Arapahoe County prepares fingerprint checks for massage businesses; sheriff advises using state vendor system

Dawn Johnson of the county attorney's office told the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday that Colorado law now requires fingerprint‑based criminal‑history submissions from owners, operators and employees of massage facilities and that local governments must have a process in place to collect those submissions.

“We are required to have a process in place,” Johnson said, noting the 2024 law that added the mandatory fingerprint requirement and a 2025 bill that moved the submission deadline to “07/01/2026.” She told the board the county may adopt an ordinance or resolution to establish the intake process and that, separately, it may choose to adopt a local licensing program or prohibitions tied to trafficking‑related activities — but those licensing and prohibition tools remain discretionary unless changed by future legislation.

The attorney's office cautioned the board that recent statutory edits left some internal cross‑references unclear; Johnson said parts of the statute still point to a repealed subsection, which could create ambiguity about enforcement if the county were to adopt ordinances that rely on those references.

Sheriff's office representatives recommended the county use the Colorado Bureau of Investigation'managed vendor system (the CABS program with approved vendors such as Identigo and Colorado Fingerprinting) for fingerprint capture and initial processing. A sheriff's office speaker explained the vendor system will receive fingerprints and notify applicants if further name‑based judicial record searches are needed; CBI supplies the finalized results back to the county's ORI for storage.

“[Vendors] will submit all of their information through the CABS system,” a sheriff's office representative said, describing Identigo and Colorado Fingerprinting as the approved vendors and noting the state would handle most of the operational burden.

Sergeant Bruce Peterson, who supervises the sheriff's special investigations unit, described the county's enforcement experience and urged caution about imposing new local regulatory layers aimed at trafficking. “In my 6 years I've had one case of the 15 that I've worked for the massage parlors that was truly human trafficking,” Peterson said, adding that the sheriff's office works regularly with federal partners including the FBI and Homeland Security for complex or multi‑state matters.

Commissioners asked whether fingerprint checks would cover spa and resort massage operations; staff replied the fingerprint submission requirement applies to owners, operators and employees as specified by state law, but that the decision to require local licensing or to prohibit specified activities would be at the county's discretion. The attorney's office also said the statute allows the county to charge administrative license fees (up to $150) if it adopts a licensing scheme, and that vendors would collect any direct fingerprinting fees from applicants.

Board members generally signaled support for setting up the required fingerprint intake process and directed staff to return with more concrete, written recommendations at a future meeting. The attorney's office recommended declining to adopt a county‑level trafficking prohibition resolution at this time and instead coordinating with local municipalities and law enforcement while the county ensures compliance with the July 1, 2026 submission deadline.

At the conclusion of the study session the board moved and seconded a motion to enter executive session to receive legal advice on three matters (Lakeview Park cell tower case; Flood v. Kellogg; and updates to county ordinances). Commissioner Jeff Baker made the motion and Commissioner Jessica Campbell seconded it; the board recessed into executive session.

Next steps: staff will return with a clearer, written plan for implementing a vendor‑based fingerprint intake process and with concrete options for any discretionary licensing or prohibition measures the board may wish to consider in later meetings.