DENVER — Colorado lawmakers are set to abandon their long-shot bid to decriminalize sex work across the state at the bill’s first committee hearing this week.

Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, a Pueblo Democrat and the measure’s sponsor, announced Monday morning on the Senate floor that he would voluntarily kill Senate Bill 97 at the start of its hearing on Wednesday. In an interview, Hinrichsen said the bill didn’t have enough support on the Senate Judiciary Committee to proceed.

“That leaves us with a choice,” he said: Either voluntarily kill the bill, or “we can go through the entire committee process” while facing significant drawbacks.

He said that doing so “asks a lot of individuals who are members of a deeply marginalized community to come and fight for the bill in a forum that is very hostile, where they have — rightfully so — concerns about exposing themselves to surveillance. Doxing has been a big concern.”

“I don’t think that’s fair, and I don’t think it’s productive,” Hinrichsen said.

Had it passed, SB-97 would have made Colorado the first state to fully decriminalize prostitution. Nevada has legalized prostitution in certain counties, and Maine has removed criminal penalties for sex workers but not for the people who pay for their services. Canada and some other countries have adopted similar policies.

The plan to remove criminal penalties, rather than to fully legalize sex work, meant that the state would not set up a regulatory system like the one utilized in Nevada.

SB-97’s proposed approach was also preferred by some Colorado sex workers, who have long called for decriminalization as a way to protect themselves. The bill had sponsors from various corners of the Democratic caucus in the Capitol, and it had some initial support from Gov. Jared Polis.

Still, Hinrichsen — as well as a sex worker who spoke with The Denver Post last month — acknowledged that the bill faced long odds in the Capitol. Conservatives were opposed, as were some other Democrats. Hinrichsen criticized what he called “disinformation” that had been spread about the bill by its opponents. He said some people in law enforcement had inaccurately conflated legalizing prostitution with his intention to decriminalize it.

He said he’d had several conversations with committee members and that they’d gotten close to a deal. But those talks failed, and he realized there was no path forward for the bill.

Devynn Dewey, the founding director of Don’t Strip Our Rights, a sex worker advocacy group supporting the bill, said Monday that the bill clearing its first committee would’ve been a huge victory. But she echoed Hinrichsen and said sex workers, particularly those who offer illegal services, didn’t feel safe to come and testify at the Capitol.

She said her organization would focus on educating lawmakers and the public about sex work.

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