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Committee backs bill to bar municipal criminal charges for failure to appear, amid contested testimony
Summary
The House Judiciary Committee endorsed Senate Bill 62 by a 7-4 vote to prohibit municipalities from criminalizing failure to appear; supporters said the policy prevents criminalizing poverty, while municipal officials warned it would hamper local courts’ ability to manage repeated no-shows.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 to send Senate Bill 62 to the Committee of the Whole after hours of testimony that split lawmakers and witnesses on how municipalities handle failures to appear.
Supporters, including Vice Chair Representative Carter and Representative Gilchrist, described SB 62 as a narrow bill that would bar municipal ordinances from turning failures to appear into freestanding criminal charges. Carter said the bill “is trying to do is prohibit the criminalization of that failure to appear process, in the municipal codes.” Gilchrist said many missed appearances stem from barriers such as lack of transportation, housing instability or health emergencies, and urged a yes vote.
The bill’s backers — including the ACLU of Colorado, Colorado Freedom Fund,…
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