A person applying for a marijuana license is required to pay both an application fee and a licensing fee. The act clarifies that the state licensing authority may issue a refund of a licensing fee if the marijuana license application is denied. Furthermore, the act states that the state licensing authority must retain the applicant's application fee, but a local licensing authority can choose to retain or refund an applicant's application fee. Current law requires a marijuana license applicant to obtain both a state license and local jurisdiction approval, and the state license is conditioned on local jurisdiction approval. The act provides an applicant the opportunity to renew, for up to one year, a state license that would otherwise expire because of failure to receive local jurisdiction approval at the discretion of the state licensing authority. For state fiscal year 2023-24, the act requires the state treasurer to transfer from the general fund an amount equal to the unused general fund appropriation in the department of revenue's IDS print production line item at the end of state fiscal year 2022-23 to the department's marijuana 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.)
For income tax years commencing before January 1, 2024, the law allowed individuals younger than 55 years of age to subtract from federal taxable income for the purpose of determining state taxable income certain amounts received from military retirement benefits. The act extends the subtraction to income tax years commencing before January 1, 2029. 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.)
An individual applying for the property tax exemption for a veteran with a disability has been required to submit the application to the division of veterans affairs (division) in the Colorado department of veterans and military affairs. The act instead requires an individual to submit an application to the individual's county tax assessor. When submitting an application, the act requires an individual to include proof of qualifying veteran with a disability status, which the act defines as documentary evidence from the United States department of veterans affairs that the individual is a qualifying veteran with a disability. The act further requires the division to develop guidance that specifies the documentary evidence from the United States department of veterans affairs that must be included with an application. The act eliminates the requirement that the division determine whether an individual is a qualifying veteran with a disability. To comply with an existing statutory requirement that "people first language" be used in new or amended statutes that refer to persons with disabilities, the act also changes the existing terms "disabled veteran" and "disabled veterans" to "veteran with a disability" and "veterans with a disability". APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE January 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the direct care workforce stabilization board (board) in the department of labor and employment (department) to review the direct care industry, which is the industry of workers who provide home-based or community-based direct care to individuals who require assistance in accomplishing activities of daily living. The act directs the board, at least once every 2 years, to review the direct care industry and develop recommendations for: Minimum employment standards for direct care workers based on information gathered through an investigation of the direct care industry market in relation to the Colorado labor market; and Improving state communications with direct care workers about their rights and the obligations of direct care employers. The board must conduct public hearings to engage direct care workers, direct care employers, and direct care consumers in the development of the standards and recommendations for improved communications. The executive director of the department may direct the board to review minimum direct care employment standards more frequently. The board must report any recommendations approved by at least 8 board members to the governor and specified committees of the general assembly by September 1, 2024, and at least every 2 years thereafter. Direct care employers are required to provide annual notices to direct care workers regarding: Their rights and the obligations of direct care employers under the act; Any minimum direct care employer standards and local jurisdiction employment standards applicable to direct care workers; and Contact information for obtaining assistance from the department. Direct care employers are prohibited from retaliating against direct care workers for participating in board meetings and activities. The board is subject to a sunset review and repeal on September 1, 2029. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates: $186,876 from the general fund to the department of labor and employment for use by the executive director's office to implement the act; and $60,358 from the general fund and anticipates $60,358 in federal funds to the department of health care policy and financing to implement 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 states that the following projects within a natural stream system for certain restoration purposes (stream restoration project) do not cause material injury to a vested water right and are not an unnecessary dam or other obstruction: A stream restoration project that is limited to certain minor restoration activities; and A stream restoration project that has obtained any applicable permits or is under construction or completed by August 1, 2023. The act prohibits the owner or proponent of a stream restoration project from installing the stream restoration project in a manner that adversely affects water diversion or measurement structures without the permission of the owners of the structures. 