Just before 8:00 pm on Friday evening, the Colorado Senate took up the manager licensure bill (HB 1277) on second reading and passed the bill with an amendment dealing with the issue of addressing applicants for a license who have a felony. The amendment provides the Director of the Division of Real Estate with the authority to consider felonies and rehabilitation on a case-by-case basis. However, this analysis will not apply to an offense involving: (1) unlawful sexual behavior; (2) burglary; (3) or any felony involving fraud, theft, larceny, embezzlement, fraudulent conversion or misappropriation of property.
The Senate took up the bill on 3rd reading this morning and approved another clean-up amendment which would exclude low level drug offenses from disqualifying an applicant for licensure. HB 1277 was then passed on 3rd reading on a 20 to 15 party line vote. The bill will now be sent to the House for concurrence with Senate amendments which we expect will happen on a party line vote and then be sent to Governor Hickenlooper to be signed into law.
Stay tuned for more information on HB 1277 as it proceeds through the final days of the 2013 legislative session which is set to adjourn on Wednesday. On a final note, since the session is moving fast, the bill with amendments has not yet been posted on the website for the Colorado General Assembly. We will link to the amended bill as soon as it is posted.