The act allows a state elected official or local elected official to restrict or bar an individual from using the private social media of the elected official. Private social media is social media that is not supported by government resources and is not required by law to be created or maintained by an elected official. An elected official may restrict or bar an individual from using the private social media of the elected official for any reason, including for bullying, harassment, or intimidation, in the elected official's discretion. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the sixth through twelfth grade mental health screening program (program) administered by the behavioral health administration (BHA) to identify risks and provide resources and referrals related to student mental and emotional health needs. The act allows any public school that serves any of grades 6 through 12 and meets certain requirements to participate in the program. The act requires participating schools to provide written notice to the parents of students within the first 2 weeks of the start of the school year in order to allow parents to opt their child out of the program. Mental health screenings must be conducted in participating schools by a screener selected through a request for proposals process. The act requires a screener to notify a student's parent if the screener determines that additional mental health services are needed based on the student's mental health screening results. Students who are home-schooled but who participate in extracurricular activities or athletic programs at a participating school are exempt from the program. The act appropriates $475,278 from the general fund to the department of human services for community-based mental health services related to the program. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates $5 million from the species conservation trust fund for programs that are designed to conserve native species that state or federal law lists as threatened or endangered or that are candidate species or are likely to become candidate species for such listing as determined by the United States fish and wildlife service. Of the $5 million, the act allocates $750,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation, $1,500,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation, $2,200,000 for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program and the San Juan river basin recovery implementation program, $50,000 for selenium management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and control, and $500,000 for the federal endangered species act litigation program. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the supreme court to select members of the commission on judicial discipline (commission) who are district and county judges from nominee pools created by the state court administrator. Upon a vacancy of a district judge or county judge member, the state court administrator shall create a nominee pool of 10 district or county judges, as appropriate. When making its selection, the supreme court shall ensure that the commission does not include more than one district judge from any one judicial district and not more than one county judge from any one county. The office of judicial performance evaluation, the judicial nominating commissions, the office of the presiding disciplinary judge, and the office of attorney regulation counsel (judicial oversight entities) are required to provide requested material to the commission within 14 calendar days after the request, and a judicial oversight entity may not withhold requested material through a claim of privilege or confidentiality. A provision in a contract entered into after the effective date of the act that prohibits a judicial oversight entity from disclosing information to the commission is void as against public policy and is unenforceable. The rule-making committee that is established in the constitution to propose rules for the judicial discipline process shall provide the commission and judicial discipline adjudicative board (board) with reasonable notice before proposing any new rule or amendment and requires the committee to post notice of each rule change and allow for public comment concerning proposed changes. Current law requires the commission to maintain annual data and statistics related to its work and judicial misconduct allegations. The act requires the commission to maintain additional information and requires the commission to include the data and information in its annual report and make the data and information available online in a searchable format. The act permits a person to submit a request for evaluation of judicial misconduct by mail or online and to submit a confidential or anonymous request for evaluation. The office of judicial discipline (office) is required to develop an online request for evaluation form that is accessible from the commission's public website. The office shall provide complainants with information about the judicial discipline process, the status of the complainant's request, and any subsequent investigation and disciplinary or adjudicative process. The act requires a judge member of a board panel hearing a judicial discipline proceeding to provide administrative staff support for the panel. The act repeals the statute establishing the legislative interim committee on judicial discipline and statutory provisions concerning the confidentiality of judicial discipline investigation records, including repealing the penalty for disclosing confidential information. The portions of the act concerning the selection of judge members of the commission, the board, and judicial discipline rule-making take effect only if House Concurrent Resolution 23-1001 is approved by the people at the general election to be held November 2024. The act appropriates $126,986 to the judicial department for use by the commission for the office. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die; except that portions of the act shall take effect only if House Concurrent Resolution 23-1001 is approved by the people at the general election to be held November 2024 and will take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote on said Concurrent Resolution 23-1001 by the governor; except that, if a referendum petition is filed pursuant to this act, then the act or section will not take effect unless approved by the people at the general election to be held in November 2024 and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Seabees license plate. An applicant qualifies for issuance of the license plate if the applicant is an active or former member of a construction battalion of the United States Navy. The act exempts an applicant for the Seabees license plate from paying the additional fees associated with special license plates for one set of Seabees license plates. To implement this act, $8,684 is appropriated to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles. This appropriation consists of $6,653 from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund and $2,031 from the license plate cash fund. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the transportation commission to annually allocate $1.5 million from the state highway fund to the department of transportation for allocation to the office of transportation safety (office), which will then distribute the money to local governments that implement high-visibility alcohol and drug impaired driving prevention enforcement episodes. The act also requires local law enforcement agencies to follow written policies and procedures about racial profiling and use of force, complete in-service training annually, implement a recognizable pattern by which vehicles are stopped to prevent a bias-motivated stop, and locate checkpoints in areas where drunk or impaired driving crashes are likely to occur. No money may be allocated to a law enforcement agency subject to a judicially-ordered consent decree. In collaboration with the department of public safety, the office will publish an annual report. A law enforcement agency not complying with the requirements of the act may lose funding or be required to pay back funding already received. The attorney general may bring a civil action to enforce the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the Colorado department of transportation (department) to stagger delineator posts every 1/10th of a mile and to consider implementing flexible delineator posts and other engineering solutions to accommodate the needs of all vehicles when it constructs a new 2-lane state highway or when it repaves or repairs an existing 2-lane state highway if farming or other oversize loads actively utilize that section of the highway. The act clarifies that it does not require delineator posts to be placed where they are not deemed necessary by the department of transportation. