Latest news with #AndrewBoesenecker
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Third car theft conviction means loss of gun rights under new Colorado law
The Colorado House of Representatives debates a property tax relief bill during a special session on Aug. 27, 2024. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline) People convicted of first-degree car theft in Colorado will be unable to have a firearm under a new law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Monday. House Bill 25-1171 adds the offense to the list of crimes covered by the Possession of Weapon by Previous Offender statute in the state. POWPO makes it illegal to own a firearm for people with one or more of the listed convictions on their record. 'From now on anyone convicted of first degree motor vehicle theft (is) ineligible to possess a firearm, keeping guns out of the wrong hands and protecting our communities,' Polis said in a statement. 'I am proud of our work to improve public safety in Colorado, and with this bill signed into law, I look forward to continuing our bold progress to protect Coloradans and our communities.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A person can be convicted of first-degree vehicle theft only after two other vehicle theft convictions. The bill was sponsored by Reps. Shannon Bird of Westminster and Andrew Boesenecker of Fort Collins and Sens. Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo and Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Commerce City, all Democrats. It passed the Legislature with bipartisan support. A 2021 law narrowed the scope of the POWPO application in Colorado, and while a 2022 law then added more felonies back to the list, it left car theft out. 'What we heard in committee from law enforcement is a plea. They are begging us, in these situations where you have someone who has been convicted three times of auto theft, they are asking us to please take the firearm out of the equation,' Boesenecker said on the House floor during bill debate. What we heard in committee from law enforcement is a plea. They are begging us, in these situations where you have someone who has been convicted three times of auto theft, they are asking us to please take the firearm out of the equation. – State Rep. Andrew Boesenecker As the bill made its way through the Legislature, Hinrichsen said that car theft is distinct from other property crimes and non-violent offenses left out of POWPO. 'When we look at punishments relative to crime, either in terms of sentences or in terms of restrictions, what we should be looking at is the severity of the action and the risk and harm done to the victim and community more broadly. When you're dealing with the theft of a vehicle, you're disrupting the entire life of an individual,' he said during the bill's first Senate committee hearing. The bill was amended in the House, under a change brought by Republican representatives, to allow a person to petition a court to restore their firearm possession rights after 10 years. 'This is the crucially important piece — for someone who has turned their life around, they can petition to get this removed,' Rep. Ryan Armagost, a Berthoud Republican who helped negotiate the amendment, said on the House floor. But that amendment ended up being a sticking point. Other crimes on the POWPO list do not have that restoration pathway for adults, creating equal protection concerns. Sponsors said, however, that the attorney general's office said the bill with the amendment is defensible if a legal challenge emerges. But the Senate stripped the amendment from the bill and passed a version without the restoration piece. The House then refused to accept the change and forced the Senate to decide, in the last hours of the session on May 7, to either pass the House version of the bill or allow the legislation to die. The Senate passed the bill. 'I appreciate the hard work of the House sponsors to work on deals that bring parties into agreement, that brought representatives to be able to get behind this policy that I believe will save lives in Colorado,' Hinrichsen said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
CBS News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Colorado lawmakers didn't have enough votes to override Gov. Polis' veto on social media regulation
After Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a bill regulating social media companies, the bill's sponsors failed to gather enough votes to override that veto in the Colorado State Legislature. The bill would have required social media companies to remove the accounts of users who sold guns or drugs or sexually exploited children. It would have also required social media companies to comply with search warrants within 72 hours and publish annual reports detailing violations. CBS The sponsors of the bill were emotional as they vowed to bring back the bill next session. "We must hold parties accountable when this bill comes forward next session, demand a solution that isn't rooted in market cap but is rooted in the safety of our communities. Our social media companies owe you that. Our state demands that, and children are less safe when they do not have that," said Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Democrat representing Fort Collins. "I committed to families that I would fight... and I have. We have reached a point where there's a process, and that is what we are executing at this point is the process," said Rep. Anthony Hartsook, a Republican representing Parker. The Colorado Senate voted 29-6 to overturn the veto, but it takes two-thirds of both chambers, and the state House didn't have the votes.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House committee amends, then passes bill to limit semiautomatic weapon sales
