Nino Marchese Testimony in Colorado: Limiting the Harm of Colorimetric Field Drug Tests

ALEC Judiciary Task Force Director Nino Marchese recently testified before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee regarding HB26-1020, which seeks to adopt practices similar to ALEC’s Model Policy: To Regulate the Use of the Colorimetric Presumptive Field Drug Test.

Read his testimony below:

Chairman Mabrey and Members of the Committee,

My name is Nino Marchese, and I serve as the director of the Judiciary Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before this committee today and to provide our nonpartisan research and analysis. Thank you for having me.

ALEC is America’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit voluntary membership organization of state legislators in the nation, representing nearly one-quarter of America’s state legislators. ALEC’s Judiciary Task Force includes more than 170 lawmakers who collaboratively develop and advance effective criminal justice solutions, specifically, furthering efforts that expand opportunity for individuals, protect due process, and ensure accountability in the administration of justice. HB26-1020, much like ALEC’s Model Policy To Regulate the Use of the Colorimetric Presumptive Field Drug Test, achieve exactly that.

Our Task Force proposed and adopted ALEC’s Model on Colorimetric Field Drug Tests in 2024 and recently amended it to increase the effectiveness of its goals—ensuring individuals do not unjustly face criminal arrest, charges, prosecution, or convictions of low-level drug offenses they factually did not commit. Our Model Policy accomplishes these goals by providing three essential reforms:

(1) Prohibiting the result of a field drug test from being used as a basis for arrest, or as evidence against a defendant in a criminal trial;
(2) Requiring that, in lieu of arrest, citations for simple drug possession be issued when a field drug test yields a positive result; AND
(3) Guaranteeing defendants the right to request a Crime Lab Confirmatory Test of the substance at issue in their case and withdraw a guilty plea and move for the dismissal of the charge, if such a crime lab test yields a negative result.

These responsible safeguards prevent wrongful arrests and baseless criminal charges. Further, they ensure that people already enduring criminal prosecution are afforded the fair judicial process they are constitutionally guaranteed. Most importantly, our model policy demands that the truth determine the trajectory of an individual’s life—not defective technology.

ALEC’s Judiciary Task Force overwhelmingly approved this model policy because the principles it is based on are fundamental to a just system. We would like to commend the Colorado Legislature and this Judiciary Committee for its efforts in considering reforms which align with ALEC’s model policy. I respectfully urge each member of this Committee to review our model policy as you continue to evaluate and work on HB26-1020 this legislative session.

I am happy to answer any questions members of this committee may have. Thank you for your time today and your attention to this important issue.