Key Bill Positions

HB1104 - Veterans Treatment Court
HB1120 - No Sale Of Graffiti Materials To Minors - Postponed Indefinitely
HB1201 - Informed Consent Search - SIGNED INTO LAW!
HB1334 - Public Indecency And Indecent Exposure
SB033 - Fair Legal Employment Act (E-Verify) - Postponed Indefinitely
DOC Budget Request - (the prison funding request)

HB1104 - Veterans Courts
February 22, 2010
The ACLU welcomes any alternatives in criminal courts that allow for treatment instead of punishment. When post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has played a role in the antisocial or criminal conduct that brings someone into the criminal justice system, it makes sense to respond with programs that include treatment, such as the mental health courts and drug courts already in place.  Recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder as a similarly significant behavioral factor is a start.  On the other hand, PTSD may be a very real factor in crimes committed by persons who have no military experience at all. 

We encourage the criminal justice system take PTSD and other mental conditions into account in all cases, whether it arises from military service or stems from different, but nevertheless horrific life experiences. Nonetheless, we see this bill as a good first step by recognizing the impact that physical, mental and emotional trauma can have upon an individual’s behavior.

The ACLU of Colorado urges you to vote YES on HB 1104.

HB1120 -No Sale Of Graffiti Materials To Minors
February 1, 2010
Vandalism is a crime. Criminalizing the “sale, exchange, gift, loan or otherwise furnishing” of art supplies to minors, as HB 1120 proposes, will not solve this problem. 

This bill assumes criminal intent on the part of any minor purchasing mundane supplies for a home improvement or school project. Spray paint, broad-tipped markers, and paint sticks are not criminal tools. While they can be used in a criminal manner, so can rocks thrown through windows or cans of paint splashed on walls.

Under the proposed bill, an art teacher would need permission slips from all students before allowing them to use the classroom materials. A high school student would need a letter from a parent in order to purchase paint for a class project or to repaint a bike. A neighbor who loans spray paint to a friend’s child to make a welcome home sign for a parent returning from Iraq would first have to see a written letter of consent.

These are but a few of the preposterous scenarios that would become reality if HB 1120 is passed. The ACLU of Colorado urges you to vote NO on HB 1120.

HB1201 - Informed Consent Search
May 3, 2010
“Many Coloradans aren’t aware that they don’t have to consent when an officer requests permission to search them or their car. The burden of these intrusive searches that result from people not knowing their rights falls disproportionately on members of minority groups because they’re more likely to be stopped.” We’re pleased to see that the state has adopted this new measure to protect all Coloradans from being subjected to searches that are not based on probable cause or security concerns. It goes a long way to secure their Fourth Amendment right to be free of unwarranted government intrusion.”

HB1334 - Public Indecency And Indecent Exposure
March 1, 2010
HB1334 does limit mandatory sex offender registry for most of those convicted of indecent exposure, but several problems remain. These include:

• VAGUE DEFINITION OF “LEWD…NOT INCLUDING GENITALS”
  P2, L10: (c) A lewd exposure of the body, NOT INCLUDING THE GENITALS, done with intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desire of any person.
  This language is dangerously vague. “Lewd exposure of the body” is usually a euphemism for exposure of the genitals. By specifically excluding genitalia, the bill creates a confusing—and likely unconstitutionally vague—standard. What sort of exposure would be included? Short skirts? Plunging necklines? Muscle shirts?
  

• SECOND OFFENSE PENALTY
  P2, L19: (b) PUBLIC INDECENCY … IS A CLASS 1 MISDEMEANOR IF THE VIOLATION IS COMMITTED SUBSEQUENT TO A CONVICTION FOR A VIOLATION OF PARAGRAPH (e) OF 1 SUBSECTION (1) OF THIS SECTION OR FOR A VIOLATION OF A COMPARABLE OFFENSE IN ANY OTHER STATE OR IN THE UNITED STATES, OR FOR A VIOLATION OF A COMPARABLE MUNICIPAL ORDINANCE.
  Repeat offenders of a petty offense that does not require sex offender registration are no guiltier of a sex offense after their second conviction than they are after their first. That this applies to only one of the five different acts that qualify for the offense makes even less sense.
  

SB033 - Fair Legal Employment Act (E-Verify)
March 2, 2010
SB-033 is bad policy for both employers and employees in Colorado. This bill would require all nongovernmental employers in the state of Colorado to participate in the Department of Homeland Security's electronic verification program (E-Verify) for purposes of verifying the work eligibility status of all new employees.

