Committee moves to bar municipal criminal ordinances for failure to appear

The House Judiciary Committee voted to send Senate Bill 62 to the Committee of the Whole after a multi-hour hearing that pitted municipal officials and prosecutors against civil-rights and defense advocates.

Supporters said the bill would stop some cities from criminalizing poverty by making a missed court date its own criminal offense. "This bill would bring the muni courts in alignment with state courts on this issue," Vice Chair Carter said, adding it "disallows failure to appear and contempt of court premised on that failure to appear from forming the basis of a criminal charge."

The nut graf: proponents, including the ACLU of Colorado, the Colorado Freedom Fund and the Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel, said municipal ordinances in a handful of jurisdictions resulted in lengthy jail exposure for people who missed appearances often for reasons tied to poverty, disability or housing instability. Opponents — city attorneys and municipal court judges — said repeated, willful failures to appear disrupt case resolution, harm victims and that removing the local tool would…