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 appropriates the following amounts for the 2023-24 state fiscal year from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects: Continuation of the satellite monitoring system, $380,000; Continuation of the floodplain map modernization program, $500,000; Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $500,000; Continuation of the watershed restoration program, $500,000; Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $150,000; Continuation of the weather forecasting partnership project, $1,000,000; Support for the division of water resources mobile field data collection application project, $800,000; Continuation of the reservoir enlargement assessment project, $1,000,000; Support for the central Colorado water conservancy district augmentation efficiency project, $3,000,000; and Support for the state water plan advancement project, $2,000,000. The act directs the state treasurer to transfer the following amounts on July 1, 2023, from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the CWCB construction fund, and appropriates those amounts from the CWCB construction fund to the CWCB for the following projects: Continuation of the Platte river recovery implementation program, $19,000,000; Support for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program and the San Juan river basin recovery implementation program, $15,000,000; and Additional and continued support for the Frying Pan - Arkansas project, $20,000,000. The act directs the state treasurer to transfer the following amounts from the CWCB construction fund on July 1, 2023: $2,000,000 to restore the fish and wildlife resources fund; Up to $2,000,000 to the CWCB litigation fund to assist in addressing legal issues associated with compact compliance and other litigation activities; and $2,000,000 to the water plan implementation cash fund for continuation of the water plan implementation grant program. The act appropriates $25,200,000 of sports betting revenues from the water plan implementation cash fund to the CWCB to fund grants that will help implement the state water plan. The act appropriates $8,000,000 from the wildlife cash fund to the division of parks and wildlife to purchase up to 924 acre-feet of orphan shares from the CWCB as part of the Chatfield reservoir reallocation project. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a water testing program for mobile home parks (parks). The testing program is developed and administered by the water quality control division (division) in the department of public health and environment (department). The act also sets testing prioritization criteria and testing standards. Within 10 days after receiving test results, the division will notify the following of the test results and, if the testing reveals a water quality issue, include information about the availability of the complete test results, any violation of water quality standards, recommended actions, remediation, and the grant program established in the act: The park owner; The county department of health where the park is located; The municipality where the park is located, if any; The division of housing in the department of local affairs; The water supplier; and The environmental justice ombudsperson (ombudsperson). Upon receiving the notice, the park owner must: Notify the park residents within 5 days in the language chosen by the residents; Comply with orders of the division; and Not impose the cost of compliance on park residents. Within 120 days after receiving the notice, the park owner must prepare and submit to the division a remediation plan. The park owner must complete the remediation plan based on a schedule approved by the division, consult with the division, and provide a reasonable and sufficient amount of accessible drinking water or department-approved filters to park residents if necessary to address acute health risks. The division will coordinate with the division of housing in the department of local affairs to identify potential money, including grant money from the grant program created in the act, to support park water quality remediation. The division will develop an action plan to address and improve water quality in parks. Standards are established for the action plan and the development of the action plan. The act creates a grant program to help park owners, nonprofit entities, and local governments address water quality issues in parks. Standards are set for obtaining and spending grants. The division will implement and administer the grant program. The general assembly will annually appropriate money to the department to fund the grant program. The act is enforced by the attorney general and the division, which may issue cease-and-desist orders. The attorney general may request a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, permanent injunction, or any other relief necessary to protect the public health, water quality, or environment. The act establishes that: The division may impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 plus an additional $5,000 per full calendar month the violation continues; A park owner that fails to register under the "Mobile Home Park Act Dispute Resolution and Enforcement Program" violates the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act"; Retaliation against a tenant for making a complaint is prohibited; and A person may bring a civil action under the "Mobile Home Park Act". Civil penalties are deposited in the mobile home park water quality fund to be used to provide grants through the grant program and for the division to administer and enforce the act. The ombudsperson is given the duty to represent park residents in matters of water quality. The act adds water quality issues to the database created by the "Mobile Home Park Act Dispute Resolution and Enforcement Program", which tracks complaints filed against parks. To implement the act, $3,611,859 is appropriated from the general fund to the mobile home park water quality fund, of which $3,407,448 is reappropriated to the department for administration, personal services, and the purchase of legal services, and $136,885 is appropriated from the general fund to the mobile home park act dispute resolution and enforcement program fund for use by the department of local affairs. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, the act requires a health insurer or pharmacy benefit manager to include in the calculation of a covered person's contributions toward cost-sharing requirements, including any annual limitation on a covered person's out-of-pocket costs, any payments made by or on behalf of the covered person for a prescription drug if: The prescription drug does not have a generic equivalent or, for a biological product, a biosimilar drug or interchangeable biological product; or The prescription drug has a generic equivalent, a biosimilar drug, or an interchangeable biological product, but the covered person is using the brand-name drug after obtaining prior authorization, complying with a step-therapy protocol, or otherwise receiving approval from the carrier or pharmacy benefit manager if those utilization management processes are not otherwise prohibited by law. The commissioner of insurance is authorized to adopt rules necessary to implement the act. The act applies to health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. 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.)
