The act authorizes the driver of a 2-wheeled motorcycle to overtake or pass another motor vehicle in the same lane if: The traffic is stopped; The road has lanes wide enough to pass safely; The motorcycle is moving at 15 miles per hour or less; and Conditions permit prudent operation of the motorcycle while overtaking or passing. A motorcycle driver overtaking or passing under the act must not overtake or pass: On the right shoulder; To the right of a vehicle in the farthest right-hand lane if the highway is not limited access; or In a lane of traffic moving in the opposite direction. The authorization to overtake or pass is repealed, effective September 1, 2027. Before the repeal, the Colorado department of transportation will analyze safety data on the act and issue a report to the general assembly. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act permits, subject to conditions, concurrent legislative jurisdiction between the state of Colorado and the United States over specified United States military installation property. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 4, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the state distributes its share of a school district's total program funding in 12 approximately equal monthly payments during the budget year. The act changes this distribution schedule so that unless a school district opts out, the state distributes its share of a school district's total program funds in a pattern over the course of the budget year that considers the projected timing of when the district will receive the property tax component of its local share of its total program funding and is as equal as possible each month when combined with the property tax component of its local share. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 4, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, manufacturers and distributors of fuel products in the state are required to pay a fee each calendar month to the department of revenue (department). The fee is deposited in the petroleum storage tank fund. The department also collects another fee (PFAS cash fund fee) to fund the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances cash fund, support the department of transportation, support the Colorado state patrol, and pay the costs to the department for administering the fee. The act clarifies the fee amounts that the department is required to collect for the petroleum storage tank fund. The act also repeals outdated provisions regarding the PFAS cash fund fee and clarifies that the department must annually transmit the collected fee to the state treasurer. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act modifies provisions governing the Colorado health benefit exchange (exchange) by: Eliminating the requirement for the board of directors of the exchange (board) to submit a report on the development of the exchange to the governor and the general assembly by January 15 and instead requiring the report to be submitted annually and to address open enrollment; Requiring the board to also present an open enrollment update to specified legislative committees during each legislative session; Requiring the exchange, rather than the board, to annually present to the Colorado health insurance exchange oversight committee (committee) the exchange's financial and operational plans and the major actions taken by the board; and Modifying the number of meetings of the committee during the interim. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to offer to enter into a direct contract with the managed care organization (MCO) operated by or under the control of the Denver health and hospital authority (Denver health) until Denver health ceases to operate a medicaid managed care program or until June 30, 2025. The act removes the option for the department to enter into a direct contract until June 30, 2025, and instead requires the department to enter into the contract from July 1, 2025, until June 30, 2032, as long as the MCO meets all MCO criteria required by the department. If the department designates a managed care entity (MCE) other than the MCO operated by Denver health to manage behavioral health-care services, the act requires Denver health to collaborate with the MCE during the term of the contract. The act prohibits the MCO from reimbursing contracted medicaid providers at rates that are higher than the department's medicaid fee for service rates unless the provider enters into a quality incentive agreement with the MCO. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the department distributed money appropriated for a supplemental state payment to Denver health. The act authorizes the department to continually distribute any money appropriated for payment to Denver health. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 4, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows an enrollee in the state medicaid program or with a private health insurance carrier whose coverage has been terminated or not renewed to receive continued care with the enrollee's same health-care provider or health-care facility under the enrollee's new health benefit plan at the in-network level under the enrollee's new health benefit plan for specified time periods if certain conditions exist. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act defines "reimbursement" for purposes of reimbursing the expenditure of money from state emergency reserve as a repayment of expenditures for which the state previously designated emergency money and specifies that federal cost share provided through a federal emergency management agency public assistant grant is not reimbursement. To specify the authority of all fire response agencies, rather than just a fire protection district, to transfer the management of a wildland fire to the county sheriff (sheriff) when the fire exceeds the capability of the fire response agency to manage, the act authorizes a fire department, as defined in law, to transfer the management of a wildland fire and repeals references to transfers by a fire protection district. The act also specifies that the sheriff may develop a wildfire preparedness plan for the unincorporated area of a county as required by law, in cooperation with any fire department, rather than only with a fire district, with jurisdiction over the unincorporated area. The act repeals references to the community wildfire protection plan (CWPP) in the statutes that address the response to and management of wildland fires, as the CWPP addresses the identification and reduction of hazards and is not focused on the response to or management of wildland fires. Instead, the act specifies that the sheriff and the fire chief of a fire protection district (fire chief) are subject to any relevant plans or agreements in the response to and management of wildland fires. To allow the division of fire prevention and control in the department of public safety (division) and the sheriff to determine the most appropriation management strategy when the management of a wildland fire has been transferred from the sheriff to the division, the act repeals the requirement that the division and the sheriff use the unified command management strategy when the management of a wildland fire has been transferred to the division. The act also repeals the requirement that the unified command management strategy be used in a hazardous substance incident to allow responding agencies to determine the most appropriate response to and management of such an incident. The act repeals the requirement that a sheriff appoint a local incident management team to provide command control to manage a wildland fire and instead requires the sheriff to appoint an incident commander for a wildland fire. In addition, the act specifies that the agency that has jurisdiction over any wildland fire in the state is required to manage the fire using the incident command system as defined in law. The act repeals references to the Colorado state emergency operation plan (SEOP) in the statute designating the division as the lead state agency for wildland fire response and suppression, as the SEOP can only be activated by an executive order and does not apply to the majority of wildland fire operations. In addition the act repeals inaccurate references to the state forest service in that statute. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Pursuant to the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado", death benefits will be paid to a dependent surviving spouse of a deceased employee for life, regardless of remarriage, rather than until remarriage, if the surviving spouse receives death benefits pursuant to law and the deceased employee was a state employee who worked in a job with a high-risk classification. A job with a "high-risk classification" means certain employees of the Colorado state patrol; certain employees of the Colorado bureau of investigation; certain employees of the department of corrections; firefighters, investigators, and fire marshals employed by the division of fire prevention and control in the department of public safety; wildlife officers and parks and recreation officers employed by the division of wildlife in the department of natural resources; employees of the department of transportation responsible for highway safety and maintenance; and employees of a state institution of higher education who are vested with the powers of a peace officer. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The executive director of the department of revenue (executive director) has been authorized to permit taxpayers that remit sales and use tax to the department of revenue and whose monthly tax collected is less than $300 to make returns and pay taxes at quarterly intervals. The act increases this threshold amount from $300 to $600 for returns that must be filed on or after January 1, 2025, and allows the executive director to further increase the threshold amount by rule for returns that must be filed on or after January 1, 2026. The act prohibits home rule cities, towns, and city and counties that collect their own sales and use taxes and do not use the electronic sales and use tax simplification system administered by the department of revenue from collecting sales and use tax from a retailer that does not have physical presence in the state unless the retailer elects to collect and remit sales and use tax or enters into a voluntary collection agreement with a home rule city, town, or city and county. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $17,200 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of revenue for the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor April 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends to December 31, 2025, the time in which the department of agriculture may implement wild horse population management pursuant to Senate Bill 23-275, concerning managing wild horses. APPROVED by Governor March 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE March 22, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law states that if there is sufficient evidence to determine that reunification of a child or youth with one or both parents is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis, the child or youth is eligible for federal classification as a special immigrant juvenile. The act clarifies that abandonment includes, but is not limited to, the death of one or both parents. The act defines the phrase "special immigrant juvenile status findings". APPROVED by Governor March 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
