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House Judiciary Committee moves cold case task force sunset bill forward after COPPER recommends 13‑year continuation
Summary
COPPER recommended continuing Colorado’s Cold Case Task Force for 13 years and moving future reviews from Title 24 to Title 2 to reflect its advisory role. The committee introduced the draft and sent it for formal bill drafting with sponsors named.
Sahid Singh, an analyst with the Colorado Office of Policy, Research and Regulatory Reform (COPPER), told the House Judiciary Committee that Colorado has nearly 2,000 cold homicide cases and that the Cold Case Task Force serves primarily as an advisory forum for law enforcement, victim advocates and family members.
"The first recommendation is to continue the task force for 13 years," Singh said, explaining COPPER’s view that the panel’s advisory role and ability to bring family members before agencies warrant continuation and a change to a Title 2 (advisory) review cycle.
Singh outlined the task force’s functions — reviewing investigative strategies, advising the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and helping smaller local agencies adopt best practices — and said COPPER found only $4,162 in member reimbursements over the prior five fiscal years and no other direct program expenditures. He recommended giving the executive director of the Department of Public Safety authority to appoint additional members so the panel can include experts in emerging fields such as forensic genetic genealogy and other technologies.
Armando Salvate, director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, described how CBI operates the task force under delegation from the executive director of public safety and said CBI runs a separate "cold case review team" to dive into individual investigations when public meetings cannot discuss sensitive evidence.
"We operate the cold case task force under the CBI direction, delegated by the executive director of public safety," Salvate said, outlining CBI’s role in hosting and staffing the advisory meetings.
Committee members asked for more-precise drafting language to limit the director’s appointing authority so additional appointees would match the stated reason for expanding membership (emerging forensic capabilities). COPPER and OLLS told members the conceptual hearing is the first step and that committee members could propose and vote on amendments when the draft returns as an introduced bill.
The committee moved to introduce the draft sunset bill and, after no objection, sent it for formal drafting and assigned sponsors to carry it forward. Members and staff indicated they expect to refine appointing‑authority language and other details during the bill drafting and subsequent committee hearing.
What’s next: the draft will be formally drafted into a bill; the committee and sponsors anticipated offering targeted amendments on appointing authority and membership before or after introduction.
