1973, October, Pg. 40. LEGISLATIVE ACTION REPORT.

2 Colo.Law. 1

The Colorado Lawyer

1973.

1973, October, Pg. 40.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION REPORT

40Vol. 2, No. 12, Pg. iLEGISLATIVE ACTION REPORTThe following summary of legislative action on CBA-backed bills was prepared by the CBA's new public relations and legislative counsel, Gordon G. Gauss. In preparing the report Mr. Gauss relied on both his own notes and those of Jim Thomas, the CBA lobbyist for the 1973 session.Colorado's bar and judiciary scored significant gains during the record-setting, protracted session of the state's 49th General Assembly this year.

A no-fault automobile insurance bill and a new probate code were adopted, a major increase in judges' salaries was approved, bringing them more into line with pay scales in other states, and five new judgeships were created to help relieve overcrowding in courts. In addition, the long-simmering issue of a state judicial complex to house the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals was settled with selection of a site at East 14th Avenue and Colfax.

One bar-backed bill, H.B. 1259, was a new marriage law allowing 18-year-old boys to wed without parental consent. It was based upon recommendations of a committee on uniform state laws. A separate measure, H.B. 1235, revised the dissolution of marriage law adopted two years ago in accord with bar recommendations. The revision allows some final decrees to be withheld temporarily and provides that for tax purposes "maintenance" includes alimony,

A measure more effectively guaranteeing individual rights under civil commitment procedures also was adopted but will not become effective until next July: S.B. 349, which represents a two-year project by the Colorado Bar Association's mental health committee. S.B. 303, which amends the Children's Code allows some juveniles accused of serious offenses to be tried as adults. CBA's sections on criminal law and family law still are studying the new act.

Also enacted were a bill clarifying community property rights at death (H.B. 1131), a measure shifting the handling of inheritance tax from the attorney general's office to the Department of Revenue (S.B.225), and a law changing instruments governing charitable trusts (S.B.143). H.B.1322, permitting increases in the staffs of district attorneys and lifting the ceiling on pay for these aides from $18,000 to $21,000, also won...