Eleven days after a judge in Minnesota sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to serve 22½ years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, Gov. Jared Polis put pen to paper on a follow-up package of police accountability measures inspired in part by Floyd’s death last summer.

House Bill 1250 from Denver Democratic Reps. Leslie Herod and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez as well as Sens. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, and Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, seeks to build on Senate Bill 217. The historic package, approved by lawmakers last year in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, banned law enforcement officers from using chokeholds, required the use of body cameras when dealing with the public and removed qualified immunity, among other things.

This year’s bill builds on those previous efforts by:

• Broadening the requirement for law enforcement officers to use body-worn cameras;
• Expanding data collection requirements;
• Adding flexibility to consequences delivered by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board for officers who use unnecessary force; and
• Removing qualified immunity for Colorado State Patrol troopers, a protection that was stripped from local law enforcement officers by SB 217.

The bill also takes aim at the use of no-knock warrants. Under HB 1250, Attorney General Phil Weiser has until Sept. 1 to convene a study on no-knock warrants and forced entry by law enforcement.

That measure represents a step down from what some Democrats had hoped for. Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, briefly introduced an amendment to address no-knock warrants before withdrawing it to allow the sponsors time to work with stakeholders. Both Gonzales and Fields said they backed the study but were disappointed the bill didn’t go one step further by enshrining policy on the practice into state law.

Polis also signed eight other measures reshaping the criminal justice system in Colorado. Those include:

• House Bill 1214 from Reps. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, and Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Sens. James Coleman, D-Denver, and Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, which updates state law on the sealing of criminal records, particularly when someone is pardoned;
• Senate Bill 146 from Lee and Bacon, which makes changes to parole eligibility and re-entry requirements for senior and special needs inmates;
• Senate Bill 138 from Coleman, Bacon and Rep. Shane Sandridge, R-Colorado Springs, which creates a pilot program to assess outcomes for inmates with brain injuries that receive screening and support while in the criminal justice system;
• House Bill 1280 from Lee, Gonzales-Gutierrez, and Denver Democratic Rep. Steven Woodrow and Sen. Robert Rodriguez, which requires a court to hold a bond-setting hearing within 48 hours of an arrestee’s arrival at a jail or holding center;
• House Bill 1314 from Herod, Rodriguez, Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield, and Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, which bans the state from revoking driver’s licenses or identification cards based on unpaid court costs and certain violations;
• House Bill 1315 from Herod, Moreno, Gonzales and Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, which eliminates some court fees and surcharges levied on juvenile offenders and their families;
• Senate Bill 271 from Gonzales, Gardner, Gonzales-Gutierrez and Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, a wide-ranging effort that reclassifies a number of crimes, lowers the penalties for class 1 and 2 misdemeanors and eliminates class 3 misdemeanors; and
• Senate Bill 71 from Buckner and Reps. Lindsey Daugherty, D-Arvada, and Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, which puts limits on the detention of juveniles by eliminating bonds with monetary or property conditions attached and lowering the detention bed cap at the Division of Youth Services from 327 beds to 215.