Date:	02/16/2012	ATTENDANCE
Time:	01:36 PM to 05:48 PM	Heath	X
		Johnston	X
Place:	SCR 354	King K.	*
		Renfroe	E
This Meeting was called to order by		Spence	*
	Senator Bacon	Hudak	X
		Bacon	X
This Report was prepared by
	Jennifer Thomsen
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
SB12-098 SB12-046		Postponed Indefinitely Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only

BILL:	SB12-098
TIME:	02:39:04 PM
MOVED:	Johnston
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment A). The motion failed on a vote of 0-5.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Heath	No
	Johnston	No
	King K.	No
	Renfroe	Excused
	Spence	Excused
	Hudak	No
	Bacon	No
YES: 0 NO: 5 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

BILL:	SB12-098
TIME:	02:39:53 PM
MOVED:	Johnston
MOTION:	Moved to refer Senate Bill 12-098 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 0-5.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Heath	No
	Johnston	No
	King K.	No
	Renfroe	Excused
	Spence	Excused
	Hudak	No
	Bacon	No
YES: 0 NO: 5 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL

BILL:	SB12-098
TIME:	02:40:18 PM
MOVED:	Hudak
MOTION:	Moved to postpone indefinitely Senate Bill 12-098. The motion passed 5-0 on a reversal of the previous roll call vote.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Heath	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	King K.	Yes
	Renfroe	Excused
	Spence	Excused
	Hudak	Yes
	Bacon	Yes
YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

• makes legislative declarations;
• adds a new subsection for the definitions of terms;
• permits a local board of education, in adopting and implementing its conduct and discipline code (C&D code), to consult with victims advocacy organizations, school psychologists, and local law enforcement agencies;
• requires each local board to take reasonable measures to ensure that students in each school in the school district are familiar with the C&D code;
• prohibits a school principal from removing a disruptive student from a class for the remainder of the term of the class unless a behavior plan has been developed and implemented for the student;
• prohibits a local board from adopting a C&D code that includes provisions that are in conflict with the definition of "abuse" in the Children's Code or the provisions of the "Protection of Persons from Restraint Act;"
• requires each local board, in creating and enforcing a C&D code, to impose proportionate disciplinary interventions and consequences, including but not limited to in-school suspensions, in response to student misconduct. The interventions and consequences must be designed to reduce the number of expulsions, out-of-school suspensions, and referrals to law enforcement, except for referrals to law enforcement that are required by state or federal law;
• requires each local board, in creating and enforcing a C&D code, to include plans for the appropriate use of prevention, intervention, restorative justice, peer mediation, counseling, or other approaches to address student misconduct that are designed to minimize student exposure to the criminal and juvenile justice system;
• requires each local board, in creating and enforcing a C&D code, to ensure the implementation of the code complies with all state and federal laws concerning the education of students with disabilities;
• eliminates the requirement that, in reporting C&D code violations pursuant to the safe school reporting requirements, each school principal shall specifically identify each C&D code violation by a student with a disability and each disciplinary action taken with respect to each violation by a student with a disability;
• requires a school resource officer (SRO) or other law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event who arrests a student to notify the principal of the arrest within 24 hours after;














• requires an SRO or other law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event who issues a summons, ticket, or other notice requiring the appearance of a student in court or at a police station for investigation relating to an offense allegedly committed on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event to notify the principal of the issuance of the summons, ticket, or other notice within 10 days;
• requires an SRO to be familiar with the provisions of the C&D code of the school to which he or she is assigned;
• requires each law enforcement agency employing or contracting with any law enforcement officer who is acting or has acted in his or her official capacity on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event annually to report to the Division of Criminal Justice, in aggregate form without personal identifying information, data about the cases handled by the agency during the preceding 12 months;
• in the context of a hearing to determine a possible expulsion or denial of admission of a student who committed a criminal offense against a person, requires the board of education or hearing officer conducting the hearing to ensure that the person against whom the offense was committed has the opportunity to submit a written victim impact statement for the consideration prior to the hearing;
• provides that a child who is denied admission or expelled as an outcome of a hearing shall have 10 days after the denial of admission or expulsion to appeal the decision of the executive officer to the board of education, after which time the decision to grant or deny an appeal shall be at the discretion of the board of education;
• amends the statutory grounds for suspension, expulsion, and denial of admission of students to make them discretionary rather than mandatory;
• clarifies that an "habitually disruptive student" means a child who has caused a material and substantial disruption on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event three or more times during the course of a school year;
• adds "use or possession of a drug or controlled substance" to the list of discretionary grounds for suspension, expulsion, or denial of admission of a student;
• requires each school district accountability committee to provide input to the local school board concerning the creation and enforcement of its C&D code;
• reconciles the disciplinary reporting requirements of school performance reports with the school safety reporting requirements;
• amends the definition of "in-school suspension" for the purposes of the grant program for in-school or in-home suspension;
• requires the district attorney of each judicial district annually to report to the Division of Criminal Justice specific information about offenses alleged to have occurred on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event within the judicial district during the preceding 12 months;
• requires the peace officer standards and training (P.O.S.T.) board to provide a training curriculum to prepare peace officers to serve in an official capacity as SROs;
• encourages each law enforcement agency, in assigning peace officers to serve as SROs, to ensure that peace officers have successfully completed the SRO training curriculum, or will complete the training within six months after beginning the assignment;
• requires each county sheriff and each municipal law enforcement agency of the state to employ at least one peace officer who has successfully completed the SRO training curriculum;








