Colorado cyberbullying bill shelved this year

Lawmakers stopped a proposal to prosecute bullying through text messages or social media in Colorado amid concerns that youth would be overcriminalized.

A Senate committee voted Wednesday to shelve the proposal this year, but lawmakers said Thursday they will request that the issue be studied by the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. The goal is to have recommendations for another bill next year.

Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields, the sponsor of the proposal in the House, said she was stunned by the fate of the bill because it had easily passed her chamber on a 54-10 vote last month.

The bill would have made it a misdemeanor to inflict “serious emotional distress on a minor” with texts or on social media.