A Senate committee today will consider a bill that would allow certain police vehicles to have darkly tinted front driver and passenger windows.
House Bill 1251 received broad House support when it won final approval March 30. House sponsor Kathleen Conti, R-Littleton, said the bill stemmed from police testimony that surveillance equipment is too often visible through the windows in vehicles involved in investigations. Current law prevents any vehicle from having front windows that allow less than 70 percent of light to pass through them.
The bill does not allow police vehicles used for traffic enforcement to have the darker tint, something that Conti said she “went to great lengths” to assure.
Rep. Robert Ramirez, R-Westminster, called HB 1251 “a great bill to keep our officers safe.”
When HB 1251 won House approval on a 57-8 vote, all eight no votes came from Democrats. Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, is vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee that will hear the bill. Williams said there might be good reasons to allow the darker tint but said she would be listening for testimony to demonstrate that there is a real need for the bill to protect police officers.
Transportation Committee member Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, said she would likely support the bill if it was “very narrowly used for the safety of law enforcement.”
Denver Post staff reports
