Colorado Senate advances and amends SB149 to create placements for people deemed incompetent to stand trial

The Colorado Senate spent much of its April 23 session on Senate Bill 149, a bipartisan measure sponsored in the text by senators Amabile and Simpson that sets up pathways to place and treat people who are found incompetent to stand trial and are unlikely to be restored.

Sponsor Senator Simpson told colleagues the bill is aimed at people who end up in the criminal justice system because the state lacks appropriate treatment placements. "We cannot allow the status quo to continue," Simpson said, urging support for a package that includes dozens of amendments negotiated over months.

The Senate considered committee reports from Judiciary — which had recommended multiple changes — and Appropriations, which reported a "substantial amount of money in a very tight budget year," according to Senator Amabile. Lawmakers repeatedly flagged uncertainty about how many people would need the new placements: "Some estimates are 60 to 70 folks. Some estimates are 20 or 30 folks," a sponsor said on the floor, summarizing the range used in fiscal discussions.

Floor amendments focused on tightening fiscal assumptions and clarifying implementation. Senator Kirkmeyer offered amendment L049 to reduce the bill's initial hiring assumption, cutting an early-year request roughly in half and directing the judicial branch to use the normal budget process for any later increases. "It just cuts this in half," Kirkmeyer said, describing the amendment's effect on first‑year FTE assumptions. The Senate adopted L049 by voice.

Senator Mobley offered amendment L055 to remove an over‑expenditure authority that had been included for the Department of Human Services; she said the change preserves technical fixes to be addressed later. Other adopted amendments included L050 (changing a statutory "shall" to a discretionary "may" for a specified appointment to reduce fiscal pressure), L051 (clarifying language requested by district attorneys and the Department of Human Services), L052 (a technical correction to the bill's five‑year repeal dates), and L053 (minor technical fixes). The Senate adopted each amendment by voice.

Sponsors and supporters said the package includes capital outlay and IT infrastructure funding that will be required for new placements, while preserving the opportunity to adjust funding through supplemental or next‑year budget processes if need is higher than estimated. The committee report was adopted in Committee of the Whole and the bill, as amended, was ordered engrossed and placed on the calendar for third reading and final passage; the Committee of the Whole reported the committee recommendation by a recorded vote of 35 ayes, 0 no.

Why it matters: supporters said SB149 addresses a recurring failure in the system that can result in violent re‑offending when people with serious behavioral or cognitive conditions cannot access appropriate civil or treatment placements. Opponents on the floor expressed concerns about uncertain population estimates and the fiscal impacts on judicial and human services budgets.

What's next: the Senate placed SB149, as amended, on the calendar for third reading and final passage. Implementation will depend on the remaining budget process, staffing timelines and any technical adjustments the sponsors said they may bring back on third reading.

"We did a lot of work on this bill," a sponsor said on the floor. "It's an incremental improvement every time we do this."