March 23, 2026 · Judiciary · 1,918 words · 10 speakers · 46 segments
Okay. Good afternoon. Senate Judiciary will come to order on Monday, the 23rd of March. Ms. Jensen, please call the roll.
Senators Carson. Present. Doherty.
We do note that Senator Doherty is on the Zoom. There may be a tech issue excused for now.
Henrickson. Here.
Wallace. Present.
Zamora Wilson. Here.
Roberts. Here.
Mr. Chair. Here.
Senator Doherty.
Here.
All right. Sorry about that, Senator Doherty. All right. Everyone's present. Thank you, everyone. We have just one bill on the committee calendar this afternoon. that is 1232 by Senators Lindstedt and Gonzalez, who are before us. Thank you for balancing demands with another committee. Senator Gonzalez, whoever would like to start off with opening comments.
Senator Lindstedt. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today's bill I view as kind of a cleanup to House Bill 1315 from 2021, which passed with bipartisan support to stop assessing and collecting fees from juveniles in our court system. Court-imposed fees saddle juveniles with debt as they move into adulthood at the exact time. we hope they can get onto the right track in life. Because of a gap in 1315, some courts have continued to assess fees on juvenile offenders without enforcing their collection. Those assessed fees remain on a young person's record and create uncertainty in their lives, and they contravene the intent of this body when we passed HB 21-1315. This bill simply ensures that the courts abide by the intent of 1315, clarifying that fees, costs, and surcharges simply cannot be assessed and forced or collected against a juvenile or their family. And it also ensures that any outstanding assessed fees that were added after 2021 cannot be collected going forward. So, simple cleanup bill, but I think we'll do right by a lot of juveniles in our state. I ask for an aye vote. Thank you.
Senator Gonzalez. This is a cleanup to a cleanup of a bill that was meant to be extraordinarily straightforward, forward, and I hope that the third time is a charm. Ask for an aye vote.
All right. Thank you. Committee, are there questions of our sponsors at this point? Seeing none reflecting the hopeful simple status. I think we maybe only have one panel of witnesses.
Breed
Wenteo, please. Can we look online for Natalie Perez? Any questions? Only posture in the room. Tristan Gorman. And then
Mr. Scanlon, were you going to join us too? Sure.
And was there anyone else in the room who wanted to speak to 1232? Or anyone else online? All right, we'll start in the room. I'll tell you what, Ms. Buenteo, let's start with you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon members of the Senate Judiciary Committee I Bree Buenteo I the Associate Executive Director of Stanford Children And today I will be reading testimony from one of our policy fellows Hunter Ambrose I am here today in support of House Bill 26-1232. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak on a bill that strengthens Colorado's commitment to meaningful juvenile justice reform. This bill is simple but incredibly important. It ensures that court costs and fees are not assessed to juveniles who commit offenses before the age of 18. Colorado has already taken steps to eliminate many of these harmful fees, but gaps still exist in practice. Families continue to fall through the cracks, and some are still being charged fees that shouldn't be imposed. House Bill 1232 closes those gaps. We already had the conversation no child should carry financial debt because of a mistake they made while they were still kids, and families should not be punished financially while trying to support their children through difficult moments. I can speak to this issue not only as an advocate, but as someone with lived experience in the juvenile justice system. My story and experiences navigating that system are documented in my book, Relentless, Surviving the L.A. Foster System and Emancipation. I know firsthand how systems either create opportunity for healing and growth, or they can deepen the challenges that families are already facing. When we impose court costs and financial penalties on children and their families, we are not promoting accountability. We are creating additional financial barriers for families who oftentimes are already struggling. Parents and guardians should be focused on helping their children move forward, supporting their education, stability, and growth, not worrying about how they will pay court-imposed fees for mistakes made during childhood. Colorado has already recognized these fees are harmful by passing House Bill 21-13-15, a bipartisan piece of legislation that eliminated juvenile fees and costs and forgave an estimated $10.4 million in outstanding debt. The right thing to do now is to ensure there are no gaps in implementation. House Bill 2632 strengthens the trust in our justice system by ensuring that policies meant to protect children are actually followed consistently across the state. Children are still developing. They make mistakes. Our justice system should focus on rehabilitation and opportunity, not financial punishment. Please vote yes. Thank you.
Tell you what, noting that both of you are in a questions posture, we'll go online and then we'll come back for questions if any. Natalie Perez, please go ahead.
