The 120-day Colorado legislative session ended last Wednesday night, May 11. Much has been made about the failure of bipartisanship and many have referred to this year’s session as “anti-climatic” and a “house divided.” For the issues that received much media attention, I suppose these references ring true. The legislature failed to re-classify Colorado’s hospital provider fee as an enterprise fund, failed to pass a Presidential primary bill even though there were two bills, each with bipartisan sponsors, and did not secure sufficient funding for all of Colorado’s road infrastructure needs.
At the beginning of session, I expected similar gridlock on civil liberties issues. I was wrong. Indeed, the final two bills to pass both chambers allow more leniency for juveniles serving life sentences and permit a select group of inmates to participate in a program that will allow them to make a case to the Governor for clemency. The bills invited an emotional debate among legislators about redemption and honoring victim’s rights. These issues are not easy, but ultimately because the bills honored both victims and redemption, our lawmakers passed them with significant bipartisan support.
The ACLU was also able to work with Republicans and Democrats to pass new protections for children against the use of solitary confinement at facilities operated by the Department of Youth Corrections. The Department strongly opposed the bill, but with the leadership of House Democrat Representative Pete Lee and Senate Republicans Kevin Lundberg and Kent Lambert, it received overwhelming bipartisan support, passing both chambers on a vote of 70-30. It passed the Senate unanimously.
In attempting to reign in the harsh and unconstitutional practices of municipal courts, the ACLU found many friends in Republican ranks. Years of investigation by the ACLU of Colorado has revealed without question that justice is hard to come by in Colorado municipal courts if you’re poor. Many individuals plead guilty without the benefit of counsel, something that is afforded to incarcerated defendants in State and County courts. We also found indigent defendants going to jail for minor infractions simply because they were too poor to pay court fines and fees. To remedy these issues, House Democrat Representative Susan Lontine sponsored a bill requiring public defenders in municipal courts and House Democrat Joe Salazar sponsored a bill to close the loophole in the 2014 debtors’ prison law. Both bills found Republican support in the Senate. Republican Senator Vicki Marble sponsored both bills in the Senate and was joined by Senator Morgan Carroll on the debtors’ prison bill. The bills received broad Senate support, and we were particularly thankful and impressed by both Republican Senators Chris Holbert and Tim Neville who vocally supported the municipal public defender bill from the well. The bills received a nearly three-fourths majority of the vote from both chambers and await the Governor’s signature.
We also saw smooth sailing for a bill to protect student data privacy, which passed unanimously through both chambers. I must also mention that with the help of Senate Republicans, we were able to defeat the seemingly annual bill calling for the collection of DNA from those convicted of certain misdemeanor offenses.
If there was one area in particular that I would not have expected any bipartisan work this year, it was in the area of immigration. Yet, two bills passed with bipartisan support and one even had bipartisan sponsorship. House Democrat Representative Dan Pabon sponsored a bill to regulate “notarios”, individuals who present themselves to the immigrant community as attorneys qualified to advise on complex immigration matters, when in fact, they are not so qualified. Many immigrants fall prey to these individuals, lose a lot of money and get no benefit from the services provided. Republican Senator Kevin Lundberg sponsored this legislation in the Senate. It awaits the Governor’s signature. Rep. Pabon also sponsored a bill making it illegal for anyone to secure a government service, like an appointment to get a driver’s license, and sell it to a third party. This practice has been pervasive of late simply because there is a high demand for drivers’ licenses in the immigrant community, but few appointments are available. This, too, received bipartisan support.
It wasn’t complete harmony on civil liberties’ issues, however. Republicans introduced many bills attempting to limit a woman’s access to reproductive health options. There were several attempts to limit access to voting through photo ID bills and the like. All were defeated. Also defeated, but by Senate Republicans, unfortunately, was a bill that would have made it easier for transgender individuals to change the gender on a birth certificate. And Republicans in both chambers continued to use the tag line “religious freedom” as a license to discriminate against the LGBTQ community.
All in all, however, it was a good year and far better than expected.
Sine die.
RESOURCES:
Fact Sheet on HB 1328 – A Bill to Protect Colorado’s Children from Solitary Confinement

Fact Sheet on HB 1309 – A Bill to Safeguard the Right to Counsel in Municipal Court

Fact Sheet on HB 1311 – A Bill to End Debtors’ Prisons in Colorado

DENVER, Colo. — The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Colorado, and the law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP today filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of four female Frontier Airlines pilots who claim that the company’s policies discriminate against women by failing to provide accommodations related to pregnancy and breast-feeding.

The pilots, who have collectively worked for Frontier for 35 years, assert that despite their dedication to their jobs, the airline’s failure to accommodate their pumping needs made it extremely difficult for them to continue breast-feeding their babies once they returned to work.

The pilots are Shannon Kiedrowski, who has worked for Frontier since 2002, Brandy Beck, who has worked there since 2003, and Erin Zielinski and Randi Freyer, who have worked there since 2013.

