Originally published on January 24, 2018 10:25 pm
Legislative leaders have selected the Investigations Law Group to offer recommendations on how to change the General Assembly’s workplace harassment policy.
Investigations Law Group was one of two finalists after the initial list was narrowed. The leaders were split 3-3 along party lines earlier in the week, but came to an agreement on Wednesday, where they voted 4-2.
House Democratic leaders voted against the firm, but said they are still confident the group will serve the state well.
"These folks are absolutely capable and they’re committed to getting something done before the end of this session," said House Majority Leader KC Becker of Boulder. "There’s a big assessment on the cultural issues, and then there will be an analysis on the policy side, on our current policy and how to change it."
The state is also expected to hire an independent HR person soon.
The changes come after our reporting led to five formal complaints of sexual harassment filed against three lawmakers. All of the complaints are pending and no lawmakers have resigned.
The state is conducting more sexual harassment trainings in the next month. Republicans in the House and Senate did their own training earlier this week — and paid for it out of pocket.
Lawmakers still have a lot of work ahead of them. They plan to evaluate how complaints are filed, decide if legislative leaders should continue to be a part of the process, determine how much of the information should be made public, and figure out what the consequences should be if complaints are found valid.
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