DENVER — The state House of Representatives on Monday advanced legislation seeking to build on last year’s police accountability package, setting the stage for a final vote to move the bill on to the Senate.
House Bill 1250 from Denver Democratic Reps. Leslie Herod and Assistant Majority Leader Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez seeks to further last year's Senate Bill 217 with some major provisions, including:
- broadening the requirement for law enforcement officers to use body-worn cameras to include wellness checks;
- expanding data collection requirements;
- adding flexibility to consequences delivered by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board for officers who use unnecessary force; and
- removing qualified immunity for Colorado State Patrol troopers, a protection that was stripped from local law enforcement officers by SB 217.
But the chamber’s move to advance the bill past debate and on to a final vote came over the objections of Republicans, who focused the debate on a provision seeking to clarify use-of-force standards by requiring officers exhaust all reasonable de-escalation techniques before resorting to force.
That provision was initially reworked by an amendment from Herod and Gonzales-Gutierrez to lower the standard to replace “reasonable” with “practical.” According to Herod, the use of force on Elijah McClain and Karen Garner were clearly not “necessary and proportionate.”
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