Date: 02/16/2009

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB09-1251

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment E). Th
Adopt prepared amendment L.002 (Attachment F). Th
Adopt prepared amendment L.003 (Attachment G). Th
Postpone House Bill 09-1251 indefinitely. The mot
Refer House Bill 09-1251, as amended, to the Commi
Pass Without Objection
FAIL
Pass Without Objection
PASS
FAIL



02:49 PM -- House Bill 09-1251

Representative Kefalas, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 09-1251 concerning the disclosure of criminal justice records. This bill will create a presumption that criminal justice records should be available to the public unless the custodian of such records determines that such disclosure is contrary to public interest. The custodian is required to consider the following factors in making a determination:

If the custodian refuses to release criminal justice records to the public and the requestor applies for a court order, the bill requires a judge to make a finding as to whether the refusal was proper.

02:57 PM --
Bob Oblock, representing himself, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. Oblock is a private investigator in Colorado and stated his belief that the bill would have the opposite of the desired effect.

03:01 PM --
Anthony Mastin, Colorado Independent Investigators Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. Mastin stated that the bill complicates private interests well beyond what is reasonable. He indicated that current law is sufficient to protect information in criminal justice records.

03:08 PM --
Michael Lowe, Denver Police Protection Association and the Colorado Police Protection Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. Lowe stated that the net result of the bill is to make criminal justice records more difficult to obtain.

03:16 PM --
Andrew MacDonald, Boulder County Sheriff's Office, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. MacDonald indicated that he currently spends a great amount of time doing records reviews. He raised questions about how to treat different types of incident reports from law enforcement officials and discussed case law that addressed different criminal justice records. He responded to committee questions about the presumption contained in current law. The committee discussed how the bill could be more restrictive with respect to criminal justice records than current law.

03:27 PM --
Joe Pelle, County Sheriffs of Colorado, spoke in opposition to the bill.

03:27 PM --
Maria Moll, Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, spoke in opposition to the bill. Commander Moll discussed current law and practice with regard to the refusal to release records.

03:30 PM --
Dick Reeve, Denver District Attorney's Office, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. Reeve explained that the current system is not broken and this bill would cause more problems than it would fix. He discussed the fiscal note and the fiscal impact to local entities. He suggested that individuals who choose to cooperate with law enforcement deserves their privacy and this bill threatens that. He discussed his legal opinion about the potential legal difficulties inherent in changing the presumption regarding criminal justice records.

03:44 PM --
Amy Miller, Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence, spoke in opposition to the bill. Ms. Miller's concerns center around confidentiality for victims of domestic violence. She stated that these victims deserve protection.

03:48 PM --
Tom Raynes, Colorado Attorney General's Office, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. Raynes discussed the presumption contained in the bill that could conflict with presumptions in current law. He stated that this bill will create resource problems for rural district attorneys. He raised concerns about how the bill will affect a defendant's right to a fair trial, damage ongoing criminal investigations, and raise witness protection issues. He stated that the bill will not simplify proceedings, but will create complication and new proceedings.

03:54 PM --
Mark Randall, CDAC, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. Randall discussed the likelihood of increased litigation as a result of this bill. He believes the bill will have a chilling effect on individuals who wish to cooperate in criminal investigations.

03:59 PM --
Don Jensen, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill. Dr. Jensen related details of a negative experience he had with law enforcement officials in Larimer County.

04:17 PM --
Maureen Cain, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, spoke in support of the bill, as amended. Ms. Cain discussed prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment E). She talked about the need to protect information about ongoing investigations. She believes that the bill provides more structure to the process of making criminal justice records public, but does not substantially change it.

09HouseJud0216AttachE.pdf

04:21 PM --
Chris Beall, Colorado Press Association, spoke in support of the bill. Mr. Beall discussed how the bill is a good effort at bringing Colorado law into conformance with the 2005 Colorado Supreme Court's decision in Harris v. Denver Post Corp. He stated that the purpose of the bill is to cause the custodians of records to weigh the public interest in accessing the records against the protection of ongoing investigations and the protection of a defendants right to a fair trial. The problem that needs to be solved here is that records requests from media entities are routinely denied without explanation or indication that the custodian of records has engaged in balancing of interests prior to issuing a denial.

BILL:HB09-1251
TIME: 04:41:19 PM
MOVED:Ryden
MOTION:Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment E). The motion
SECONDED:Miklosi
VOTE
Apuan
Court
Gardner B.
King
Miklosi
Pace
Roberts
Ryden
Waller
McCann
Excused
Levy
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:HB09-1251
TIME: 04:43:23 PM
MOVED:Ryden
MOTION:Adopt prepared amendment L.002 (Attachment F). The motion failed on a vote of 4-6, with 1 excused.

09HouseJud0216AttachF.pdf
SECONDED:Levy
VOTE
Apuan
Yes
Court
No
Gardner B.
No
King
No
Miklosi
Yes
Pace
Yes
Roberts
No
Ryden
Yes
Waller
No
McCann
Excused
Levy
No
Not Final YES: 4 NO: 6 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:HB09-1251
TIME: 04:45:43 PM
MOVED:Ryden
MOTION:Adopt prepared amendment L.003 (Attachment G). The motion passed without objection.

09HouseJud0216AttachG.pdf
SECONDED:Pace
VOTE
Apuan
Court
Gardner B.
King
Miklosi
Pace
Roberts
Ryden
Waller
McCann
Excused
Levy
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:HB09-1251
TIME: 04:50:49 PM
MOVED:Apuan
MOTION:Refer House Bill 09-1251, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendation. The members made comments about the bill. The motion failed on a vote of 1-9, with 1 excused.
SECONDED:Ryden
VOTE
Apuan
No
Court
No
Gardner B.
No
King
No
Miklosi
No
Pace
No
Roberts
No
Ryden
Yes
Waller
No
McCann
Excused
Levy
No
Not Final YES: 1 NO: 9 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:HB09-1251
TIME: 04:50:40 PM
MOVED:Roberts
MOTION:Postpone House Bill 09-1251 indefinitely. The motion passed on a vote of 10-0, with 1 excused.
SECONDED:Waller
VOTE
Apuan
Yes
Court
Yes
Gardner B.
Yes
King
Yes
Miklosi
Yes
Pace
Yes
Roberts
Yes
Ryden
Yes
Waller
Yes
McCann
Excused
Levy
Yes
Final YES: 10 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS