The act enacts the "School Psychologists Licensure Interstate Compact" (compact). The purpose of the compact is to facilitate the interstate practice of school psychology in educational or school settings, thereby improving the availability of school psychological services (services) to the public. The compact establishes a pathway to allow school psychologists to obtain equivalent licenses to provide services in any state that is a member of the compact (member state). The compact outlines the requirements for a school psychologist to obtain and maintain an equivalent license in another member state. Provisions for active military members and their spouses are made. The compact takes effect on the date it is enacted into law in the seventh compact state. The executive director of the department of education shall notify the revisor of statutes in writing when the seventh compact state has enacted the compact into law by e-mailing notice to the revisor of statutes. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state treasurer to transfer all unexpended and unencumbered money in the controlled maintenance trust fund on July 31, 2024, to the general fund. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
When the funding source for an appropriation is a cash fund, the state agency receiving the appropriation annually calculates an amount equal to the recorded depreciation of capital assets acquired, repaired, improved, replaced, renovated, or constructed with the appropriated money. The state controller credits the recorded depreciation amount from the cash fund that was the source of the funding for the appropriation to a capital reserve account established by the agency in the cash fund. The act exempts the money in the wildlife cash fund from being credited to the capital reserve account. A state agency terminating a lease for private leased space must calculate the annual reduction in the cost of leased space and the general assembly must transfer to the capital construction fund an amount equal to the reduction in the cost of leased space from the fund that was the source of the funding for the lease. The act exempts the money in the wildlife cash fund from being transferred to compensate for the reduction in private leased space. On July 1, 2024, the act requires the state treasurer to transfer $1,198,224 from the capitol complex renovation fund to the wildlife cash fund and $273,204 from the capitol complex renovation fund to the division of parks and wildlife to be used by the division for the same purposes as other lottery proceeds distributions made pursuant to section 3 (1)(b)(II) of article XXVII of the state constitution. The act reduces the appropriation from the wildlife cash fund made in the annual general appropriation act for the 2024-25 state fiscal year to the department of natural resources for use by the division of parks and wildlife for the annual depreciation-lease equivalent payment by $199,068. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the financial assistance program for students experiencing homelessness (program) in the department of higher education (department). Beginning in the 2024-25 academic year, the act requires all Colorado public institutions of higher education (institutions) to provide financial assistance to a Colorado resident student (qualifying student) who is between the ages of 17 and 26 and who has experienced homelessness in the state at any time during high school. The institutions shall provide financial assistance to cover the remaining balance of the qualifying student's total cost of attendance in excess of the amount of any private, state, or federal financial assistance the student receives. Subject to available appropriations, the act requires the Colorado commission on higher education to provide institutions money to cover 50% of the remaining balance of financial assistance for qualifying students. The institutions are required to designate an employee to serve as a liaison to qualifying and prospective qualifying students. The institutions shall notify qualifying students of their eligibility for remaining balance financial assistance. The act requires the department to add one employee as a navigator to provide guidance to prospective qualifying students when selecting institutions and completing applications for admission and financial aid. The act requires the department to enter into a data-sharing agreement with the department of education in order to identify prospective qualifying students. The act clarifies student eligibility to participate in the foster youth financial assistance program. The act appropriates $1,668,381 from the general fund to the department for aid for students who experienced homelessness during high school. The act appropriates $26,055 from the general fund to the department of education for the homeless student scholarship program. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires school personnel to address a student by the student's chosen name and to use the student's chosen name in school and during extracurricular activities. The act deems it discriminatory to knowingly or intentionally use a name other than the student's chosen name or knowingly or intentionally avoiding or refusing to use a student's chosen name, unless done at the request of the student. The act allows a student who is subject to discrimination as a result of a failure or refusal to address the student by the student's chosen name to file a report with the school or a federal civil rights complaint. The act requires a school to implement a written policy outlining how the school will honor a student's request to use a chosen name. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, the bill provides for the payment of expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the state of Colorado, and of its agencies and institutions. The grand total for the operating budget is set at $42,929,675,236. The general funds portion of the appropriation is set at $12,398,541,034; the general fund exempt portion is set at $3,803,423,067; the cash funds portion is set at $11,342,249,687; the reappropriated funds portion is set at $2,878,921,519; and the federal funds portion is set at $12,506,539,929. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, the grand total for the state fiscal year for capital construction projects is set at $367,677,785. The capital construction fund portion of the appropriation is set at $262,215,419; the cash funds portion is set at $103,554,776; and the federal funds portion is set at $1,907,590. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, the grand total for information technology projects is set at $158,354,132. The capital construction fund portion of the appropriation is set at $86,836,669; the cash fund portion is set at $14,255,934; and the federal funds portion is set at $57,261,529. The 2021 general appropriation act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction projects and capital construction information technology projects. The 2023 general appropriation act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated to the department of education; the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, and state planning and budgeting; and the departments of health care policy and financing, higher education, local affairs, personnel, public health and environment, and public safety. Appropriations were made in several bills during the 2023 legislative session that are further amended to balance and make adjustments and to extend the appropriation of unexpended amounts to the 2024-25 fiscal year. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
To improve the operational efficiency of the front range passenger rail district (district): Section 1 of the act modifies: The requirement that the board of the district (board) hold annual joint meetings with the transportation commission, the board of directors of the I-70 coalition or any successor entity, and the board of directors of the regional transportation district to require the board to provide an annual update, which may be provided by district staff, at the meeting and to allow the meeting to be held in a manner that allows members of the board and the entity it is meeting with to attend the meeting by electronic means; and The boundaries of the district. Section 2 clarifies when the terms of board members begin and end; and prohibits an advisory nonvoting member of the board from participating in an executive session if the board determines that a particular matter to be discussed in the executive session concerns the appointing authority for the advisory nonvoting member and should not be discussed when the advisory nonvoting member is present; Section 3 establishes that the board exercises its powers by a majority vote of a quorum of its voting directors rather than by a majority vote of a quorum of its total membership and, in conjunction with section 4, clarifies that the board has discretion to delegate its power to enter into contracts and agreements other than intergovernmental agreements and contracts for public-private partnerships to the officers and employees of the district; and Section 5 changes the name of a state-required district plan for developing rail service to avoid potential confusion that could be caused by similarity between the current name of the plan and the name of a federally required plan and specifies requirements for the certification of ballot measures referred by the board to the registered electors of the district. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act increases the cost threshold above which a controlled maintenance project of real property is deemed to be "capital renewal" (cost threshold) from $2 million to $4.7 million. The act also requires the department of personnel to adjust the cost threshold for inflation every 3 years beginning on January 1, 2029, and to publish the cost threshold on its website. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the transfer, on July 1, 2024, of: $160,844,354 from the general fund to the capital construction fund; $70,811,334 from the general fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund; $500,000 from the general fund exempt account of the general fund to the capital construction fund; $84,875,462 from the controlled maintenance trust fund to the capital construction fund; and $1,000,000 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund. Notwithstanding any provision of law that requires such a transfer, the act also prohibits the state treasurer from transferring money from the legal services cash fund to the capital construction fund or to any other fund if the joint budget committee of the general assembly notifies the state treasurer before the scheduled transfer date not to make the transfer after the attorney general notifies and certifies in writing to the joint budget committee that the transfer: Is not compliant with federal and state laws governing the money to be transferred; Is legally preempted by state constitutional restrictions or a federal law governing the money to be transferred; or Unlawfully transfers money in a manner that may terminate the qualification as an enterprise of any enterprise lawfully enacted under the provision of the state constitution known as the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR). APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 29, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes a statutory bill of rights for children and youth (youth) in foster care in Colorado, including youth participating in the foster youth in transition program but excluding youth detained by or committed to the care and physical custody of the division of youth services. The office of the child's representative shall develop a written notice of the rights, and a county department of human or social services shall provide each youth who is 5 years of age or older with the written notice in the youth's primary language at the time of the youth's initial placement in foster care, at each placement change, and at least annually. APPROVED by Governor April 24, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, certain evidence of a victim's or witness's prior or subsequent sexual conduct is presumed irrelevant, but there is an exception for evidence of the victim's or witness's prior or subsequent sexual conduct with the defendant. The act eliminates this exception. The act expands the criminal rape shield law to prohibit the admission of evidence of the victim's manner of dress or hairstyle as evidence of the victim's consent. The act amends what a moving party must show to the court and to opposing parties and what the court must find in order to introduce evidence that is presumed to be irrelevant under the criminal rape shield law. Under current law, a defendant may move to introduce evidence that the victim or a witness has a history of false reporting of sexual assaults, upon a sufficient showing to the court and opposing parties. The act allows the defendant to offer evidence concerning at least one incident of false reporting of unlawful sexual behavior and also articulate facts that would, by a preponderance of the evidence, demonstrate that the victim or witness has made a report that was demonstrably false or false in fact. APPROVED by Governor April 24, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows a health-care provider, a health-facility, and a hospital pharmacy to provide a patient with certain facility-provided medications if the medication is required for continued treatment, the medication does not contain a controlled substance, and the medication was administered to the patient during the patient's visit to the health-care provider or health facility. The health-care provider, health facility, or pharmacy that provided the medication to the patient is required to label the medication and to counsel the patient regarding the proper use of the medication. APPROVED by Governor April 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 22, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
