Senate Bill 25-067, introduced in the Colorado General Assembly, proposes significant changes to the existing prosecution fellowship program aimed at bolstering legal resources in rural areas. Key aspects of the bill include:
Funding Allocation: Shifts from directly placing law school graduates into rural district attorneys' offices to providing these offices with funds to recruit and hire new deputy district attorneys.
Selection Process: The Prosecution Fellowship Committee is tasked with determining which rural district attorneys' offices receive funding, ensuring resources are directed to areas with the greatest need.
Reporting Requirement: Mandates that the Colorado District Attorneys' Council (CDAC) submit a report to the judiciary committees by January 1, 2028, detailing the program's impact and effectiveness.
This legislative effort aims to enhance the capacity of rural legal systems by empowering local district attorneys' offices to address staffing challenges directly.
Summary
A prosecution fellowship program in the department of higher
education provides money to the Colorado district attorneys' council (CDAC) to fund fellowships for persons who have recently graduated from a law school in Colorado to allow them to pursue careers as prosecutors in rural Colorado. The program, through a prosecution fellowship committee, places up to 6 fellows in rural district attorneys' offices throughout the state each year.
The bill changes the prosecutor fellowship program to provide fellowship funding to rural district attorneys' offices to recruit and hire new deputy district attorneys rather than selecting and placing fellows in rural district attorneys' offices. The selected offices then use the money to recruit and hire new district attorneys. The bill requires the prosecution fellowship committee to determine which rural district attorneys' offices receive funding. On or before January 1, 2028, CDAC shall provide a report to the judiciary committees regarding the prosecutor fellowship program.
