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Colorado: Senate Judiciary Committee

March 18, 2009 - 04:47 pm
NEWS FEED: Denver Post

Panel backs partner rights

A self-described "old lesbian" and three students urged lawmakers Monday to support a bill that would make it easier for gays and others to pass down property and handle emergency situations.

Supporters said the bill would apply to a man and a woman who lived together and weren't married or a grandparent and an adult grandchild, for example.

But critics, including Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, called House Bill 1260 "marriage light" and said it was another attempt to give more benefits to gay couples.

"You call this an estate-planning tool, but it really strikes me as a marriage replacement," he said.

The measure allows those in a relationship to file beneficiary agreements with county clerks, a boon for those who can't afford lawyers for wills and other documents, such as power of attorney, said the sponsor, Sen.

Read More at Denver Post >
There have been 26 comments posted in response to this story.

March 12, 2009 - 01:15 pm
NEWS FEED: Colorado Independent

Senate panel OKs ‘Katie’s Law’ to collect DNA on all felony arrests

By Ernest Luning

(Photo/gravitywave, Flickr)

A state Senate panel late Wednesday evening approved a bill to require law enforcement officials to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony in Colorado, over strong objections from one lawmaker who said “Katie’s Law” — named after a New Mexico college student whose brutal rape and murder was solved using DNA evidence — does “permanent damage” to constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

(Photo/gravitywave, Flickr)

“There are great costs and consequences in not passing this law,” Jayann Sepich, the mother of the law’s namesake, told the Senate Judiciary Committee after displaying slides of her slain daughter, Katie Sepich.

Sepich has been traveling the country urging states to pass similar laws since New Mexico adopted it in 2006.

Read More at Colorado Independent >
There have been 22 comments posted in response to this story.

March 4, 2009 - 05:52 pm
NEWS FEED: Colorado Independent

Congress takes a crack at corruption

By John Tomasic

When it’s hard to convict a congressman who accepts a briefcase full of $100 bills from undercover FBI agents in a hotel lobby and then bundles them in tinfoil packets and stuffs $90,000 worth of them into his freezer, you know there’s just something plain broken about the laws governing political corruption in this country.

You know it. I know it. And Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter knows it.

Good news is that so do senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. They reintroduced a well-designed, anti-corruption bill in January called the Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act, which is being heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday in D.

Read More at Colorado Independent >
There have been 22 comments posted in response to this story.

March 4, 2009 - 01:26 pm
NEWS FEED: Colorado Independent

TCI Street Poll: Hospital visitation rights for everyone?

By Wendy Norris

While the Colorado legislature debates state Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Jennifer Viega’s H.B. 1260 to allow adults to enter into “designated beneficiary agreements” that would provide a legal right for hospital visits among other rights for non-married persons. Do you agree with the Denver Democrats’ efforts?

Some hospitals don’t allow gay partners to visit during emergencies. | BuzzDash polls

Add your comments below the fold.

The bill passed the House 41-24 with partisan defections on both sides — Republican members Cheri Gerou, Don Marostica, Tom Massey, Kevin Priola, and Ellen Roberts voting for the measure and Democrats Wes McKinley and John Soper voting against it.

HB 1260 moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee which will hear the measure on March 16.

Read More at Colorado Independent >
There have been 24 comments posted in response to this story.

February 5, 2009 - 04:05 pm
NEWS FEED: Face the State

Domestic abuse bill brings men's rights to light

A bill proposing to increase fees in order to support domestic violence service agencies was heard Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If passed, the bill would designate a percentage of funds specifically for organizations that provide domestic abuse services for military members and veterans.

Senate bill 68, sponsored by Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, seeks a fee increase on all applications for marriage or divorce. The bill specifies a percentage of the money collected would fund domestic abuse services provided by nongovernmental agencies or units of local government and specifically designates a percentage of the money to organizations that provide domestic abuse services to military families.

Read More at Face the State >
There have been 5 comments posted in response to this story.

February 3, 2009 - 11:48 am
NEWS FEED: Colorado Independent

Killing same-sex unions (softly) in the Land of Enchantment

By Jefferson Morley

For the last few years, New Mexico has been close to becoming the first state between the coasts to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples. Many Democrats in both houses of the state legislature support the idea, and as a presidential candidate last year, Gov. Bill Richardson pandered to gay audiences saying he would gladly sign such a measure.

So the prospects for civil unions looked promising when the legislature convened last month. All that was needed was for a majority of the state Senate Judiciary Committee to send the bill to the floor. The 11-member committee was divided, five in favor, five against, leaving Albuquerque Democrat Bernadette Sanchez with the decisive vote.

Read More at Colorado Independent >
There have been 24 comments posted in response to this story.