A Senate panel on Thursday evening narrowly approved what policymakers hope is a robust response to Colorado’s spiraling fentanyl crisis.   

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted, 3-2, to advance House Bill 1326, after reviewing 19 amendments for several hours. 

The measure is the General Assembly’s sweeping attempt to confront fatal overdoses, which have surged nationwide over the past several years, as fentanyl, which is stronger than heroin and lethal in small doses, became an increasingly dominant presence in the illicit drug market. 

More than 800 Coloradans died after ingesting fentanyl in 2021, according to state data. That represents a roughly 50% increase from 2020 and more than triple the number of deaths from 2019.

The panel’s narrow vote reflected the clash of tactics and ideology that came into full view soon after legislators unveiled the measure. Lawmakers have since struggled to find a compromise that law enforcement officials and advocates of non-criminal intervention can rally behind.

The split in the committee was bipartisan – Sens. John Cooke, R-Greeley, Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver and committee chair Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, voted in favor, while Sens. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, and vice-chair Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, voted no, albeit for very different reasons.

The committee’s action followed 11 hours of testimony on Tuesday, when legislators heard often emotional pleas from public health experts, law enforcement and district attorneys and families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl’s deadly wake.

The bill now moves on to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is expected to review the bill on Friday morning.

The judiciary panel adopted several changes, such as requiring jails to provide medication-assisted treatment and other “appropriate withdrawal management care” to those with substance use disorders. That amendment offered by Cooke, the bill’s co-sponsor, also comes with $3 million in funding.

But the push to make any possession of fentanyl a felony, remove a three-year repeal tied to the felony provision of possession of 1 to 4 grams of fentanyl and require any distribution resulting in death to carry a 12 to 32-year sentence – all amendments from Gardner – failed on party-line votes.

“It’s very disappointing the shape this bill is in,” Gardner said as the hearing wrapped up, adding it’s not what the people of Colorado or his community expects.

Gonzales agreed, but for different reasons.

“I appreciate the work this committee has done to listen to Coloradans from wildly different perspectives,” she said.

However, while she appreciates the amendments to ameliorate some of the harm caused, she struggles with HB 1326, she said. Constituents know the criminalization of a substance use disorder is not the path forward, she said, adding the bill needs more work.

“It’s not a perfect bill,” said Lee. “I have struggles with this bill, but we put $30 million into harm reduction, the biggest investment of that kind of money ever, and increased penalties for distribution. But possession of 1 gram as a felony is tough to swallow.” 

The first disagreement in the committee occurred over investigations by law enforcement. A Cooke-sponsored amendment creates the “synthetic opioid poisoning investigation and distribution interdiction grant program” to provide grants to law enforcement for investigating deaths caused by synthetic opioids. However, the amendment does not appear to actually provide any funding for the grant program. 

Gonzales disagreed with providing grants, saying it’s part of law enforcement’s job to investigate those cases.

The committee backed the amendment on a 4-1 vote. Families earlier testified that they could not persuade law enforcement to investigate the deaths of their loved ones due to fentanyl overdoses.

Another amendment, requested by community corrections facilities, clarifies they do not have to provide medical detox but can refer a person to one. The amendment also deals with medication-assisted treatment, saying the facilities “shall” provide that treatment, but if they are unable to do so, they have to describe to the Division of Criminal Justice the barriers and what resources they need to be able to offer them.

One amendment also seeks to address the availability of fentanyl through, tasking the Attorney General’s Office with a study on how youth are using social media, such as Snapchat, to purchase fentanyl-laced drugs, and to issue a report on the office’s findings. That report would go to the House and Senate judiciary committees. 

And while it wasn’t an effort to change the simple possession felony in the bill, an amendment suggested by co-sponsor Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, seeks data on whether “felonizing” possession of fentanyl has the intended effect of saving lives. Vice Chair Gonzales said scientists in the field suggested the amendment, which the committee adopted.