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June 25, 2024 HB 24-1350
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Final Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 24-0326
Rep. Froelich; Story
Sen. Winter F.;
Michaelson Jenet
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
June 25, 2024
Signed into Law
Aaron Carpenter | 303-866-4918
aaron.carpenter@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES PROCEEDINGS CHILD SAFETY
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☐ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☐ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill makes several changes to family court proceedings. Starting in FY 2024-25,
the bill increases state workload.
Appropriation
Summary:
No appropriation is required.
Fiscal Note
Status:
This final fiscal note reflects the enacted bill.
Summary of Legislation
The bill makes several changes to domestic relations court proceedings and requirements for
court personnel, as described below.
Child and family investigator and evaluator requirements. The bill requires child and family
investigators and evaluators to provide options that serve the best interest of the child for the
court to consider. In their written reports, investigators and evaluators must include all
information acquired during the investigation concerning domestic violence and child abuse,
regardless of the manner in which the information was acquired or who presented the
information, and strive to ensure the report does not include information and recommendations
that are biased.
The bill increases the hours of training required for investigators and evaluators and requires
them to provide written disclosures to each party describing their duties, their compliance with
training requirements, and information on filing a complaint about an investigator with the State
Court Administrator.
Finally, courts may cap fees paid to family investigators and evaluators, and allocate the
responsibility for paying these fees.
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June 25, 2024 HB 24-1350
Domestic relations court proceedings. When determining the best interest of the child for
allocating parenting time, the bill requires the court to:
strive not to consider biased information and recommendations;
give paramount consideration to the safety and the physical, mental and emotional
conditions and needs of the child and abused party; and
give strong consideration to a child’s preference when there are allegations of domestic
violence or child abuse.
If the court orders unsupervised parenting time for a parent accused of domestic violence, child
abuse, or child sexual abuse, the court must make a statement on why the decision is in the best
interest of the child. The court must also make a finding explaining why the court granted or
denied a request to interview a child. The bill allows courts to seek the advice of professional
personnel, and for advice to be made available to counsel, parties, and other expert witnesses
and that the personnel be cross-examined.
Coercive control and domestic violence training. The bill defines coercive control and
requires training opportunities for recognizing coercive control for court personnel in domestic
violence and child abuse cases, including for family investigators, evaluators and judges. Courts
must consider evidence on coercive control in these cases. The bill requires training for child and
family investigators, evaluators, and legal representatives of children to include interviewing and
forensic report writing and for the training to be culturally informed. The bill allows
non-governmental professional trainers conduct the training. An investigator who completed
the training before January 1, 2025, is not required to complete supplemental training.
Reporting. The State Court Administrator must accept complaints against family investigators
and evaluators. Annually, the Judicial Department must report these complaints and other family
court metrics to the legislature during their SMART Act hearing.
State Expenditures
Starting in FY 2024-25, the bill will minimally increase workload for the Judicial Department to
update its case management system to collect and post the data required by the bill. No change
in appropriations is required.
Effective Date
The bill was signed into law by the Governor on June 3, 2024, and takes effect on
August 7, 2024, assuming no referendum petition is filed.
State and Local Government Contacts
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.