2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 24 - GOVERNMENT - STATE (§§ 24-1-101 — 24-116-102) › PRINCIPAL DEPARTMENTS (§§ 24-30-101 — 24-36-306) › Article 33.5 - Public Safety (§§ 24-33.5-101 — 24-33.5-2704) › Part 26 - MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS RELATIVES (§§ 24-33.5-2601 — 24-33.5-2606) › Section 24-33.5-2603 - [Effective 8/7/2024] Office of liaison for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives - director - duties - report - collaboration - advisory board - access to records - gifts, grants, and donations

(1)
There is created in the department the office of liaison for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives to work on behalf of those who are missing or murdered. The office is a
type 2
entity, as defined in section
24-1-105
, and exercises its powers and performs its duties and functions under the department.
(2)
(a)
The executive director of the department shall appoint the director of the office pursuant to section 13 of article XII of the state constitution. The director of the office must be a person closely connected to a tribe or the Indigenous community and who is highly knowledgeable about criminal investigations. The executive director is encouraged to consider candidates for appointment who are recommended by tribes and Indigenous communities.
(b)
The director may appoint staff as necessary to carry out the duties of the office. In appointing staff for the office, the director shall give preference to those with experience working with Indigenous persons and Indian tribes. The director shall encourage indigenous persons to apply for positions in the office.
(3)
The office shall serve as a liaison on behalf of the Indigenous community on issues related to missing or murdered Indigenous relatives, support the advisory board created in subsection (4) of this section, and carry out any duties assigned by the executive director. In carrying out its duties, the office shall collaborate with any relevant entities, including the Colorado commission of Indian affairs, federally recognized tribes, Indigenous-led organizations, tribal and local law enforcement agencies, the Colorado bureau of investigation, and the Colorado state patrol.
(3.5)
In addition to any other duties described in this section, the office shall:
(a)
In order to better understand the causes of crimes involving a missing or murdered Indigenous person, conduct comprehensive reviews of sentencing in cases of a violent or exploitative crime against an Indigenous person. The office's case reviews should identify cases in which the perpetrator is a repeat offender. The reviews must include consultations with the lead investigative agency and district attorney and collection and review of all sentencing information related to the case. The office shall annually publish a report that includes information about the case reviews, including the number of cases reviewed, the jurisdiction of those cases, and the disposition of each case. The department shall publish the report on a publicly available page of its website.
(b)
Develop and maintain communication with relevant divisions in the department regarding any cases involving missing or murdered Indigenous relatives;
(c)
[Repealed by 2024 Amendment.]
(d)
Collaborate with Indigenous-led organizations and the Colorado district attorneys' council to assist the Colorado district attorneys' council in developing and providing training to victim advocates in district attorneys' offices and law enforcement agencies who work with the families of missing or murdered Indigenous relatives; and
(e)
Designate one employee of the office, in addition to the director, to serve as a point of contact for families in need of assistance with ongoing or completed missing or murdered Indigenous relatives cases. For each family the employee works with, the employee shall liaise with the victim services coordinator in a district attorney's office who is assigned to the family's case and any other advocate assigned by a state or local agency to the family's case; provide to the family available information about the family's case; facilitate connections with local law enforcement, advocacy, and victim services organizations, and when necessary advocate for the family with those entities and follow-up with those entities; and provide the family with information about community resources and support services.
(4)
(a)
There is established in the office the community volunteer advisory board to identify and advise the office on areas of concern regarding missing or murdered indigenous relatives and issues relating to organizing or conducting search efforts, support groups, or other supportive efforts related to missing or murdered Indigenous relatives. The advisory board shall meet at least once per quarter in state fiscal year 2022-23, and biannually thereafter, at dates and times as called by the executive director. The advisory board may meet electronically.
