March 09, 2021 11:45 AM UTC

Introducing The Colorado House GOP "Doxxer Caucus"

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today in the Colorado House, House Bill 21-1107, a bill sparked by the ugly backlash against public health authorities over necessary restrictions to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic last year passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority:

Under current law, it is unlawful for a person to make available on the internet personal information of a law enforcement official (official) or a human services worker (worker), or the official’s or worker’s family, if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the official’s or worker’s safety or the safety of the official’s or worker’s family. A violation of this law is a class 1 misdemeanor.

Further, a worker meeting certain requirements specified in statute may submit a written request to a state or local government official to remove personal information from public records that are available on the internet.

The bill adds the same protections for public health workers, including employees, contractors, or employees of contractors of the department of public health and environment, or of county or district public health agencies, who are engaged in public health duties, and for members of county or district boards of health, other than elected county commissioners.

Colorado House Democrats celebrated passage of the bill today, which should be noted has a Republican Senate sponsor for its next round, Sen. Paul Lundeen:

“State employees working to keep our communities and correctional systems safe take risks while serving Colorado,” said Rep. Kerry Tipper, D-Lakewood. “This straightforward bill will ensure that these employees and their families are protected from those who would do them harm by posting their personal information online. State employees deserve to feel safe in their own homes.”

The vote in the House was overwhelmingly bipartisan, 61-4, with only four Republican representatives voting no: Reps. Patrick Neville, Kim Ransom, Shane Sandridge, and Dave Williams. Gold Dome veterans know these four as fixtures of the far-right outer orbit of the House Republican caucus, with ousted House Minority Leader Neville having reduced the House GOP to its smallest minority in most of our lifetimes for two consecutive election cycles. Neville also has a personal penchant for vengefully disclosing nonpublic information, giving out the home address of Denver Post reporters to his followers after they published a story he didn’t like.

While it’s good to see bipartisanship to protect public health workers who have been subjected to horrendous undeserved vitriol during the pandemic for making the hard calls necessary to keep us all safe, today’s vote is also a reminder that the line between lawmaker and perpetrator is sometimes…uncomfortably thin.