Colorado Bills

The act allows child care centers for school-age children operated on school district, district charter school, or institute charter school property to satisfy requirements for staff training or minimum square footage of floor space per child by providing to the Colorado department of early childhood (CDEC) documented evidence of compliance with substantially similar requirements imposed by the Colorado department of education (CDE) unless CDE's requirements do not meet federal grants-in-aid requirements, in which case, CDEC shall require the child centers to meet federal grants-in-aid requirements.     The act adds a public health agency to the list of entities that CDEC shall accept certification from as satisfactory proof of valid certification of a playground facility.     The act directs CDEC to review the process regarding materials waivers and the process for undue hardship appeals at least annually.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Section 2 of the act prohibits a person that is licensed by the Colorado limited gaming control commission (commission) to operate an internet sports betting operation (internet sports betting operator) from:Accepting more than 6 separate deposits from an individual in a gaming day; orInitiating or sending mobile device push notifications or text messages to account holders in the state soliciting bets or deposits.     Section 3:Prohibits a sports betting operation or its marketing affiliate from targeting, or creating advertising content that is clearly meant for, persons under 21 years old or from advertising on media for which the majority of the demographic audience is reasonably expected to be under 21 years old; andRequires an internet sports betting operator, on an annual basis, to provide to the division of gaming in the department of revenue (division) data and metrics related to the operator's sports betting operation for the preceding calendar year. The division must compile the data into a public report every 3 years starting on January 1, 2029.     Section 4 prohibits an internet sports betting operator from accepting deposits using a credit card in connection with the acceptance of a sports bet (prohibition). A violation of the prohibition constitutes a class 2 misdemeanor.     Section 5 allows the commission to assess a maximum penalty of $25,000 against a violator of the prohibition.     Section 6 requires that the amount of money annually transferred from the sports betting fund (fund) to the water plan implementation cash fund is no less than the amount transferred to the water plan implementation cash fund in the previous state fiscal year.     $124,623 is appropriated from the legal services cash fund to the department of law to provide legal services to the department of revenue in implementing the act. The appropriation is from revenue received from the department of revenue that is continuously appropriated to the department of revenue from the fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to transmit a list of missing children to the Colorado department of education (department) instead of each school district and requires the department to notify the bureau if the department's list of enrolled students includes information about a missing child.     The act repeals the requirement for a school district, board of cooperative services, district charter school, or institute charter school to have paper and pencil assessment policies for state-administered assessments in public schools.     The act allows a school district or a charter school network with 1,200 students or fewer to submit a single plan to satisfy school district, school network, or school accreditation plan requirements.     The act prohibits the department from representing as mandatory a voluntary data collection request to a school district, the state charter school institute, or a public school and prohibits the department from conditioning any benefit unrelated to a specific grant on the completion of a voluntary data collection request.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act modifies the 'Uniform Election Code of 1992' (code) as follows:Regarding elections generally, includes in the definition of 'identification' for purposes of the code a division of youth services identification card or written correspondence from a county sheriff to the county clerk indicating that an elector is confined in a county jail or detention facility; repeals the definition of 'political party district'; modifies the definition of 'video security surveillance recording' to include a system in which continuous recording is triggered when motion is detected; modifies the definition of 'watcher' to prohibit a person from being selected as a watcher if the person has been convicted of certain election offenses or of committing or conspiracy to commit certain federal offenses; if the governor declares a disaster emergency due to the inability to strictly comply with the code, allows the secretary of state (secretary) to adopt rules for the proper administration of an election and requires the governor to establish an election emergency advisory group to advise the secretary and the governor regarding emergency orders or rules necessary to ensure the proper administration of an election; allows the secretary to provide access to, rather than transmit a complete copy of, all pertinent, updated elections laws to each county clerk and recorder (clerk); and requires each clerk to set operational hours for the clerk's office;Regarding the qualification and registration of electors; specifies information that all institutions of higher education, rather than just state institutions of higher education, must provide to students via email or signs concerning voting, voter eligibility, and registration, and requires the secretary to adopt rules further specifying the form and content of the emails and signs; requires the clerk to make printed affidavit forms available to correct an error in the elector's affiliation recorded in the statewide database; requires the secretary to ensure preregistrants who are 17 years and 6 months old can access their voter registration information and update that information using the state's online voter registration system; requires the statewide voter registration system to support the integration and use of geographic information system data to improve the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of voter registration records; modifies the language concerning preregistration of high school students; specifies that the principal of a public high school or their designee who assists in preregistration and registration to vote are high school liaisons, rather than deputy registrars, and eliminates certain filing requirements for registration or