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House panel passes DNA bill
Felony arrests would require sample collection
Herald Denver Bureau
Senate Bill 241 is Colorado's version of "Katie's Law," named after Katie Sepich, a New Mexico student who was murdered in 2003. Her killer was caught after New Mexico enacted a law to require people arrested for a felony to submit a DNA sample.
The House Judiciary Committee passed it 8-3 Thursday after a six-hour hearing.
Sepich's mother, Jayann Sep-ich, urged the panel to pass the bill.
"If Colorado does not pass this law now, this year, a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, we will know the names, the faces of those who could have been saved," Sepich said.
New Mexico has made 61 matches in major cases since it adopted Katie's Law, Sepich said.
Opponents fought the bill on civil-liberties grounds, but the cost of expanding the DNA collection system could ultimately cause it more trouble.
The price tag of $1.8 million nearly sunk it earlier this year, but the Senate attached a $5 charge to all arrests and tickets - even traffic tickets - to pay for DNA collection.
Only people arrested for felonies would have to submit their DNA.
House members stripped out the fee Thursday. Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said he thinks there's enough money left in the state general fund to pay for it, even after the large budget cuts the Legislature finished last week.
The sponsors went along with Gardner's plan. Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said "this bill dies" if it has to rely on the traffic ticket surcharge.
Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, is sponsoring the bill along with King.
The bill's next stop is the House Appropriations Committee, which will deal with the financial question.
Most of the debate Thursday, though, centered on constitutional rights.
Federal courts have never ruled on Katie's Law, said Cathryn Hazouri of the American Civil Liberties Union's Colorado chapter. Hazouri thinks the courts will overturn the law because of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable search and seizure.
Convicted felons give up some constitutional rights, but people who are merely arrested are presumed innocent.
"Because that person is presumed innocent, that person's expectation of privacy is heightened," Hazouri said.
Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, said he doesn't doubt the bill would help police stop crimes. But so would putting computer chips in people or video monitors in their homes, Pace said.
"I fear that we are as a country getting painfully close to giving up all of our liberties," he said.
Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, supported SB 241. She noted that the House just passed a death-penalty repeal that would dedicate money from court costs to solving cold cases.
"What I think we're being presented with is a tool to help accomplish solving cold cases," Roberts said.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
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