As part of an effort to simplify the sales and use tax system, the department of revenue (department) created the electronic sales and use tax simplification system (SUTS), which is a one-stop portal designed to facilitate the collection and remittance of sales and use tax. As soon as possible, but no later than January 1, 2025, the act requires the department to modify SUTS: To populate a local account number on all returns and summary reports, if the retailer filing the return has a number and provides the number in SUTS; By developing a simplified user interface for filing returns as an alternative to the current spreadsheet method; To provide retailers with a bulk testing option for address files; and To include additional use taxes, additional information about deductions, filtering options, and certain tabs. With the exception of charges for payments by credit cards, the act prohibits the department from imposing a convenience fee or any other type of charge for a payment through SUTS and from passing those charges on to local taxing jurisdictions. The act also requires the department to: Create a campaign to promote SUTS for the purpose of increasing the awareness, participation, and compliance by retailers and local taxing jurisdictions; and Solicit and consider feedback from interested stakeholders about enhancements to SUTS that lead to greater local taxing jurisdiction participation and greater compliance by retailers. 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 implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report on the sex offender management board (board) by: Continuing the board for 5 years, until September 1, 2028; Clarifying that supervising officers are required to follow guidelines and standards and directing agencies that employ supervising officers to collaborate with the board to hold accountable those who fail to do so; Repealing the limitation on the number of treatment providers (providers) given to offenders when choosing a provider, and requiring that the supervising agency of each adult sex offender and juvenile who has committed a sexual offense (offender) shall provide the offender with a complete list of approved providers who have the expertise to work with the specific risks and needs of that particular offender. If the offender is a person with an intellectual and developmental disability, the supervising agency shall make a recommendation to a provider approved by the board to work with that population. Requiring standards compliance reviews on at least 10% of providers every 2 years; Updating language concerning fingerprints to reflect current practice; and Relieving the department of regulatory agencies of its responsibility to publish a list, together with the board, of approved providers. In addition to the recommendations made by the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report, the act: Updates and clarifies the definitions for "adult sex offender", "juvenile who has committed a sexual offense", and "sex offender"; Requires each presentence report prepared regarding an offender contain the results of an evaluation for treatment and risk, procedures for monitoring behavior for the protection of victims and potential victims, and an identification developed pursuant to statute; Ensures that, to the extent possible, treatment options for an offender are responsive to the age and developmental status of the offender at the time of treatment, as well as the linguistic, cultural, religious, and racial characteristics; sexual orientation; gender identity; and gender expression of the offender being treated; Requires the board, in collaboration with the state board of parole, to revise the specific sex offender release guideline instrument, on or before December 1, 2023, for those inmates classified as sex offenders with determinate sentences. The revised release guideline instrument must incorporate the concepts of risk-need-responsivity or another evidence-based correction model and be as flexible as possible to ensure that the offender has timely access to necessary programs. Requires the department of corrections (department) to identify all inmates who are classified to undergo treatment, eligible to receive treatment, and have not been provided with the opportunity to receive such treatment while incarcerated. For each such inmate, the department is required to report specified individual data to the board on or before July 31, 2023. Further requires the department to report to the board aggregate data on the identified offender population on or before July 31, 2023; Creates a subcommittee of the board with representative stakeholders to: Study and develop solutions to address treatment resources for offenders who are incarcerated or in the custody of the department; Analyze data and identify barriers faced by the department in providing timely access to treatment to offenders; Make recommendations for eliminating those barriers; Review and consider revisions to the department's policies and regulations to prevent unnecessary backlog in making treatment accessible to inmates who require treatment to meet parole eligibility requirements; Review parole guidelines for offenders with determinate sentences and make revisions to prevent unnecessary backlog in treatment to meet parole eligibility requirements; and Determine how to increase the number and availability of approved providers and other resources for offenders. Clarifies that placements and treatment options for juvenile offenders must reflect the complex needs of the juveniles served and that the division of youth services is responsible for working with juvenile offenders; Allows the department to employ or contract with an individual or entity to provide sex-offender-specific evaluation, treatment, or polygraph services if the director of the program is a board-approved provider and conforms with the guidelines and standards established by the board; and Specifies the qualifications that providers must have and when the department may terminate a contract with a provider. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $163,946 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of public safety for use by the division of criminal justice for sex offender supervision. An additional $43,122 is appropriated from the general fund to the judicial department for general courts administration. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
A board of county commissioners is currently authorized to license and regulate an owner or owner's agent of a lodging unit that is rented or advertised for short-term stays, and "owner's agent" expressly excludes an internet hospitality service. The act modifies this regulatory authority by clarifying that it applies to lodging units that are available for short-term rentals, which are rentals for less than 30 days, and by excluding a hotel unit from the scope of the authority. The act also changes "internet hospitality service" to "vacation rental service" (service), defines the term, and provides separate authority for a board of county commissioners to regulate a service. This authority, however, is limited to requiring: An owner or owner's agent to include a rental license or permit number, if applicable, in any listing for a lodging unit on the service's website or other digital platform; and The service to remove a listing from the service's website or other digital platform, if properly notified by a county that the owner of the listed lodging unit has had a local short-term rental license or permit suspended or revoked or has been issued a notice of violation or similar legal process for not possessing a valid local short-term rental license or permit or that the county has a prohibition on short-term rentals that applies to the lodging unit. Upon the request of an owner of a hotel unit that is located in a building with one or more lodging units or a vacation rental service on which the hotel unit is listed, a county is required to provide written verification that the hotel unit is exempt from the ordinance because it is not a lodging unit. 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.)
Current law authorizes the director of the division of labor standards and statistics in the department of labor and employment (director) to create and administer a process to accept and mediate wage complaints, to provide legal resources concerning alleged wage inequity, and to promulgate rules as necessary for this purpose. The act changes these authorizations to requirements and further requires the director to create and administer a complaint mediation process by July 1, 2024. Additionally, the act requires the director to: Investigate complaints or other leads concerning employer violations of wage inequity; Upon finding a violation, order compliance and relief; and Promulgate rules to enforce the act. The act also requires an employer to: For each job opportunity, follow specific guidelines for posting the opportunity and provide specific information to employees regarding the compensation, benefits, and date that the application window is anticipated to close; and Make reasonable efforts to make known information regarding the candidate who is selected for the job opportunity. For positions with career progression, the act requires an employer to disclose and make available to all eligible employees the requirements for the career progression. $412,438 is appropriated from the general fund to implement the act. Of that sum, $292,590 is appropriated to the department of labor and employment and $119,848 is appropriated to the department of personnel. 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.)
