Colorado News Miner: January 15, 2025

Legislator Sues Lyft: Bente Birkeland reports, "Democratic State Rep. Jenny Willford of Northglenn is suing the ride share company Lyft in an effort to improve passenger safety after she said she was raped by a Lyft driver last year. . . . The person who picked her up was not the authorized driver listed on the app, but was using that person's account." Shocking allegations. If true, I suspect Lyft will be writing a large check. Birkeland adds, "Willford . . . plans to run a bill aimed at improving safety for ride share passengers." But what additional regulations would help here? Birkeland points out that government already is failing to do its job, as testing of rape kits is behind, and "the driver in her case has not been arrested." Seth Klamann is more explicit: "Though she was assaulted in February, Willford said DNA samples from the case had not yet been tested." Maybe, you know, government should do its job. This constitutes about as fundamental a failure of government as one could imagine.

Rape Kit Backlog: Bente Birkeland reports, "It currently takes around a year and a half for Colorado to test DNA evidence submitted from rape kits. . . . The head of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation [Chris Schaefer] said the already long backlog has doubled in the last year, in part because of the discovery that [a] former CBI forensic scientist . . . manipulated more than a thousand DNA test results." This is absolutely shameful. Government's primary job is to protect people from violent crime, which obviously entails prosecuting violent criminals. At least, Birkeland continues, CBI has hired more people and hopes to catch up by Spring.

Uber Sues over Disclosure Rules: Catie Cheshire reports that Uber is suing Colorado officials over SB24-075 and HB24-1129. These laws require ride share companies to "disclose to drivers and passengers, on a single screen, the total amount a rider paid before tip, the amount that went to the driver, and the amount of the tip after a driver completes a given trip," Cheshire reports. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I doubt very seriously that Uber will be able to successfully argue that the regulations violate the company's freedom of speech. On the other hand, I have a hard time seeing that these regulations do much good. On the other, other hand, such disclosure arguably furthers informed consent. Anyway, nice reporting by Westword, and a helpful link via City Cast Denver.

Hollywood Welfare: "Colorado lawmakers offer $34 million in tax incentives to land the Sundance Film Festival," the Colorado Sun reports. At issue is House Bill 1005. This is a terrible idea!

Government Takeover of Troubled Properties: Senate Bill 20 "would allow local officials or the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to ask a judge to place apartment complexes with unfixed problems under the temporary authority of a court-appointed caretaker for at least six months," reports Seth Klamann. Offhand this seems reasonable to me, so long as the "unfixed problems" substantially harm others and are objectively demonstrated. In extreme cases, government is even justified in transferring ownership of a property to another party, although the process could be abused (as with any government power). Maybe there's some better way to handle the sorts of problems at issue.

Gun Bills: Marissa Ventrelli summarizes four gun-related bills to ban the sale of many guns, repeal a licensure requirement for gun sellers, increase criminal penalties for gun thefts, and allow someone to voluntarily sign a waiver prohibiting them from purchasing a gun. See more details on the legislation page.

Republican Deregulation Effort: Colorado Senate Republicans have been admirably specific regarding some recent laws they'd like to repeal. Although I have not reviewed all of the bills in question and so cannot fully commit to the effort prior to further analysis, overall this is pointed in the right direction—for all the good it will do with Democrats in charge.

Right To Work: Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute already has filed a potential ballot measure making Colorado a "Right to Work" state. Basically this is inducement for Democrats not to make it easier for unions to take fees from unwilling workers.

Cage-Free Eggs: Bill 1343 would repeal the mandate that eggs come from cage-free chickens, reports Marissa Ventrelli. I doubt this bill goes anywhere. Krista Kafer supports the restrictions. I think they're probably justifiable on grounds of humane treatment of animals.

Liquor Licenses: "Small liquor store owners push new bill [SB25-033] that would limit drugstore liquor licenses," 9News reports. This is a move in the wrong direction. We should be further freeing up the liquor market, not imposing new controls.

School Funding Student Counts: Here is what I glean from Erica Breunlin's reporting: Governor Jared Polis wants the state to fund school districts based on the number of students they serve, rather than based on a multi-year average of student levels. To me, it makes perfect sense that taxpayers should fund students actually served, not continue to pay for students served in the past. As I've suggested, I also think that the state should pay for days that a student actually attends school, a change that would strongly motivate schools to get kids to come to class.

Preschool Subsidies: Denver, Arapahoe, and Weld counties "are freezing enrollment for Colorado's Childcare Assistance Program," Denver7 reports. "CCAP covers most daycare costs for eligible low-income families," the station reports, and in Weld "the average cost of daycare for an infant is $1,600 a month." The program is funded through federal and state dollars. There probably is some advantage to getting kids from low-income families into quality childcare programs. Some preliminary questions: Are the programs in question very good? Is there a better way to help the families in question with the resources available?

Denver Drug Needle Exchange: The Denver City Council wanted to expand the number of drug needle exchange sites. This seems okay so long as government does not tolerate property or violent crimes nor open-air drug use around the sites in question. Kevin Flynn, voting no, complained that "the Harm Reduction Action Center since 2018 has been pushing the legislature to allow and legalize a supervised drug injection-use site," 9News reports. He worries about the buffer zones for schools. Anyway, Mayor Mike Johnston vetoed the measure.

Vacancy Committees: Jesse Paul reports, "There will be at least 21 members of the Colorado General Assembly this year who at some point were appointed to the House or Senate by or through a vacancy committee made up of a small number of party insiders." This is crazy. At this point my leading reform is to require each candidate to list in filing paperwork, by name, consenting individuals who make up a vacancy committee. At least that way voters will have some chance to see what they may be in for, and parties would no longer have the unjust power to make appointments.

Gangs of Aurora Update: Tony Gorman reports, "Nine people suspected in last month’s brutal attack and kidnapping at a northwest Aurora apartment complex have been charged in Arapahoe District Court." Those suspects are among those potentially facing deportation. Andrew Kenney reports, "A set of Aurora apartment buildings [the Edge of Lowry] could be closed by a city order after continuous reports of violence and other crimes linked to a Venezuelan gang."

Arvada Police Pay $2M for Death: Arvada is settling for $2 million a suit involving an officer shooting to death a pregnant woman. Here are some points to consider. Police were looking for an armed robber who had threatened a store clerk with a knife. The woman in question seems to have roughly matched the description of the suspect, although it turned out she was not the perpetrator. So police had every legal right to detain the woman to determine if she was the armed robber. Rather than cooperate with police, the woman chose to disobey direct, lawful orders and attempt to drive away in a vehicle. Obviously that put police officers at risk at least initially. The family's attorney claimed the woman was 25 yards away at the time of the fatal shot. If that's true, it's hard to believe that she posed a threat to officers at that time. Officers reasonably would have thought she posed a threat to the broader community. However, surely there were better ways to subdue her. A 2023 Fox31 report offers some relevant details: The woman in question "had drugs in her system, including fentanyl and methamphetamine. She also had a warrant out for her arrest related to a prior conviction for assaulting a peace officer in Adams County."

Journalism Pet Peeve: Thanks largely to the influence of Craig Biddle, I absolutely hate the journalistic practice of describing a person in one paragraph, then naming the person in the next paragraph, without formally saying that the person named is the one described. The connection is left to implication. That's common practice, and it's also bad journalism. Good journalism states important facts clearly and unambiguously and does not leave them to implication.