Colorado House debates gun control, education and more

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(The Center Square) - The Colorado House voted on a flurry of bills to end the week, approving two major gun regulation bills, a bill on education and another one on car licenses.

Legislators voted 34 to 28 Friday in favor of  HB26-1126, the Requirements for Firearms Dealers bill. The bill now goes to the Senate.

It passed during a day that saw a lot of deliberations on firearms.

Rep. Anthony Hartsook, R-44th District, was joined by many other Republican representatives who spoke in opposition to HB26-1126, or the Requirements for Firearms Dealers bill. 

“​​[These] requirements to firearm dealers will have one net result: It will drive costs up,” said Hartsook, adding that it will drive business out of the state. “The secondary and tertiary impacts of that are your small businesses. Some of them will look at it and go, ‘This is no longer cost-effective. I can't keep doing this because I'm losing money.’ ”

“Small businesses are the engine of Colorado. Small businesses are the engine of America,” Hartsook said during the floor session. “Every single time that we place a requirement on any industry, it has a fiscal cost to it. It has a financial repercussion.”

The bill requires background checks for not just the gun dealer, but also employees and people who have a say over store policy. Dealers would also need to get a permit to transfer firearms in or out of the state.

The bill would additionally require record-keeping for all firearms in a gun dealership, which currently only applies to select weapons. The bill also allows for increased penalties to gun dealers by the state and higher standards of gun security at the store.

“Nearly every gun in the United States begins as a legal gun purchased by a consumer from a licensed gun dealer,” said Rep. Emily Sirota, D-9th District, at the House hearing, speaking in support of the bill. “Oftentimes, however, firearms can end up trafficked, used in crime or in the hands of individuals prohibited from possessing a firearm.”

Sirota said the bill did not seek to hurt local Colorado businesses, but was instead focused on limiting illegal guns on the market. “That is why we are here. We are just fixing some of these gaps in record keeping.”

The other major gun bill under consideration, SB 26-004, the Expand List of Petitioners for Protection Order bill, was passed on a 39-24 vote and now heads to Gov. Jared Polis. The Democrat is expected to sign the law, which was supported by the Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

SB 26-004 expands who could petition for extreme risk protections. Professional and personal relationships, such as family members and teachers, can already file Extreme Risk Protection Orders for individuals who they believe to be a high risk of danger to themselves or others, which temporarily removes their access to firearms. This bill would allow institutional petitioners such as health care facilities and schools.

“This bill in itself will cause harm, and in my opinion, voting for it will as well,“ said Rep. Rebecca Keltie, R-16th District, in opposition.

The House passed another bill unanimously with 63 votes with no discussion and two members excused from voting:  HB 26-1299, Reducing Regulatory Burden on Education Providers.

The bill was introduced by two Republicans and a Democrat. The legislation aims to simplify some of the more bureaucratic parts of public education.

The bill eliminates the requirement for a written policy on student use of paper or computers for standardized state tests.  And the legislation would send missing child alerts to the state Department of Education, instead of each school district.

The car license bill, HB26-1102, or the Funding for Colorado DRIVES Account bill, also passed with no discussion Friday, receiving a 40-23 approval, moving it to the Senate. The bill would allow for the transfer of vehicle licenses between cars, giving Colorado drivers the option to petition to keep a car’s license after it changes ownership.