Friday’s House Appropriations Committee hearing on House Bill 1326 resulted in several substantial changes to the measure, but not the big one that could surface later today – making all possession of fentanyl a felony. 

That would be a concession to Gov. Jared Polis, who’s advocated for felony charges on any level of possession, but it’s a change guaranteed to draw outrage from the harm reduction community, as well as from Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, who has opposed from the beginning any felony charge for possession below four grams, or roughly 40 pills.

Among the amendments added Friday morning by the committee is a “sunset” of the felony charges tied to simple possession in 2025. That’s the change that applies to the simple possession of up to 4 grams that the House Judiciary Committee added on April 13. 

The appropriations committee added what’s known as a “wobbler” amendment – a tool that surfaced in 2013 that lowers a felony possession charge to a misdemeanor if the defendant completes treatment.

In its introduced version, HB 1326 didn’t attempt to walk back a 2019 law that decriminalized simple possession, making possession of anything less than 4 grams a misdemeanor. But when the bill was in front of the House Judiciary Committee last week, co-sponsor House Speaker Alec Garnett of Denver sought an amendment that allowed for felony charges between one and 4 grams, a move that appeared to be a compromise with his co-sponsor, Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, who sought the zero tolerance approach favored by both law enforcement and district attorneys. 

The fight over simple possession between zero and 1 gram is far from over.

HB 1326 is slated for debate in the full House, which is expected to take place later today. It will be carried in the Senate by Sens. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, a longtime advocate on dealing with opioid addiction, and John Cooke, R-Greeley.