As the 2022 legislative sessions for Colorado and New Mexico advance and Wyoming lawmakers prepare to begin work, the ADL Mountain States Region is focused on supporting legislation to protect houses of worship and promote Holocaust and genocide education.

In Colorado, ADL is working closely with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), lawmakers and an extensive network of coalition partners on a bill to provide security grants to houses of worship and non-profit organizations. House Bill 22-1077:  Colorado Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) establishes a state-level grant program designed to enable houses of worship of any denomination, community gathering spaces, and all nonprofit organizations to complete capital projects that will serve to protect those using their facilities.

The bill’s co-prime sponsors are Representatives Dafna Michaelson Jenet (HD-30) and Iman Jodeh (HD-41) and Senators Chris Hansen (SD-31) and Kevin Priola (SD-25). ADL and JCRC are among the nearly 70 organizations calling for the creation of the Colorado Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

Also in Colorado, ADL is working with coalition partners to consider legislation to strengthen the state’s bias-motivated crimes laws. One proposal would create a state hate crime hotline for targets of hate crimes to report the incidents and receive support.

In New Mexico, ADL is collaborating with and supporting a group of community leaders and educators to create a pilot program to teach students about significant historical events, including the Holocaust, to understand the roots and ramifications of racism, antisemitism, prejudice and discrimination. House Memorial 32 is sponsored by Representative Pamelya Herndon.

In Wyoming, lawmakers will return to work on Feb. 14 for a 20-day budget session. ADL and a coalition of more than 40 businesses and advocacy groups had hoped Wyoming lawmakers would finally take up a hate crime bill. Unfortunately, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees failed to advance any hate crime legislation after considering the topic last summer and fall during the legislative interim. Coalition partners will work with lawmakers to introduce a bill in the 2023 session.

ADL is closely monitoring and opposing a proposed bill in Wyoming that would ban transgender girls and women from high school and collegiate sports.

 

To get involved in ADL’s public policy work in the Mountain States Region, contact mountainstates@adl.org. To act on ADL’s federal legislative priorities, go to ADL’s Action Center:  https://www.adl.org/take-action/be-heard-in-congress.