37A8F812DB63C00D872584CB005CB644 Hearing Summary

Marie Avery Moses, Co-chair of the CBA Family Law Legislative Section, provided, as requested by the commission, a detailed memo regarding the section's thoughts regarding the act. The CBA does not yet have a formal position on the act but the family law section continues to oppose it. The memo is organized according to the stated goals of the act and how it applies to Colorado laws, goals, and policies in these areas; i.e. is the goal already adequately covered by Colorado law or is the goal a problematic area for Colorado? The section strongly dislikes the concept of a parentage registry because of the way it is written. It would like to see section 7 from the 2017 UPA in Colorado law and sees benefit  in incorporating sections 801 through 812 regarding surrogacy into law. Colorado statutes are broader concerning gender, but the terminology used could be updated. Colorado law holds all presumptive parents equal under the law, but the UPA creates different categories of parents and different rules apply to the different categories. The commission will take the memo under consideration.

Ellen Trachman and Judith Hoechst, assistive reproductive attorneys and on the board of Colorado Fertility Advocates, cannot speak to the entire UPA but can speak to section 7 and section 8 of the uniform act regarding assistive reproductive technology and surrogacy. Colorado's statutes are inadequate to deal with this flourishing technology. Colorado has some of the best doctors practicing in this area of medicine and people come here from all over the world for reproductive assistance. Colorado has section 19-4-106, C.R.S., which refers only to donors and contains out-of-date terminology and definitions. Additional judicial action is required regarding pre-birth orders in order to protect parental rights. Section 8 of UPA allows for additional protections for parental rights regarding gestational surrogacy. Parental rights under the UPA regarding traditional/genetic surrogacy is problematic as it allows a 72-hour period of time in which the surrogate can decide to keep the child. The commission noted that there are several groups interested in moving forward with portions of this act and discussed whether a bill should be drafted in order to focus the various groups on what portions can be adopted in Colorado. The commission noted that it is important to have up-to-date and gender-neutral language in the statutes for clarity purposes and discussed how the act applies the best interest of the child. Ms. Hoechst suggested that the ABA model act might be a helpful reference regarding the use of gender-neutral language.

Commissioner Tipper moved to draft the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act as a commission bill for introduction during the 2020 legislative session. Commissioner Levy seconded and the motion passed without objection. Commissioners Tipper and Scott agreed to act as commission contacts on the bill. Commissioner Tipper agreed to sponsor the bill.