(b)
The advisory board is comprised of the following members:
(I)
Ten members appointed by the executive director, as follows:
(A)
One representative of an Indigenous-led organization that provides advocacy or counseling for Indigenous victims of violence;
(B)
One representative of an Indigenous-led organization that provides legal services for Indigenous victims of violence;
(C)
One representative of an Indigenous-led organization that provides health services to Indigenous victims of violence;
(D)
One representative of a community-based organization that provides services to an urban Indigenous community;
(E)
One representative of a community-based organization that provides services to a rural Indigenous community;
(F)
One representative of a community-based victim advocate organization serving Colorado's Indigenous population;
(G)
One representative of a national organization that provides education and awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives; and
(H)
Three members who are Indigenous people who have been victims of violence or are a family member of an Indigenous person who has been a victim of violence;
(II)
One member who represents the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, appointed by the Ute Mountain Ute tribal council;
(III)
One member who represents the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, appointed by the Southern Ute tribal council;
(IV)
One member who represents the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray reservation, appointed by the Northern Ute tribal council;
(V)
Four members who are each an enrolled member of a tribe with historical ties to Colorado, as identified on the Colorado tribal contacts list developed by history Colorado in partnership with the Colorado commission of Indian affairs;
(VI)
Two members with expertise in law enforcement, appointed by the executive director from any two of the following categories:
(A)
A peace officer who works or resides on a federally recognized Indian tribe's reservation in Colorado;
(B)
A sheriff from a county with a population of fewer than one hundred thousand persons;
(C)
A sheriff from an urban county;
(D)
A representative of the Colorado state patrol, with the approval of the chief of the state patrol; or
(E)
A representative of the Colorado bureau of investigation, with the approval of the director of the bureau; and
(VII)
Two members, appointed by the executive director, who each represent one of the following:
(A)
The attorney general's office, appointed with the approval of the attorney general;
(B)
The judicial branch, appointed with the approval of the state court administrator;
(C)
The Colorado commission of Indian affairs, appointed with the approval of the commission's director;
(D)
Certified death investigators, who must be a death investigator certified by the state coroners association; or
(E)
The state department of human services, appointed with the approval of the executive director of the department.
(c)
Members serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Advisory board members serve without compensation and without reimbursement for expenses. Advisory board members are not office personnel.
(d)
The advisory board shall prepare an annual report that includes a summary of the advisory board's work during the prior year and the advisory board's recommendations about any issue related to the office to improve any aspect of the office, its operation, or procedures in furtherance of the office's mission. No later than December 31 of each year, the advisory board shall submit the annual report to the house of representatives judiciary committee and state, civic, military, and veterans affairs committee and the senate judiciary committee and state, veterans, and military affairs committee, or their successor committees. Notwithstanding section
24-1-136 (11)(a)(I)
, the reporting requirement specified in this subsection (4)(d) continues indefinitely.
(5)
(a)
Subject to applicable state or federal law, and, subject to the custodian balancing the needs of the office, the families of missing persons, and law enforcement's interest in protecting the integrity of an investigation, office personnel may inspect relevant criminal justice records, including any correctional or detention records, and any pertinent medical, coroner, and laboratory records in the custody of any state or local agency that are necessary for the office to perform its duties pursuant to this section. A law enforcement agency shall comply with a request for data from the department of public safety to the extent consistent with the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article
72
of title
24
, and the criminal justice records act, part 3 of article
72
of title
24
. Office personnel may only review and inspect records at reasonable times and with reasonable notice under the circumstances. Office personnel shall not have access pursuant to this subsection (5) to any criminal justice or medical record that is not pertinent, relevant, or necessary for the office to perform its duties described in this section.
(b)
Any record inspected, accessed, or otherwise obtained or reviewed by office personnel pursuant to this subsection (5) is confidential. The office shall not release, share, or make public the records or any information contained in the records, except as follows:
(I)
The office may publicly release aggregated information on a publicly available page of the department's website in a manner that does not identify any individual person and does not include any information that may be linked to any individual;
(II)
The office may release records or information learned from a record related to a person who has been missing for five years or more or a person whose death the office has confirmed to the following people who are related to the person who is the subject of the record: The person's spouse, parent, grandparent, stepfather, stepmother, child, grandchild, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, or spouse's parents, including any of those relationships created as a result of adoption. In determining whether to release records, the office shall balance the needs of the office, the families of missing persons, and law enforcement's interest in protecting the integrity of an investigation.
(III)
If the office is ordered to release a record pursuant to a search warrant, subpoena, or other court order, the office shall release the record to the extent ordered.
(c)
Office personnel who violate this section by releasing or making public a confidential record or confidential information learned from a record commits a class 2 misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in section
18-1.3-501 (1)
.
(6)
The office may seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources to carry out any of the office's duties and to provide financial support to missing or murdered Indigenous relatives' families. The support may include, but is not limited to, assistance with payment for the cost of record retrieval, travel expenses, lodging, gas, or funeral costs.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 490,§ 50, eff. 8/7/2024.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 321,§ 2, eff. 6/2/2023.
Added by 2022 Ch. 466, § 2, eff. 6/8/2022.
2024 Ch. 490, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.