Becker takes oath

Newly-appointed legislator K.C. Becker of Boulder took the oath of office and became a member of the General Assembly on Monday morning.

Becker was sworn in by chief justice Michael Bender before an audience of her family and several legislators.

The newest member of the House of Representatives will leave her seat on the Boulder City Council. An attorney, Becker once worked for the U.S. Department of Interior.

Former Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, resigned the District 13 seat to take a position as executive director of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. Levy was in her last term as a state representative, having been first elected in Nov. 2006.

Photo courtesy Democratic Caucus, Colorado House of Representatives

Becker to replace Levy

Boulder city council member K.C. Becker has been chosen by a House District 13 vacancy committee to replace Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder.

Levy, who was first elected to the General Assembly in Nov. 2006, leaves office Oct. 31 to become executive director of a Denver-based non-profit organization.

Becker, 43, will be sworn in within a few days of Levy's departure.

The Colorado Statesman has a detailed report on Becker's appointment.

Levy to leave legislature

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, will soon leave the General Assembly.

Levy, who was first elected in 2006 and is now the speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives, announced Sept. 12 that she will become executive director of the Colorado Center for Law and Policy.

The veteran lawmaker has played a key role in many debates since taking the oath of office for the first time in Jan. 2007, including in those relating to renewable energy, juvenile justice, and fiscal affairs. She is a member of the Joint Budget Committee.

A Democratic Party vacancy committee will choose her replacement.

Levy's district encompasses Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, and Jackson counties in addition to a significant portion of Boulder county.

CU regents put off taking a stand on college concealed weapons bill

The University of Colorado Board of Regents will continue, at least for awhile, its silence on the question whether the General Assembly should enact a measure to ban concealed weapons on the state's college campuses.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported Wednesday that the seven-member panel rejected a Republican-led effort to get it on record.

HB 13-1226, which would overturn a 2012 state supreme court decision that applied the state's concealed carry law to college campuses, cleared the House of Representatives Monday.

The bill now heads to the Senate, along with three other firearms regulation measures.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, is the House sponsor, while Democrat Rollie Heath of Boulder will carry the bill in the Senate.

House committee considers ban on firearms on college campuses

A House committee will examine Wednesday a bill that would ban firearms from all buildings and athletic facilities on the state's college campuses.

HB 13-1226 would overturn a 2012 state supreme court decision that applied Colorado's concealed carry law to higher education institutions.

The state's flagship college, the University of Colorado at Boulder, has wrestled with the requirement to accommodate concealed firearms.

"Certainly, given that we had a weapons ban in place for forty-plus years, there’s been thinking that banning weapons was a good thing," Ken McConnellogue, a vice president at CU, said.

McConnellogue said that CU forbids weapons in most residence halls and at Folsom Field and that administrators deal with arguments that they should be banned in other circumstances, too.

"The nuance of that, both with the residence hall and the football games, those are essentially contracts," he explained. "We have some discretion over that. There are many more. People say, you are banning them at football games, you can ban them at commencement. You can ban them at guest lectures. At the end of the day, the university is obliged to follow the law and we’re going to do that. The challenge for us is to determine how the law works within the particular environment."

Colorado State University applies limits similar to those in place on at CU's Boulder campus, according to spokesperson Mike Hooker.

"The places on campus where you’re not allowed to carry are the residence halls and our [in] basketball arena [or] during sporting events," he explained.

CSU opened the doors to possession of guns on its campus about nine years before last year's decision in Regents of the University of Colorado v. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, believes that her proposal is essential if the state's universities are to effectively help students who may be suffering from emotional disturbance or mental illness.

"In the years since the Virginia Tech shooting Colorado and other states have responded with increased attention to the mental health needs of their college students," she said. "State colleges have created threat assessment teams so [that] students who are struggling with emotional problems can be identified and provided the help and support they need. But we haven't addressed one of the biggest threats to campus safety, which is the presence of guns on campuses."

The veteran legislator also explained that her bill is an effort to enhance student safety.

"The bill also recognizes that college students are at heightened risk of suicide and impulsive conduct, which the presence of guns will only exacerbate," Levy said.

At the CU-Boulder campus, suicide by gun has been a rare occurrence.

