§ 2-3-502 — Committee on legal services - membership - duties

(1) Except as
provided in part 3 of this article, the committee shall supervise and direct the
operations of the office of legislative legal services.

(2) The committee may designate one or more subcommittees from among
its membership to perform any duties of the committee with respect to the
supervision and direction of the office of legislative legal services.

(3) The membership of the committee consists of ten members of the
general assembly. The ten legislative members of the committee are as follows:
The respective chairs of the house and senate committees on judiciary or their
respective designees; four members from the house of representatives, two from
each major political party, one of whom shall be an attorney-at-law, if there is an
attorney-at-law in each party, appointed by the speaker and the minority leader of
the house of representatives, respectively, with the approval of a majority of the
members elected to the house of representatives; and four members from the
senate, two from each major political party, one of whom shall be an attorney-at-law, if there is an attorney-at-law in each party, appointed by the president and the
minority leader of the senate, respectively, with the approval of a majority of the
members elected to the senate.

(4) The eight appointive members of the committee shall be appointed no
later than ten days after the convening of the first regular session of each general
assembly. An appointing authority may make an appointment to temporarily
replace a current member of the committee appointed by that appointing authority.
In addition, the president of the senate may make an appointment to temporarily
replace the chair of the senate committee on judiciary or the chair's respective
designee currently serving on the committee and the speaker of the house of the
representatives may make an appointment to temporarily replace the chair of the
house committee on judiciary or the chair's designee currently serving on the
committee; except that a temporary appointment made pursuant to this subsection
(4) does not require approval of a majority of the members elected to the applicable
body. Membership on the committee of each such appointive member terminates
upon the appointment of his or her successor or upon termination of a member's
term of office in the general assembly, whichever first occurs. The membership of a
judiciary committee chair terminates upon the termination of his or her term of
office in the designated position. Any member may be appointed to succeed himself
or herself on the committee. Vacancies in the committee's membership shall be
filled in the same manner as original appointments; except that the approval of the
members elected to the general assembly is not necessary if any such appointment
is made when the general assembly is not in session.

(5) The committee shall select from among its members a committee chair
and vice-chair, and it shall prescribe its own rules of procedure. The committee may
meet as often as necessary, but it shall meet at least twice in each calendar year.

(6) Members of the committee shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses
incurred in the performance of their duties and shall be paid the same per diem
compensation as provided by law for members of interim legislative committees for
each day of attendance.

(7) If any law or other document of this state refers to the legislative drafting
committee or to the committee on statute revision, said law or other document shall
be deemed to refer to the committee on legal services.

(8) Notwithstanding any provision of section 24-6-402 to the contrary, the
committee may take action on the question of retaining legal counsel pursuant to
section 2-3-1001 by a poll of the committee members without holding a meeting,
unless a committee member objects to polling on the question. The director of the
office of legislative legal services or the director's designees may conduct the poll
by in-person, electronic, or digital communication with committee members.
Approval of the question by a majority of the committee members in response to
the poll has the same effect as if the question were approved by a majority vote of
the committee members taken in a committee meeting. If the committee approves a
question by poll, the committee shall post on the committee website a notice of
vote to retain counsel that at a minimum specifies the name of the legal counsel to
be retained, the legal matter for which the legal counsel will provide
representation, and the committee, agency, or individual that the legal counsel will
represent. The notice of vote to retain counsel shall be posted within three business
days after the poll is completed.

Legislative History

Source: L. 68: R&RE, p. 140, � 178. L. 69: p. 464, � 1. C.R.S. 1963: � 63-3-2. L. 71: p. 628, � 1. L. 73: p. 674, � 1. L. 79: (3) amended, p. 299, � 1, effective July 13. L. 81: (6) amended, p. 2022, � 2, effective July 14. L. 85: (3) and (4) amended, p. 276, � 1, effective June 13. L. 88: (1) and (2) amended, p. 307, � 8, effective May 23. L. 93: (1) amended, p. 2108, � 10, effective June 9. L. 94: (1) amended, p. 1625, � 13, effective May 31. L. 2016: (3) and (4) amended, (SB 16-156), ch. 282, p. 1155, � 4, effective June 10. L. 2022: (5) amended and (8) added, (SB 22-062), ch. 17, p. 130, � 1, effective August 10.