preregistration to vote; modifies how a clerk verifies identifiers provided by an elector who registers to vote in another county or another state; prohibits a clerk from canceling the registration record of an elector with multiple registrations unless there is a match in the county's registration records and the statewide voter registration database with respect to certain identifiers of the elector; and makes the secretary, rather than the clerk, responsible for canceling certain registrations pursuant to existing law, while still allowing the secretary to request assistance from the clerks;Regarding presidential electors, specifies that if a presidential or vice-presidential candidate dies or withdraws as a candidate after accepting the nomination of a political party but prior to the meeting of presidential electors, an elector's vote for the presidential candidate or vice-presidential candidate refers to the successor candidate nominated by the political party and clarifies that such vote is not a vote for a false slate of presidential electors;Regarding congressional vacancy elections, modifies notice, preparation, and conduct of elections; requires elections to be concurrent with a primary or coordinated election if the vacancy occurs between 150 and 90 days of such election; requires elections to be conducted according to provisions for general elections; modifies candidate nomination deadlines; clarifies the manner of nomination for an unaffiliated candidate; and specifies the arrangement of names on the ballot;Regarding access to the ballot by candidates, specifies the offices for which a candidate must fully meet the qualifications of the office and expands factors the secretary may consider in determining the qualifications to hold office to include other objective, verifiable requirements such as age, birth place, term limits, and political affiliation; repeals the ability for certificates of designation by assembly to be transmitted to the secretary by fax; specifies deadlines by which major and minor political parties must fill vacancies in their party nominations and by which vacancies in unaffiliated designations or nominations must be filled prior to a primary election and a general election, and clarifies that failure to fill a vacancy in nomination by such deadline results in that vacancy nomination remaining unfilled for that election; eliminates requirement for electors to include their county when signing a petition to nominate a candidate; allows a congressional vacancy election to be presented on the same ballot used in a presidential primary election if the elections are held on the same day; modifies the timeline for nomination of minor political party candidates; and maintains the requirement that a person file a written acceptance of nomination but eliminates the specification that the acceptance be provided by mail, fax, or hand delivery;Regarding notice and preparation of elections, clarifies that a voter service and polling center (VSPC) that experiences a shortage of supplies, including ballots, shall not close and may be required to remain open longer on election day; requires that each drop box must accept mail ballots for the 22-day period, rather than the 15-day period, prior to the day of an election; reduces the required period that a VSPC on a campus with 10,000 or more students must be open from 15 days to 10 days before an election; specifies that, in addition to existing designation by sign requirements, a VSPC on the campus of an institution of higher education must be identified and described in signs conspicuously posted at the student center and in an email sent to all enrolled students; repeals the requirement that the secretary deliver the certification of the ballot order and content to the clerk by registered mail; repeals a provision for the arrangement of names on ballots to be established by lot; adds an additional trigger for the secretary to notify clerks of the requirement to provide minority language sample ballots and in-person minority language ballots based on the release of data collected pursuant to section 203 of the federal 'Voting Rights Act of 1965' by the federal government; repeals a provision regarding the adoption and payment for voting machines; and requires the clerk of any county with 1,000 or more active electors to adopt an electronic or electromechanical voting system for use in all elections conducted by the county under the code and requires the clerk to oversee the management of such voting systems subject to the rules of the secretary; Regarding election judges, changes the age eligibility requirements for a student election judge from 16 to 15 and expands the methods for notice and acceptance of an election judge appointment;Regarding the conduct of elections, repeals the requirement that an election judge proclaim the polls are open or will be closed in 30 minutes on election day; modifies the 2-hour period that eligible electors are entitled to be absent from work to vote from only on election day to any day when VSPCs are open and specifies that an employer may deny this leave if the elector has 3 or more consecutive hours off the job while the polls are open; allows an elector to take printed or written materials of their choice into a VSPC as a resource for voting; creates new reporting requirements for counties with one or more VSPCs experiencing a wait time in excess of one hour, which wait time must be measured and recorded in accordance with rules adopted by the secretary and creates a requirement for a reporting county to include certain additional information in its next proposed election plan; repeals and reenacts, with changes, the required method of counting paper ballots by hand, requiring a team of 4 judges, audible reading of each ballot, and 2 separate accountings to be kept and compared and regular intervals, in accordance with any rules adopted by the secretary; recognizes that, in addition to a software or hardware malfunction, other significant issues may make counting ballots with electronic vote-tabulating equipment impracticable; and prohibits a designated election official from transferring custody or control of election records to a third party unless the transfer is authorized or required by the secretary of a court of competent jurisdiction;Regarding mail ballot elections, modifies the timeline for submission and approval of proposed election plans; allows the secretary to request modification of an election plan; requires the secretary to release no later than August 1 for each clerk's submitted election plan, specified information for each VSPC and each ballot drop-off location in the county for that election; modifies mail ballot delivery times; changes the enrolled-student threshold at an institution of higher education from 2,000 to 