"Within the past seven years we know of two suicides where a firearm was used," Ryan Huff, a spokesperson for the campus police, said. "In both cases they were not students."

In general, young adults are at an elevated risk of suicide. According to a 2004 report from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among college-age adults.

The CU experience indicates, however, that it is less likely to occur in the absence of firearms.

"Students are safer if there are no guns," Dr. Allan J. Schwartz, a professor of psychiatry and staff psychologist at the University of Rochester and the author of several studies that examine suicide risks among college-age young adults, said. "The evidence for that is pretty strong."

A representative of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention confirmed that assessment.

“We know that reducing a suicidal person’s easy access to lethal means, including firearms, can be an effective strategy for preventing suicide," John Madigan, AFSP's senior director of public policy said. "This is critical because it gives individuals and those who care for them something they desperately need – time: time to change their minds, time for them to get help or time for someone to intervene.”

The number of college students who attempt suicide, and succeed in taking their life, is thought to be about half of the equivalent rate among those who are not enrolled in higher education.

Schwartz explained that, across the nation as a whole, young adults who study on a college campus are not likely to have access to a gun.

"When you look at the proportion of suicides that are completed using a firearm, by students, as compared to the proportion of suicides that are completed using a firearm in the general population, matched by age and gender, for students it tends to be on the order of one-third as common," he said. "For the general population, firearms account for as many suicides as all other methods combined. For students, firearms remain one of the most likely methods, almost equal to suicide by hanging."

“Why is that the case?," Schwartz rhetorically asked. "It’s just a huge difference in the accessibility of firearms."

Most students who use a gun to take their own lives gain access to the weapon by traveling off-campus to their parents' home.

"Sometimes it’s a few tens of miles, sometimes it’s hundreds of miles," Schwartz said. "But it’s a frighteningly relevant story."

The likelihood that more firearms will be used in suicide attempts is not the only factor that raises the risks to student safety on college campuses that are required to allow guns.

According to one 2007 study, a person who attempts to take their own life with a firearm will succeed about 90 percent of the time, which is a rate that exceeds other methods that are commonly deployed in suicide attempts.

To Schwartz, these statistics demand that legislators treat the prevention of guns on college campuses as a public health imperative.

"To allow firearms on campus would be catastrophic," he argued. "It’s not just unwise public policy. You’d double the suicide rate."

Proponents of extending the concealed carry law to college campuses have argued that students are likely to be safer if they have the option of being armed.

"Allowing licensed concealed carry would give potential attackers pause and ultimately give innocent victims a fighting chance,” Students for Concealed Carry spokesperson David Burnett said in a statement.

One problem with this argument is that students face little risk of homicide on college campuses.

Schwartz explained that homicide is a rare event, statistically speaking, on college campuses everywhere in America.

"There are concerns that folks may have about protecting students from harm by others," Schwartz said. "The thinking goes, if they had a firearm, we wouldn’t have these slaughters like what took place at Virginia Tech. We’re talking about 20 homicides among about 10 million students every year. It's a horrific headline when it happens, but it virtually never happens. Can you imagine any city in the United States with 10 million people in which there are just 20 homicides each year? That’s what it’s like on college campuses. There’s virtually no homicide."

The situation on Colorado's public college campuses bears out Schwartz' assertion. There were no homicides on the CU-Boulder campus between 2009-2011, the most recent period for which data is available.

"The last homicide we had here was in 1997, involving two transients," Huff said. "A firearm was not used there.”

CSU experienced the same paucity of crimes involving a loss of life during the same three-year period.

A 2010 report of crime statistics from the University of Colorado at Denver, which is the most recent data available from that institution, revealed that no homicides occurred on the urban campus in Denver during the period 2007-2009.

Rapes and sexual assaults are occasional risks on college campuses in the state. Each of the major institutions on the Front Range report that several occurred during each of the years between 2009-2011.

Nevertheless, crimes involving the use of a gun appear to be rare on college campuses in Colorado.

"The frequency of crimes where guns are used is quite low on our campus,” Huff said.

Twenty-five states ban firearms on campus, while 23 others allow universities and colleges to set their own rules touching on gun possession. Two states - Colorado and Utah - require state institutions of higher learning to permit the concealed carry of firearms on campus.

Michael Carrigan, the chairperson of the CU Board of Regents, did not respond to a request for a comment about the regents' position on HB 13-1226.

Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, is carrying the bill in the Senate.

The fate of the legislation, should it clear the General Assembly and head to Gov. John Hickenlooper for signature into law, is not clear.

"We are monitoring this bill and have not taken an official position," Eric Brown, a spokesperson for Hickenlooper, said.

UPDATE (2:10 pm MST):

The House Education Committee approved HB 13-1226 on a 7-6 vote.

NOTE: A slightly different version of this article appears at Examiner.com.

Levy: Republican bill attacking science education won't get out of committee

A GOP bill that would open the door to discussion of religious ideas about biodiversity and the origin of mankind in science classrooms, and which could sanction denial of the scientific consensus that human activities are changing Earth's climate, is likely to die in committee.

That's the prediction of Boulder Democratic Rep. Claire Levy, a veteran legislator who serves as speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives.

Levy made the comment during a Friday interview by radio talk show host Geoff Berg. Berg asked her whether HB 13-1089 would progress in the chamber.

Levy's bluntly said it would not:

The bill looks innocuous enough when you read it…but when you look beneath the surface it’s pretty obvious it’s…allowing science teachers to teach creationism and deny global warming. Democrats are about teaching real science and giving students a good education. So I don’t think it’ll make it out of committee.

Her comments can be heard at about the 19:30 mark of the recording. 

HB 13-1089 is scheduled to be heard by the House Education Committee on Monday, Feb. 4.

House Judiciary Committee discusses definitions, decides that "shall" is not the same as "must"

Must we know what the word "shall" means? Shall we, finally, understand the definition of "must?"

Those questions were answered "yes" by a House committee Thursday as a bill to clarify the legal import of the two words, which are common in statutes, was approved by a unanimous vote.

The problem is that the meanings of the words are sometimes confused by lawyers and judges. The word "shall" is generally used in statutes to specify an obligation that a person or an entity must carry out. In other words, the word implies that an action or inaction is mandatory.

"Must" is sometimes used the same way - to indicate a duty.

The measure sponsored by Reps. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, would clear up that confusion.

HB 13-1029 specifies that the word "must," as used in a statute, would mean that a person or entity has to fulfill a certain condition or conditions before some consequence that flows from the condition or conditions would become effective. By contrast, according to the bill, "shall" would mean, in all statutes subsequently enacted, that a person or entity has a duty to do or not do something.

If they become law the definitions provided by the bill would not be retroactive to statutes enacted in prior years.

That may mean there will be arguments in later cases about whether the 2013 definition of "shall" or "must" applies or whether a more archaic understanding of the terms should be invoked.

The measure is sponsored in the Senate by Democrat Gail Schwartz of Snowmass Village and Republican Ellen Roberts of Durango.

Veteran Rep. Levy to be House speaker pro tempore

Veteran Democratic Rep. Claire Levy of Boulder will serve as the speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives during the 69th General Assembly.

Levy, who chairs the chamber's appropriations committee, was named to the ceremonial post by speaker-designate Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver.

“For all she has done for the House and for the State of Colorado, Claire richly deserves this recognition,” Ferrandino said in a statement.

Levy, 56, is beginning her fourth and last term in the House of Representatives. First elected in 2006, she has advocated for many renewable energy and criminal justice measures.

In addition to her post on the House Appropriations Committee, Levy is a member of the powerful Joint Budget Committee.

The speaker pro tempore has no formal duties in the chamber. By tradition she presides when the speaker is not available.

Steadman to return to JBC,GOP to lose a member of powerful panel

The membership of the legislature's powerful Joint Budget Committee for the 69th General Assembly is rapidly taking shape.

On Friday Senate Democrats announced that Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, will return as the second of two representatives of his caucus to the committee.

Steadman was the only member of the panel up for re-election on Tuesday. He easily defeated a Republican opponent to return for a second full term in the Senate.

Sens. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, who was also re-elected Tuesday, and Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who did not face the electorate this month, will also return to the JBC.

Separately, House speaker-designate Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, announced Friday that Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, will join Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, on the panel.

Republicans will have to give up one of the seats they held on the JBC last session. Either Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, or Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, will leave the committee.

Republicans, as the minority party in the Senate and House, are entitled to two of the six seats on the JBC.

