DENVER — Governor Jared Polis on Friday vetoed a bill that would have prevented municipal courts from handing down harsher sentences than the state for low-level crimes.
Supporters told Denver7 that House Bill 25-1147 would have restored fairness to the criminal justice system, while opponents said it would interfere with the constitutional rights of home-rule cities.
Jack Johnson, an attorney with Disability Law Colorado, which protects the rights of people with disabilities, said municipal courts in Colorado often treat people with disabilities, as well as those struggling with substance use and homelessness, unfairly whenever they're convicted of low-level crimes like petty theft and trespassing.
“For us, it's a simple question of equity,” said Johnson. “Those individuals often end up with longer prison sentences or jail sentences than they would at the state level, and maybe not the appropriate level of justice or care.”
He said HB25-1147 would change that by ensuring municipal courts don’t hand down harsher sentences than state courts for the same low-level crimes.
“The intent behind House Bill 1147 is really to align the existing practices that we have at the state court level, especially around the way we treat and sentence defendants, to municipal courts,” said Johnson.
But mayors of the state’s three largest cities, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Aurora, were against the bill. They sent a letter to Polis, urging him to veto the bill.
“HB25 -1147 is a significant overstep of our home rule authority and negatively impacts our ability to address crime in a manner that is relevant to our communities as outlined in the Colorado Constitution Article XX Section 6(h),” the mayors wrote. “This legislation, which would prevent municipal leaders from addressing specific local issues faced by their constituents, would have a negative impact on our residents who expect their elected leaders to address local issues head-on.”
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In his veto letter, Polis said he appreciates the bill sponsors' "good intentions" but believed the legislation "significantly restricts a municipality's ability to react to local crime trends in ways that a local government deems most appropriate to improve public safety in their community."
"Criminal justice and public safety issues are a shared concern among state and local lawmakers, and municipalities must have the ability to adopt laws to increase public safety based on the public safety challenges on the ground in each community," the governor wrote.
- Read the full veto letter below
In his reasoning, Polis cited Denver's assault ordinance, which "contains different elements than that of the state-level offense." According to the governor, if HB25-1147 were to become law, it would reduce the maximum penalty for a person convicted of domestic violence in Denver from 300 days in jail and a fine up to $999 to 10 days in jail and/or a fine of $300.
"Whether intended or not, the reduction of penalties for crimes such as assault does not serve the interests of victims or hold offenders accountable," Polis wrote.
He also said HB25-1147 would contradict a bill he signed into law in 2021 that allows cities to enact stricter firearms regulations than the state.
The governor did support provisions in the bill that clarified that defendants in municipal court have the right to counsel and that proceedings should be open to the public, including through "online platforms."
"I would support a bill focused on those provisions, or a bill more narrowly tailored to specific crimes where penalties between the state and local criminal codes are far out of balance. I also support efforts to connect municipal defendants with resources and services to help address underlying challenges with mental health, substance use, and housing instability, and would support legislative efforts in this space," Polis said. "The far-reaching sentencing changes contemplated in HB 25-1147 could have been better examined by a successor entity to the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ), with multidisciplinary stakeholders from all aspects of the criminal justice system at the table to come to consensus recommendations on the policy. In the absence of a successor entity to the CCJJ to examine difficult criminal justice issues with the benefits of data, research, and time, I urge the legislature to work with the many stakeholders impacted by municipal sentencing to find a more nuanced approach."
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