DENVER – The Colorado Senate decided to hit “like” Wednesday on a bill that would allow Coloradans to post selfies with their ballots.
House Bill 1014, which would eliminate a portion of the Uniform Election Code of 1965 that places a fine of up to $1,000 and one year in prison for revealing the contents of a completed ballots, was adopted by the full Senate after a second reading.
The bill will receive a final reading and vote before going back to the House where it has already received initial approval.
Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail said the bill goes beyond allowing ballot selfies and represents a chance to expand free speech in light of new technology.
“Our First amendment right needs to be updated and keep up with the ways that we express ourselves,” she said.
Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs, said he scoured the “highly reputable world of twitter” for reasons why people would vote against HB 1014 and came up with two reasons.
“One reason is if you don’t think people should be able to publicly share how they voted. That’s one reason to vote against this bill, and we understand and respect that. The other reason is if you believe the Illuminati wrote this bill in conjunction with us,” Hill said.
In addition to the ballot-selfies measure, 12 other bills cleared third reading, seven were adopted upon second reading, and 23 were scheduled for committee hearings.
Five bills regarding marijuana laws were heard by the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee including two governing the creation of pot clubs.
Senate Bill 63 would create a license for the public marijuana clubs where adults could go to purchase and smoke recreational pot, and SB 184 would allow for the creation of private pot clubs where members could come to smoke their own medical or recreational marijuana.
Lase week, critics of SB 63 voiced concerns about the health effects of marijuana and the potential for increasing the amount of drugged drivers.
Proponents of the bill compared it to regulations on the alcohol industry. They said it would increase public safety as smokers would have a place to indulge rather that doing so in public.
The decision would still be left to local jurisdictions to decide whether or not pot clubs were right for their communities, said Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins.
The bill was killed by the committee 6-1 with only Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, voting in favor.
While private clubs died, SB 184 passed 5-2 with bipartisan support. It will go to the full Senate for second reading and floor debate.
The clubs created by SB 184 would be private membership-based establishments that would not be allowed to sell marijuana on site. They would also be restricted from selling alcohol or food besides “light snacks without marijuana ingredients.”
Similar to SB 63, it would be at the discretion of local jurisdictions to decide if these clubs would be allowed.
lperkins@durangoherald.com