All of the members must sit on their respective chambers' appropriations committees, and two of the members must be the chairs of the Senate and House appropriations panels.

The JBC has statutory authority to craft a budget for the state government.

House Approves Cell Phone Ban

A bill that would make illegal, at least for the vast majority of motorists, the practice of holding a cell phone to the ear while driving cleared the House this morning.

The vote was 39-25. Six Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while five Democrats opposed it.

HB 1094 would require all drivers to employ hands-free equipment while talking on a wireless telephone.

The measure would also generally prohibit minors and school bus drivers from talking on a wireless telephone, even with a hands free device, while operating a motor vehicle. The only exception to that new statutory rule would be the use of the wireless telephone to contact a law enforcement agency.

The bill flatly prohibits, for all drivers, the practice of 'texting" while driving, as well as the use of electronic mail and Internet web-browsing and other applications requiring the use of a keyboard.

The bill exempts police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and some commercial truck drivers from its strictures.

Drivers would be authorized to use a cell phone without a hands-free device in an emergency situation, such as when a person's life or safety is in danger or a crime is being committed. In addition, use of a wireless telephone would be permitted when necessary to report a "fire, traffic accident in which one or more injuries are apparent, a serious road hazard, a medical or hazardous materials emergency, or a person who is driving in a reckless, careless, or otherwise unsafe manner."

The ban on the use of a wireless telephone while driving would not apply when a vehicle is lawfully parked or when it is stopped on the shoulder of a road or highway.

A first offense would result in a $50 dollar fine. Subsequent offenses would draw a $100 fine. The bill does not authorize law enforcement officers to search or seize a wireless telephone used by a motorist in violation of its provisions.

HB 1094 now heads to the Senate. It is sponsored in that chamber of the General Assembly by Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins.

Bill Aimed at Forcing IREA to Expand Programs for Energy Conservation Clears House Committee

A House committee approved Tuesday a measure that would require all rural electric cooperatives with more than 100,000 customers to implement conservation programs.

While the bill does not name any particular rural electric cooperative, it is aimed at the only such entity in Colorado with that many customers - Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA).

IREA, which is based in Sedalia and serves customers in Douglas, El Paso, Park, Teller, Clear Creek, Elbert, Arapahoe and Adams counties, has strongly resisted efforts to strengthen programs aimed at reducing electricity use.

The organization, through a vote of its members, opted out of Amendment 37 in 2005. That vote, in which only a small percentage of the cooperative's members voted, stood in contrast to the vote on Amendment 37 in its service territory. More than 50 percent of the electorate in IREA's service area supported Amendment 37 when it was on the ballot in 2004.

Under current state law rural electric cooperatives who have not opted out of Amendment 37 must generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Under HB 1323, IREA would have to implement conservation and energy efficiency progams that would achieve a use of renewable energy equivalent to two percent of its 2008 sales by 2012 and to ten percent of its 2008 sales by 2020.

The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, must also be approved by the House Appropriations Committee before it is considered by the full House.

IREA, in addition to opting out of Amendment 37, has also spent large amounts of money on efforts to convince the public that global climate change is not happening or that it is a natural event.

A grass-roots organization called IREA Voices has been organized to advocate for greater use of renewable energy sources and energy conservation programs by the organization.

IREA Voices is sponsoring three candidates for seats on the annual election for seats on the organization's Board of Directors. The election for those seats is to be completed April 18.

Cell Phone Bill OK'd by House Committee

A bill that would bar drivers from using a cellular phone without a hands-free device was approved by a House committee Tuesday.

HB 1094 would also make text messaging while operating a motor vehicle unlawful and prohibit minors who are operating a vehicle from using a cell phone while doing so.

The House Transportation and Energy Committee heard emotional testimony on the measure before approving it on a bipartisan 9-2 vote.

"I want to honor my daughter and know that I did everything I could do to prevent another person from being hurt or killed," Shelley Forney said. "I want you to think about the numerous lives that will be saved by passing this law today."

Forney, of Fort Collins, is the mother of 9-year old Erica Forney, who was killed in Fort Collins last autumn after a driver talking on a cell phone hit her while she was riding her bicycle in a bike lane.

Other witnesses supporting the bill included representatives of the state's law enforcement community and insurance industry.

