§ 2-2-406 — Contempt of either house

(1) The senate and the house of
representatives may each punish by imprisonment not extending beyond the same
session of the general assembly, as and for a contempt, disorderly conduct of its
members, officers, employees, or others committed in the immediate view of the
senate or the house of representatives and tending to interrupt its proceedings.
Imprisonment for contempt shall be effected by a warrant in the name of the
people of the state, signed by the presiding officer of the house in which the
contempt occurred, directed to the chief security officer of such house or the state
police and ordering the apprehension of the contemnor and the delivery of him to
the sheriff of the county in which the alleged contempt occurred for detention by
said sheriff in accordance with such warrant, subject to such bail as may be set by
the district court of the county in which the alleged contempt occurred. A finding of
contempt and imprisonment therefor shall not constitute a bar to any other
proceeding, civil or criminal, for the same act.

(2) Notice of the proposed contempt citation shall be published in a
resolution of the house in which the contempt occurred approved first by a majority
of a committee and then of the house itself. If the contempt is committed before
the house itself rather than a committee thereof, a resolution of the house itself
shall be sufficient. Persons actually named in the resolution shall be either
personally served or otherwise be given notice in the same manner as is provided by
law and the Colorado rules of civil procedure for acquisition of jurisdiction over the
person in civil actions. The notice shall include:

(a) A statement of the terms or substance of the offense which caused the
citation to be issued;

(b) A statement of the time and place of the hearing before the committee
which first passed the contempt resolution or before the house in which the
contempt occurred, as the case may be. The person to be cited shall be required to
show cause why he should not be found in contempt. The time and place for hearing
shall allow reasonable time to give the person to be cited notice of the charges
against him and to prepare an appropriate defense concerning them.

(3) The contempt hearing shall give the person to be cited an opportunity for
an oral presentation before the committee or before the house in which the
contempt occurred, whichever is holding the hearing, for submission of written
arguments, and for the right to counsel at the hearing.

(4) A person to be cited shall be found in contempt and shall be punished
therefor only after a majority of the committee which initiated the contempt
proceeding finds, after notice and a hearing which satisfies the provisions of
subsections (2) and (3) of this section, that the person cited has been proven
beyond a reasonable doubt to have committed a contempt as defined in this
section. The committee shall state in a report to the full house the reasons for its
finding. If the full house affirms by a majority vote the finding of the committee, the
cited person shall be held in contempt.

(5) If the contempt citation is initiated by the house itself because of a
contempt committed before the house, the person to be cited shall be punished for
contempt if the house itself finds, by a majority vote, after notice and a hearing
which satisfies the provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of this section, that the
person cited has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have committed a
contempt as defined in this section.

Legislative History

Source: L. 73: p. 682, � 1. C.R.S. 1963: � 63-10-6.