Page 3 - Jan Feb 2022 PPIAC Newsletter_Neat

President’s

Message

Rod Gagnon

SO, WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR GETTING OUR P.I. LICENSE BACK?

As you know, the Colorado Office of Private Investigator Licensure ended

effective August 31, 2021, when Governor Polis vetoed the bill to extend

the Private Investigators Licensure Act.

Since then, I’ve answered many phone calls from both members and non-

members asking what happened and what we’re going to do to move us

back to getting our P.I. license back. Your board of directors, and

specifically our VP of Legislative Affairs, Robert Garza, and his Legislative

Committee, have reviewed and discussed our options. So far, we don’t

have much we can do in 2022 to get it back. But you need to know that we

won’t stop until we get it done.

Rob and his committee will continue to monitor the bills that can do

damage to our occupation. But we’re also going to continue to be

proactive by “…articulating and advocating the needs and interests of the

profession before legislative, administrative, and judicial branches of local,

state and federal governments. (Article III of our Bylaws – 3.01 Purpose)

That means talking to legislators, which I haven’t done much of. But I’m

committed to learning how it all works and to help where I can.

To work toward that, Rob organized a meeting last Thursday (February

th
17 ) for noon with our lobbyist, Jennifer Cassell, in the basement of the

Capital Building. Personally, I love going into the old government buildings

with all the marble and polished brass. And that day the building was busy

with visitors, lobbyist, and legislators (Jennifer pointed out several that she

knew that walked by).

A small group of us took over a table and went over a handout that she

provided to us of selected House and Senate legislators that we need to

build relationships with. Her advice was solid: We can’t approach them

th
until the session is over on May 11 . After that, she will help us coordinate

meetings to get in front of them and introduce our profession and our

association to them. And the meeting will need to be done before the

election. That’s not a big window.

Bottom line, with Polis in office our chances of getting our law back are

slim. That doesn’t mean we stand by and wait until he’s gone.

Continued on next page

January / February 2022 The Informant Page 3