Judiciary panel adopts amendments to victims‑rights bill, sends HB 10‑52 to appropriations

The Colorado House Judiciary Committee on Monday advanced House Bill 10‑52 — changes to the Victims’ Rights Act — to the Appropriations Committee with a unanimous 10‑0 vote after adopting two sponsor amendments.

Sponsors (Representatives Wuge and Stewart) said the bill aligns new notification requirements created in last year’s legislation with the Victims’ Rights Act, clarifies when victims should be notified about forensic‑labor employee misconduct, gives victims the right to request retesting of forensic evidence when wrongdoing likely affected reported results, and creates modest privacy protections such as allowing victims to be referred by a preferred name in certain hearings. They said the changes aim to protect survivors’ safety and increase meaningful participation in proceedings that affect them.

Several committee members pressed sponsors and agency witnesses on operational and fiscal questions. Lance Allen, deputy director at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, told the committee the bureau supports the bill’s intent but warned that broad retesting rights could overwhelm limited DNA testing capacity. Allen said CBI’s earlier fiscal estimate relied on an assumed volume of retests; the amendments that require a district attorney to confer with victims and determine whether retesting is appropriate will reduce the number of retests the bureau expects to perform and therefore lower the projected fiscal impact.

Aaron Carpenter of Legislative Council explained that judicial IT costs tied to preferred‑name requests were narrowed by the amendments and that a new fiscal note will accompany the bill if the amendments are adopted. Witnesses from victim‑advocate organizations (Violence Free Colorado, COVA, CCASA, Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center) testified in support, describing cases where notification or privacy gaps had harmed survivors.

Two amendments were adopted. L001 (as amended by moving L004 into it) requires a victim may confer with a district attorney and that the district attorney make a determination and notify the victim whether retesting will be requested; sponsors said the change narrows previous language, addresses a CBI fiscal concern, and includes a DA notification requirement. L002 clarifies victims’ rights to be heard in restitution hearings and refines preferred‑name language. With those changes, the committee voted 10‑0 to send HB 10‑52 to Appropriations.

Next steps: HB 10‑52 will receive a fiscal estimate reflecting the adopted amendments before Appropriations considers any funding requests.