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February 14, 2024 HB 24-1225
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 24-0162
Rep. Duran; Lynch
Sen. Fields; Gardner
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
February 14, 2024
House Judiciary
Aaron Carpenter | 303-866-4918
aaron.carpenter@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: FIRST DEGREE MURDER BAIL & JURY SELECTION STATUTE
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☐ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☒ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill makes first degree murder an unbailable offense and aligns procedures for
jury selection to capital cases. Conditional upon the passage of HCR 24-1002, the bill
increases state and local expenditures on an ongoing basis.
Appropriation
Summary:
No appropriation is required.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill.
Summary of Legislation
Under current law, capital offenses (i.e., offenses for which the death penalty may be imposed)
are unbailable when the proof is evident or presumption is great. Upon the passage of
HCR 24-1002, the bill makes murder in the first degree an unbailable offense when proof is
evident or presumption is great. The process under the bill for first degree murder parallels that
for capital offenses including:
conducting a hearing on whether proof is evident or the presumption is great; and
allowing 10 peremptory challenges during jury selection.
Background
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in People v. Smith (2023) that the district court “abused its
discretion when it treated the charge of first degree murder as a capital offense and then denied
the defendant’s request for bail.” In the opinion of the court, a “capital offense” refers to
offenses that authorizes the imposition of the death penalty, which the General Assembly
repealed in Senate Bill 20-100.
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February 14, 2024 HB 24-1225
State Expenditures
Conditional upon the passage of HCR 24-1002, the bill may increase workload to the trial courts
and the independent judicial agencies that represent indigent offenders to conduct more
hearings to determine if proof is evident or the presumption is great in first degree murder
cases. Due to the time-intensive nature of first-degree murder charges, the infrequency of
preliminary hearing waivers, and that current rule already accommodates 10 peremptory
challenges, any workload increase is assumed to be minimal.
Local Government
Similar to the state, workload for district attorney offices will increase to attend additional
hearings. The fiscal note assumes that any increase in workload will be minimal.
Effective Date.
The bill takes effect upon signature of the Governor, or upon becoming law without his
signature, and only takes effect if House Concurrent Resolution 24-1002 takes effect.
State and Local Government Contacts
Counties District Attorneys Judicial
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit the General Assembly website.