“We love our jobs as pilots for Frontier Airlines and we shouldn’t have to choose between our jobs and breast-feeding our children,” said Kiedrowski. “But because of the lack of accommodations for pregnancy and breast-feeding, that is exactly the position each of us has been put in. We’re bringing this complaint because no woman should have to go through what we went through.”

Frontier forces pregnant pilots to take eight to 10 weeks of unpaid leave before their due date, allows a maximum of 120 days of maternity leave (all of it unpaid), and fails to make any accommodations to enable pilots who are breast-feeding to pump breast milk when they return to work. Women who are away from their babies need to express breast milk using a breast pump on roughly the same schedule as the baby’s feeding schedule, or serious medical complications can result. But pilots’ schedules often involve long flights and trips that can last days at a time, so they need to have a designated place where they can pump both on the aircraft and at airports.

“Frontier’s policies are discriminatory at a structural level and need to be changed,” said Galen Sherwin, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. “If Frontier wants to attract and retain the most qualified pilots, it’s going to have to recognize the needs of its pilots who have babies.”

The charges assert that Frontier’s policies violate state and federal laws against sex discrimination in employment because they treat pregnancy and breast-feeding less favorably than other medical conditions or disabilities and have a disproportionate effect on women. They also allege violations of the Colorado Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act.

“Currently, only 6 percent of commercial pilots are women. Discriminatory policies such as these across the airline industry contribute to this extremely low number,” said Hannah Sholl, counsel at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP. “We hope that Frontier takes the necessary steps to ensure that these discriminatory policies are ended once and for all.”

The women each assert that they sought information, support, and accommodations from Frontier, but were met with indifference or outright hostility.

• All of the women claim that they often had to delay pumping due to their flight schedules, and that they suffered from pain and discomfort as a result.
• Three of the women suffered from mastitis, an infection of the breast tissue, as a result of Frontier’s policies and practices that did not permit them to pump on a sufficiently regular schedule.
• One of the pilots, Kiedrowski, was disciplined after a co-pilot complained that she had used a breast pump on the aircraft.
• One of them, Zielinski, had to terminate breast-feeding early after her milk supply dried up. She also claims that her supervisors inadvertently sent her an email intended for Frontier management accusing her of “baiting” them after she asked for accommodations and that her work email was abruptly cut off immediately after she received the message.
• All of the women claim that they suffered from financial harm as a result of being forced to take an unpaid leave during the end of their pregnancies, without the option to seek a temporary job reassignment that would have allowed them to earn a paycheck.

“Each of us tried to work with Frontier to find a solution, but unfortunately our efforts went nowhere,” said Beck, a first officer at Frontier since 2003. “Because of Frontier’s failure to address the needs of pilots who are breast-feeding on a policy level, each of us has been left to figure out these problems on her own.”

The charges ask the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to require Frontier to take several steps to make it easier for pregnant pilots and pilots who are breast-feeding, including that Frontier provide women the option of taking a temporary alternative assignment that would permit them to continue working during pregnancy or breast-feeding; allow more than 120 days of unpaid  maternal leave to permit women to continue breast-feeding; designate places where a pilot who is breast-feeding can pump, including at airports Frontier uses; and allow pilots who are breast-feeding to pump on the aircraft when necessary.

Prior to filing these charges, the ACLU and Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP sent a letter to Frontier requesting that Frontier implement policy changes to adequately accommodate pregnant and breast-feeding pilots, but Frontier never responded.

Today’s complaint is at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/frontier-airlines-eeoc-complaint

For a blog by one of the pilots: https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/airline-pilots-should-not-have-choose-between-their-jobs-and-breastfeeding-their

DENVER - Statement of ACLU of Colorado Public Policy Director Denise Maes on HB 1328, a bill to protect Colorado children from solitary confinement, which was approved today by the Colorado House of Representatives, after passing the Senate unanimously last week.

“The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado commends the Colorado legislature for taking action to protect children from inhumane and dangerous solitary confinement.  HB 1328 puts in place permanent guardrails and oversight measures to ensure that the Colorado Department of Youth Corrections never again resorts to using long-term solitary confinement to manage or punish children.
A 2014 investigation by the ACLU of Colorado, the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center, and Colorado Disability Law revealed that DYC had illegally placed children in solitary confinement for days, weeks, even more than a month as punishment when there was no emergency, as a form of “treatment.”
Following the investigation, DYC committed to ending its use of solitary confinement except in emergencies, and adopted a new policy to that effect. HB 1328 codifies the current policy limiting the use of solitary confinement and establishes procedures to be followed when a child is secluded for more than four hours.  The bill also includes recording requirements and the establishment of a working group to ensure implementation of the law and to prevent reversion to harmful seclusion practices.
The ACLU of Colorado would like to thank the sponsors of HB 1328, Senators Kent Lambert and Kevin Lundberg, Representative Beth McCann, and especially Representative Pete Lee, whose personal dedication and leadership was essential to navigating the bill to successful passage with wide bipartisan support in the final days of the session.”
RESOURCES:

Fact Sheet on HB 1328 – A Bill to Protect Colorado’s Children from Solitary Confinement

Visit the ACLU of Colorado Stop Solitary Campaign Page