House Appropriations Committee advances six bills to Committee of the Whole

The House Appropriations Committee voted to advance six bills to the Committee of the Whole, approving House Bills 10-13 (8–3), 11-12 (passed; recorded as 8–2–3), 12-79 (7–4), 12-10 (unanimous), 10-69 (unanimous) and 12-09 (7–4). Several bills were amended before the committee vote.

Why it matters: The committee’s actions move a set of spending and enforcement-related bills forward in the session. Amendments adopted on two bills change how vehicle-registration violations are handled and remove a specific child-support policy from a scheduled evaluation, which sponsors said reduces fiscal impact.

House Bill 10-13: The chair recapped the committee’s earlier work and recommended against adopting the bill’s J amendment, saying the Department of Law receives reappropriated funding on a three‑year averaging basis and does not need the additional, small appropriation. “I do not think that they need this appropriation. They're not hiring 0.1 FTE and even this minute number of hours is speculative,” the chair said. Assistant Majority Leader Bacon had no amendments. Representative Velasco seconded the motion to advance the bill. The committee approved the bill 8–3 on a voice/roll call vote and sent it to the Committee of the Whole.

House Bill 11-12 (as amended): Sponsors moved two related amendments, L008 and L009. Representative Titone described L008 as removing an amnesty provision from the introduced bill and preserving a four‑month grace period for vehicle registration: “If you are pulled over within 4 months of having a violation of not having a registration, you'll have a 4 month grace period in which to get your registration paid for, and then you won't have to pay the fines and fees associated with that.” Titone said L009 adjusts how notice is given so that law‑enforcement agencies would not need to reprint tickets; instead, officers would give oral notice or add the information to an electronic citation. The committee adopted L009 to amend L008, adopted L008 as amended, and then moved HB 11-12 as amended to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the clerk announced the bill passed by a committee vote recorded as eight‑two‑three.

House Bill 12-79 (as amended): Representative Stewart explained amendment L005 would remove Colorado’s child‑support pass‑through policy from the list of policies to be evaluated under the bill because the Department of Human Services already evaluates that policy; Stewart said removing it reduces the bill’s fiscal impact. The committee also adopted the J002 amendment. The committee then advanced HB 12-79 as amended to the Committee of the Whole on a vote of 7–4.

House Bill 12-10 and House Bill 10-69: Both bills were moved to the Committee of the Whole with favorable recommendations and passed the committee unanimously. No committee amendments were offered for either bill during the session recorded in the transcript.

House Bill 12-09: Committee members adopted amendment J001 and then advanced the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. The clerk read a committee vote of 7–4.

Procedure and next steps: For each bill the committee recorded motions to advance to the Committee of the Whole with favorable recommendations; where amendments were adopted, sponsors described the policy or technical changes on the record. The chair closed morning business and adjourned the committee at the conclusion of the recorded session.

Votes at a glance: HB 10-13 — advanced 8–3; HB 11-12 (as amended) — advanced (vote recorded as 8–2‑3); HB 12-79 (as amended) — advanced 7–4; HB 12-10 — advanced unanimously; HB 10-69 — advanced unanimously; HB 12-09 (as amended) — advanced 7–4.

Ending note: The actions send the bills to the Committee of the Whole for further consideration; the transcript records the amendment texts and sponsor explanations that will appear in the committee minutes.