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Committee advances amended bill requiring family notification and timelines for body‑worn camera access
Summary
Senate Bill 26‑190, revised with strike‑below amendments to limit scope and add timelines, requires timely family notification after lethal use‑of‑force incidents and establishes a family preview and a deadline for providing recordings; the committee adopted amendments and voted to send the bill to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation.
Sponsors described SB 26‑190 as a targeted statute to ensure families are notified promptly and have access to recordings after a lethal use‑of‑force incident, while balancing privacy, investigative and prosecutorial concerns. The sponsors said the strike‑below amendments narrow the bill to fatal use‑of‑force incidents, preserve a 24‑hour notification standard for known family members, provide a defined family preview window (sponsors referenced a 72‑hour preview and a 21‑day delivery of the full recording in the amendment text), and maintain a safe harbor for factual statements and public safety communications.
Municipal and law‑enforcement witnesses — including the Colorado Municipal League, chiefs of police (represented by Ed Brady), and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office — testified in an amend position. They supported the bill’s goals but asked for operational clarifications: workable timelines, alignment with multi‑agency investigative protocols, clear points of contact for families, protection for victims and witnesses (including the ability to blur or redact sensitive footage), and consideration of storage and processing costs given no dedicated state funding.
Family members of people killed in police encounters offered extended testimony, describing delayed or partial disclosure of footage, court battles to obtain unedited video, and resulting trauma. Several witnesses asked for statutory timelines and enforcement pathways so families would not be reliant on litigation or discretionary agency practices.
The committee adopted the offered strike‑below and cleanup amendments (L1 and L003) without objection, then the vice chair moved SB 26‑190 to the Committee on the Whole with a favorable recommendation as amended. The motion carried on roll call. Sponsors committed to continuing stakeholder discussions as the bill moves forward.
The amendments adopted in committee narrowed the bill’s triggers and sought to reconcile family access rights with privacy and investigatory concerns; stakeholders signaled further implementation work would be required prior to second reading.
