The General Assembly’s decision to allow the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to lapse did not go over well with Gov. Jared Polis.

Polis on Tuesday evening vetoed House Bill 1258, a plan by legislative Democrats to replace the commission after they opted against extending it beyond this fall. In a letter announcing the veto, the governor chided them for the pair of moves.

“I would be remiss if I did not mention that the type of study contemplated by HB23-1258 would have been appropriately scoped and conducted by the soon-to-sunset Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice,” Polis wrote.

The governor said he plans to take executive action “shortly” to, in some form, continue the work of the 30-member commission, first set up through legislation in 2007.

HB 1258 would have set up a drug crime task force. 

The task force would “study state and local government costs associated with enforcing drug laws, investigating and punishing drug crimes, and rehabilitating those convicted of drug crimes.” The group would then make recommendations to the legislature on how cost savings from fewer drug crimes could be used to fund substance use and dependence programs.

A second provision would have tasked the Colorado School of Public Health with an actuarial cost study on enforcement of drug laws and incarceration.

Polis called the concept well-intentioned but lacking, in that the work would not look at costs, risks, and ramifications “that may accompany a reduction in enforcement of drug crimes and drug crime sentencing.”

The charge to the task force also lacked balance, the governor wrote. He was in favor of action taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee to add requirements such as a two-thirds vote on recommendations, and to remove from the study the most serious drug felonies. 

Those changes got no love from the House, which voted on May 8 to reject the Senate amendments and adhere to its position in order to keep the bill closer to its introduced version. The Senate receded from its position, and sent the bill to the governor without the changes he wanted.

Senate Bill 158, which in its original version would have continued the CCJJ until 2028, was introduced in mid-February. But it didn’t get its first hearing until two months later.

It finally passed the Senate three days before the end of the session, and died in the House Judiciary Committee on May 7.

Progressive Democrats believed the commission wasn’t doing enough on criminal justice reform, a view shared by some of their backers, including the ACLU and the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, the Denver Democrat who sponsored the bill, advocated for the commission’s end during the May 7 hearing. 

She noted she has been on the CCJJ as a legislative appointee for five years, and said the commission has done good work. But things and times have changed, and this is an opportunity to reassess and re-evaluate that work. Gonzales-Gutierrez, who is leaving the legislature to join Denver City Council, pointed to a lack of representation from people who work in the juvenile justice space.

There are frustrations with CCJJ, added House Judiciary Chair Rep. Mike Weissman. The Aurora Democrat in the past has sponsored seven bills related to the commission’s work.

Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, was the sole Senate sponsor of the CCJJ sunset bill. He told Colorado Politics he was willing to work with the CCJJ’s critics, shortening the reauthorization from five years to one, for example, to give time to look at the commission’s makeup and mission and whether those were correct.

The bill was postponed indefinitely on a party-line 9-4 vote. That means the CCJJ will officially end on Sept. 1. The commission, housed in the Department of Public Safety, has already canceled its final meetings and any future work. 

But the governor believes there is still a need for the commission, and highlighted his future plans in the veto letter on the drug crimes task force.

The work envisioned in HB 1258 “underscores the importance of the state having a multidisciplinary commission with broad representation from across the spectrum such as the CCJJ to take on important subjects relating to criminal justice.” Polis said he would take executive action to continue the CCJJ’s work “in a new forum” and that he contemplates asking the new group to take up the work envisioned in HB 1258.

Polis told Colorado Politics Wednesday he anticipates issuing that execution action in July, after the CCJJ authorization formally expires. The requirements of SB 88, that it draw on the experience and previous work of the commission, also means bringing into this new group some who have or are currently serving on the commission.

“There’s a treasure trove of intellectual resources” among those who have served, Polis said.

Weissman told Colorado Politics he would be interested in some kind of rebooted sentencing commission, and that he will be working on that during the interim.

Gardner said he is pleased with the governor’s veto, as well as for his support for bringing back the CCJJ in some form. 

“I applaud the governor for making the point in his veto letter that this kind of effort is something that ought to be conducted by the CCJJ and that we need to have something like the CCJJ,” Gardner, who has been on CCJJ for the past five years, added.