1,000 for purposes of requiring a drop box on campus and requires a drop box on the campus of private institutions of higher education in addition to state institutions; requires a clerk who fails to send a signature verification form within the 2-day deadline to send the signature verification by overnight mail or hand delivery; and requires a minimum number of hours for in-person voting at a county jail or detention center based on the number of beds available;Regarding challenges to registration, repeals and reenacts, with amendments, the process for a registered elector to protest the registration of another person, requires a $50 fee for each protest that is refunded if the protest is successful, and specifies the reasons that a protest may challenge a person's registration as incorrect;Regarding vacancies in office, in the case of a vacancy in the office of United States senator, requires the governor to appoint a person who is a member of the same political party as the former United States senator to fill a vacancy in that office; clarifies that a person appointed to fill a vacancy in a county office other than county commissioner serves only until the next general election, at which time the remainder of the vacant term, if any, is filled by election; and specifies that a county commissioner or general assembly vacancy may be filled at the next coordinated or general election; andRegarding election offenses, clarifies the offense of voter interference occurs when a person interferes with a voter within 100 feet of any building in which a polling or drop-off location is located or within 100 feet of a drop box; specifies that the offense of voter intimidation applies to any elector who is delivering up to 10 mail ballots to a drop box or drop-off-location; clarifies that the exemption for peace officers from the law prohibiting a person from carrying a firearm at a polling location does not apply if the firearm is used to intimidate electors; clarifies that offenses involving a false slate of presidential electors extends to lists of electors voting and votes for candidates for president and vice president of the United States, or their successors; and modifies enforcement and relief provisions in the case of a suit for election-related intimidation.     In addition, the act:Modifies the law regarding initiatives and referendums to eliminate the requirement for an elector to include their county of residence as part of their signature on an initiative or referendum petition; extends the secretary's period for examination and validation of signatures on a petition from 30 to 60 days; and extends the secretary's period to issue a statement as to whether a petition has sufficient valid signatures from 30 to 60 days after the petition was filed; Modifies the definition of 'disaster' for the purpose of the 'Colorado Disaster Emergency Act' to include the occurrence or imminent threat of the inability to strictly comply with the code due to any natural cause or cause of human origin;Amends the 'Colorado Open Records Act' to specify that a designated election official is not required to cover or redact from a ballot any markings or messages voluntarily made by an elector; andSpecifies that oaths or affirmations for public office filed with the clerk are exempt from certain fees imposed by law.     The act takes effect upon passage, except that the provisions regarding the time frame for mailing a mail ballot packet take effect July 1, 2026.     For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $10,000 from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for the implementation of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act allows off-campus courses to be included in concurrent enrollment programs when the off-campus courses meet the requirements for concurrent enrollment programs and the requirements of an accrediting agency recognized by the United States department of education.     The act provides that additional concurrent enrollment courses shall not be approved after July 1, 2028 unless the general assembly indicates in a footnote in the general appropriations act that the department of education (department) has sufficient funding for course and audit oversight requirements to allow approval of additional concurrent enrollment courses.     For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $66,056 from the general fund to the department and reduces the general fund appropriation for the college opportunity fund program by $80,178 with a corresponding decrease in reappropriated funds for the regents of the university of Colorado.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law states that a child or youth named in a petition related to dependency and neglect proceedings is a party to the proceedings and has a right to attend and fully participate in all hearings related to the case. The act affirms that as a party to the proceedings, the child or youth has legal standing regarding all matters related to the child's or youth's interests and the right to have the child's or youth's interests fully represented by the guardian ad litem or counsel for youth throughout the proceedings, including appeals.     If a county department of human or social services (county department) seeks dismissal of a petition prior to the adjudicatory hearing and the child or youth, through the child's or youth's guardian ad litem or counsel for youth, objects to the dismissal and articulates a basis upon which the child is abused or neglected, the court shall set a hearing to determine whether or not the county department has a reasonable basis to dismiss the case. If the court determines that the county department shows a reasonable basis for dismissal, the court shall dismiss the case. If the county department does not show a reasonable basis to dismiss the case, the court must allow the case to proceed.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act redirects a portion of certain vehicle registration fees to increase the amount of revenue that is directed to the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account (DRIVES account) created in the highway users tax fund (HUTF). Beginning on July 1, 2026, the act redirects fees for special vehicle registrations for personalized license plates from the HUTF to the DRIVES account; except that, consistent with current law, $2 of each fee is remitted to the county general fund. Beginning on July 1, 2027, the act redirects $2 of each late vehicle registration fee from the HUTF to the DRIVES account and, consistent with current law, credits the remainder of the fees to the HUTF.