Colorado could outlaw sexual contact between educators and 18-year-old students

DENVER (KRDO) -- For the second time in two years, a new bill introduced to the Colorado State Senate on Tuesday would make it illegal for a state educator to make sexual contact with an 18-year old secondary student.

Under the current Colorado State Law, a high school teacher who makes sexual contact with an 18-year-old student may not have committed a crime.

According to SB21-017: "The bill provides that an educator who subjects a secondary school student who is at least 18 years of age to sexual contact commits the crime of abuse of public trust by an educator, if the educator is at least four years older than the student."

'Abuse of Public Trust by an Educator' is a Class 1 Misdemeanor. Consent from the student would not nullify the charge.

According to the fist draft of the bill, the law would be implemented on September 1st, 2021 so long as the bill is approved by the state legislature and Governor Jared Polis. The bill was sent to the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee for review.

SB21-017 is sponsored by Republican State Senator Dennis Hisey. Hisey introduced a similar bill in 2020, Senate Bill 20-059. That previous version of the bill would have made the crime a class 3 or class 4 felony, depending on if it was a pattern. That bill was indefinitely postponed in May as the legislature shifted focus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.