This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | Video and audio footage showing a police officer’s deadly use of force would need to be released to the family of the person killed under a bill on track to pass the Colorado Legislature.
The Colorado House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 26-290 on Tuesday. It needs one final vote on Wednesday, the final day of the legislative session, to land on the desk of Gov. Jared Polis.
“This bill came to us on behalf of families who have lost children, that we believe in this free country of ours, should have the right without impediment and barrier to at least see the footage of what surrounded the death of their children,” bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat, said on the House floor.
The issue has been raised in several instances linked to Aurora police-involved shootings.
Under the bill, an agency would need to make a “reasonable effort” to find the family of a person killed and provide them with recordings from body-worn cameras and dash cameras within three weeks of an incident. Colorado enacted requirements for increased use of body-worn cameras in 2020.
SB-290 would also prevent a police officer from making subjective statements about the incidents outside of a courtroom or investigation, including observations about the deceased person’s character or credibility, opinions about whether someone is guilty of a crime and information about the criminal record of the deceased person.
“This legislation does not presume wrongdoing, nor does it seek to undermine legitimate investigations,” Rep. Regina English, a Colorado Springs Democrat, said. “What it does say is that families deserve humanity, communities deserve transparency, and public institutions carry a responsibility to communicate clearly and responsibly when a life has been lost.”
Veronica Seaborn was unable to see unredacted, unedited footage of the moment an officer fatally shot her son Jalin until she had an attorney. In February 2025, a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy responded to a call about shots fired in an arcade bar, and shot Jalin seven times within seconds of arriving at the parking lot, video footage shows. Jalin was holding a gun.
Seaborn told lawmakers during the bill’s committee hearing on Monday night that Jalin had “no dignity in his death and he had no dignity after.” The Douglas County Sheriff’s office initially released an edited, narrated video of the incident.
“I was left begging for answers that no one would give, with weeks of waiting, hurting and being ignored,” Seaborn said. “This is why SB-190 matters, because no family should be left in the dark the way mine was. Families deserve timely information, not months of silence. Public statements should not outrun the facts.”
Tensions were high in the House chamber during the bill’s debate, and the chair called a break after Rep. Scott Bottoms, a Colorado Springs Republican, called George Floyd a “thug” and said the Minneapolis man died from a drug overdose.
Floyd’s death and widely-shared video footage of the incident was a catalyst in the massive wave of protests against police brutality and systemic racism in the summer of 2020. Two medical examiners found his death to be homicide by asphyxiation, and that Floyd’s heart disease and drug use contributed to his death but did not primarily cause it. The police officer involved was convicted of murder in 2021.
English spoke about Floyd and “senseless murders by the hands of the police” during an impassioned floor speech while introducing the bill.
Bottoms, who is running for governor this year, criticized her rhetoric and then made the comment about Floyd, prompting multiple recesses as House leadership worked to lower the temperature in the room. Debate continued for about one more hour and then the bill passed on a voice vote.
“When the co-prime sponsor comes up here and you get upset because she is yelling, and you get upset that she is screaming, you should be upset that you’re not yelling and you’re not screaming. You should be upset that you’re not taking this seriously,” Rep. Michael Carter, an Aurora Democrat, said after Bottoms’ comments. “This bill is not hard. It’s not even complicated. If you kill someone as an officer, give them the body cam. Period. That’s it.”