Lawmakers debate prison funding, firearms and ‘right to repair’
The Colorado State House adopted three bills in the past week dealing with prisons, right to repair for agricultural equipment and firearms, and on the latter two, with vigorous opposition from Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron.
Lawmakers debated a bill that would fund more prison beds, and for the Sterling, Limon and Buena Vista correctional facilities, $4.5 million in housing incentives to boost recruiting and retention.
Senate Bill 113 sought $20.3 million for a mid-budget-year adjustment to pay for, among other things, 393 more beds and funding 16 new positions at various state prisons, mostly in southern Colorado.
The bill went through difficult debate in both the House and Senate; Democrats and a handful of Republicans complained they couldn’t get accurate prison headcount numbers from the Department of Corrections, a complaint also lodged in a staff analysis from the Joint Budget Committee, which sponsored the bill.
They also pointed out that the department had $20 million in vacancy savings and 1,600 vacant positions from low staffing, and questioned why that money was not being used to cover the additional expenses.
Joint Budget Committee members who sponsored the bill, as well as Corrections officials, said the $20 million has already been committed, to cover high overtime costs, also tied to those low staffing levels, and for retention bonuses.
A bipartisan duo of lawmakers tried to strip out the additional beds and positions, which drew objections from Holtorf.
During debate on Feb. 15, he pointed out that during the campaign season, he heard disturbing comments from Corrections employees at Sterling, a maximum-security facility. Morale is at an all-time low and people tell him they can’t retire fast enough from DOC.
“I don’t support this,” he said. “If DOC says they need more money, they might actually need it.”
He also noted that DOC has a new executive director “who has to right a ship that we’ve turned upside down.”
No one wants fiscal responsibility more than me, he told the House. If there’s a crime wave coming and there’s a need for more beds, “we might want to listen.”
SB 113 passed on a bipartisan 40-24 vote, with “no” votes from 16 Democrats and eight Republicans. It now goes to the governor for signing.
Firearms bill draws opposition
A bill to allow counties to limit the discharge of firearms on private property faced furious opposition from House Republicans in the past week.
Current law allows counties to limit the discharge of firearms in neighborhoods where there are at least 100 residents per square mile. House Bill 1165 lowers that limit to 35 dwellings per square mile, and under the federal definition of dwelling that’s about 91 residents per square mile.
The bill is the work of Rep. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, and in response to complaints in the St. Mary’s Glacier neighborhood in Clear Creek County, although Amabile said there have also been concerns raised in Boulder and Gilpin counties.
Rural lawmakers claim that when “city folk” move to rural communities, they don’t like guns and try to change the culture of their new communities.
House lawmakers approved an amendment exempting hunting, livestock management to deal with predators and any other “wildlife management activity.” That earned Amabile, the sponsor, a “thank you” from Holtorf, who said the amendment is the first step to “bridge our division between the rural and urban folks,” Holtorf said.
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