Good afternoon, members of committee and Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Natalie Perez and I am the organizer at Stanford Children's. Today I will be reading testimony on behalf of Mariah Rodriguez. My name is Mariah Rodriguez. I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. I am a 39-year-old Chicana woman who grew up in low income and today I work in my community to make a real difference for families like the one I grew up in. I'm writing and strong support of House Bill 26-1232. Before 2021, Colorado families were paying an average of for juvenile fees with more than a million dollars charged every year the state tried to fix this with health bill 21 1315 but because the law was not clear enough some courts are still billing youth and families that means the harm never fully stopped health bill 26 1232 closes every remaining gap it makes it clear that courts cannot charge administrative fees fees, time payment fees, or surcharges for anything that happened before the age of 18. It protects youth up to the age of 21. Even if their case was moved to adult court, it stops courts from collecting fees that should have ended years ago, and it creates one clear statewide standard so families are treated fairly no matter where they live. This bill supports rehabilitation, not punishment. It keeps families stable, it prevents unnecessary debt, and it ensures that no child or family is trapped in the cycle that follows them for years. This issue is personal for me. My father entered the system at a very young age. He made mistakes and he paid for them long after he had already learned his lesson. He could not get his license for years. He could not be fully present in our home because he had warrants tied to fees he simply could not afford. When you grow up in low income, those costs do not just hurt one person. They destabilize the whole family. For my dad, it became easier to run than to face fees he had no way to pay. That kind of pressure does not make communities safer. It creates a long-term harm that passes from one generation to the next. For these reasons, I respectfully ask you to pass House Bill 26-1232 and finish the work Colorado started. Thank you.
All right, Ms. Perez, thank you. So, committee, we'll go to questions, including for witnesses who are questions only. Mr. Scanlon, I think I have one for you. Understanding that the branch is more in a position of implementing a policy choice here being made by the legislature, you heard one of the prime sponsors were sort of trying to buttress original intent. But what I think the bill is trying to do is to clarify, this being the latest installment of the policy work of years, that we want to prohibit assessment of juvenile fees and costs. We also want to prohibit collection, those two being closely together. Or is it your understanding, to the extent you and others at the branch have looked at, at this policy, that that's in fact what's going on here?
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, my name is Terry Scanlon. I'm the legislative liaison for Colorado Courts. Yeah, I think you characterized that pretty fairly. I'm not sure why the statute, I could probably figure it out, but I'm not sure why the statute distinguishes between assessing and collecting. but the collection of fees against in this bill relates to a segment of juvenile offenders not all juvenile offenders but the collection has been stopped It was stopped a number of years ago from the 2021 bill. Last year's bill ensured that that continued going forward. there has been this weird limbo where the assessment is still technically possible, and in some places courts are assessing perhaps because they're not aware of the statutory change. This will prevent them from being able to assess. The distinction is that if it's assessed, a really well-intentioned juvenile may pay what they're owed, even if we're not attempting to collect. so there's some very small segment of people that this would apply to
thank you abundant clarity it sounds like all right members any other questions for any of our witnesses seeing none looks like you're off the hook thank you all for being with us miss peres thank you for connecting with us online all right last call for anybody in the room i wanted to speak to 1232 from any uh position confirming nobody else online Okay. We'll close the witness phase. We'll invite the sponsors back to the table committee in advance of the amendment phase. Everybody should have L1. All right. Sponsors, if you want to let us know about L1.
Senator Gonzalez. Thank you, Mr. Chair. in the abundance of caution. And we want to strike this language of committed to ensure that this is as clear as possible. Ask for an aye vote.
All right. Thank you. Mr. Vice Chair, for a motion?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move L001.
Very good. Members, any questions or discussion about L1? Seeing none, any objection to the adoption of L1? Seeing none, no one has passed. Sponsors, further amendments? Committee amendments to 1232. Seeing none. Amendment phase is closed. Wrap up comments.
Sponsors, Senator Gonzalez. Thank you. Thank you for consideration. Ask for an aye vote.
Very good. Members, closing comments?
Thank you, sponsors, for pursuing the goal of abundant clarity in the law.
All right. Mr. Vice Chair, for a motion to the Committee of the Whole.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 1232 as amended to the Committee of the Whole.
Very good. All right. Ms. Jensen. Senators Carson.
No.
Doherty.
Yes.
Hendrickson.
Yes.
Wallace.
Yes.
Zamora Wilson.
No.
Roberts.
Aye.
Mr. Chair. Yes. All right. The vote is 5 to 2. Congratulations, and thank you, sponsors. Committee, believe it or not, that's it for today, just based on what we are and are not being assigned and readiness. So we do have some more work to do in front of us for Wednesday. But until then, Judiciary Committee is adjourned.