Senate Committee on Judiciary (02/04/2009)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Date:	02/04/2009	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:43 PM to 07:30 PM	Hudak	X
		King K.	X
Place:	SCR 352	Lundberg	X
		Newell	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Renfroe	X
	Senator Morse	Carroll M.	*
		Morse	X
This Report was prepared by
	Sara McPhee
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
SB09-036 SB09-034 SB09-097 SB09-069 SB09-068		Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Referred to Appropriations

01:43 PM -- Senate Bill 09-036

Senator Gibbs, bill sponsor, provided an overview of SB 09-036. He indicated that this bill deals with music piracy and is similar to a bill that was introduced last year. He discussed the economic losses concerning music piracy. Senator Gibbs noted that the provision from the previous year that made music piracy a felony was taken out, but the bill does institute mandatory fines.

01:46 PM -- Carlos Linares, representing the Recording Industry Association of America, spoke in support of the bill. He explained that his organization is working to address the issue of music piracy. Mr. Linares indicated that if the music piracy statutes are not strong enough then they find that local law enforcement is not interested in enforcing the statutes. Mr. Linares stated that music piracy is a serious problem in Colorado because it is not a felony. An additional mechanism for making the statute more robust, according to Mr. Linares, is to institute fines which would be accomplished with this bill. He discussed the ways that music pirates are using new technologies to create new products.

01:54 PM

Senator Hudak asked about specific provisions in the proposed amendment (Attachment A). Senator Newell asked about whether this bill would be applicable to individuals who may share a few copies of a CD rather than commercial interests. Mr. Linares indicated that this bill only pertains to people who are engaging in music piracy for commercial gain. Senator Lundberg inquired about the ways in which people engaging in music piracy might be able to get around the provisions of the bill. Mr. Linares noted that this law is intended to be a consumer protection statute.

02:02 PM -- Martin Trujillo, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill. He stated that he is a music store owner and he explained that his business is declining because of music piracy.

02:03 PM

Senator Gibbs concluded his discussion of the bill. He noted that many music businesses have closed down because of music piracy.


BILL:	SB09-036
TIME:	02:05:27 PM
MOVED:	Carroll M.
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.004 (Attachment A). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak
	King K.
	Lundberg
	Newell
	Renfroe
	Carroll M.
	Morse

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

02:06 PM

Senator Lundberg discussed his concerns with the bill.


BILL:	SB09-036
TIME:	02:06:49 PM
MOVED:	Carroll M.
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 09-036, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 6-1 roll call vote.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	Yes
	Lundberg	No
	Newell	Yes
	Renfroe	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Morse	Yes

Final YES: 6 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:07 PM -- Senate Bill 09-034

Senator Kester, bill sponsor, provided an overview of SB 09-034. He explained that this bill changes the security level designation for Centennial Correctional Facility from level IV to a level V facility. He distributed a handout (Attachment B).

02:10 PM -- Gary Maas, representing the Department of Corrections, spoke in support of the bill. He explained that the statute designates the security level for each prison facility. He stated that the bill changes the facility designation of Centennial Correctional Facility from a level IV to a level V facility.

02:12 PM

Senator Carroll asked if any of the inmates are impacted by this change. Mr. Maas stated that it does not because offender rights are based on the offenders themselves, not the designation of the facility.

02:13 PM -- Christie Donner, representing the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, provided the committee with her concerns about the bill and the change in designation. She discussed the characteristics of a level V facility. She stated that Colorado leads the nation in the percentage of the prison population housed in high level facilities. She explained her concerns with the treatment of inmates in level V facilities. She discussed ways the bill might be amended. First, Ms. Donner would like the state to begin looking at where and how inmates with mental illness are housed. Second, she believes that all of the classifications used by the department should be reviewed.

02:19 PM

Senator Hudak stated that it is important to look at how criminals are housed; however, this bill is simply a technical change. Senator Kester commented that Ms. Donner may be quoting statistics that are out of date. He stated that he believes that Colorado has made advancements in the treatment of the mentally ill in state prisons.


BILL:	SB09-034
TIME:	02:21:31 PM
MOVED:	Carroll M.
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 09-034 to the Committee of the Whole with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The motion passed on a 7-0 roll call vote.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	Yes
	Lundberg	Yes
	Newell	Yes
	Renfroe	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Morse	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:22 PM -- Senate Bill 09-097

Senator Cadman, bill sponsor, explained the provisions of SB 09-097. He explained that this bill is a technical clean-up of a bill that was passed in the previous legislative session. According to Senator Cadman, this bill makes clarifying changes to the statutes related to police officers at Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo and the institutions of higher education.

02:24 PM -- Joe Roy, representing the Colorado Association of Institutional Law Enforcement Directors, spoke in support of the bill. He explained the reasons for the technical changes. He provided an overview of the changes that would be instituted in this bill. Mr. Roy also discussed a technical amendment to the bill (Attachment C).

02:28 PM -- Tom Hill, representing the County Sheriffs of Colorado, spoke in support of the bill.


BILL:	SB09-097
TIME:	02:29:05 PM
MOVED:	Carroll M.
MOTION:	Adopt prepared Amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak
	King K.
	Lundberg
	Newell
	Renfroe
	Carroll M.
	Morse

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	SB09-097
TIME:	02:33:09 PM
MOVED:	Carroll M.
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 09-097, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The motion passed on a 7-0 roll call vote.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	Yes
	Lundberg	Yes
	Newell	Yes
	Renfroe	Yes
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Morse	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:33 PM -- Senate Bill 09-069

Senator Boyd, bill sponsor, provided an overview of SB 09-069. She explained that the bill provides limited immunity from liability to a parenting coordinator who is acting in the scope of his or her duties, as long as the act or omission that caused the injury was not willful and wanton.

