A trio of bills brought forward by high school students charged with developing legislative recommendations are poised to be introduced in March.

A legislative committee that oversees the youth panel unanimously voted to adopt all three Thursday.

The hour-and-a-half meeting of the Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee marked the culmination of work by students involved in the Colorado Youth Advisory Council, a panel of 35 students aged 14 to 19 years old hailing from each state senate district as well as an additional five at-large members. Legislation passed in 2019 set up a review committee made up of five non-voting youth members appointed by COYAC and five lawmakers.

After introducing concepts for the bills in August and discussing the finer points of bill drafting in September, the panel of lawmakers led by House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, R-Loveland, unanimously voted to move all three pieces of legislation on to the Legislative Council, the final panel that must sign off on them before the bills can be introduced.

The bills seek to improve access to mental health services for high school students, boost access to higher education for foster students and revamp the youth advisory council’s structure.

Along with McKean, the legislative panel also featured Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder; Joint Budget Committee Chair Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City; Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson; and Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango.

With the bulk of the questions on preparing the bills already answered in prior meetings, the final meet-up of the year between COYAC students and lawmakers featured a focus on technical details and a surprising set of moves by McKean.

McKean has often crusaded against the increasing frequency with which “safety clauses” are included in bills that clear the legislature. That clause allows bills to go into effect upon signature by the governor and comes at the expense of a petition clause, a safety net of sorts that allows all or a portion of a bill to be referred to the ballot for voter approval.

But McKean on Thursday expressly advocated for a safety clause on the mental health measure and said he supported the students’ choice to add a safety clause to the measure seeking to overhaul COYAC’s admission process and meeting structure.

In both cases, he indicated his support for the safety clause came down to tight deadlines – bills with petition clauses don’t go into effect until 90 days after the General Assembly adjourns to allow petitioners time to collect signatures.

On the high school mental health bill, which seeks to print information about resources provided by Colorado Crisis Services on the back of student ID cards, the students indicated they believed the petition clause window was wide enough that a safety clause was not necessary.

“Schools don’t print their IDs until about the beginning or middle of August, when the pictures get taken,” said COYAC member Camden Sharkey. “That gives them enough time to at least redesign and come up with how that’ll fit on the back” of the ID card.

While that sentiment was echoed by a couple other COYAC members, McKean drew on his experience to disagree.

“If schools are going to engage in August in bringing kids back and start making IDs, 90 days doesn’t give them time to make sure this law is law,” he said. “In the interest of the timing of the new school year and when we adjourn sine die and all the things that go on with that, then I would suggest that you consider asking for a safety clause on this bill so that it can be enacted in time for schools to do this this year.”

When students raised similar timing issues in asking for a safety clause on the COYAC admission process bill, McKean said he supported either that choice or a move to amend the bill to change dates causing the conflict. In the end, both bills will head to Legislative Council with safety clauses.

The most substantial policy discussion centered on the third bill, which seeks to boost access to higher education for students coming through the foster care system.

The bill seeks to waive tuition and fees at public colleges and universities for foster care students. It also seeks to support those students by requiring institutions to employ liaisons to guide them through the higher education system, a feature that sparked debate on the merits of an institution-based liaison system versus a regionally based program.

Despite concerns over unfunded mandates raised by members from both sides of the aisle, McKean ultimately encouraged chief COYAC proponent Livi Christiansen to move forward with the drafted version of the bill that includes an institution-based liaison system.

McKean warned Christiansen to be prepared for the amendment process once the bill reached a legislative committee and added further legislation on the topic might be needed in the future.

Legislative Council is scheduled to meet Nov. 15 to review legislation coming out of interim committees.