Colorado Springs Senators talk priorities ahead of 2023 legislative session

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The 2023 legislative session is a little over a week away. 13 Investigates spoke with Colorado Springs Senators Paul Lundeen and Tony Exum about their objectives as lawmakers when the session opens up on January 9.

Lundeen said he plans to continue to expand opportunities for high school-aged students by creating career development incentive programs. Lundeen says these programs will better prepare students for the workforce and allow them to find a career they find fulfilling.

"I'll be running that again this year to expand the funding a little bit, quite frankly, make it available to more students because it's been popular," Sen. Lundeen said. "We've got a lot of students in those later years in high school who are looking for something different than sitting behind a desk, looking at a textbook, or looking at a screen."

The Senator for District nine, which represents northwest Colorado Springs and Monument, says school-aged children may be struggling to catch up after lost learning after the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

"If you're not reading well by third grade, you're going to struggle with your academic career or quite frankly, struggle in your life in many meaningful ways," Sen. Lundeen said. "We need to make sure that we catch up those students."

Newly elected Democrat Senator for District 11, Tony Exum, says he wants to see changes to Colorado's sealed records law in wake of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs.

Currently, state law allows those with their criminal case dismissed to automatically seal their case, effectively denying the public access to prior court documents.

"There should be a significant amount of time [before sealing] in this particular case is very, very extreme and there wasn't a lot of time in between," Sen. Exum said. "If you're going to seal somebody's record, I believe it needs to be a nonviolent crime for one."

Exum said he has fielded calls from citizens about the suspected Club Q shooters Anderson Aldrich's prior case and how it impacted his current murder case.

Due to those records being sealed, he wasn't able to speak on the case for a number of weeks, something he says needs to change.

"Criminal history is going to be important for me. We have to be careful where we don't lump them all together, but if somebody makes a mistake, a nonviolent mistake when they're young, then I think they should have an opportunity to have their criminal record sealed at the appropriate time because it does impact their hiring ability," Sen. Exum said.

Colorado Democrats have the majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 2023 Legislative Session runs from January to May.