Colorado governor signs off on bill establishing state 'ministry of truth'? Students a target of new law

New bill paves way for AG's office to be “arbiter of truth?”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law a bill that ostensibly delegates to the Attorney General’s office the powers of “arbiters of truth,” or as the Denver Gazette wondered in its headline: “Is Colorado approaching a ‘Ministry of Truth’?”  

Senate Bill 24-084 aims to stop the spread of misinformation and disinformation by establishing a partnership between the state Attorney General's office (AG) and the state's education department to, somehow, diminish “the proliferation of factually inaccurate data” and “encourage respectful discourse.”

The bill introduced on January 24, 2024, and signed into law by the governor on June 5, 2024, seems particularly aimed at influencing the way children think since it instructs the attorney general’s office to “coordinate with the Department of Education in an effort to prevent the proliferation of factually inaccurate data by sharing resources to encourage respectful discourse.”

CONCERNING A REQUIREMENT THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL COORDINATE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IN AN EFFORT TO PREVENT THE PROLIFERATION OF FACTUALLY INACCURATE DATA BY SHARING RESOURCES TO ENCOURAGE RESPECTFUL DISCOURSE.

Specifically, the AG’s office is to:

1. Establish an initiative that would “encourage respectful engagement and discourse,”

2. Develop and share resources that schools, organizations, and community leaders can use to enable “productive and honest conversations” and “help people find common ground” regarding state and national issues, and

3. Collaborate with organizations across the state to develop and update the materials used in connection with the resources and coordinate with the Department of Education to make the resources available to schools and school districts in the state. 

The bill, revised several times since its introduction, initially included a paragraph requiring the AG’s office to look into the internet and other media channels for sources of misinformation and disinformation, and other requirements of the AG.  An appropriation of $150,000 was included for the 2024-2025 fiscal year to finance the endeavor. The AG’s DOL (Department of Law) responded that they don’t need the funding and can execute those obligations with the resources they currently have.

Deciding misinformation not role of government

Representative Anthony Hartsook voted against the legislation, tweeting that it is not the government's role to take over its citizens' responsibility for critical thinking and analysis.

Free State Colorado tweeted that it is not the role of government to determine what is and isn’t misinformation and criticized Lisa Cusseer and Lorena Garcia, the authors of the bill:

The Denver Gazette's Jimmy Sengenberger wrote that one can't trust politicians with fact and fiction. Truth and falsehood should be up to people to determine through free and open debate.

Objective truth and fact exist, but they’re often up for interpretation and debate — especially in politics. People must be able to discern truth and falsehood through free and open debate, not governmental declarations.

Does Colorado legislation make facts?

One has to wonder what will be presented to students as fact, especially when the state has passed legislation on a particular issue. Will students be given both sides of the argument or will the government position be considered fact, while those who voice objections to a law will be accused of misinformation?

Abortion and gender legislation

Consider recent legislation that was passed in the state regarding abortion and gender identity, as detailed by the Colorado Sun. These are topics with which many people would take issue and would consider accepting the mainstream narrative as misinformation or disinformation, or just plain wrong. If it's protected under the law does it make it right and therefore unarguable?

The first bill would protect people who assist in abortions or “gender-affirming care” in Colorado from prosecution in states that don't permit it.

Senate Bill 188 aims to shield people who receive, provide or assist in legal abortions or gender-affirming care in Colorado from being subjected to criminal prosecution or lawsuits initiated in other states. 

The second bill would require large employers' health plans to cover abortions without any deductibles or copayments. 

Senate Bill 189 . . .  requires large employer plans to cover the cost of abortions without policy deductibles, copayments or coinsurance starting on Jan. 1, 2025. There is an exception for government employers, because the state is prohibited from spending taxpayer dollars on abortions, as well as for employers for whom abortion is against their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The third bill would make it illegal for anti-abortion centers to offer a hormonal pill to reverse abortions, unless the state's medical, pharmacy, and nursing boards all decide together that it is an accepted standard of practice by October 1, 2024. 

Senate Bill 190 is targeted toward anti-abortion pregnancy centers, but would apply to any organization purporting to offer pregnancy services.

Under the law, it would immediately also be considered deceptive advertising to falsely purport to offer abortion services or Plan B, the emergency contraceptive.

Finally, prescribing, offering or facilitating abortion pill reversal will be considered “unprofessional conduct for licensed, registered or certified health care providers” unless by Oct. 1 the Colorado Medical Board, State Board of Pharmacy and the State Board of Nursing, in consultation with each other, find that it’s a “generally accepted standard of practice” to engage in abortion pill reversal.

Preferred names for felons and students

Senate Democrats in Colorado are working to push through two bills regarding preferred names for individuals who would want to identify as a gender other than their biological one, as reported by the Associated Press. The first, House Bill 24-1071, would allow felons to use their chosen name based on their sexual preference, rather than objective gender. Republican opponents argued, “that it would allow those who committed future crimes to hide behind a new name.” 

The second, House Bill 24-1039, would make it a form of discrimination for school staff not to call their students by a name of the student's choosing when that name doesn't match their biological sex. 

Can the attorney general be objective?

The Colorado attorney general, as the New American reported, stated in a tweet, that setting a Pride flag on fire can in some circumstances be considered a crime even though “the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson that burning the U.S. flag is protected speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

Public schools institutions for government propaganda

Colorado State Chairman for Young Americans for Liberty, Josh Metzel, interviewed by Brandon Wark of Free State Colorado about his activities, complained that students do not learn about liberty; public schools are just institutions for government propaganda, he contends. 

The passage of Senate Bill 24-084, aimed primarily at children, seems to affirm his contention.