Indecent exposure is the only child sex crime in Colorado classified as a misdemeanor, instead of a felony. But that will soon change if Gov. Jared Polis signs a new bill into law.

House Bill 1135 would make it a felony crime if a person over age 18 exposes or touches their genitals for sexual gratification while they know they are in the view of a person under age 15. Under current law, an offender must commit indecent exposure three times before they are charged with a Class 6 felony.

The bill passed its last vote in the Legislature on Saturday.

“We are here to protect children,” said bill sponsor Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster. “If an adult does the same behavior to a child online, that’s already a felony. Yet, when an adult has a child in person, somehow that’s only a misdemeanor. That’s not right. It’s inconsistent and it’s unjust.”

The Senate unanimously approved HB 1135 without discussion on Saturday, but the bill did not clear the House so easily. Late week, House lawmakers passed the bill in a relatively close 37-27 vote, following hours of debate and filibustering.

The bill — sponsored by three Democrats and one Republican — received bipartisan support, but was only opposed by Democrats. In the House, 27 Democrats voted against the bill and only 18 voted in favor of it.

Critics argued that the bill would disproportionately harm people with mental or behavioral health disorders. Advocates with Mental Health Colorado said people who experience mania and psychosis, particularly homeless people, often take their clothes off in public spaces.

Rep. Mary Young, a psychologist, spoke of working with a 17-year-old with autism who frequently undressed in public, including on playgrounds.

“Unfortunately, many times when you have an untreated serious mental illness, you express over-sexualized behavior, because that is a symptom,” said Young, D-Greeley, while voting against the bill. “Too often we are inadvertently criminalizing those with serious mental illness and neurodevelopmental issues.”

Opponents tried three times to limit the scope of the bill to only make indecent exposure in front of children a felony if it occurs in an isolated place with no other adults around. They argued this would address offenders, such as groomers and family members, while sparing people who are homeless or who have a mental health crisis in public. Those proposed amendments were rejected by lawmakers on the House floor and in committee.

Proponents of the bill said the felony classification requires the offender to knowingly expose themselves in front of a child for sexual gratification, arguing that this would disqualify the bulk of incidents involving people with mental health issues. They also emphasized the frequency of these acts by knowing, intentional, repeat offenders.

In the past four years, 90 cases of indecent exposure in front of children have been filed statewide, according to the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council. The average age of the child victims is 11 year old. These numbers are also low estimates, as child victims are significantly less likely to report the crimes.

During a public hearing on HB 1135, Tyler Bandemer said his two daughters, ages 14 and 16, were sitting in a parking lot eating a snack after school when a strange man drove up to them. The man raised his pelvis to his window and exposed his genitals to the girls, masturbating in front of them.

The man was immediately apprehended by police, who were in the area for an unrelated incident. But after issuing him a summons, the man was released within 15 minutes, before Bandemer could even make it to the scene.

“This guy just exposed himself to two minors and he’s driving down the street now,” Bandemer said while testifying in support of the bill. “People should not just be able to go on their merry way. ... It’s just a matter of time before they do it again.”

Before the offender was even sentenced, he was caught masturbating in front of minors again, this time targeting two teen girls working in a drive-thru, said District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin, who represents the Larimer County district where the incidents occurred in 2020.