Lawmakers joined hundreds of disability rights advocates at the Capitol on Thursday to celebrate Colorado Disability Rights Advocacy Day, established by former Rep. David Ortiz, D-Littleton. Ortiz, the first Colorado lawmaker to use a wheelchair, attended this year’s event, as did several community organizations and lawmakers sponsoring measures to support the disability community this session. 

Also in attendance was Danny Combs, director of the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office, which was established through legislation passed last session.

Rep. Chad Clifford, D-Greenwood Village, was a prime sponsor of the measure that created Colorado Disability Opportunity Office, which serves as a point of contact for state agencies, private sector organizations, and the public to “advance the integration and inclusion of the disability community.”

Here are three bills legislators are sponsoring this session that seek to support Coloradans with disabilities:

House Bill 1017: Community Integration Plan Individuals with Disabilities

House Bill 1017, sponsored by Clifford, Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood, and Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, seeks to codify the Supreme Court decision Olmstead vs. L.C. into Colorado law. 

The landmark 1999 ruling found that segregating individuals with disabilities in institutions without justification is a form of unlawful discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

House Bill 1017 establishes that public and government entities are required to administer services, programs and activities in the “most integrated” setting possible for individuals with disabilities and delineates when entities have to provide home and community-based services for community members with disabilities. 

In addition, the bill directs the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) to develop a community integration plan.

“It is so important to contain this diverse and rich planning moving forward so that it’s really clear to the community what resources the state has and what resources it doesn’t,” said Clifford. “We are excited to run that legislation this year.”

The bill passed through the House Health and Human Services Committee and is currently awaiting a hearing in House Appropriations. 

House Bill 1239: Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act

Described by sponsor Rep. Yara Zokaie as “the largest expansion of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act in nearly 70 years”, House Bill 1239 consolidates damages provisions for individuals with disabilities who experience unfair housing practices or discrimination in public locations such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and schools. Under the bill, allowable remedies under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act will include a court order requiring compliance with the act, monetary damages, attorney fees, damages for noneconomic loss or injury, and a fine of up to $5,000 per party and violation. 

The bill also extends the deadline for filing a charge with the Civil Rights Commission for violation of CADA from 60 days to a year. 

“As our federal civil rights laws are being eroded across the board, this bill provides crucial recourse for our protected classes when they face discrimination,” said Zokaie. “We are giving the legislature an opportunity to make a commitment to every Coloradan that if they are wronged, there is a pathway to justice.”

A hearing date has not been set. 

House Bill 1018: Vocational Rehabilitation Services 

Sponsored by freshman Reps. Gretchen Rydin, D-Littleton and Lindsay Gilchrist, D-Denver and Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, House Bill 1018 makes changes to the state’s work program for individuals with disabilities by eliminating the requirement that applicants have financial assistance and that applicants or financially responsible relatives contribute toward the cost of their service. The bill also aligns the program with federal law by eliminating the requirement that the Department of Labor and Employment only provide services to individuals who are present in the state at the time they apply. 

Additionally, the bill requires CDLE to submit data on the vocational rehabilitation services program during the General Assembly’s annual SMART Act hearings. 

“The power you have as a constituent coming into this building and commanding that we make changes in our policies to protect those with disabilities, to fight for dignity, to fight for equality, is the most powerful thing you can do,” Danielson told advocates. 

The bill passed through the House on a 44-20 vote and has been assigned to the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee. A hearing data has not been set.