Human trafficking, particularly of children, has been a hot and divisive topic at the state Capitol this year.

But a bipartisan group of lawmakers has found a way of putting more teeth into the state’s laws by agreeing to a compromise that meant giving up a major provision but ultimately securing a proposal’s passage.    

On Tuesday, the Senate decided to withdraw their objections to changes the House made to Senate Bill 35 and send it on to the governor for signing, despite misgivings from some over changes made by the House to the measure. 

But that vote came with strong words directed at the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, including a claim that the organization is hurting victims in Colorado.

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Senate Bill 035 would extend the statute of limitations for human trafficking of adults to 20 years. The measure was sponsored by Sens. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, and Byron Pelton, R-Sterling. In the House, SB35 was sponsored by House Majority Leader Rep. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, and Assistant House Minority Leader Rep. Ty Winter, R-Trinidad.

As introduced, the bill also attempted to make human trafficking a crime of violence. That’s where it ran into trouble in the House. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee, during the bill’s passage through that chamber, added a caveat to its crime of violence language.

Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, explained that crimes of violence involve either physical violence or the use of a deadly weapon, and human trafficking generally doesn’t involve those aspects. It’s a crime of manipulation, Roberts told the Senate a week ago. 

The crime of violence language in the bill could mean a district attorney would never charge a human trafficker with that sentence enhancement, since there almost is never a weapon or physical violence, he said.

The senators’ solution was to make the crime eligible for the sentence enhancement.

The bill passed the Senate on a 33-1 vote, with support from all 22 district attorneys in Colorado, the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault and other victims’ rights organizations. 

Then it headed to the House, and that’s where things went awry, according to the bill’s Senate sponsors.

SB 35 went through major changes in the House Judiciary Committee on March 12. Chief among them was rewriting the bill’s second page, which included the sentence enhancement language, and adding affirmative defenses for victims who are charged with trafficking.

But charging a victim with a human trafficking crime never happens, according to Roberts, whose legal background includes the district attorney’s office in Eagle County. 

At least one House sponsor was not happy with the judiciary committee changes.

“We had to make concessions” to get the measure out of the committee, Winter said Wednesday. “This is a good first step.”

He outlined the bill’s provisions, noting involuntary servitude would now carry a sentence of 10 to 32 years; involuntary servitude of a child would be 16 to 48 years; sexual servitude of an adult would carry a sentence of 10 to 32 years and for a child, 16 to 48 years.

“We made big sweeping changes” to the law with this bill, Winter said. “This is the kind of message to send from the General Assembly.”

The bill then went back to the Senate — to a less than warm welcome reception.

Initially, the sponsors asked the Senate to concur on the House amendments.

That drew Roberts to the microphone to ask that the Senate reject those amendments and head to a conference committee. 

He expressed “extreme displeasure” with what the House did to the bill. 

“They made concessions in the judiciary committee that are bad public policy and render the bill a disservice to victims,” Roberts claimed.

“They used the victims names in their advocacy for those changes,” he said, adding he found that offensive.

The bill got better as it went through the Senate, he said, but it was the removal of the potential for enhanced sentencing under the crime of violence statute that irked him the most, Roberts said.  

He said under current law, offenders generally serve no more than 30% of their sentence, and for a four-year sentence, that means a year. They come out and start trafficking all over again, Roberts said.

What happened in the House was that the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar got their hands on the bill, he alleged, and that’s where the changes came from.

The House Judiciary Committee took out the crime of violence enhancement in the name of protecting victims, claiming it would sweep victims into the criminal justice system, Roberts said.

That never happens, he said. 

The House refused to consider the conference committee idea, instead voting last week to adhere to their version of the bill.

Rather than letting the bill die, the Senate backed down and adopted the House version on Tuesday. 

“There’s been a lot of thought and effort on this bill, and there’s still a lot of good things in the bill,” Pelton told his colleagues. “There’s been a lot of consternation on both sides.”

Roberts would not be appeased.

“I am very disappointed,” he said, adding the House version severely weakens the bill, makes it less victim friendly and more defendant friendly.

He acknowledged the positive side, such as extending the statute of limitations, adding, “We should not lose the bill over that.”

He had strong words for the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. 

“This Senate has sent many criminal justice bills, pro victim, to the House that continue to be weakened by the House Judiciary Committee,” Roberts said. 

It’s not because there’s a lot of people saying those bills aren’t good for Colorado — it’s the opposite, he said.

“But there’s a certain lobby in this building that is very powerful in the House Judiciary Committee and it’s hurting victims in Colorado,” he said.  

Roberts did not identify the defense bar by name but had done so in previous comments.

The Colorado Criminal Defense Bar has not yet responded to a request for a response.

The Senate voted, 26-9, to approve the House amendments and, 35-0, on final approval. The bill is now headed to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.