ASSEMBLY GLANCE

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 5, 2008 | by MICHAEL DAVIDSON

Death for raping child

Raping a child 12 or younger would become a capital offense if a bill introduced Tuesday in the Senate becomes law.

Sen. Steve Ward, R-Littleton, has proposed a bill that would make certain types of sexual abuse punishable by execution.

Senate Bill 195 has several hurdles, the biggest being whether the bill would be constitutional. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case concerning a Louisiana man sentenced to death for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

Though the court ruled in 1977 that execution was too severe a punishment for the rape of an adult, some states interpreted that ruling to allow the execution of people who commit the crime against a child. Five states have such laws on the books, though no one has been put to death.

Finding the votes to get the bill passed is another issue.

Ward believes he has the votes to get the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee but thinks it might die when it reaches the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Legislature's financial analysts have not determined how much trying these crimes as capital cases -- and fighting the inevitable appeals -- would cost.

The bill will have bipartisan support, Ward said. Its sponsor in the House is Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton.

Consumers against polar bears

Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, held a news conference Tuesday announcing his attempt to pass a resolution to limit the scope of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's ability to write rules governing the energy industry.

Cadman was joined by Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh. They said they were representing lawmakers who are concerned the commission might propose rules that delay the extraction of the resources and force energy producers to raise prices.

The commission is reviewing the rules to conform to two pieces of legislation passed last year with bipartisan support. Cadman said he is concerned the commission is exceeding its mandate.

Niger Innis, spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality, announced at the conference the formation of Colorado Consumers for Affordable Energy, an industry-supported group that says environmental regulation hurts the poor by increasing energy costs.

Innis unveiled his organization's national fight to keep the polar bear off the endangered species list. Protecting the polar bear would allow attorneys for environmental groups to delay energy production, he said.