SB 23-158

Senate Bill 23-158, which has been signed into law, extends the existence of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice until September 1, 2024. The bill updates the commission's membership by adding new members who specialize in behavioral health and criminal justice education, while also changing some existing roles to better represent community corrections and treatment providers. It requires the division of criminal justice to provide Spanish language translation services for meetings and documents, ensuring more accessibility for non-English speakers. This bill affects anyone involved with or interested in Colorado's criminal and juvenile justice systems, as it aims to improve communication and representation within these areas.

Official Summary

Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill continues the Colorado commission on criminal and juvenile justice (commission) until September 1, 2028 2024 . The bill amends the legislative findings and declaration for the commission. The bill amends the commission membership as follows: Replaces the executive director of the department of human services, or the executive director's designee, with the commissioner of the behavioral health administration, or the commissioner's designee; Replaces the executive director of the department of higher education, or the executive director's designee, with a representative of higher education with expertise in criminal justice; Eliminates an expert in juvenile justice issues; Adds a second criminal defense attorney, and requires that one must be from a rural judicial district; Severs one existing position for a community corrections provider, community corrections board member, or a behavioral, mental health, or substance use disorder treatment provider into 2 positions: One for a behavioral, mental health, or substance use disorder treatment provider and one who represents a community corrections provider or a community corrections board; and Eliminates the 2 at-large members and substitutes one member who works with a community-based reentry program. The bill amends the commission's mission and duties. The bill requires the division of criminal justice (division) to provide a translator to provide oral translation in the Spanish language for every meeting and written translation into Spanish of every publicly available document. The division is required, upon request, to provide a translator to provide oral translation or written translation of a publicly available document in a requested language. The bill requires the commission to provide the opportunity for all members or interested persons to provide topics for study to be submitted to the governor. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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