Spice Bill, HB14-1037, becomes law tomorrow!

Two Republican public safety laws to go into effect this week

Denver – On Wednesday, two Republican sponsored public safety bills, House Bill 1037 and Senate Bill 176, both signed into law earlier this year, will go into effect in Colorado. House Bill 1037, sponsored by Representative Lois Landgraf (R-Fountain) will subject vendors selling synthetic cannabinoids, frequently referred to as Spice, to fines and civil liability regardless of warnings on the packaging and Senate Bill 176, sponsored in the House by Representative Carole Murray (R-Castle Rock), will make operating a vehicle chop shop a class 4 felony.

House Bill 1037 and Senate Bill 176, which both received wide bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate, address two growing problems in Colorado. Earlier this year, a Denver store owner was charged with selling the synthetic drug, and had reportedly 1,320 packages of"Spice”, estimated to have a street value of $120,000, seized from the store.
"Despite their growing popularity, synthetic drugs are incredibly dangerous and this new law is a crucial step in taking action against these harmful substances,” said Landgraf."I’m comforted knowing this law is now in place to help keep synthetic drugs out of Colorado children’s hands.”

Senate Bill 176 addressed the increasing number of automobile thefts in Colorado, which has spiked in recent years. In 2012, there were over 3,000 unrecovered stolen cars and 11 organized chops shops discovered in Colorado.
"Though stealing a vehicle can already be prosecuted, this new law will give prosecutors the tools they need to go after the criminals running the chop shops in Colorado,” said Murray."Organized chop shops are responsible for a significant amount of automobile theft and I am confident this law will help put this criminal enterprise out of business in Colorado.”

Senate Bill 176 is nearly identical to House Bill 1084 that Murray had introduced earlier in the session. House Democrats shockingly killed HB 1084 on a party-line vote in House Appropriations after it passed unanimously out of House Judiciary. Even more shocking was that each of the House Democrats who voted to kill HB 1084 later voted in favor of the nearly identical SB 176 on third reading in the House; unbelievably, two of those same House Democrats even co-sponsored SB 176.
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