Another Day; Another Challenge!
Two Bills headed to the House Local Government Committee |
It's another beautiful day in the Colorado Rockies and it's a great day to work at the statehouse. Today, I am taking two bills (SB12-072 & SB12-079) before the House Local Government Committee . Both pieces of legislation are common sense bills that will better the safety of local communities across the state. - Senate Bill 72 addresses the Colorado Mounted Rangers and their role in assisting local law enforcement.
- Senate Bill 79 looks at the Safe2Tell program and provides advancements to allow for additional technology to be utilized.
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Mounted Ranger Bill
SB12-072 |
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The Colorado Mounted Rangers currently provide substantial volunteer assistance to their local communities without any legislative recognition. Rising insurance and liability concerns have threatened the longevity of the program. This has made it increasingly difficult for them to continue their mission.
SB-072 will relieve liability complications by qualifying Mounted Rangers as qualified volunteers. The Bill will also eliminate the requirement that the memorandum of understanding the Rangers enter into be utilized for "disaster" purposes only and a much broader volunteer relationship with their governmental partners. This will enable these courteous citizens to perform their duties without fighting bureau regulations.
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The original Safe2Tell bill created a compressive program of education, awareness, and training that allows students and the community to easily provide anonymous information about unsafe, potentially harmful, violent or criminal activities to appropriate law enforcement, public safety agencies and school officials. This is a response to a U.S. Secret Service and Department of Education study which found that in 81% of dangerous or violent incidents in schools, someone other than the attacker knew the incident was going to happen but did not report or act on that knowledge.
In order to continue supporting the commendable work of the Safe2Tell program, is it critical to adopt SB 12-079 which aims to increase communication abilities and protect the anonymity of participants' identities.
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 Amy Stephens Colorado House Majority Leader
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