Sponsoring Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, urged committee members to keep in mind that there are studies demonstrating that talking on a cell phone while driving, even through a hands-free device, distracts drivers.

"Your individual decision whether to talk and drive doesn't just affect you," Levy said. "It affects every other person on the road with you."

No one testified against the bill, which includes an exceptions for commercial truck drivers, police officers and firefighters and some state Department of Transportation employees.

But Republican Frank McNulty of Highlands Ranch said he thought the measure was an overreaction and that use of a cell phone while driving should not be treated any differently than "tuning the iPod or having a Big Mac."

Aside from McNulty, the only other member of the committee to vote "no" on HB 1094 was Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead. Republicans Randy Baumgardner, Steve King and Marsha Looper voted with the majority.

The bill now moves to the House Appropriations Committee.

Ethics Committee Clears Assistant Minority Leader Balmer

An ethics committee has cleared House assistant GOP leader David Balmer of charges he tried to inappropriately influence a GOP leadership election, according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News.

Committee chair Claire Levy was reported as explaining in an announcement that there is no credible evidence to support an allegation that the Centennial Republican had acted improperly in attempting to secure votes in an anticipated election to replace minority leader Mike May, R-Parker, in December 2008.

Balmer, who in 2004 faced allegations that he padded his resume during a political campaign in North Carolina, had been accused by May of using the promises of campaign contributions and a future committee chairmanship to secure the vote of Rep. Cindy Acree, R-Aurora, in the planned caucus election.

House rules forbid such tactics to obtain votes in a leadership election.

May had announced his resignation from the legislature in mid-December.

He later rescinded the resignation when the controversy over Balmer's alleged conduct arose.

May told the Rocky that he filed the complaint against his Republican colleague Balmer because he did not want the public to get the impression that the GOP caucus was "trying to cover something up."

"That is worse," May is quoted by the Rocky as saying.

The ethics committee is still considering charges that lobbyist Erik Groves violated rules against participating in legislative decisions relating to leadership.

Levy Introduces Bill To Crack Down on Corporate Tax Cheaters

A Boulder Democrat has filed a bill that would close a loophole in the state's tax code allowing large corporations to conceal transactions aimed at evading tax liability.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, is a response to the use of real estate investment trusts to transfer money overseas without paying income taxes on it.

Levy pointed to misuse of the REIT device by several large corporations during a news conference announcing her bill today.

“These companies are abusing the public trust,” Levy said. “By sending their Colorado profits overseas and back through a series of shell corporations, they avoid paying their fair share of taxes. This bill is a way to create transparency. It permits the Department of Revenue to look at corporate transactions and make sure they have real economic purposes and are not intended only to avoid or reduce tax liability."

According to a recent Wall Street Journal report the Wal-Mart Corporation used REIT loopholes in state tax codes to avoid paying more than $350 million in state taxes between 1998 and 2001.

The real estate investment trust used by Wal-Mart and other companies to shield profit from state taxes is called a "captive" real estate trust because it is totally owned by one entity and/or executives or other organizations affiliated with that entity.

Traditional real estate investment trusts, which are authorized by the federal income tax code as a means for small investors to pool money to make large-capital real estate investments, are not affected by Levy's bill.

Levy also pointed out that her bill will not raise any state tax rate.

“This bill does not create a new tax," she said. "These are taxes that are rightfully owed. The people of Colorado pay taxes; so should corporations.”

A press release issued by the House Democratic Caucus said Levy's measure "implements the long-standing policy in Colorado that corporate profits earned in the state are subject to state tax."

Ethics Committee to Look Into Allegations Against Balmer

A bipartisan committee of House members will investigate allegations that assistant minority leader David Balmer, R-Centennial, attempted to improperly influence colleagues' votes in the race to replace Rep. Mike May, R-Parker, as minority leader.

The committee, which was announced by speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, today, includes five veteran legislators.

Members of the ethics committee, which will consider a complaint filed against Balmer on Dec. 16, include Reps. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, Joel Judd, D-Denver, Claire Levy, D-Boulder, Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, and Ken Summers, R-Lakewood.

The complaint against Balmer, which was filed by May, alleges that Balmer attempted to coordinate a campaign contribution by a professional association in exchange for a vote in his favor in the GOP caucus meeting. It also alleges that Balmer promised a future committee chairmanship to another legislator in exchange for his or her vote for Balmer as the new minority leader.

As a Rocky Mountain News article on the ethics controversy points out, the partisan makeup of this committee is different from the one that investigated Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, last session. That committee has three Democrats and three Republicans.

Balmer is accused of violating House Rule 49b, which requires that ethics committees assigned to investigate such allegations "shall be in proportion generally to the relative number of members of the two major political parties in the House."

Dem Leadership Team Announced

House Democrats, in addition to electing a new speaker, chose the other members of the majority caucus leadership team today. The group includes four new faces.

Rep. Paul Weissman of Louisville, who will start his last term in the House in January, will be majority leader.

The assistant majority leader will be Rep. Andy Kerr of Lakewood, while the majority caucus chair will be Aurora's Karen Middleton.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, returns to the leadership team as majority whip, assisted by Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins.

The assistant caucus chair is newly-elected Rep. Sal Pace of Pueblo.

The speaker-to-be of the 67th General Assembly, Rep. Terrance Carroll of Denver, said he expects the Democrats' leadership team to "hit the ground running."

“We have lawyers, cowboys, teachers, ranchers and engineers in our caucus, and we have members that hail from every part of the state,” Carroll said. “Together, we really look like Colorado and we truly understand the economic struggles Coloradans face. As the new speaker, I hope to draw on that diversity and tap the talent of every member in our caucus.”

Energy Efficiency Bill Hits Senate Roadblock

A bill that would require most of the state's municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives to set aside some of their revenues to fund energy conservation efforts was derailed, at least temporarily, in a Senate committee Wednesday.

HB 1107 applies to municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives that have at least 5,000 customers. The bill specifies that those entities would have to dedicate one percent of their revenues in 2009 and two percent of revenues in succeeding years to programs aimed at encouraging their customers to use less electricity.

A similar requirement affecting Colorado's investor-owned utilities, such as Excel, is already in effect. The General Assembly mandated such programs for the IOUs in 2007.

During Wednesday's hearing before the State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee, Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, succeeded in amending the bill to limit its applicability to rural electric cooperatives with more than 85,000 members. Romer's amendment entirely removed the municipal utilities from the mandate in the bill.

However, the committee then voted 2-2 on the bill. Without a majority of the five-member committee voting to send it to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill is in limbo.

According to a report by John Ingold in the Denver Post's Colorado Capitol Insider blog, committee chair Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, said he worries about the impact of the bill on utility rates for lower-income families but that he would keep an open mind about moving the measure out of committee.

According to the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, the bill would inject about $32 million per year into energy conservation programs around the state, resulting in a reduction of electricity use by 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours (KwH) by 2020, an amount equivalent to the annual use of electricity by 170,000 average Colorado households. Colorado residential and business utility consumers would save $600 million in electricity rates between 2008 and 2020.

The bill was approved by the House, 33-32, on Feb. 27. It was sponsored in the House by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder. The Senate sponsor is Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver.

Rep. Levy's Judges Bill Clears Senate

A bill that would prevent judges from hearing cases in which one of their colleagues is a party has cleared the Senate.

HB 1193 is a response to the kind of situation that occurred in a controversial Boulder adverse possession case last year, in which one of the winning plaintiffs had been a judge on the district court in which the dispute was decided.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, will return to the House for consideration of a technical amendment concerning the state's water courts added in the Senate.

PUC Overhaul and Reauthorization Heads to Senate

The House cleared a bill that reauthorizes the Public Utilities Commission and makes some important changes in its mission Thursday, but not without a long debate the day before.

HB 1227 has gained attention because it includes provisions aimed at increasing the likelihood that additional taxicab companies will enter the market in the state's cities. However, the bill also broadens the function of the state's Office of Consumer Counsel. It requires the OCC to consider social and environmental factors, as well as the economic interests of consumers and business interests, when formulating and presenting a position on proposed rate increases or decreases to the PUC.

That provision drew controversy, with Republicans arguing that it would inevitably lead to higher utility bills. But Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, pointed out that a failure by the PUC to consider the social and environmental impacts inherent in public utilities' choice of fuels for power generation could actually result in increased costs to consumers.

