Record Sealing Bill Passes - To the Governors Desk

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE HB-1082

THE RECORD SEALING PASSED IN THE SENATE AND AWAITS ACTION BY GOVERNOR RITTER

The Senate passed the Record Sealing bill today on a vote of 26 to 9!! This follows the passage in the House on a vote of 36 to 29. Governor Ritter has 30 days to take action. He can sign the bill into law, veto the bill, or take no action. At the end of the 30 day period, if he hasn’t taken action, the bill becomes law without his signature. From every indication we have received from the Governor’s office, we anticipate that he will sign the bill.

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Representatives Voting FOR: Benefield, Borodkin, Carroll M., Carroll T., Casso, Curry, Ferrandino, Fischer, Frangas, Gallegos, Green, Hodge, Jahn, Judd, Kefalas, Kerr A., Labuda, Levy, Madden, Marostica, Marshall, McFadyen, McGihon, McKinley, Merrifield, Middleton, Peniston, Pommer, Rice, Roberts, Scanlan, Solano, Stafford, Todd, Weissmann, White

Senators Voting FOR: Bacon, Boyd, Gibbs, Gordon, Groff, Hagedorn, Harvey, Isgar, Keller, Kester, Mitchell S., Morse, Penry, Romer, Sandoval, Schwartz, Shaffer, Takis, Tapia, Taylor, Tochtrop, Tupa, Veiga, Ward, Williams, Windels

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Representatives Voting AGAINST: Balmer, Bruce, Buescher, Butcher, Gagliardi, Gardner B., Gardner C., Garza-Hicks, Kerr J., King, Lambert, Liston, Looper, Lundberg, Massey, May, McNulty, Mitchell, Primavera, Riesberg, Romanoff, Rose, Sonnenberg, Soper, Stephens, Summers, Swalm, Vaad, Witer

enators Voting AGAINST: Brophy, Cadman , Johnson, Kopp, McElhany, Renfroe, Schultheis, Spence and Wiens

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We have YOU to thank!! Your calls and emails made a difference! Congratulations! We also want to deeply thank our members who testified in support of the bill at the various legislative committees. We heard from a number of legislators that the testimony was compelling and convinced them to support the bill.

CCJRC would also like to thank Maureen Cain, the lobbyist for the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, for her tireless work in support of this bill. We also want to thank the bill sponsors, Representative Mark Ferrandino and Senator Bob Bacon for continuing to push this issue.

Although CCJRC is thrilled with this victory, we also share the disappointment that only minor drug offenses are eligible for sealing under HB 1082. We apologize that we were not able to convince the Governor to accept a broader range of crimes. However, we believe that this is an important first step that is worth supporting despite its limitations. It may be possible to expand the list of crimes in future negotiations with the Governor’s office.

Once the bill become law, CCJRC will be working on a public education campaign to let people know who may be eligible to apply to have their criminal record sealed. We will be in touch shortly with more information.