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or before December 31, 2027, the act requires the department of higher education (department) to establish thriving institution designations and, on or before January 1, 2027, to establish an advisory committee to provide input to the department on the outcome and recognition standards and continuous improvements set by the department to identify institutions of higher education (institutions) that meet the requirements for one or more thriving institution designations.     The act requires the department, with input from the advisory committee, to:Identify institutions that meet the outcome and recognition standards to be designated as a thriving institution;Notify each institution that meets the outcome standards to be designated as a thriving institution and request the institution to respond within 10 calendar days with the institution's decision of whether to be recognized as a thriving institution;Post on the department's website the names of the institutions that earn a thriving institution designation and agree to be listed as a thriving institution; andNotify the general assembly of the names of the institutions that are recognized as thriving institutions.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the executive director of the Colorado department of early childhood (CDEC) to adopt rules concerning the requirements for licensed child care facilities to maintain up-to-date employee records in the professional development information system currently administered by CDEC.     The act requires CDEC, on or before July 1, 2026, to begin phasing out its reliance on third parties to investigate and inspect facilities applying for certain types of child care licenses where feasible and to prioritize the use of CDEC personnel to conduct the investigations and inspections instead. The act exempts certain health and sanitation inspections from the phase-out. CDEC must establish standardized training, protocols, and supervision for CDEC personnel and authorized or contracted third parties.     A local governing authority that imposes requirements related to the inspection, permitting, licensing, or approval of a child care center or family child care home beyond the state-level licensing standards (local approval process) shall limit associated fees and prioritize concluding a local approval process that has been delayed or disputed.     The act creates the child care licensure task force (task force) to study and report on recommendations for a streamlined child care licensure system in the state. On or before January 1, 2027, the task force must report on its recommendations to the health and human services and education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, the governor, and CDEC. The performance of the task force's work is dependent upon the receipt of sufficient gifts, grants, and donations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the public utilities commission (commission) may assess a civil penalty in an amount up to $550 against a transportation network company (TNC) if the TNC had written notice of a TNC driver's violation of certain prohibitions against discriminating against riders and the TNC failed to reasonably address the violation. Additionally, a driver is required to report to the TNC any refusal by the driver to provide services to a rider, and the TNC is required to annually report all such refusals to the commission.     The act removes the condition that a TNC first have written notice of a driver's violation of the discriminatory prohibitions before a civil penalty may be assessed against the TNC, increases the maximum civil penalty to $1,300, and requires the commission to consider certain mitigating and aggravating factors in determining whether to assess a civil penalty and the amount of a penalty assessed. The act also requires:A TNC to mandate and provide education to drivers concerning the transportation of riders with service animals;A TNC to provide monthly, rather than annual, reporting to the commission regarding drivers' refusal to provide services;A TNC to provide a mechanism to allow a consumer to report a driver's refusal to provide transport to the consumer directly on the TNC's digital platform, which information must be included in the TNC's monthly report; andThe commission to aggregate and anonymize the TNCs' monthly reports and make the anonymized reports available to the public.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

When the prison bed vacancy rate in correctional facilities and state-funded private contract prisons falls below 3% for 30 consecutive days, current law requires the department of corrections (department) to notify certain individuals and entities (notification) and implement prison population management measures. The act increases the threshold prison bed vacancy rate to 4% before the prison population management measures to go into effect. The act includes additional individuals and entities that are required to receive the notification and requires the notification to occur within 48 hours of the vacancy rate falling below 4% for 30 consecutive days. The act requires the individuals and entities that receive the notification to acknowledge receipt of the notification and confirm compliance with the prison population management measures. The act requires additional prison population management measures, including requiring the department to request expanding community corrections capacity and make referrals to the parole board, and requiring notified individuals and entities to consider alternatives to prison sentences for certain offenders.     The act appropriates $303,812 to the department to implement the act. The act decreases the appropriation for the 2026-27 state fiscal year to the department for inmate daily rate payments to local jails by $478,778.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, a member of the public employees' retirement association (PERA) earns service credit for each year worked during which the member makes contributions to PERA. A member may purchase additional years of service credit for any previous period of public or private employment during which the member was not making contributions to PERA, subject to certain conditions. The act allows a member of PERA to also purchase service credit for previous periods of unemployment during which the member was 21 years old or older, subject to certain conditions.     The act requires PERA's voluntary investment program to include options for an employee to make tax-deferred voluntary contributions and Roth voluntary contributions. The act requires PERA employers to affiliate with PERA's deferred compensation plan and requires PERA employers to offer the deferred compensation plan to employees. The deferred compensation plan must include options for an employee to make pre-tax voluntary contributions and Roth voluntary contributions.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)