Stalled bill moves forward in state Senate

Standing outside the City and County Building on Thursday, Mayor Michael Hancock announces that the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and NHL’s Colorado Avalanche will be staying in Denver through 2040. Helping with the announcement are Avalanche mascot Bernie, center, and Nuggets mascot Rocky.

Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

The state Senate on Thursday gave initial approval to a bill updating the way sex education is taught in Colorado after it was rewritten to eliminate some of the most contentious language.

The legislation, which had been stalled in the Senate, is now expected to make its way to the governor’s desk with ease. It keeps new provisions on teaching students about consent and healthy relationships along with some grant money for schools that want to teach sex ed but lack the resources to do so.

“It keeps the heart of the bill,” said state Rep. Susan Lontine, a Denver Democrat. “The intent of what we wanted to get done was done.”

But the bill does not reorganize the existing statute as it originally did — something supporters say led to confusion and much of the misinformation. Most of the ambiguous language — wording that caused some to say that the state wanted to teach 9year-olds about sex positions — is gone.

An earlier version of the bill also prohibited charter schools from opting out of the law.

That language was softened as part of the changes Thursday.

State Sen. Jim Smallwood, a Parker Republican, added amendments that strengthen language around consent and that “virtually guarantee” students will learn about the state’s safe haven law, which allows mothers to drop off their newborns at a fire station.

Despite those amendments being added, Smallwood still objects to the bill. Smallwood had hoped to add a so-called petition clause that would have allowed Coloradans to gather signatures to stop the bill from taking effect. That amendment did not succeed.

However, any resident can seek to repeal a law through the normal initiative process.

The bill ignited a firestorm earlier in the legislative session among Christian conservatives who testified for hours in committees.

Coram said he and state Sen. Nancy Todd, an Aurora Democrat who also sponsored the bill, had been working on it since.

“(Nancy) knows how to do the right thing,” Coram said. “The bill was going to be the way we wanted it or there wasn’t going to be a bill.”