By Emma Davis Youth Volunteer, ACLU of Colorado October 15, 2018

Since the 2016 election, I have been active in the ACLU of Colorado. I've lobbied, phone-banked, spoken at events and been to countless protests. During the legislative session, I am constantly visiting state legislators, talking to aides and working to convince our representatives to vote “yes” or “no” on certain bills. But I'm still just a teenager. Right now, my opportunities are limited, but someday, I hope to become a state lawmaker. I want to represent the people of Colorado, and think it is incredibly important to have young and fresh perspectives in our legislature.
Unfortunately, as of now, it will be a while before I get to do that. Currently, the Colorado  Constitution says that to become a state legislator, you must be at least 25 years of age. This restricts the age of our representatives and discourages young people from getting involved in politics. It cuts off new perspectives and fresh ideas from being introduced at our state Capitol. We need to fix this.
Amendment V provides a way to solve this problem. Earlier this year, state legislators proposed a bill that would amend the state constitution, lowering the age from twenty-five to twenty-one. It was then placed on the state ballot for the upcoming November election. We are one of only seven states in the U.S. with a minimum age of more than twenty-one for members of the legislature. We need to follow the examples of other states that recognize how important it is to give young adults a voice in their state assemblies. Alabama passed an amendment in 2016 that removed age restrictions on government officials. In Alabama's 2014 general election, adults aged 18-29 represented only 12% of the vote. In the 2017  Alabama Special U.S. Senate Election, 23% of young adults turned out to vote. Perhaps this dramatic rise in young voter turnout could be related to youth feeling like they not only have a voice at the voting booth but feel more intimately tied to the whole political process.  With more opportunities to get involved in state politics, teens and young adults are more likely to vote and to become politically active. If Colorado adopts Amendment V, it will bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to the Capitol.
Broadening the perspectives and ideas on the Colorado legislature is an extremely important issue that needs to be dealt with. According to Ballotpedia, in 2015 our representatives were, on average, fifty-five years old, or nearly ten years older than the average Colorado adult. This is not an accurate representation of our population. With new and younger senators and representatives, there would be an increase in youth political participation and a chance to give young adults a voice in the most important issues our state is facing.
Opponents of Amendment V say that young adults under the age of twenty-five lack the maturity to make legislation. Critics think that young adults don't have enough “life experience.” However, according to Colorado State Representative James Coleman, “If you can go fight in the military and you have to make critical decisions in the field of battle, then [lawmaking] is not hard...Serving in the military is hard. Getting shot at is hard.”
Decisions that our legislators make will have lasting impacts on young people and future generations.  Young adults should have a seat at the table when our state government considers legislation pertaining to education, civil rights, data privacy, our state's environmental concerns, and many more pressing issues.
Passage of Amendment V in Colorado is a way to invest in our state's future by bringing the voice of young adults into many vital conversations. Let's allow younger perspectives to be heard in Colorado. Let's vote “yes” on Amendment V.

https://soundcloud.com/thepurplestatereport/27-ag-candidate-phil-weiser

This November Colorado will vote in an especially critical election with wide implications for civil rights and civil liberties. While the governor and congressional races often garner the most attention the Attorney General race is often overlooked. The Attorney General is the people's lawyer and a legal advocate for all Coloradans. The AG is responsible for protecting our state from overreach by the federal government and is the most powerful elected official when it comes to standing up to the Trump administration.

We invited both major party candidates to the Purple State Report to discuss their positions on a wide range of civil rights and civil liberties issues. Today we present our interview with the Democratic candidate for Attorney General Phil Weiser conducted by Public Policy Director Denise Maes and Policy Council Rebecca Wallace.

George Brauchler has thus far declined our invitation but we hope he will join us for a future episode. As a reminder, the ACLU is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse candidates but we do present both candidates views so voters make an informed decision.

For more information on the candidates running for Attorney General go to: https://voteyouragcolorado.org/

The Purple State Report is brought to you by the ACLU of Colorado. Our show was produced by Vanessa Michel and John Krieger with original theme music by Pablo Novelas. Additional music by The Chantays If you have feedback or suggestions for future episodes email us at [email protected].

DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado sued Denver this morning on behalf of Mickey Howard, who was held in the Denver Jail for 5 days after a court ordered his release upon payment of a $10 bond, because he could not pay an additional $50 “bond fee.”

According to the lawsuit, Denver has a policy of continuing to imprison people who are unable to pay a $50 “bond fee,” even when they have the money to post the bond amount set by the court.

“Mr. Howard was arrested for two alleged violations of Denver ordinances. The court determined that he should be free while his case was pending upon payment of a mere $10, which Mr. Howard could pay. Yet, Denver continued to hold him in jail because he could not pay an additional $50 bond fee,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein. “Jailing people solely because of poverty, particularly when those individuals are pretrial and innocent in the eyes of the law, is cruel, fiscally irrational and violates the Constitution’s guarantees of Equal Protection and Due Process.”

According to the ACLU, when Mr. Howard entered the jail, he had $64, which was enough to pay the $10 bond set by the court as well as the $50 bond fee. At the time of booking, however, Denver took another $30 from Mr. Howard as a “booking fee.” That left Mr. Howard with only $34, which was not enough to buy his release.

The ACLU lawsuit identifies two Denver policies that caused Mr. Howard’s unlawful detention: (1) requiring defendants to pay a $50 bond fee, in addition to the monetary bond set by the court, in order to gain their release; and (2) taking $30 from defendants at booking even when doing so will make them unable to post bond and/or pay the bond fee.

After five days in jail, Mr. Howard was freed only because the Colorado Freedom Fund, a non-profit bail fund, paid the bond fee. It costs $70 per day for Denver to house an inmate. Over the five days Mr. Howard was in jail, Denver spent more than $350 to detain him because he could not pay a $50 fee.
All charges against Mr. Howard were eventually dismissed. However, Denver is currently billing him (and turning those bills over to collections) for more than $600 in additional fees that are related solely to the dismissed case.

“I am happy to be free, but it shouldn’t have taken the Colorado Freedom Fund to get me out,” Howard said. “I had the money to pay my bond, but the jail took it from me and wouldn’t let me out because I didn’t also have the money to pay their fee. That’s not right. I am filing this case to get justice for me and to make sure this doesn’t happen to other people.”

In August, El Paso County agreed, as part of a $190,000 settlement with ACLU of Colorado, to compensate 184 individuals who were held in the El Paso County Jail solely because they could not pay a $55 “pretrial supervision” fee.

“Colorado’s county jails are bursting at the seams, mostly with pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime. Yet, we continue to see cases across the state of individuals held in jail not because they are a danger or a flight risk, but because they are too poor to pay a county fee,” said ACLU of Colorado Staff Attorney Rebecca Wallace. “These practices are illegal. It is past time for all counties, cities and sheriffs in Colorado to closely review their booking and bonding practices to ensure that they do not allow or facilitate incarceration based solely on poverty. Those that continue to illegally hold people in jail solely because they cannot pay fees should expect to be sued.”

The ACLU lawsuit was filed in federal district court. Howard is represented by Silverstein and Wallace of ACLU of Colorado.

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