Latest news with #MikeWeissman
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to assist with Colorado rape kit backlog clears Senate committee
(Tek Image/Science Photo Library via Getty Images) A bill that would add additional transparency in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's progress working through a backlog of rape kits passed unanimously in its first legislative committee Wednesday, following months of concern over the lengthy wait time to have a kit processed. Senate Bill 25-304 now heads to the Senate Appropriation Committee for consideration. 'What our criminal legal system needs — and what, more importantly, our survivors need — is for things to get done quickly,' said bill sponsor Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat. 'The reason that we should care about quickly turning around sex assault evidence kits, to use that bloodless term, is because we owe one survivor justice, and maybe if we do that quickly enough, we can catch somebody and the next one or two or 10 survivors don't have to become survivors in the first place.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill is partially modeled on legislation from the Colorado Legislature's Joint Budget Committee that was never introduced. It would create a coordinator position at CBI to oversee the agency's process and progress of completing the sexual assault kits, which include DNA samples and other evidence from survivors to aid in a criminal investigation. Colorado's forensic services are facing a historic backlog of the kits due to reduced staff capacity and ballooning fallout from the discovery that former CBI forensic scientist Yvonne 'Missy' Woods manipulated more than a thousand DNA test results over her career. As of March, there were 1,424 kits in the backlog with an average turnaround time of 558 days, according to a recently implemented data dashboard. The backlog means delayed justice for survivors, as DNA evidence can often be critical for a criminal conviction. 'The impact of this growing delay in turnaround time for sexual assault evidence kits to be processed and analyzed is devastating for individual survivors, as so many of you have heard this spring, but it's also destructive to public trust in our institutions and systems,' said Elizabeth Newman, the policy director for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. The coordinator considered under Weissman's bill would report annually to the Legislature on data including the number of kits completed, the number of cases in the backlog, the capacity of state crime laboratories and the amount of additional DNA collected from crime scenes not captured in a kit. The coordinator would also assess and make recommendations on the efficiency of the testing process. That would ultimately bring a 'cross-silo awareness' of what is happening at the state level lab and various local labs, Weissman said. He said the coordinator position's roles and responsibilities will likely change through the amendment process as he speaks with stakeholders. The coordinator position would be paid for with a $150,000 grant using state general fund money. The bill would also create a new notification requirement under the Victim Rights Act that would require a law enforcement agency to update a survivor on the status of their kit every 90 days. It also sets a turnaround goal of 60 days. The agency's current goal is 90 days, which it expects to achieve in 2027. 'To be real clear, I don't think that we're going to get there next month, but I do believe that we can build up our system to where we can get here, and I believe that we should make that promise to the impacted people in our state and to our future selves by putting it in statute,' Weissman said. Lance Allen, CBI's deputy director of forensic services, told lawmakers that he does not think the bill as written would reduce turnaround time for rape kits. He outlined recent actions from the agency, including using $3 million of repurposed funds to outsource processing for about 1,000 kits and hiring a third-party contractor to assess best practices. 'We have a plan to get rid of the backlog and fortunately have received funding to address a good portion of that, and then with the training that we are doing at the state level, we will be increasing our resources and be able to handle that capacity at the state level,' he said. 'I wholeheartedly acknowledge that CBI is in the process of rebuilding trust. We know that.' CBI currently has 16 scientists working at the state lab and is training 15 more. So far, Weissman is the only sponsor on the bill. If it passes the Senate Appropriations Committee, it will move to the entire Senate for consideration, and then the House. The lawmaking term ends on May 7. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill protecting immigration civil rights passes Colorado Senate
DENVER (KDVR) — A bill to strengthen protections for immigrant civil rights in Colorado passed the state Senate on Monday. SB25-276 has a laundry list of additions to existing protections already in Colorado law and several new ones, ranging from more restrictions on peace and detention officers working with immigration officials to protections for people using public services like schools, libraries or healthcare. The bill passed with a vote of 22-13 and now moves to the state House for consideration. Previous coverage: Bill strengthening Colorado's immigrant protections passes committee Opponents of the bill in committee had called portions of the bill unfair to immigrants who entered the country legally and questioned federal warrant requirements, and a Republican-sponsored bill that would have done the opposite of SB25-276 and reversed state and local officer restrictions on immigration enforcement recently failed to pass out of committee. Senate sponsors of SB25-276 that passed Monday say the bill is meant to increase data privacy for all Coloradans, regardless of immigration status, and is an attempt to stop the Trump Administration's attacks on Colorado's immigrant communities. 'The district that I represent is the most diverse district in Colorado and ground zero for Donald Trump's campaign of fear-mongering and division,' Sen. Mike Weissman, a Democrat representing Aurora, said in a statement. 'If we don't take action now, we risk letting the Trump Administration run roughshod over the progress toward legal data privacy protections we've made in Colorado and we risk letting fear take over immigrant communities throughout our state.' SB25-276 has at least 11 proposed changes to Colorado law, including creating new requirements, repealing previous ones, prohibiting certain data collection and further restricting cooperation with immigration officials. The bill creates minimum requirements for any public childcare center, public schools and universities, public healthcare facility or publicly supported library regarding access to facilities or property and data collection. Lawyer for Colorado activist Jeanette Vizguerra suspects ICE is retaliating against her Those institutions should not provide immigration officials with any personal identifying information unless required by law. Those places also should not allow immigration law enforcement access to any area that is not accessible to the public unless a federal warrant mandates access. The bill would also add more restrictions to state and local officers and detention employees' interactions with federal immigration law enforcement officials. Measure that would increase local, federal immigration law enforcement cooperation fails It would; Prohibit allowing federal immigration authorities access to a part of the detention facility that is not accessible to the public, unless required by a federal warrant or writ to transfer an inmate to or from federal custody; Prohibit jail custodians from delaying a defendant's release for the purpose of an immigration enforcement operation; Extend existing peace officer prohibitions from arresting or detaining an individual on the basis of a civil immigration detainer request to include peace officers designated by the state as peace officers; Extend probation officer prohibitions from providing personal information about an individual to federal immigration authorities to include pretrial officers and employees. The bill also has several sections on data privacy and limiting information collection. In addition to the requirements for the public institutions, the bill also states that these places should not collect information on anyone's place of birth or immigration status except as necessary or required. The bill additionally extends existing limitations on state agencies from accessing or collecting personal identifying information to include political subdivisions and prohibits controllers from collecting personal data 'beyond what is reasonable, necessary, and proportionate to provide a product or service requested by a consumer.' The bill would also repeal affidavit requirements for people without legal immigration status to apply for in-state tuition classification or an identification document. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
15-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Colorado lawmakers advance bill to block local cooperation with ICE without a warrant
The Colorado State Senate gave initial approval Monday to a bill that would limit cooperation between local governments and federal immigration authorities. The measure would prohibit public schools, universities, child care centers, health care facilities and local governments from sharing personally identifying information with federal immigration agents. It would also block those agencies from allowing federal agents access to non-public areas without a warrant. In addition, the bill would prevent local law enforcement from notifying or detaining individuals for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "If local governments are not allowed to coordinate in this way and release this info and work with the federal government, it could possibly jeopardize their ability to receive federal funding," said Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer of Weld County. Democratic state Sen. Mike Weissman, whose district includes Aurora, responded to that concern. "Look, I hear regularly from our county commissioners. They're concerned in the current environment about their ability to do their human service work," he said. "They haven't come to us with this kind of thing." Republicans introduced nine amendments to the bill during an eight-hour Senate floor debate. All of them failed.
