from school districts;
      
           (c)  Representatives from county human services and social
      services departments;
      
           (d)  Guardians ad litem;
      
           (e)  Court-appointed special advocates;
      
           (f)  Juvenile court judges;
      
           (g)  Respondent counsel;
      
           (h)  Representatives from law enforcement agencies;
      
           (i)  Mental health care providers;
      
           (j)  Substance abuse treatment providers;
      
           (k)  Representatives from the division of criminal justice in
      the department of public safety;
      
           (l)  Representatives from the state department of human
      services; and
      
           (m)  Representatives from the department of education.
      
           (3)  The chief judge in each judicial district shall adopt a
      policy for addressing truancy cases no later than March 15,
      2016. In developing the policy for addressing truancy cases, the
      chief judge and the community stakeholders shall consider, at a
      minimum:
      
           (a)  Best practices for addressing truancy that are used in
      other judicial districts and in other states;
      
           (b)  Evidence-based practices to address and reduce
      truancy;
      
           (c)  Using a wide array of reasonable sanctions and
      reasonable incentives to address and reduce truancy;
      
           (d)  Using detention only as a last resort after exhausting
      all other reasonable sanctions and, when imposing detention,
      appropriately reducing the number of days served; and
      
           (e)  Research regarding the effect of detention on juveniles.
      
           (4)  The state court administrator's office shall report to
      the judiciary committees of the house of representatives and the
      senate, or any successor committees, no later than April 15, 2016,
      regarding the policy for addressing truancy cases adopted by
      each judicial district.
      
           SECTION 2.  Act subject to petition - effective date. This act
      takes 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
      5, 2015, if adjournment sine die is on May 6, 2015); 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 will not take effect unless
      approved by the people at the general election to be held in November 2016
      and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the official declaration of
      the vote thereon by the governor.
      
      
      
      
      ____________________________  ____________________________
      Bill L. Cadman                Dickey Lee Hullinghorst
      PRESIDENT OF                     SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
      THE SENATE                         OF REPRESENTATIVES
      
      
      
      
      
      
      ____________________________  ____________________________
      Cindi L. Markwell                      Marilyn Eddins
      SECRETARY OF                 CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
      THE SENATE                         OF REPRESENTATIVES
      
      
      
      
                  APPROVED________________________________________
      
      
      
      
      
                                    _________________________________________
                                    John W. Hickenlooper
                                    GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF COLORADO