(Oct. 21, 2020) -- The Colorado Department of Public Safety today released to the public a legal opinion prepared for the department, at its request, regarding the conflict of interest policies and procedures of the Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB).
The SOMB is a 25-member board created by statute to develop standards and guidelines for the assessment, evaluation, treatment and behavioral monitoring of sex offenders. In July 2020, the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) completed a legislative audit of the SOMB. Among other findings, the audit recommended that the board should “improve its controls over the identification and management of conflicts of interest among its members” by obtaining a “written legal opinion from the Attorney General that clarifies how the State Code of Ethics applies to Board members.” The SOMB requested and received a written legal opinion from the Attorney General’s office and voted on Oct. 16 to make the otherwise privileged attorney-client communication available to the Office of the State Auditor and members of the General Assembly.
The Board released this statement in response to the legal opinion:
“The Sex Offender Management Board is committed to the highest standards of ethics and transparency. The board has implemented a rigorous process to ensure that all policy decisions are made in an objective, ethical, and unbiased manner, and that all of our members adhere to the spirit and the letter of the state’s conflict of interest rules. The Board will continue to work diligently to implement the remaining recommendations of the audit.”
Download the legal opinion from the SOMB public records library.