Agenda Date: 04/01/2025
Subject:
Title
Resolution 26-2025: Opposing House Bill 25-1147 regarding Fairness & Transparency in Municipal Court.
Body
From:
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager
Prepared by:
Reid Betzing, City Attorney
Presentations:
Reid Betzing, City Attorney
PURPOSE:
Council consideration for opposing HB 25-1147 regarding Fairness & Transparency in Municipal Court
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
High-Quality Governance
DISCUSSION:
HB25-1147 Fairness & Transparency in Municipal Court seeks to mandate certain procedural requirements for defendants and limit the sentencing authority of Municipal Courts across the City.
Specifically, HB 25-1147 seeks to do the following:
* The bill proposes procedural changes in how defendants are advised and caps the maximum incarceration sentence for municipal violations that has a comparable state law offense to the same length of time. The problems associated with this are many.
o The bill violates the Colorado Constitution which expressly authorizes home rule municipalities to establish their own penalties for violations of local ordinances.
o The bill caps sentences where there is no corresponding state law to a maximum of $300 fine or 10 days in jail which could limit the City's ability address areas of local concerns such as code enforcement violations.
o The bill would have the effect of capping traffic infraction sentences to those set by state statute which are usually much lower limiting the ability to address specific areas of concern.
While fairness and transparency for our court has always been paramount, the risk and fear is that this bill like previous bills before it, seek to erode the authority of our courts. A major concern with the passage of this bill would be that it could lead to many municipal courts being unable to maintain current operations and those cases simply being issued into already burdened county courts and further burdening defendants, victims, and police departments. ...
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