by Jessica Wigent
Since its (re)creation in 2016, the Statutory Revision Committee (SRC), codified in part 9 of article 3 of title 2, C.R.S., has introduced more than 100 bills that have repealed and refreshed Colorado’s laws, clearing conflicts, glitches, and outdated provisions from hundreds of pages of statutory text and bringing the Colorado Revised Statutes into the 21st century.
During hearings held during the 2021 legislative session and, most recently, on February 11, 2022, committee members heard memo presentations and testimony on issues including:
- Repealing the capitol dome restoration fund, as that capitol dome project, which you can climb up into, is complete, and the statute is now obsolete;
- Repealing a tax credit that only applied in 1999 – when the first (we’re now on the fourth!) Matrix movie was in theaters;
- Repealing two advisory committees whose work was completed or taken over by another agency; and
- Making technical updates to the marijuana codes.
Membership
The SRC consists of eight legislators (two appointed by the majority and minority leadership in each house) and two nonlegislators who are nonvoting attorney members appointed by the Committee on Legal Services. Per the statute that created the SRC, the chair and vice-chair elected in the 2021 legislative session, Representative Valdez and Senator Kirkmeyer, have switched positions. The membership now includes:
Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, Chair
Senator Donald Valdez, Vice-chair
Representative Mike Lynch
Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno
Representative Andres Pico
Representative Steven Woodrow
Senator Rob Woodward
Senator Rachel Zenzinger
Patricia Ho, attorney, nonlegislative member
Andrew Toft, attorney, nonlegislative member
Executive branch agencies, the judicial branch, interested Colorado residents, legislators, and nonpartisan staff from a number of agencies in and around the Capitol have brought issues for the SRC to consider. Initially, staff considers these requests and whether they fall within the charge of the SRC and then prepares a memo detailing the requested change, often with a bill draft attached for the SRC to consider.
In addition, the statutory charge of the SRC includes examining “current judicial decisions.” To that end, the SRC has asked staff to review current statutes that are found by an appellate court to be unconstitutional. Staff routinely prepares memos for the SRC to bring attention to these provisions.
An affirmative vote from at least five of the legislative SRC members is needed to introduce proposed legislation, and the SRC regularly considers more draft bills than it approves. All proposed bill drafts, including those not approved for introduction, are publicly available on the SRC’s website and in the committee’s annual report submitted to the General Assembly. You may also email staff for more information.
The SRC plans to meet again on Friday, March 11, at 7:30 a.m. in House Committee Room 112. Join the SRC mailing list to be notified when the agenda, memos, and draft bills are available for that meeting.
Know of any antiquated, redundant, or contradictory laws? Please contact the SRC staff via email:
statutoryrevision.ga@coleg.gov All meetings are public, and everyone is encouraged to attend or to propose issues to the SRC staff.