Colorado lawmakers look to require public defenders, livestream hearings at municipal courts

DENVER (CN) — One client defense attorney Alida Soileau represents in Montrose, Colorado, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for petty theft, even though the offense has a maximum sentence of 10 days. Because the client was sentenced in Montrose Municipal Court, which is not considered a “court of record” under Colorado law, there is no record of the proceedings for Soileau to review.

“Montrose Municipal Court is not a court of record; as a result, we’ve had some paradoxical outcomes,” said Soileau, testifying before Colorado’s House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Another client who is unhoused and undergoing chemotherapy faces half a dozen charges of unauthorized camping and trespass after being singled out by directed patrols. As Soileau worries about her clients' due process rights being violated, she asked the committee to support HB26-1134, the Fairness & Transparency in Municipal Court bill, which aims to ensure defendants are treated equally regardless of whether they are prosecuted in municipal or state court.

“We need oversight and guidelines for what offenses are and are not jailable,” Soileau said.

Though the committee voted to advance the bill on a bipartisan 9-2 vote Wednesday, the measure has a checkered past in the state Capitol.

Lawmakers passed a 2025 version of the Fairness & Transparency in Municipal Court bill only to see it vetoed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis. In an order published last December, the Colorado Supreme Court found municipal courts violate defendants' rights when they issue harsher punishments than those one would receive in state courts, a decision that inspired lawmakers to revise and resubmit last year’s bill.

In addition to ensuring municipal defendants have access to an attorney, the revamped proposal would require defense attorneys have access to case information and their client, in person. In addition, the law makes it clear municipal court proceedings are open to the public and that courts are required to provide virtual observation to in-custody hearings and follow the state livestream law.

A law enacted in 2023 requires Colorado courts to livestream most criminal proceedings.

The new law would also prevent courts like Montrose from jailing people without providing a record. “A municipal court shall not sentence to incarceration a person convicted of violating a municipal ordinance in a municipal court that is not of record or find the person an amount that exceeds $300," legislators drafted into the bill.

In a fiscal note attached to the bill, nonpartisan legislative council staff anticipate the bill would not generate significant costs for the state, but the Colorado Municipal League requested a yearlong delay to allow municipal courts to come into compliance with livestream requirements.

As the committee discussed the bill, the story of the Montrose Municipal Court — one of few courts that exist outside of the “court of record” category in Colorado — was recalled as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong. With the home rule municipality of Montrose criminalizing homelessness with mandatory jail sentences, bill sponsor Representative Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat, argued the bill would even the playing field for defendants.

“In this country, we criminalize poverty, and we criminalize homelessness, but it should not be a crime when you have nowhere to go,” said Mabrey, who chairs Colorado’s House Judicial Committee.

“I believe deeply when we are talking about liberty interest, the way we are putting people in jail, it is critical we recognize people are deserving of the same rights,” Mabrey said.

While the bill is sponsored by Democrats in both chambers, it received bipartisan support in the committee, with Western Slope Representative Matt Soper applauding it as something the founding father would have supported.

“If you’re facing having your basic liberty denied, you have your attorney with you, and it’s done in public,” said Soper, a Republican representing rural Delta and Mesa counties. “These are basic principles that we’ve had since the founding of our country, that we laid out in our founding documents, that drove our founding fathers nuts.”

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