Committee Passes Bipartisan Bill to Reform Competency Laws, Improve Public Safety

DENVER, CO – The House Judiciary Committee today passed bipartisan legislation to reform Colorado’s competency laws, increase access to treatment and improve public safety.

“Creating new treatment pathways for competent defendants will lead to more just outcomes and safer communities,” said Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon. “Our legislation is a top priority for Colorado Democrats and addresses a gap in our current justice system to ensure that an individual who cannot be restored to competency can access the behavioral health treatment they so critically need. This is a bipartisan solution that creates pathways in the judicial system to improve safety in our communities while protecting defendants' constitutional rights.”

SB26-149 would create new pathways for defendants deemed permanently incompetent to proceed to ensure appropriate access to treatment and prevent individuals deemed extremely dangerous from being released into the community. SB26-149, also sponsored by Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, passed by a vote of 11-0.

In 2022, Colorado passed bipartisan legislation to bring the state into compliance with the constitutional right, established in the 1960 U.S. Supreme Court case Dusky v. United States–that those facing criminal charges must be able to aid in their own defense. Under this constitutional right, when a defendant is found incompetent and unlikely to be restored, the judge must dismiss the case.

Currently, Colorado lacks sufficient resources to ensure that individuals who are dangerous receive treatment and are not released back into the community after their case is dismissed. In recent years, several individuals deemed incompetent to proceed have reoffended after being released.

This bill makes several changes to the process of declaring a defendant incompetent to proceed, including eliminating automatic presumptions that have led to some cases being dismissed and shifting the burden of proof for certain felony crimes to the defense attorneys to prove that their client is unrestorable. SB26-149 would also give judges new tools to help defendants earlier in the process, such as the ability to appoint a care coordinator. 

The bill would create two new civil pathways for the small subset of very dangerous individuals who are deemed permanently incompetent to proceed. It creates an option for civil commitment for those with psychiatric disorders (e.g. schizophrenia), and it creates a separate option for enhanced protective placement for those with neurocognitive disorders (e.g. dementia) or intellectual and developmental disorders. 

These reforms aim to improve the process for declaring incompetency, increase access to appropriate treatment, protect public safety, and uphold Coloradans’ constitutional rights.