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act changes the legal representative for the department of revenue (department) in driver's license and identification card denial, cancellation, suspension, and revocation appeals. Under existing law, upon request of the attorney general, a district attorney represents the department in such appeals. On and after 3 specified dates that are designated for 3 groups of judicial districts, the act requires the attorney general to represent the department in all such appeals. The attorney general may appear for such an appeal hearing by telephone, video teleconference, or any other court-authorized means of electronic participation. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $47,583 is appropriated from the general fund to the department and reappropriated to the department of law for legal services to be provided to the department in connection with the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows the department of transportation (department) to establish steep downhill grade zones within the public highways of the state where the downhill grade is 5% or greater and where there are safety concerns related to commercial motor vehicle drivers exceeding the posted speed limits. If the department establishes a steep downhill grade zone, the department must erect signs identifying the zone and notifying commercial motor vehicle drivers that increased fines are assessed for speeding in the zone. The act subjects a commercial motor vehicle driver who commits a speeding violation in a steep downhill grade zone to doubled fines and surcharges. The act creates the mountain highways commercial motor vehicle safety account (account) within the highway users tax fund and requires the state treasurer to credit one-half of the amount of each doubled fine and surcharge to the account for the department to pay costs associated with the provision of educational outreach and public information about runaway truck events, the purchase and implementation of equipment for the purpose of reducing the frequency of runaway truck events, and the completion of studies of means by which the state may reduce the frequency of runaway truck events and improve overall commercial motor vehicle safety on state highways that pass through the state's mountains. The act appropriates $54,073 to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund for the 2023-24 state fiscal year. The act reappropriates $7,425 of the appropriation to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services to the department of revenue. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2024 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows a local government to provide temporary property tax relief through temporary property tax credits or mill levy reductions and later eliminate the credits or restore the mill levy. A temporary reduction in property taxes must be annually renewed by the local government. A school district may not temporarily reduce its mill levy below an existing statutory minimum mill levy amount. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of health care policy and financing to analyze how directed payment authority can be used as part of a comprehensive plan to facilitate an adequate network of services for children and youth by requiring each managed care entity to pay no less than state department-established fee schedule rates for services needed to promote clinical stabilization. The act creates the high-acuity treatment and services cash fund (cash fund). The act authorizes the department of human services (CDHS) to retain any unspent money appropriated in fiscal year 2022-23 and 2023-24 from the general fund for counties during the initial allocations for the administration of child welfare services, core services, or child welfare staffing. On June 30, 2023, and June 30, 2024, the act requires the state treasurer to transfer any money retained to the cash fund. The act requires CDHS to expend money from the cash fund to provide additional resources to licensed providers to help remove barriers that providers face in serving children and youth whose behavioral or mental health needs require services and treatment that exceed capacity of the established daily rates. The cash fund repeals July 1, 2025. No later than July 1, 2023, the act requires CDHS to form a working group to make recommendations about developing an incentive funding pool pilot program to incentivize residential treatment providers to accept and treat children and youth who have high-acuity behavioral health needs to appropriate treatment and placement. The act requires the behavioral health administration (BHA) to consult with a working group to help develop the performance monitoring system framework that addresses the minimum performance standards for treatment of children and youth, which must include measures of accountability for children and youth who are boarding or in extended stay . Beginning September 1, 2023, and each quarter thereafter until October 1, 2024, the act requires each hospital to report information to the BHA on the total number of children and youth patients who were boarding or had extended stay in the previous quarter; if known, how many children and youth who were boarding or had extended stay and were in county custody at the time; and, for patients who were discharged during the quarter, where the patients were discharged to. Beginning September 1, 2023, and each quarter thereafter until October 1, 2024, the act requires CDHS to report information to the BHA on the total number of children and youth in the custody of, or who had involvement with, a county department of human or social services who spent time at least overnight in a hotel or a county department office as a stopgap setting. No later than September 1, 2023, and each quarter thereafter until October 1, 2024, the act requires the BHA to report aggregated and de-identified information submitted to the BHA to the working group. The act requires CDHS to develop a capacity plan for whenever a residential treatment facility for children and youth closes or has a substantial change in operation. The act appropriates $5,900,000 from the cash fund to CDHS for use by the division of child welfare for high-acuity treatment services. Any money remaining from the appropriation prior to July 1, 2024, is further appropriated to CDHS for fiscal year 2024-25. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act corrects several defective cross references in the tax statutes. First, the act adds an omitted cross reference regarding the electronic filing of returns with the executive director of the department of revenue in the statute that addresses the date of receipt of tax returns. Next, the act corrects the cross reference to applicable definitions when calculating the state income tax of an electing pass-through entity owner. Finally, the act corrects the cross reference used to exclude regulated marijuana products from the definition of "agricultural commodities" for purposes of a "wholesale sale" under the state sales tax. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
