Committee rejects Kelty's squatting bill after wide testimony from landlords, advocates and criminal‑justice groups

Representative Kelty told the Judiciary Committee House Bill 11‑04 is intended to deter serial squatters and give property owners confidence to rent homes. "We need more properties," she said, arguing that owners are leaving the rental market because they do not feel protected.

Kelty described the bill as a tool for "bad actors" who "knowingly" take over homes — not a measure to penalize lawful renters. Her amendments, L001 and L002, added definitions of "legal tenancy" and a "binding contractual relationship," and reduced penalties in response to committee concerns.

Dozens of witnesses testified on both sides. Landlords and realtors described break‑ins, property damage and prolonged civil processes. Sunny Banka, who testified she had to re‑clean a freshly rehabbed house after unauthorized occupants left human waste and other damage, told the committee police had told her they could not act because the property owner was out of state. Karen Esquivel said her elderly mother's triplex suffered an extended stay by a deceased tenant's family that required eviction and clean‑up costs. Desiree Banker Rothenberger described an instance in which someone had turned an oven on and left it, creating a fire risk in a unit she listed for sale.

Property‑management and industry witnesses described serial offenders and a market incentive when eviction timelines lengthen. Drew Hamrick of the Colorado Apartment Association said eviction processes have lengthened since pandemic-era changes and that longer civil timelines increase the financial prize for serial bad actors.

By contrast, housing and legal‑aid groups, public‑defenders and criminal‑defense attorneys said the bill was unnecessary or dangerous. Kinsey Hastad of Enterprise Community Partners said the bill would let owners bypass civil eviction proceedings and require law enforcement to remove occupants within a set period on the owner's assertion of ownership, risking removal without court review.

"This bill disregards years of negotiated state laws that establish a structure for renters, landlords, attorneys, courts, and law enforcement engaged in the residential eviction process," Hastad testified. Andrew West of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Tristan Gorman of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar warned the bill's fines and criminal penalties would aggravate homelessness and could undermine restitution and due‑process protections.

Criminal defenders and the state public defender's office noted existing criminal statutes already address many behaviors described in testimony — criminal trespass, burglary, identity fraud and criminal mischief — and warned the bill would create overlapping offenses with different penalties and procedural consequences.

Committee members questioned whether the bill would in practice give law enforcement a clearer tool than current criminal statutes and whether it risked penalizing people who had a legitimate tenancy dispute. Representative Clifford said he preferred addressing enforcement and penalties within trespass and burglary statutes rather than creating a new, potentially duplicative crime.

After amendments were adopted, Representative Kelty moved the bill as amended to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; Representative Soper seconded. The committee then voted on the motion and recorded 4 yes votes and 7 no votes, so the motion failed. Representative Bacon then moved to postpone the bill indefinitely; there was no objection and the bill was postponed indefinitely.

The hearing produced detailed first‑hand accounts of property damage and an extended policy debate about how to balance property owners' rights, tenants' due process and the practical limits of law‑enforcement resources.

Votes at a glance: House Bill 11‑04 — motion to Committee of the Whole as amended moved by Representative Kelty, seconded by Representative Soper; failed on recorded vote (Yes: Armagost, Caldwell, Kelty, Soper; No: Bacon, Clifford, Espinosa, Garcia, Zokai, Carter, Mister chair). Subsequent motion to postpone indefinitely moved by Representative Bacon; passed with no objection.