BILL TRACKING &

LEGISLATIVE ANALYSIS:
COLORADO HOUSE BILL 16-1227
Throughout state and local government, the inherent overlap of the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches and the associated governmental agencies often leads to conflict, dysfunction,
and a long-term struggle to truly affect policy change. With this level of interagency dispute and
conflict, it may be difficult to truly identify a common goal or shared belief in what the common
good truly is. Although there are countless examples of interagency dysfunction at the state and
local level, when a successful balance is struck between public input and associated legislative
representation, executive support and agenda backing, and proper judicial oversight or clearance,
state institutions are capable of cooperating in the best interest of both their agency and the
greater public interest. Thus, due to the eventual policy success of legislation rising through this
balanced process, functional overlap at the state level necessitates a common good and rallying
point.

One of the greatest examples of this intergovernmental cooperation stems from a 2016 campaign
in Colorado to make access to low-income childcare more accessible for teenage parents and
victims of domestic abuse. Starting in 2015, a group of charter schools in Colorado like the
Florence Crittenton School and other nonprofit organizations focused on low-income familial
support throughout the state started speaking out about the difficulty facing teenage mothers and
victims of domestic abuse in attaining safe and effective childcare to allow them to pursue their
educational and vocational goals. Under the existing system, anyone meeting low-income level
standards set by each county can receive support through the Colorado Child Care Assistance
Program (CCCAP) which provides early childhood developmental education as part of their
curriculum to ensure participants are prepared for Kindergarten and eventual school standards
(Schimke 2016).

Although extremely successful, the program was often inaccessible for teenage mothers and
victims of domestic abuse as state requirements forced them to petition the child’s paternal father
in court or succeed in obtaining administrative action for child support payments prior to
applying for CCCAP assistance (Teen Parent and Domestic Violence Survivor Fact Sheet 2016).
For teen mothers not in contact with their child’s father or survivors of domestic abuse not
wanting to contact their abuser or risk farther harm to themselves or their children, the reality of
a successful court hearing for child support is nonexistent (Teen Parent and Domestic Violence
Survivor Fact Sheet 2016).

Seeing the opportunity to fix this gap in coverage, students from the Florence Crittenton School
and advocates from across the state proposed the literature for the eventual House Bill 16-1227
which proposed that teen mothers and domestic abuse survivors be exempt from the
aforementioned child support engagement requirement. Through a variety of lobbying methods
and the students’ work to meet with legislators, formal language proposing said exemption was
established and introduced to the Colorado House of Representatives on February 14, 2016
where it was referred to the Health and Human Services committee. Throughout the bill’s initial
hearing process, the legislators showed a commitment to hearing and remedying the issue. When
early opposition arose in committee hearings, the members relied on a variety of expert
testimony put forth to inform their ultimate passing recommendation. After garnering 38 co-
sponsors throughout this process, the bill passed the House on April 14, 2016 with fifty-eight yea
votes to seven nays. On April 29, 2016, the Senate also passed the bill with thirty-eight yeas and
zero nays.

Throughout its legislative proceeding, House Bill 16-1227 continually garnered support from
both Republican and Democratic senators and representatives, ending with one of the highest
total number of co-sponsors out of all bills in the 2016 Colorado Legislative Session (Bill
Summary for HB16-1227 2016). Because of the immense popularity of creating this exemption
throughout Colorado’s congressional districts, many senators and representatives saw the
potential to simultaneously support their constituents’ views and demonstrate strong bipartisan
support as legislators from across the state joined together to unanimously push the exemption
through. By combining strong public support with bipartisanship, both legislative houses were
able to paint themselves in a positive political light of productivity while simultaneously
experiencing a major policy success in reforming a clear policy failure (Schimke 2016).

On May 19, 2016, Governor Hickenlooper officially signed House Bill 16-1227 into law at the
Florence Crittenton School. Hickenlooper’s action marked a significant change in CCCAP
requirements and allowed Hickenlooper to further his agenda focused on poverty reduction and
increasing low-income educational opportunities (Schimke 2016). In a session with many
difficult partisan limitations, Hickenlooper struggled to drive his agenda forward. By rallying
behind a major bipartisan support-based measure, Hickenlooper was granted a rare opportunity
to further his administrative agenda while also shedding light on a successful bipartisan
initiative, thereby capitalizing off of the cooperation to better media views and to inspire both
houses to continue their cooperation on other Health and Human Services initiatives on the table
(Schimke 2016).

Judicially, the implementation of this exemption was a success due to its lack of judicial
challenges. Since its implementation last year, the exemption has not faced any judicial
challenges and has also decreased the number of number of child support cases in the court
system and simplified the overall hearing process (Bill Summary for HB16-1227).

Prior to its implementation, only two percent of the 10,000 children of Coloradan teen parents
had open child support cases. Since the exemption, this number has remained relatively stable,
but the number of teen mothers receiving CCCAP assistance has increased (Bill Summary for
HB 16-1227). Thus, by limiting the amount of judicial strain, this exemption has lessened the
child support case load for Colorado courts while simultaneously expanding rights for those who
classically struggled to win the legal battles necessary to gain CCCAP support (Colorado House
Bill 16-1227 2016).

At the agency level, each county has been tasked with reporting annually on the number of
individuals taking advantage of the exemption and providing accurate records of the funding
utilized for childcare under this system. This process has allowed counties to maintain their own
level of control in the process by still setting their own income limits and complying with state
regulations through the exemption process (Bill Summary for HB 16-1227). By allowing
counties to maintain their own regulations regarding income and regional oversight, the county-
level Human Services departments accepted the HB 16-1227 regulations more willingly and
were able to comply efficiently without additional staffing or funding needs (Colorado House
Bill 16-1227 2016).

The implementation of Colorado House Bill 16-1227 marked a unique bipartisan success for the
state’s Health and Human Services departments and an overall strengthening of local-level
relations. From the initial proposal of the exemption by teen parent and domestic abuse support
advocates, the benefits of interagency and inter-branch cooperation were apparent. The strong
public support around said implementation allowed legislators to stand up for their constituents’
views and build their own reputations for bipartisan support. Similarly, the overwhelming
support from both the House and the Senate made Governor Hickenlooper’s final signing of the
bill a success both for his administrative ideology and for the overall state democratic process.
By lessening the strain on courts through the reduction of child support cases, the judicial branch
also benefitted in gaining greater citizen rights and a lower case load. Finally, the ability for
counties to maintain their autonomy in income ceilings in their compliance with the new
exemption enabled them to more easily accept and comply with said regulations without greater
staffing or monetary needs.

Ultimately, the ability of all branches of state government and the associated local agencies to
work in conjunction to create and enforce the new exemption allowed the state to simultaneously
strengthen each institution’s overall productivity and success while truly responding to citizens’
needs. Thus, due to the overwhelming success each agency experienced in the creation and
implementation of HB 16-1227, the presence of a common goal is undeniable, ultimately
revealing the ability of intergovernmental cooperation for the common good.
References

Bill Summary for HB 16-1227. 2016. http://cogabart.denvertech.org/content/shhs2016a2016-04-

21t133353z0-hearing-summary.
Colorado House Bill 16-1227. 2016. Pub.L. 1-6.
http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2016a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/FA4865888142E46E87257F
2400659C33?Open&file=1227_enr.pdf.
Florence Crittenton Services. 2016. “HB 16-1227: Colorado Child Care Assistance Program
Teen Parent and Domestic Violence Survivor Fact Sheet.”
http://www.coloradokids.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Teen-Parent-DV-Fact-Sheet-
021716.pdf.
Shimke, Ann. 2016. “Teen Mothers Push for Law Change on Child Support.” Mar. 3, 2016.
http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2016/03/03/teen-mothers-push-for-law-change-on-
child-support/.