• requires the SRO training curriculum to include a means of recognizing and identifying peace officers who successfully complete the training curriculum;
• permits the P.O.S.T. board, in creating the SRO training curriculum, to include provisions to allow for the awarding of credit to a peace officer who has successfully completed an SRO certification curriculum offered by public or private entities that are identified by the P.O.S.T. board;
• permits the P.O.S.T. board to charge a fee, not to exceed the costs incurred by the P.O.S.T. board in providing the curriculum, to each peace officer who enrolls in the training curriculum;
• requires the Division of Criminal Justice to: (1) collect the information reported to the division by SROs, other law enforcement officers, and district attorneys; (2) report the information to the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice in a manner that does not include identifying information regarding any student; and (3) make the information available to the public upon request in a manner that does not include identifying information regarding any student; and
• makes conforming amendments.

03:42 PM

Chief Jackson responded to committee questions about mandatory expulsion. The committee discussed at length the provisions of the amendment related to SRO training. The committee also discussed the reporting provisions, with the bill sponsors weighing in. Committee conversation also touched on language related to referrals to the district attorney.

03:58 PM -- Marco Nunez, representing the Legislative Task Force to Study School Discipline and Padres y Jovenes Unidos, testified in support of the bill. He said the bill is an effort to identify best practices and figure out how to replicate them. He said there are racial and geographic variances in school discipline. He said the bill provides greater parity by promoting graduated discipline, and it invites students to recognize that they are members of a community.










04:04 PM -- Jeannette Hotham, representing the Youth Transformation Center, testified in support of the bill. She provided two handouts -- a policy statement about out-of-school suspension and expulsion from the American Academy of Pediatrics (Attachment D) and a book entitled "Taking Restorative Justice to Schools" (Attachment E). She talked about the experiences of several students who have participated in her program. She said the bill's goal is to minimize the overuse of suspension and expulsion. Ms. Hotham discussed restorative justice and the decrease in recidivism when it is used.

Attachment E can be viewed at State Archives.

04:13 PM -- Charlotte Armstrong, a school psychologist from Monument representing the Colorado Society of School Psychologists, testified in support of the bill. She talked about policies and procedures for assessing students for threats of violence or suicide and individualized safety plans. Ms. Armstrong provided information about her school district and the work of the SRO there.

04:18 PM -- Julie Bolding, representing the Colorado Society of School Psychologists, testified in support of the bill. She discussed the role of school psychologists. Ms. Bolding expressed support for student behavior plans. She described the experience of a student in her school who was expelled. She spoke to some earlier committee questions about students being removed from the classroom.

04:22 PM -- Franci Crepeau-Hobson, representing the Colorado Society of School Psychologists, testified in support of the bill. She said research has consistently found that expulsion is ineffective in preventing disruptive behavior. She discussed the relationship between bullying, disciplinary problems, and suicide. She said changes to disciplinary processes can save lives.

04:25 PM -- Amy Miller, representing the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence, testified in support of amendments L.006 and L.008 (Attachments B and F, respectively). She said students deserve an environment that is conducive to learning. She spoke about teen dating violence, saying it is a prevalent issue. She talked about the need to include this issue in safe school plans. She said amendment L.008 clarifies that restorative justice or peer mediation is not appropriate in cases of domestic violence, dating violence, or sexual abuse.



04:31 PM -- Karen Moldovan, representing the Colorado Association Against Sexual Assault, testified in support of the bill. She talked about sexual violence in schools, and against young people. She said the response to victims must be included in safe school policies and procedures. She provided an example of an incident in a school, saying it illustrates why amendment L.008 is important. She explained mandatory reporting of sexual assault.













04:39 PM

Senator Johnston asked whether the bill would prevent a principal from intervening in an incident off of school grounds. Senator Newell responded to Senator Johnston's question and comments, speaking about mandatory reporting requirements. Conversation on this issue ensued. Ms. Moldovan said the Colorado Department of Education Office of Civil Rights has provided guidance on this issue as well, talking about hostile learning environments and federal law.

04:45 PM -- Mike Phibbs, from the Elizabeth Police Department, testified regarding the training provided for SROs. He said that the reporting requirements would be a burden to rural agencies. He shared an anecdote concerning a school-based incident that he responded to, in which no records were created. He spoke about the use of data that would be reported. Mr. Phibbs responded to questions from the committee. The committee discussed the reporting requirements at length.

05:00 PM -- Maureen Cain, representing the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar (CCDB), testified in support of the bill. She walked the committee through each provision of amendment L.006, describing each section in turn. She next explained amendment L.012 (Attachment G). Richard Sweetman, Office of Legislative Legal Services, came to the table to respond to a number of questions from Senator King about the term "action taken" and the definitions in section two of amendment L.006.



05:17 PM

Ms. Cain's testimony continued, and she continued to walk the committee through each section of the amendment L.006. She also described amendment L.021 (Attachment H). Ms. Cain responded to committee questions as she continued her remarks.



05:41 PM

The committee continued, at length, its discussion of the bill and the amendments.

Senator Bacon announced that the bill would be laid over, and asked that all the amendments be incorporated into a new strike below amendment. He further announced that at the meeting at which the bill would be heard (date to be determined) Mr. Sweetman, Ms. Cain, and Cynthia Coffman from the Office of the Attorney General would be allowed to testify, but no further testimony would be taken.


05:48 PM

The committee adjourned.