A wild ending to an April 27 House panel vote on increased public rights for the homeless capped a hearing that resulted in the bill’s failure.

A handful of unruly audience members voiced their displeasure over committee members’ no votes on a bill that would have allowed the homeless to eat, sleep and panhandle in public without harassment.

Some had to be removed from the hearing room for shouting down members of the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee after the panel rejected the measure on an 8-3 vote.

The bill would have created a civil remedy in cases of interference with a homeless person’s right to rest in public. The measure was a reaction to cities that have enacted ordinances that restrict or ban activities like public camping or panhandling.

Supporters of the bill said bans enacted by cities like Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins are akin to the criminalization of the homeless population. They argued that it is makes no sense for police to write tickets to people who can’t afford to pay them, which supporters say results in the jailing of homeless people.

“It is depravity to criminalize the least among us,” said Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, a bill sponsor. “The human right comes before local control. The human right comes before business rights.”

Therese Howard of Denver Homeless Out Loud said, “the perpetual game of move-along is happening all over Colorado,” referring to police who move homeless persons out of restricted areas.

Howard testified that anyone, regardless of social class, has a right to access public services or lay in a park without being subjected to harassment.

“You do not have to be homeless to have these rights,” she said.

Some who opposed the bill argued that activities like panhandling and public camping can hurt businesses. And representatives from cities like Denver and Aurora say their municipalities are doing good work to beef up services for homeless residents and that this bill could actually interfere with those efforts.

Aaron Gagne, a community development manager for the city of Aurora, said police there perform outreach efforts with the homeless population. But those efforts may cease if officers feel they may end up being sued for harassment.

“I’m talking about having street outreach,” Gagne said, pushing back at the notion that cities are criminalizing homelessness. “… giving (police) the ability to work with people on the street to get them to a condition of direct support.”

Rep. Max Tyler of Lakewood was one of only two Democrats to vote with Salazar on his bill. Tyler said that there are not enough housing and mental health services available to the homeless.

“We used to take care of people in this country,” Tyler said. “With all these structural causes, based on our economy and what we have done in policy in the last decades, we cannot cast our responsibility aside.”

Three Democrats joined all Republican committee members in rejecting the measure. They included Committee Chairwoman Su Ryden of Aurora.

The shouts of disappointment came as Ryden was explaining her no vote. She acknowledged a need for more homeless services, but said she could not support the bill.

“I just don’t see that this bill gets us toward rebuilding that infrastructure,” she said.

— Twitter: @VicVela1