02:36 PM -- Judy Schure, representing herself, spoke in opposition to the bill. She related her experiences concerning parent coordinators. She believes that the immunity provision should be removed because the coordinators have no oversight. She distributed a handout (Attachment D). Ms. Schure stated that she is against immunity until the state establishes standards of practice.

02:43 PM

Senator Hudak asked about the role of the parenting coordinator. Senator King asked about specific language in the bill concerning parenting coordinators who are asked to testify.

02:47 PM -- Dawn and Sarah O'Keefe, representing themselves, spoke in opposition to the bill. Ms. O'Keefe related her personal experiences with parenting coordinators. She explained that the parenting coordinators are not required to have education in domestic violence.

02:56 PM -- Adoree Blair, representing herself, spoke in support of the bill. She provided the committee with a packet of materials (Attachment E). She discussed the role of the parenting coordinator.

03:01 PM

Senator Renfroe asked for examples of when a parenting coordinator needed immunity, but did not have it. Ms. Blair stated that she believes that fewer people are willing to be parenting coordinators because of the lack of immunity. Senator King spoke about the role of the parenting coordinator and discussed the situation concerning the O'Keefe family. Senator Newell asked about parenting coordinator training.

03:06 PM -- Alicia Davis, representing the Judicial Department, spoke about the bill. Senator King asked about language on page three of the bill concerning competence to testify. He asked why a parenting coordinator may not be competent to testify.

03:12 PM

The chair laid the bill over for action at a future date.

03:12 PM -- Senate Bill 09-068

Senator Morse, bill sponsor, provided an overview of the bill. He stated that the purpose is to increase funding for domestic violence. He discussed the importance of increasing services for domestic violence. Senator Morse noted that there is opposition to the bill. He stated that this opposition concerns those who oppose any fee increase and those who oppose increased funding for domestic violence.

03:17 PM -- Chris Radeff, representing the Colorado Bar Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. She indicated that her organization supports increasing domestic violence funding, however, they are in opposition to the increase in the divorce filing and response petition fees.

03:22 PM -- Philip Umling, representing himself, spoke in opposition to the bill. He related his opposition concerning increased funding for domestic violence programs.

03:24 PM -- Cliff Smedley, representing himself, spoke in opposition to the bill. He noted that the bill is targeted toward women who are abused and he stated that it is not always women, but men also are abused. Senator Renfroe asked about where the funds are going and whether those programs provide men with the opportunity to seek help.

03:29 PM -- Charles Corey, representing the Equal Justice Foundation, spoke in opposition to the bill. He indicated that he does not believe that the domestic violence laws in Colorado are working. He stated that he believes that as funding increases, the people receiving the money find more cases in order to make sure that they use the money. He also believes that funding domestic violence is destroying the institution of marriage.

03:38 PM -- Sheryl Hutter, representing herself, spoke in opposition to the bill. She discussed false allegations concerning domestic violence. She is also opposed to the increase in fees.

03:43 PM -- Robert Alvarez, representing the U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Program, spoke in opposition to the bill. He stated that he does not believe that domestic violence programs help the soldiers coming back from the war. He believes that many of them have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which causes them to be falsely accused of domestic violence. He noted that families with domestic violence problems should be in family counseling to fix the problem.

03:46 PM -- Debbie Osborne, representing Fighting Abuse in the Home, spoke in support of the bill. She believes that the increased resources for this bill will help to combat domestic violence.

03:48 PM -- Elaine Luster, representing herself, spoke in support of the bill. She related her personal experiences with domestic violence.

03:55 PM -- Carol Kresge, representing herself, spoke in support of the bill. She related her personal experiences with domestic violence.

04:04 PM

The committee recessed.

06:58 PM

The committee came back to order.

06:58 PM -- Amy Miller, representing the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence, spoke in support of the bill. She addressed the concern that access to services would be limited because the bill specifies that the funding be used for individuals who are victims of domestic violence and who are married, separated, or divorced. She also discussed the fee waiver for district court filing fees. Ms. Miller stated that she believes that the criminal justice system works well. She also noted that the programs around the state do serve male victims. Ms. Miller provided the committee with information concerning staff size and salaries. She also explained the accountability for nonprofit organizations and domestic violence organizations in particular.

07:06 PM

Senator Renfroe discussed the increase in the marriage fee and whether or not that would deter people from getting married. He also asked about domestic violence statistics for the married population versus the unmarried population. Ms. Miller indicated that much of the domestic violence occurs after separation or divorce, but may have begun during the marriage. She also stated that the majority of the people served by domestic violence funding in Colorado are married. Senator Renfroe asked about further clarification concerning when domestic violence occurs. Senator Renfroe also asked about accountability for the funds. Ms. Miller discussed the accountability systems that domestic violence programs have in place. Senator Newell asked about domestic violence statistics by county. She also asked about increased domestic violence during an economic downturn.

07:23 PM

Senator Morse concluded his presentation of the bill.


BILL:	SB09-068
TIME:	07:26:22 PM
MOVED:	King K.
MOTION:	Moved to amend Senate Bill 09-068, page 2, line 6, strike "and other types of abuse and coercive"; line 7, strike "control". The motion failed on a 3-4 roll call vote.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak	No
	King K.	Yes
	Lundberg	Yes
	Newell	No
	Renfroe	Yes
	Carroll M.	No
	Morse	No

Not Final YES: 3 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	SB09-068
TIME:	07:28:47 PM
MOVED:	Morse
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 09-068 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a 4-3 roll call vote.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Hudak	Yes
	King K.	No
	Lundberg	No
	Newell	Yes
	Renfroe	No
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Morse	Yes

Final YES: 4 NO: 3 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:30 PM

The committee adjourned.