Bill targets number of death-penalty lawyers
The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would reduce the number of prosecutors working on death- penalty cases and use the savings to investigate cold cases.
Rep. Paul Weissmann, D- Louisville, said the state could save millions of dollars yearly on prosecuting and defending death- penalty cases. He said the money could be better spent catching criminals walking the streets.
Weissmann originally tried to abolish the death penalty but agreed to an amendment that would reduce the number of prosecutors to two in the attorney general’s office.
House Bill 1094 would use the savings to help finance the forensics unit, chemistry lab and a cold-case unit in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The bill now goes to the full House.
Attorney General John Suthers criticized the bill, saying it would cut his capital-crimes unit in half.
Measure strengthens high-school standards
The Senate endorsed a measure intended to put more rigor in high school academics.
The legislation, from Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, requires a statewide panel to study course standards for high school graduation and make recommendations to the Colorado Department of Education.
Tupa and Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, strengthened the House version of House Bill 1118, which originally required that school districts set up graduation “guidelines.”
The new version is an attempt to “inject new and meaningful rigor” into high school courses, Penry said. The amended measure requires final approval in the Senate before returning to the House.
Lawmakers write spending plan
On Wednesday, state lawmakers in charge of writing next year’s budget put what they hope are the finishing touches on the $17.8 billion spending plan for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
The Joint Budget Committee stripped out most of the amendments that were added by the House and Senate during the past two weeks.A few changes that survived include:
Shifting $700,000 in school funding into a breakfast program for schoolchildren.
Moving $200,000 in school funding into a family literacy program.
Requesting private prison companies to break down their operating and construction costs.
Directing the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to add an enforcement person in Rifle.
In addition, the JBC members added an amendment that would give Mesa State College permission to spend $13.9 million that it had collected from private contributions and other nonstate- funding sources on a fieldhouse construction project.
Committee kills CSAP legislation
The Senate Education Committee killed a bill that would have removed a penalty against schools for students who don’t take the CSAP.
House Bill 1284 from Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, and Rep. Edward Casso, D-Thornton, died on a 4-3 vote.
