2 weeks Ago By Marianne Goodland [email protected]
The Joint Budget Committee suffered a rare loss Wednesday, when state Senate Democrats overruled them on spending authority for the Department of Public Safety. The issue: the ability of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to retest DNA, including for rape kits, tied to its former forensic scientist, Yvonne "Missy" Woods. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation last year identified more than 1,000 criminal cases affected by Wood's alleged mishandling of DNA evidence.
"We simply don't believe that CBI is going to serve them without significant oversight and guardrails on these dollars," said Joint Budget Committee Chair Sen. Jeff Bridges of Englewood on Tuesday. "We were simply not willing to hand over cash to an agency that has proven, time and again, a proven track record of failing to deliver justice for the people of Colorado.
" The issue came before the JBC in its mid-year adjustment of the 2024-25 state budget. The Department of Public Safety, which houses the CBI, had sought permission to spend existing dollars on the rape kit backlog past the fiscal year deadline of June 30, 2025. The JBC gave a firm "NO" to the department, citing the rape kit backlog and lack of a plan by CBI to address it.
State Sen. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, told reporters Wednesday the department underspent its budget by about $7.5 million — wanting more time to spend those dollars — but had only retested 14 samples in the last six months.
Before the Woods scandal, it was taking on average 270 days to process a rape kit. Now, it's over 500 days, Amabile said. Bridges said Tuesday the budget committee is upset about the backlog, and the reason for refusing to extend the spending authority is an "appallingly bad" request from the department that didn't outline a plan for how to address that backlog.
Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder, the other JBC member, said she spoke to a woman who had been waiting on the results of a rape kit. The woman asked the committee to deny the request because of "zero trust" that anything would come from it or that the money would be well spent.
"We simply could not say 'yes' to that request with a complete lack of reassurance" on how those funds would be spent, Bridges said. During a Senate Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday, Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the problem is bigger than just a budget.
Weissman said there are at least four problems, including retesting the DNA handled by Woods and dealing with the rape kit backlog. Not one person or committee will solve all of this, Weissman said. It will take the entire legislature, he added.
Weissman said there has been an erosion of trust, and it's up to the legislature to — in the words of Ronald Reagan — "trust but verify." Bridges also addressed the issue of trust between lawmakers and the department. He said the committee decided to deny the extension of spending authority on behalf of the people waiting for justice.
But Wednesday, during Senate debate on Senate Bill 103, the supplemental for the Department of Public Safety, it was Weissman who sought an amendment to extend the spending authority for another year. That did not go over well with Bridges, Amabile and fellow JBC member Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton.
Weissman told the Senate the CBI has "capacity issues," and that includes the ability to contract with the limited number of labs that can do that work. By allowing more spending authority, the turnaround time could be brought down, he said. Weissman acknowledged the lack of trust in CBI by lawmakers, and said he is working on legislation to address the CBI issue.
Amabile said they denied the roll-forward authority not because they don't want the testing to happen; they do. The department was given $7.5 million, at least half for testing.
"What's the plan for getting this work done, getting it done soon and getting it done right?" she said. "We're not giving you a blank check" to not do what it's already not doing. "We have to have accountability from departments," Kirkmeyer said.
Two days ago, the JBC took public comment on the budget, and some of those comments came from families who said they have experienced trauma due to the delays in testing. "We have compassion and empathy..
.but we're being responsible in holding these departments accountable." She noted there are still other opportunities to run bills on the issue, but at the moment they're not getting answers from CBI and the Department of Public Safety.
Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, supported the Weissman amendment. The JBC is right to be skeptical, but to CBI she said "do better!.
..Do not take my support for this amendment as a 'here's a check, go do the things.
' We're all livid and appalled," she said. This is not a JBC or General Assembly problem, it's one that affects every single constituent, she said. "How dare we allow this to continue in the manner we have!" she thundered.
"Maybe CBI has a plan, but they didn't bring it to us," Bridges told the Senate. Without that plan, the JBC is convinced, given past performance, that it is less likely the kits will be tested if they're given that spending authority, he said. "Make them figure it out.
" Despite that plea, the Senate approved the amendment on a voice vote. The bill heads to a final vote Thursday. Woods’ work had been flagged in 2014 and 2018 by some co-workers who reported it to supervisors.
In 2014, no action was taken. After the 2018 incident, Woods was temporarily relieved of duty and sent for mental health counseling but quickly allowed to return to work. It was not until after a lab intern raised concerns in the fall of 2023 and a full investigation was launched that the problems within the lab were revealed to the public.
Woods was allowed to retire in November 2023 just before the scandal broke..
