Live updates: Housing bills advance as Colorado legislative session enters final week

The Colorado legislature is a week out from the end of the session and is working Wednesday to push bills through committee and the House and Senate floors Several ongoing plan discussions remain unresolved and Wednesday s debates will include lengthy testimony and likely amendments to a transgender-rights bill This story will be updated throughout the day a m update A bill that would allow jury trials for particular tenants facing eviction narrowly passed the House on Wednesday morning as the legislature got underway on its penultimate Wednesday of the session House Bill which passed with the bare minimum of votes is the legislature s answer to a question left hanging by a strange state Supreme Court saga last year In October the high court ruled that tenants have a right to jury trial in eviction proceedings Two months later though the justices abruptly reversed themselves and direct the legislature to decide Under HB- tenants facing eviction would be able to pursue a jury trial if they had a material dispute with their landlord That would mean a disagreement over an alleged lease violation but it would not include when a tenant was late on rent the the majority common cause of eviction The bill was previously hung up in legislative limbo amid fears of the financial cost That was greeted with frustration from advocates and legislators who felt the courts were placing a prohibitive price tag on a strategy question that the judicial system demanded the legislature to solve In any circumstance HB- now heads to the state Senate Speaking of the Senate That chamber on Monday fully passed Senate Bill which seeks to crack down on chronically neglectful landlords by allowing regime officials to temporarily take control of run-down apartment buildings The framework was directly inspired by the messy saga involving CBZ Management last year That company has had three buildings enter receivership two sought by creditors the last by the city of Denver amid chronic disrepair and the company s contends of gang takeovers Related Articles With drop in Medicaid-covered patients Colorado safety-net clinics seek help from lawmakers Gov Jared Polis assistance uncertain as ban on application used by landlords to set rents nears finish line Live updates Colorado lawmakers kill new car insurance fee send voting rights bill to Gov Polis Colorado lawmakers drop effort to override Gov Polis veto of social media bill amid intense lobbying Colorado Gov Jared Polis signs budget with more than billion in cuts doing the least amount of harm SB- would give more authority to cities counties and the state to enforce a variety of housing laws and it would allow them to seize control of buildings and use tenants rent to fix dilapidated conditions Frankly the lack of an adequate remedy for a really really bad situation like CBZ is very much part of what inspired this bill Sen Mike Weissman a Democrat who represents parts of Aurora that are home to CBZ buildings explained in January The measure will head next to Gov Jared Polis Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot