Colorado’s sweeping police accountability and reform bill passed the state Senate on Tuesday morning with only one Republican vote against the bill.
Senate Bill 217, sponsored by all of the state’s Democratic lawmakers, goes to the House next and is expected to head to the governor’s desk by the end of the week after the session concludes. The bill passed 32-1, with Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, casting the lone vote against it.
The bill was introduced in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis, and it calls for more transparency and new controls on police use of force. If it becomes law, it will require all officers to use body-worn cameras, ban the use of chokeholds and limit when they are allowed to shoot at a person who is running away, known as the “fleeing felon” statute. Cops also would have to have objective justification for stops, be required to intervene when seeing other officers using excessive force and could be sued as individuals for excessive force allegations. And it removes “qualified immunity,” allowing officers to be sued in their individual capacities over excessive force allegations.
“What we accomplished with Senate Bill 217 serves as a reminder that direct action matters. Protest matters. Black lives matter,” said Elisabeth Epps, an abolitionist with the Colorado Freedom Fund and American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado in a statement.
Read the full story via The Denver Post.