A bill that originally required that schools provide “safe haven” information on dealing with unwanted newborns as part of the state’s comprehensive sex education program won a reprieve late Wednesday from the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

Senate Bill 25 is sponsored by Republican Sen. Jim Smallwood of Parker. As introduced, the bill would require that public schools provide information on the state’s safe-haven law. That law, which has been in place since 2000, allows a parent to relinquish a newborn of 72 hours old or less to an employee of a hospital or fire station.

But the bill got tangled up in the state affairs committee last week over a request by the committee’s chair, Democratic Sen. Mike Foote of Lafayette. The hold up was whether the safe-haven information would be part of another bill, awaiting its first hearing in the House, that also deals with the state’s comprehensive sex education program.

But Wednesday night, the safe haven bill won a rare 5-0 vote from the state affairs committee, normally the Senate’s “kill” committee.

Between the bill’s first hearing last week and Wednesday, the issue was resolved and Smallwood asked that the information be added to the public school’s general health education curriculum.

If it winds up in sex education and general health education, that’s fine, Smallwood told Colorado Politics. 

Despite claims by Republicans both inside and outside the Capitol that Democrats were opposed to safe-haven information, Democratic lawmakers in both chambers have told Colorado Politics that they never objected to including it wherever appropriate.

In the House, Democratic Rep. Susan Lontine of Denver has said she plans to amend her bill — which deals with changes to the state’s comprehensive sex education curriculum — to include the safe-haven information. 

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Wednesday, Senate Bill 25 was amended to put the safe-haven information into general health education curriculum, along with a caveat that the information does not have to be presented twice in schools that offer both general health education and the comprehensive sex education curriculum.

Both programs are voluntary and not required by the state. 

Lontine’s bill — House Bill 1032 — is scheduled for its first hearing on Jan. 30 in the House Health & Insurance Committee, which Lontine chairs.