Panel advances bill to update victims' notifications, add restitution hearing rights

Senator Carson and co-sponsor Senator Wallace told the Judiciary Committee that House Bill 10-52 cleans up Victims' Rights Act language to better protect victims' privacy and participation. Carson said the bill aligns notifications created by last year’s legislation with standard VRA procedures and avoids sending certified mail or personal service that could alert an offender to the victim's whereabouts.

Cazzie Houston of the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center and Elizabeth Newman of the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault supported the measure, stressing the need to prevent retraumatization and to give minors and at-risk adults the ability to request preferred names or initials in court proceedings. The bill also adds the right to be heard at restitution hearings and clarifies notification requirements when forensic-lab misconduct is identified.

Sponsors said they had worked with departments and advocates to reach the current language; the committee moved HB 10-52 to the Committee of the Whole and placed it on the consent calendar.