Democratic Reps. Andrew Boesenecker and Meg Froelich testify on Senate Bill 25-003 during its House committee hearing on March 11, 2025. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline) A Colorado bill to limit the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms that accept detachable magazines passed its first House committee late Tuesday night, after being amended to clarify how county sheriffs and Colorado Parks and Wildlife would work together on a process for people to buy otherwise restricted guns. Senate Bill 25-3 passed on a 7-4 vote through the House Judiciary Committee after about 12 hours of witness testimony, most of which was from people opposed to the bill who showed up to rally outside the Capitol in the morning. The committee's four Republicans voted against it. The bill, originally a broad ban on the sale of semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines, was amended heavily in the Senate to allow people to buy those types of guns if they complete a safety course, a compromise workshopped with Gov. Jared Polis' office to earn his support. The Senate passed it in February on a 19-15 vote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'A permit-to-purchase program for these firearms recognizes both their unique lethality and also a pathway to ownership, which is accompanied by reasonable safety training to be able to understand the gravity of the moment when you put one of these firearms in your hands,' said Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat sponsoring the bill. It is also sponsored by Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat. It was sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tom Sullivan of Centennial and Julie Gonzales of Denver in the Senate. Sponsors and supporters frame the bill as a way to enforce the state's high-capacity magazine ban from 2013. A person who wants to purchase semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols that can accept detachable ammunition magazines would need to be vetted by their county sheriff, undergo either four or 12 hours of training — depending on whether they have a hunter safety certification already — and pass a test. That would enable them to buy an otherwise-banned firearm for five years. It would not limit possession of the targeted firearms. It would take effect in September of this year. CPW would be in charge of creating the application, determining the safety course requirements and setting the fees for that course. One amendment on Tuesday took out a fingerprinting requirement for a background check. An applicant would need to fill out the CPW form and submit to their sheriff a photo ID and the results of a name-based background check that looks at Colorado criminal history and judicial databases. Sheriffs would be able to set fees to cover the cost of vetting applicants. Another amendment would allow sheriffs to deny someone an eligibility card to undergo safety training if they have a 'reasonable belief that documented previous behavior by the applicant makes it likely that the applicant will present a danger to themself or others' if they access these types of firearms. 'Our sheriffs might have been out on a call to a property three or four times that week already, and (they) see that application come through, and it might give (them) pause about whether that individual has some other extenuating circumstances that might factor into consideration about whether to pause the (application) process for that individual,' Boesenecker said. Some members on the committee raised due process concerns about giving that additional layer of discretion to sheriffs, and the bill sponsors said they intend to address that issue in an amendment on the House floor. Another amendment addresses the cost of starting the permitting program before it would be able to fund itself. CPW would be allowed to transfer money from two cash funds — the Outdoor Recreation Cash Fund and the Wildlife Cash Fund — to cover startup costs. That would essentially be a loan that CPW would need to pay back into those cash funds by 2030. Republicans questioned the legal justification for the amendment. Cash funds are created for specific programs and purposes and are funded through fees, gifts and donations. The two cash funds contemplated in the amendment, for example, take money from hunting licenses, park passes and state lottery money. 'We set these cash funds up for a specific reason,' Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, said. 'When we do create these funds, they're not just to be moved around for different programs. Otherwise we'd be doing that for all of our bills, especially in a tight fiscal year.' Froelich responded that the safety course created in the bill would be part of CPW's general operations, so it makes sense to use cash funds within CPW. The department also already runs the hunting licensure course that would affect the length of an additional required safety course. Republicans on the committee opposed the bill on broad Second Amendment grounds and argued that requiring a safety course is a barrier to someone exercising their right to own a gun. 'If you want to get this done, not only do you have to pay for the training, now you have to pay for the sheriff,' Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter, a Trinidad Republican, said. 'Can CPW do the job in a timely fashion? Will it create backlogs? Will it divert funds from the original mission of CPW? Many who testified have figured out that gun laws in Colorado are meant to be death by a thousand cuts, making it harder and harder.' The bill now heads to the House Finance Committee. If it makes it to the House floor, it will almost certainly pass with the chamber's 43-22 Democratic majority. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
