Progressive Vision.
Bold Action.
Iris Halpern testifying in front of the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee in support of Senate Bill 26-005, which aims to create a private right of action for damages against federal immigration enforcement agents who violate Coloradans' federal constitutional rights.
“I have spent my career fighting for economic and social justice, advocating for the protection of civil rights and liberties, improved economic conditions for workers, and standing up for communities whose voices are too often ignored.
In this time of federal hostilities and attacks on our individual and collective rights, I fiercely believe that Colorado has a vital role to play as a beacon of hope, progress, and justice for the nation.
Our state can be a model of how to protect and advance the rights and success of all of its people. In our district I believe that every resident has the right to thrive.
Together, we can advance social, environmental, economic, health, and housing equity and show the rest of the country how its done. I will work relentlessly to ensure that all communities are safe, respected, and empowered. Join me in this fight for a better tomorrow.”
Bills I have worked on
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This bill, currently making it's way through the legislature, creates a private right of action against federal immigration enforcement agents for any violations of a victim's constitutional rights.
Headlines: Colorado Democrats advance bill to allow individuals to sue ICE agents | Colorado Newsline »
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This groundbreaking piece of civil rights legislation removed antiquated standards for judging harassment, eliminating the “severe or pervasive” requirement. In addition, the Act clarified the use of certain defenses to corporate liability for harassment, limited the use of non-disclosure agreements in discrimination cases, imposed record keeping requirements on employers, and modernized our disability accommodation laws in the workplace, among other changes to the Colorado Anti-Discrimation Act.
https://tsscolorado.com/new-bill-seeks-again-to-change-definition-of-harassment/
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This bill removed exemptions for domestic service workers from anti-harassment law, extended the filing window for employees to file with the Colorado Civil Rights Division to 300 days from six months, and provided for emotional distress and punitive damages for age discrimination claims similar to the damages allowed for other forms of discrimination in the workplace.
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In the face of an unprecedented wave of censorship across the country, we passed a law in this state last year which prohibits targeting books for removal based on ethnic or gendered materials, limited partisan and doctrinal considerations in circulation decisions, requires public libraries to establish policies for acquiring, retaining, displaying, and maintaining library resources, and protects library staff from retaliation for opposing unconstitutional book removals. The bill also characterized requests for the removal of books from a public library system as subject to the Colorado Open Records Act.
https://www.denverpost.com/2024/06/04/colorado-law-libraries-book-ban-requests/
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This Act revisited the standards for the discriminatory harassment of students, required school districts to adopt written policies and educate their students about how to report harassment and discrimination, provide training to district staff about harassment, and to provide supportive measures to a student experiencing harassment and discrimination.
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The bill is aimed at protecting individuals within police custody from the unfettered use of prone restraints when use of the position might induce injury or death and requires law enforcement agencies to provide proper training in the use of such restraints.
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