HJR 1029

                              Second Regular Session
                           Seventy-fifth General Assembly
                              STATE OF COLORADO
                                                                            INTRODUCED
LLS NO. R26-0981.01 Shelby Ross x4510  HJR26-1029
                                HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
 Bottoms,
                               SENATE SPONSORSHIP
 (None),
 House Committees  Senate Committees
 State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs
                          HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 26-1029
101      CONCERNING INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLATIONS OF THE
102"COLORADO FALSE CLAIMS ACT".
1WHEREAS, Credible evidence exists that whistleblowers,
2      witnesses, and public officials within Colorado state and local
3      governments are being systematically intimidated and retaliated against
4      through the misuse of public resources and the select prosecution or
5      nonprosecution of the wrongdoers involved; and
6WHEREAS, Examples of the systematic misconduct involved
7      include patterns of alleged corruption within the Colorado judicial
8      branch, alleged interference with the 2024 presidential election, publicly
9      funded self-investigations of various incidents of alleged official
10      misconduct, nondisclosure and hush money agreements valued at over $4
11      million negotiated between the Colorado Office of the Attorney General
            Shading denotes HOUSE amendment. Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment.
         Capital letters or bold & italic numbers indicate new material to be added to existing law.
               Dashes through the words or numbers indicate deletions from existing law.
1 and other state agencies and public officials, and the allegedly invalid
2 approval of an urban renewal authority estimated to divert $155 million
3 of tax revenues over 25 years; and
4WHEREAS, These circumstances present probable cause and a
5 reasonable basis to suspect violations of both Colorado and federal law;
6 and
7WHEREAS, Under the "Colorado False Claims Act", a person is
8 liable to the state or a political subdivision of the state if the person
9 submits certain fraudulent claims to the state or political subdivision, and
10 the Attorney General or a private person may bring a civil action against
11 a person who made the fraudulent claim; and
12WHEREAS, Because of conflicts of interests, the Colorado
13 Attorney General and the entire Colorado Department of Law are unable
14 to impartially enforce the "Colorado False Claims Act"; and
15WHEREAS, Twenty-two other states and the District of Columbia
16 have their own equivalent civil false claims acts, including California,
17 Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
18 Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New
19 Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee,
20 and Vermont; and
21WHEREAS, The Denver office and Wyoming office of the United
22 States Department of Justice also have conflicts of interest related to
23 individuals involved in the alleged public corruption, and those conflicts
24 impede impartial investigations of the factual circumstances; now,
25 therefore,
26Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Seventy-fifth
27 General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:
28That we, the members of the General Assembly:
29(1) Shall submit a formal request to the United States Department
30 of Justice to assign an office other than the Denver or Wyoming offices
31 to complete a conflict-free investigation of the alleged public corruption
32 within Colorado state and local governments;
33(2) Pursuant to section 24-31-111 (5), shall designate and appoint
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1 another state's attorney general from one of the other states or the District
2 of Columbia with equivalent civil false claims acts as a Special Assistant
3 Attorney General charged with investigating and representing the State
4 of Colorado's interests in the alleged violation of the "Colorado False
5 Claims Act" and other laws, which representation must be paid for
6 through money already appropriated to the Colorado Department of Law;
7 and
8(3) In accordance with Joint Rule 41, shall request that the
9 Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate
10 appoint a joint select committee comprised of members of both chambers
11 to implement and effectuate this resolution.
12Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of this Joint Resolution be
13 sent to Governor Jared Polis and the United States Attorney General.
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