Colorado Bills

Current law requires engineering plans involving excavation to include only general information about the location of underground facilities, and the excavator is the party with the duty to seek specific information about these facilities' locations. The bill requires: Engineering plans involving excavation to include specific information about the location of underground facilities; Engineers to use their official stamps on the plans; and The stamped plans to be given to the person who will conduct the excavation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill, addressing appraisals conducted for insurance purposes, sets standards for when an appraiser, including an appraisals umpire, is considered fair, impartial, and neutral. The bill imposes the following requirements: An appraiser is prohibited from having a direct, material interest in the amounts determined by the appraisal process; An appraiser, including an appraisals umpire, must disclose to all parties any known fact discovered at any time that a reasonable person would consider likely to affect the appraiser's interest in the amount determined by the appraisal; Both the insurer and the insured, and their representatives, are prohibited from communicating with the other party's appraiser without the consent and participation of both parties; except that appraisers may directly communicate with each other to reach an agreed-upon settlement amount; The insurer, the insured, and their representatives, including adjusters, attorneys, and appraisers, must not have ex parte communications with the umpire during the appraisal process; and The umpire must not have ex parte communications with the insurer, including adjusters, the insured, and their representatives, including public adjusters.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Joint Technology Committee. The bill creates a new source selection and contract negotiation timeline that a state agency is required to follow when it plans to submit a budget request to the joint technology committee (committee) for a major information technology project (project). The office of state planning and budgeting is required to ensure that state agencies adhere to the new timeline prior to submitting a budget request to the committee as follows: On or before November 1 of the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year in which a state agency intends to submit a budget request to the committee for a project, the state agency is required to notify the committee of its intent to begin the source selection and contract negotiation process. On or before January 1 of the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year in which a state agency intends to submit a budget request to the committee for a project, the state agency is required to issue a competitive solicitation in accordance with the 'Procurement Code'. The competitive solicitation is required to specify that the terms of a contract resulting from the solicitation require the vendor to honor its contract price through the date that work on the contract commences and that vendors are directed to estimate costs accordingly for the purpose of responding to the solicitation. A state agency that has issued a competitive solicitation is required to receive and review the responses from vendors and determine whether to pursue the project and the budget request on or before April 15 of the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year in which the state agency intends to submit the budget request to the committee. If the state agency intends to pursue a budget request for the project, the state agency must award a contract to the selected vendor on or before June 30 of the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year in which the state agency intends to submit the budget request to the committee. The terms of a contract awarded for a project must specify that: The state agency will pursue a budget request for the project in the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in which the contract is awarded; The contract is contingent upon the state agency receiving an appropriation from the general assembly for the project; Work on the contract will not commence until the bill enacted by the general assembly that appropriates the money for the project becomes law; The vendor is required to honor its contract price through the date that work on the contract commences; The state agency may amend terms of the contract, as necessary, following the date on which the bill that appropriates the money for the project becomes law; The state agency will authorize the vendor to begin work on the contract within 30 days of the date that the bill that appropriates the money for the project becomes law; and The contract is null and void if the general assembly does not appropriate money to the state agency for the project. A state agency may include in a contract awarded any other terms or conditions related to the appropriation of money to the state agency by the general assembly as deemed necessary by the state agency. A state agency that has awarded a contract for a project is required to submit a budget request for the project to the committee in the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in which the contract was awarded. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill authorizes a local government master plan to include goals specified in the state water plan and to include policies that condition development approvals on implementation of those goals. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

'Approval voting' is a method of voting that allows an elector to cast a vote for as many of the candidates per office as the elector chooses. The winner of each office is the candidate who receives the most votes or, for elections in which multiple candidates fill open seats, the winners are those candidates, in a number equal to the number of seats being filled, attaining the greatest number of votes. The bill authorizes cities, towns, counties, cities and counties, school districts, and special districts (collectively, 'local governments') to conduct nonpartisan elections using approval voting on and after November 1, 2017. A nonpartisan election is an election in which the political party affiliations of candidates are not printed on the ballot. The secretary of state is directed to adopt rules and provide advice to local governments regarding approval voting and to submit a report by February 15, 2020, regarding approval voting to the state, veterans, and military affairs committees of the general assembly. County clerk and recorders may decline to coordinate an election if a local government elects to employ approval voting in the election. The bill makes necessary modifications to current law occasioned by the use of approval voting, such as excluding approval voting from the definition of 'overvote' and adjusting provisions prescribing the form of ballots and automatic recount triggers. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill adds to the current descriptions of forcible detainer the act of a person preventing an owner from access to or possession of property by locking or changing the lock on the property. The bill creates a procedure for the plaintiff to seek a temporary, mandatory injunction giving the plaintiff possession of the property if a complaint for forcible entry or detainer is filed. The procedure requires the plaintiff to store any personal property found on the property but allows the plaintiff to recover the costs of the storage. The bill establishes as new crimes related to forcible entry and detainer the crimes of unlawful occupancy and unlawful reentry. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires that, in any sale or lease of real estate, the amounts payable to anyone acting as a broker in the transaction (e.g., buyer's agent, seller's agent, transaction-broker) be disclosed in writing, either as part of the contract or otherwise, and accounted for. If the amount payable is allocated between the parties, the portion for which each party is responsible must be separately stated. Brokers are required to disclose their fees or the basis for calculating their fees on all marketing materials relating to any specific property, including on-line multiple listing services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

In connection with the role of watchers in elections, the bill does the following: Section 1 of the bill authorizes each political party participating in a primary election to have at least one watcher at any one time in each voter service and polling center in the county and at each place where votes are counted. This section requires the chairperson of the county central committee of each political party to select the names of the persons who will represent their political party in each precinct in the county as a watcher. If such chairperson is not able to make the appointments, the chairperson of the state central committee of the political party or another official of the state political party are required to make the appointments. The date by which the chairperson is required to submit the names of the watchers is specified. Section 2 requires that, in the case of an issue committee, the registered agent of the issue committee is the authorized representative of the issue committee entitled to appoint one or more watchers. The date by which the appointing authority is required to submit the names of the appointees is specified. Section 3 imposes the same requirements with respect to proponents and opponents of a ballot issue. Section 4 specifies procedures to be followed if a watcher sees a potential discrepancy. This section of the bill also allows the watcher to observe the process of signature verification. This section of the bill additionally contains an oath or affirmation that a person appointed as a watcher is to recite before beginning his or her service. Section 5 removes an existing exception to a prohibition on the sale, disclosure, or release of a photocopied or microfilmed image of an elector's signature to effect an overall ban on the sale, disclosure, or release of certain confidential personal information. Section 6 gives county clerk and recorders the same access to the criminal history records of watchers as they currently have with respect to election judges and gives the secretary of state the power to require that certain duties may only be performed by watchers for whom the county clerk and recorder has requested their criminal justice records. This section further clarifies that such duties performed by a watcher include observing electors' records in the statewide voter registration system.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill allows persons who were convicted of criminal offenses for the use, cultivation, or possession of marijuana to petition for the sealing of criminal records relating to such convictions if their behavior would not have been illegal if it had occurred on or after December 10, 2012. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)