The bill also authorizes the PUC to impose administrative fines against public utilities, an authority the agency currently has with respect to motor carriers, and subjects investor-owned water and sewer companies to PUC regulation.

The measure is sponsored by majority leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, and Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo.

It cleared the House on a near-party line 41-24 vote, with only Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, voting with the Democrats in support of the measure.

Limit on Prosecutors' Power to File Adult Charges Against Kids Heads to Senate

After a second lengthy and sometimes emotional debate, the House gave final approval Tuesday to a controversial bill that would force prosecutors to obtain a judge's permission before charging 14- and 15-year old children with crimes in adult court.

HB 1208 would not impose a similar limit with regard to 16- and 17-year old children charged with crimes. However, the bill establishes a "reverse transfer" process by which a judge could order a case filed directly in adult court back to the juvenile justice system.

Opponents of the measure argued, as they had Friday, that the bill creates the possibility that children charged with serious crimes would not serve enough time to be rehabilitated or properly punished. They also forcefully asserted that taking away district attorneys' authority to "direct file" a criminal charge against young teenagers in adult courts would disrespect victims and encourage more juvenile crime.

"I want to remind you that the law is what it is in Colorado today is in response, a reasoned response, to a summer of violence in 1993. The idea of directg filing on juveniles for serious crimes was an effort to end gang violence. It did so," Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said. "The juveniles who are particularly violent do receive the rehabilitation treatment they need."

But the bill's backers, including Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said opponents were overreacting.

"I believe all of us care about victims," McFadyen said. "But this bill doesn't necessarily change an outcome. It doesn't change sentencing."

McFadyen said the issue addressed by the bill is whether it should be easy for a prosecutor to sentence to life in prison a 14- or 15-year old children.

"That should not be an easy process," McFadyen said.

But Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, argued that the creation of direct-file authority for district attorneys in 1993 was essential to reducing crime.

"When we are tough on crime, we reduce the numbers of crime," Gardner said. "Prior to direct file, gangs would often have a 14- or 15-year old member perform drive-by shootings or killings as part of initiation knowing that sentences for a juvenile would be minimal. We should not be encouraging any age group or part of our society to be part of a crime."

Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, responded that the issue is not whether violence is tolerated. "With or without this bill, as long as things can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, these folks will be punished," she said. "The question we have to ask ourselves is, 'is there a reason to treat juveniles different from adults?' If not, let's just get away from the pretense of having a juvenile justice system and treat them all as adults."

Carroll argued that the real issue before the House was how to decide whether to try a juvenile as an adult.

"The real process question is, 'How do we decide if a juvenile should be tried as an adult?'", she said. "You can either have one of the parties in an adversarial system have unilateral, unchecked ability, unappealable decision, to put juveniles in an adult system or you can actually put the same question to an impartial factfinder, a judge, and give due process to juveniles on the question as to wehther they should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult. The question is who should be making the decision."

Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, disputed a statement by Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, that taking away direct-file authority is a mistake that will embolden gangs.

"Taking away direct file is not a mistake," McGihon said. "Forty-six other states seem to function very well without direct file against juvenile defendants."

Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, disputed in turn McGihon's argument that the the U.S. Constitution requires a hearing before a juvenile can be charged in adult court.

"It's important to understand that nobody has a right to have a hearing before charges are filed against them," Bruce said.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in a 1966 case called Kent v. United States that the due process clause of the 14th amendment does require a hearing, at which a juvenile is represented by counsel, before a criminal case against that juvenile is transferred to adult court.

The bill, which cleared the House on a 34-30 vote, now moves to the Senate.

If approved there, prospects for approval by Gov. Bill Ritter are uncertain.

"I think there's a serious question whether, if this bill makes it to the governor's desk, it will be signed," Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said.

According to sponsor Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, Ritter told her during a conversation last year that he was not in favor of a bill that would entirely eliminate district attorneys' ability to direct-file against a juvenile in adult court.

But Levy says she does not believe Ritter has ruled out signing a bill that limits that authority to 16- and 17-year olds.

"I've talked to him since then about this more modest change to the direct-file statute," Levy said. "He's still not comfortable with it. I did not take his comments that he would close the door on signing a bill that deals with direct filing."

Spokespersons for Denver district attorney Mitch Morrissey and 18th judicial district attorney Carole Chambers declined to comment on final House passage of HB 1208.