2017 Regular Session

The COLS Subcommittee on the OLLS Director Search is a subcommittee of the Committee on Legal Services formed for the purpose of planning the search process and assisting the Committee on Legal Services in interviewing applicants for the position of Director of the Office of Legislative Legal Services.

The committee must: study issues relating to school safety and the prevention of threats to the safety of students, teachers, and others; study and evaluate programs and methods for identifying and monitoring students in crisis; develop standardized criteria for school personnel to use in assessing the potential threat posed by one or more students; and study the requirements of a recent law enacted regarding the duty of school districts and charter schools and their employees to exercise reasonable care to protect all students, faculty, and staff from harm resulting from acts committed by

The committee will: consider and evaluate the use of mandatory minimum sentences in Colorado; consider and evaluation the continued viability of extraordinary risk crimes; examine the current habitual offender scheme; and consider the development of 'Second Look legislation that would address long sentences where prison placement is no longer in the interest of public safety and does not further the interest of justice.

The task force will study sales and use tax simplification between the state and local governments, including home rule municipalities, to identify opportunities and challenges within existing fiscal frameworks to adopt innovative revenue-neutral solutions that do not require constitutional amendments or voter approval.

The committee must study various issues regarding school finance in Colorado. If you would like to be on the interested person's email list, please send name and email address to SchoolFinance.ga@state.co.us.

The study committee must review data and statistics on the scope of the substance use disorder problem in Colorado; compile an overview of the current resources available to Coloradoans; review the availability of medication-assisted treatment options and whether pharmacists can prescribe those medications; examine what other states and countries are doing to address substance use disorders; identify the gaps in prevention, intervention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery resources; and identify possible legislative options to address these gaps.

The committee will study the following issues: the current cost of maintaining and staffing county courthouses, jail facilities, and justice centers in each county; the current availability of state resources to aid in the funding of county courthouse facilities; the current availability of state resources to aid in the funding of, and overcrowding issues in, county jail facilities; approaches to increase state funds for county courthouses and jails; reforms in sentencing, probation, or parole policies that encourage the use of county jail facilities; approaches to address the growing probl

The committee must examine how state and local policies can better assist aspiring farmers and ranchers in the early stages of their careers. The committee must examine the following issues relative to young and beginning famers: lack of land access; increasing the availability of credit and financial training; increasing business skill training; and increasing access to technical and financial resources to improve farm conservation measures.