Opinion ID: 1257531
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Colorado UPA

Text: Colorado adopted the UPA in July 1977 with the passage of House Bill No. 1584. Ch. 245, secs. 1-3, §§ 19-6-101 to -129, 1977 Colo.Sess.Laws 1010, 1011-12 (now codified at §§ 19-4-101 to -129, 8B C.R.S. (1988 Supp.)). The portion of House Bill No. 1584 dealing with artificial insemination was introduced and passed without change using language identical to the present section 19-4-106. [4] As introduced, House Bill No. 1584 omitted the reference to married woman found in section 5(b) of the model UPA in favor of the word woman. The General Assembly offered no explanation for its omission of the word married from House Bill No. 1584. California in 1975 and Wyoming in 1977, however, had both omitted the word married from their versions of section 5 of the model UPA. [5] The California Court of Appeal offered the following interpretation of this change by the California legislature: Thus the California Legislature has afforded unmarried as well as married women a statutory vehicle for obtaining semen for artificial insemination without fear that the donor may claim paternity, and has likewise provided men with a statutory vehicle for donating semen to married and unmarried women alike without fear of liability for child support. Jhordan C. v. Mary K., 179 Cal.App.3d 386, 392, 224 Cal.Rptr. 530, 535 (1986). House Bill No. 1584 passed the House and Senate with minor changes unrelated to this dispute. No changes were made to the artificial insemination section of House Bill No. 1584. The legislative history of House Bill No. 1584 therefore offers no additional insight into the role the General Assembly intended an agreement between the parties to play when dealing with known donors and unmarried recipients under what is now section 19-4-106.