A group of parental rights advocates and Republican lawmakers is urging the Colorado legislature to repeal a 2024 law that made changes to the state’s competency procedures.

Established over the summer, the group called We The Parents includes members of the Colorado Parental Advocacy Network and legislators from the more conservative wing of the Republican Party: Reps. Brandi Bradley of Littleton, Stephanie Luck of Penrose, and Ken DeGraaf of Colorado Springs.

On its website, the organization describes itself as a group of parents and community leaders “who are done watching politicians ignore the voices of families.”

“We’ve watched lawmakers strip away parental rights behind closed doors,” the group’s website says. “That ends now. We are building a movement to elect bold leaders who will stand for truth and defend families.”

The website lists a number of laws passed by the Democrat-majority legislature in recent years on issues including sex education, youth mental health, abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Some of those bills had attracted bipartisan support or sponsorship.

We The Parents said cited 2021’s House Bill 1258, which established an emergency youth mental health services program during the pandemic. The bill allowed minors to access mental health treatment without parents’ consent, which the group argued breaks trust between parents and schools.

The group is also behind a petition urging the state legislature to repeal House Bill-24 1034, which requires courts to dismiss charges when a defendant is found incompetent to proceed.

The law received significant media attention earlier this fall due to several high-profile cases, in which individuals who committed violent crimes had their charges dropped due to incompetence, including a registered sex offender who allegedly attempted to kidnap a child in Aurora and a 21-year-old Greeley man who faced charges of attempted murder.

The cases have ignited debate over the state’s competency laws, with advocates and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle calling for changes.

A report from the Common Sense Institute said many individuals declared incompetent due to mental illness are unable to get treatment, as the primary inpatient competency restoration facilities, located in Pueblo and Centennial, only have 94 beds, and only 70 of them are funded.

Some have argued that permitting individuals with a history of violence, regardless of their mental condition, is dangerous for the community. Others countered that the solution is to find a placement for them, not keep them in jail.

Sen. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, previously told Colorado Politics that she and her colleagues introduced the measure, which passed unanimously in the Senate, with the intent of making it easier to transition someone declared incompetent from the criminal justice system to the civil system.

“It makes sense that it isn’t the right thing to do to just put somebody in a mental health hospital who doesn’t have a mental illness,” she said.

“I understand the frustration that people feel, and I feel it too,” she added. “The families of people who are in this situation want their person to get treatment. They’re not advocating for people to get released — nobody’s advocating for that. The whole point is to get people into treatment and into an appropriate setting that keeps the community safe and keeps them safe.”

We The Parents’ petition said the bill has allowed violent criminals to return to the streets, blaming Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, for signing it into law.

“Enough is enough,” the group’s petition said. “It’s time to put families first and put criminals behind bars!”

Representatives from We The Parents did not respond to requests for comment.