We're not the only ones who question the reliability of government databases. It's crucial to note that federally commissioned assessments and reports by government agencies, including the Social Security Administration, find E-Verify to have significant hurdles to universal implementation — hurdles that, unless fixed, will injure innocent Coloradans and lawfully present immigrants. This bill could encourage contractors to fire workers based on erroneous database discrepancies and to simply avoid hiring workers who are perceived to be foreign-born.

Finally, in addition to the errors that will lead to legal workers being fired or not hired in the first place, E-Verify doesn’t even produce the results it promises. An independent report from Westat released January 28, found that 54 percent of the time, the E-Verify system inaccurately identifies unauthorized workers as authorized to work in the U.S.

The ACLU of Colorado urges you to vote NO on SB-033.

DOC Budget Request - (the prison funding request)
COALITION URGES JOINT BUDGET COMMITTEE TO REJECT $10.8 MILLION PRISON EXPANSION
In Time of Severe Budget Crisis, Funding of CSP II is the Wrong Solution at the Wrong Cost
Denver, Colo. -- Representatives from a diverse coalition of organizations are urging the Joint Budget Committee to reject $10.8 million in new funding to open Colorado State Prison II (CSP II). The JBC is expected to take up the issue during the Department of Corrections (DOC) budget setting this Friday.

The DOC is requesting a FY 2010-11 Budget Amendment of $10.8 million, with more than $10.7 million from the General Fund, roughly $42,000 from the Cash Fund, and 229 FTE, to open 316 beds at CSP II. This request would open one of the three towers at the prison, beginning in September 2010. CSP II is an administrative segregation prison in which inmates are locked down in a single cell for a minimum of 23 hours a day, 7 days a week.

However, a coalition of groups including the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, Colorado Public Defender, American Civil Liberties Union, and National Alliance on Mental Illness believe that CSP II is the wrong solution at the wrong cost.

“In the midst of an economic crisis, when the state already slashed over $2 billion to address the shortfall in the current year’s budget, and will cut another $1 billion in the upcoming year’s budget, how can the legislature justify funding a $10.8 million prison expansion?” said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. “Moreover, why is the DOC prioritizing spending $10.8 million on more prison beds after recently cutting $3 million in DOC vocational programs and $1.8 million in wrap-around services for parolees? Both programs were part of the Governor’s recidivism reduction package and are proven to be effective in reducing recidivism. It is counterintuitive and counterproductive to cut successful, research-based programs that promote productivity and safety both within prison and after release.”

The coalition asserts that opening CSP II is not necessary to ensure the safety of inmates and staff, nor does it resolve the problem of having higher security inmates housed in lower security prisons. The group is also extremely concerned about the disproportionate use of administrative segregation (like CSP II) to house offenders with mental illness. They argue that those offenders should be held in less restrictive environments where mental health and behavior needs can be addressed more humanely and effectively.
“Colorado needs to stop depending on long-term solitary confinement as a correctional tool,” said ACLU’s Legal Director, Mark Silverstein. “It is too expensive, it does nothing to prepare prisoners for their eventual return to their communities, and it has been condemned by human rights advocates as cruel and unusual punishment, especially for prisoners with serious mental illness.”

Lacey Berumen, Colorado Executive Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), concurs. “It is appalling that DOC research confirms that 37% of people in administrative segregation are offenders with a mental health condition. “Many times these offenders are discharged from a 23-hour lockdown cell to the street without adequate treatment and preparation for re-entry into society. How can we be surprised that there is a 66% recidivism rate in this population? NAMI believes we should be putting money into treatment of offenders, not into isolation cells.”

The coalition maintains that the mentally ill must be removed from administrative segregation and housed in a general population environment with adequate funding to address their mental health needs. They also believe that transferring the mentally ill out of administrative segregation would free up enough beds for the 119 offenders the DOC has indicated are on a waiting list for placement in administrative segregation.

“The bottom line is simple. “In Colorado, inmates with a mental illness have been historically overrepresented in administrative segregation, and the rate increased substantially following dramatic cuts in mental health services for inmates. It is less expensive to provide the needed mental health treatment than to open CSP II. By spending less, we can humanely treat inmates with mental illness, reduce recidivism and avert the need for more prison beds,” said Doug Wilson, Colorado Public Defender.