Colorado Legislature deals with CBI scandals with new laws | Denver Gazette

For the second time in a row, the Colorado legislation intervened to combat scandals, many of which said they shaked the public's trust in state institutions and industries.

In 2025, legislators adopted three new laws that are aimed at controversy around the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Last year, the state's legislators worked on regulations on who could work in the funeral industry.

This year's invoices are all associated with the allegations of misconduct against Yvonne Woods, an almost 30-year-old employee of the investigation laboratory who is accused of deleting data and manipulating DNA evidence in more than 1,000 cases.

It is estimated that these errors cost CBI more than 11 million US dollars. Woods has been charged with 102 crimes since then.

When the effects continued to assemble, the condemnation of a man in Boulder County was cleared by an independent laboratory in Virginia after a re -examination of evidence. Years after a murder in 1994, the man was largely arrested and convicted of the strength of a DNA analysis by Woods. His case was not one of the 1,000 “anomalies” that identified CBI, which caused some to speculate that the problem implies much more.

Shortly before the end of the 120-day session, the legislator Senate Bill 304 said goodbye to a gap of rape kits. As part of the proposal, the rape kit will now be under the direction of the Ministry of Law.

SB 304, which is waiting for the signature of governor Jared Polis, also determines a “sexual review committee for sexual assault” within the Ministry of Law.

The board would be commissioned to “check and monitor the effectiveness of current protocols, standards and training practices in the reaction of the criminal system to sexual assault”. It would also be obliged to submit the Victim-centered recommendations to the General Assembly on improvements in the context of the law on violence against women from Women from 1994 by November 1, 2026.

The invoice initially called for $ 150,000 to finance a coordinator for sexual assault. However, the financing was deleted against the background of a budget deficit of 1.2 billion US dollars.

According to SB 304, the law enforcement authorities have to notify a victim at least every 90 days if the agency has not received the results of the test kit. The law also requires an accredited crime laboratory to analyze these kits within 60 days of receipt.

The legislator approved two further legislative templates to tackle the CBI scandal.

SB 170, sponsored by the joint budget Committee, enables the office to take over existing means to commission Labor's third parties in order to further process the growing gap of rape tests. Polis signed the measure on March 26.

HB 1275, which is also waiting for the governor's signature, requires employees of crime laboratories to report illegal actions and an investigation by the laboratory director. It also creates a process for individuals to find a relief after the conviction if your case is involved.

Skandal met the funeral industry in 2024

The CBI scandal finds a year after problems in the funeral industry, which have been attributed to Colorado, which is one of the few states of the nation that does not require licensing in the industry.

In 2024, the state's legislator said goodbye to Senate Bill 173, who demands licensing for burial companies, corpse scientists, embalmers, cremationists and natural reductionists.

The draft law also instructs the current practitioners to receive a preliminary license.

In Penrose, when he returned to the funeral institute in nature. The couple, who belonged to the funeral home, faces a number of federal costs.

In Denver, the cremains of 30 people and the body of a woman who was left in a hearse for two years were bound to another operator whose license had also expired.

Years earlier, a mother and a daughter in Montrose, who had a funeral company, were betting both in the federal prison to sell body parts.

Marianne Goodland and the Denver Gazette contributed to this report.