Senator Hisey Newsletter
March 16th, 2022
Halfway and the Pace Picks Up
The
Legislature is more than halfway through the Second Session of the 73rd General
Assembly. What that means with the bill count approaching 500 is more time in
committee meetings as the bills become more numerous as well as longer.
It’s a fair assumption that the longer the bill the longer the hearing if for
no other reason than it takes longer to explain and that’s before we factor in
additional public testimony. Which I encourage, we, the legislators can learn a
lot from the people whose lives we touch with our bills.
On the bill front: we sent to the Governor’s desk a bill Amending the Elements of Sexual
Assault Prohibiting Sexual Conduct Without Consent. This
is one of my bills that change about a dozen words in the law books. It updates
some 50-year-old language around rape and makes it clearer to the jury what
findings need to be met to render a guilty conviction.
The bill doesn’t change any standards, make it easier or harder to prosecute or
defend but it tells the jury what the boundaries are. We also believe that with
the clearer language more victims will be less hesitant in coming forward as
they too will understand in plain language what “Without Consent” means. Rape
is believed to be one of the most under-reported crimes.
| Five bills are currently scheduled this week in Transportation & Energy. The one that looks to be the most controversial is SB-138. I wrote about and thought we would hear 138 a couple of weeks ago, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emission in Colorado. I haven’t seen any amendments yet but assume the delay was to give more time to refine the bill. If the section about eliminating the sale of gas leaf blowers, lawnmowers and garden tractors is still in the bill, I expect a lot of landscapers and lawn care company owners to be in the audience. The budget is still a couple of weeks out so many bills are backing up in the Appropriations Committee awaiting final numbers. That’s when we go from busy to slammed right on through the end of the session. |