Current law authorizes an individual with a terminal illness to request, and the individual's attending physician to prescribe to the individual, medication to hasten the individual's death (medical aid-in-dying). The act modifies the medical aid-in-dying laws by: Providing an advanced practice registered nurse with the same authority to evaluate an individual and prescribe medication as a physician; Adding language specifying that if any end-of-life options conflict with requirements to receive federal money, the conflicting part is inoperative and the remainder of the law will continue to operate; and Reducing the waiting period between oral requests from 15 days to 7 days and allowing attending providers to waive the mandatory waiting period if the patient is unlikely to survive more than 48 hours and meets all other qualifications. The act also prohibits certain insurers from: Denying or altering health-care or life insurance benefits otherwise available to a covered individual with a terminal illness based on the availability of medical aid-in-dying; or Attempting to coerce an individual with a terminal illness to make a request for medical aid-in-dying medication. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Effective January 1, 2025, the act repeals the existing statutory requirement to test a person who is pregnant for syphilis at the person's first professional visit with a health-care provider or during the first trimester of pregnancy. The act requires each health-care provider to take a blood sample from each pregnant person under their care and submit the sample to a laboratory for HIV testing and, if a pregnant person declines to be tested, to document in the person's medical record the refusal to be tested. The act requires the state board of health (board), on or before January 1, 2025, to promulgate rules concerning prenatal testing standards for syphilis, including the frequency of testing. At least once every 3 years, the department of public health and environment (department) is required to review the board's rules for alignment with national prenatal testing recommendations for sexually transmitted infections and the department's infection control duties. For statistical purposes, the department is required to make de-identified case rate data for syphilis available to county and district public health agencies, which data must remain confidential. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires health benefit plans to provide coverage for doula services in the same scope and duration of coverage for doula services that will be included in the department of health care policy and financing's request for federal authorization of doula services (request) under the "Colorado Medical Assistance Act" (medical assistance program). Doulas providing services must meet the same qualifications for and submit to the same regulation as individuals providing doula services as recommended under the medical assistance program. Coverage for doula services will be implemented for large employer health benefit plans issued or renewed in this state on and after July 1, 2025, or 12 months after submission of the request, whichever is later. For small group and individual plans, doula services will be implemented if the division of insurance and the federal department of health and human services determine that the benefit does not require state defrayal of the cost of the benefit or the division of insurance determines defrayal is not required and the federal department fails to respond to the division's request for confirmation of the determination within 365 days after the request is made. The act authorizes the department of public health and environment (department) to partner with the designated state perinatal care quality collaborative (perinatal quality collaborative) to track the statewide implementation of the recommendations of the Colorado maternal mortality review committee, implement perinatal health quality improvement programs with hospitals that provide labor and delivery or neonatal care services (hospital) to improve infant and maternal health outcomes, and address disparate care outcomes among certain populations and of those living in frontier areas of the state. No later than July 1, 2025, and no later than July 1 each year thereafter, the act requires hospitals to submit specified data to the perinatal quality collaborative concerning disparities in perinatal health care and health-care outcomes and beginning December 15, 2025, to annually participate in at least one maternal or infant health quality improvement initiative (initiative), as determined by the hospitals. The act authorizes financial support for hospitals in rural and frontier areas of the state, hospitals that serve a higher number of medical assistance patients or uninsured patients, and hospitals with lower-acuity maternal or neonatal levels of care. The act requires the department to contract with the perinatal quality collaborative to issue an annual report, no later than July 1, 2026, and no later than July 1 each year thereafter, on clinical quality improvements in maternal and infant health outcomes and related data, as well as other information that can be shared with hospitals and health facilities, policymakers, and others and posted on the internet. The act includes protections for the confidentiality of certain data collected or shared under the act. No later than July 1, 2025, the act requires the medical services board to promulgate rules to include coverage under the medical assistance program of over-the-counter choline dietary supplements for pregnant people and to seek federal approval for the coverage if necessary. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $1,328,652 is appropriated from the general fund to the department, for use by the prevention services division, with the assumption that the division will require 0.9 FTE, to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The "Colorado Road and Community Safety Act" authorizes the issuance of a driver's license or identification card to an individual who is not lawfully present in the United States if the individual meets certain requirements. The act changes these requirements by: Repealing the requirement that the applicant have filed a Colorado resident income tax return; Repealing the requirement that the applicant demonstrate residency in the state for the immediately preceding 2 years; Repealing the requirement that the applicant provide a documented social security number or individual taxpayer identification number; and Allowing an applicant to present a passport, consular identification card, or military identification document from the applicant's country of origin that is unexpired or expired less than 10 years before the date of the applicant's application for a driver's license or identification document. The act authorizes the use of exceptions processing, which is a hearing to determine whether an applicant possesses evidence sufficient to prove the applicant qualifies for an identification document, for identification document applicants who are not lawfully present in the United States. The department will promulgate rules concerning exceptions processing and the use of documents issued by an agent or agency of the United States government to prove a person qualifies for a Colorado identification document. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $122,855 to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund, $14,355 of which is reappropriated to the governor's office for use by the office of information technology. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE March 31, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of education (department) to develop, review, and update state assessment administration and security policies (policies) for home-based, virtual administration of computer-based state assessments (assessments) for students enrolled full time in online schools or online programs. The policies must include, but are not limited to: Testing personnel qualifications; Maximum ratio of students to virtual administrator; Tester verification; Remote setting requirements, including restriction to other devices or people with or without internet capabilities; Monitoring of the test-taker and testing environment; Device and network requirements; Parental consent agreements; and Eligibility for schools to conduct assessments. The department's policies must support the collection of evidence and evaluation of assessment results in order to administer assessments in the 2024-25 school year, with the expectation of full implementation of assessments no later than the 2025-26 school year that result in valid scores. To establish the validity of assessments in the 2024-25 school year, the department shall conduct validation activities, gather data, and evaluate the comparability of home-based, virtual state assessments and school-based, in-person administered state assessments. To encourage student and educator participation in validation activities, the department may provide incentives. The act appropriates $440,000 to the department from the state education fund to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act imposes the following duties on each large hub airport (airport), as defined by federal law, in Colorado for accessibility-related functions at the airports: To establish an advisory committee for the cross-disabled community; To consult with the disabled community and confer with the advisory committee during the construction of walkways and other facilities at the airport; To incorporate wayfinding technology to assist individuals who are blind or visually impaired to navigate the airport; To create, maintain, and update an electronic dashboard to report and track basic access shortcomings and violations throughout the travel process; To develop and provide ongoing, comprehensive training programs for airport staff on disability cultural competency, including the presence of, use of, and best practices related to mobility devices, medical equipment, adaptive sports equipment, wayfinding, and access to the airport's accessibility features and amenities; To install and maintain restrooms for individuals with disabilities that include companion care changing tables, including at least one accessible public restroom in every terminal; and To use elevators to transport power wheelchairs from the tarmac to the jetway and give priority usage of an elevator to power wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Each airport shall monitor the completion and ongoing upkeep of compliance with the duties and functions according to the timelines established in the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the behavioral health first aid training program (training program) in the office of suicide prevention (office) in the department of public health and environment (department). The purpose of the training program is to: Improve overall community climate and promote adult, teen, and youth behavioral health, mental health, and mental well-being; Train educators and school staff; employees of community-based, youth-based, or nonprofit organizations; employees of organizations that serve underserved populations; faith-based community members; law enforcement officers; first responders; and active duty or retired military personnel (candidates) to recognize the warning signs and symptoms of mental illness and substance use among adults, teens, and youth; Train candidates on how to respond to an adult, teen, or youth who is experiencing mental health or substance use challenges; Train candidates on crisis intervention strategies and best practices; Prepare candidates to teach adults and teens how to recognize warning signs and symptoms of mental health or substance use challenges; Prepare candidates to teach teens how to find a responsible and trusted adult for assistance when a peer is struggling with mental health or substance use challenges or crisis; and Prepare candidates to teach adults how to respond to a teen or youth struggling with a mental health or substance use challenge or crisis. The office is required to contract with a Colorado-based nonprofit organization (third-party entity) to offer and administer the training program to organizations that apply to participate and are accepted in the training program that include, but are not limited to, school districts, district charter schools, institute charter schools, boards of cooperative services, the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind, local public health agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, organizations that serve underserved communities, law enforcement agencies, first responder organizations, military forces, and faith-based organizations (organizations). The act requires the office to promulgate rules to establish criteria for an application process. The third-party entity shall create an application process based on the rules promulgated by the office. In selecting organizations to participate in the training program, the third-party entity shall prioritize the organization's geographic diversity, existing resources and infrastructure, and plan to implement the training program and associated curriculum. Subject to available appropriations, the training program is available at no cost to the organizations selected to participate. The office shall use pre- and post-course surveys developed by a national mental and behavioral health organization to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. The third-party entity shall administer the pre- and post-course surveys to collect evaluation data from the organizations that participate in the training program. The third-party entity shall submit a report to the office summarizing the evaluation data collected. The office is required to include a summary of the evaluation data collected and recommendations, if necessary, concerning the training program in the office's annual report submitted to the general assembly each November 1. The training program is scheduled for a sunset review and repeal, effective September 1, 2033. The act appropriates $250,000 to the department for purposes of the training program. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 state fiscal years, the act transfers $500,000 from the breast and cervical cancer prevention and treatment fund to the breast cancer screening fund. The act also removes a requirement that the state treasurer transfer interest and income earned on money in the breast and cervical cancer prevention and treatment fund to the disability support fund. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law prohibits the use of restraints on a pregnant individual in custody with certain exceptions. The act requires the staff of a jail, the department of corrections, or a private contract prison to comply with current law regarding the use of restraints on individuals who are in custody and experiencing labor, delivery, or postpartum recovery. The act also requires a correctional facility or private contract prison to develop administrative policies, including a system for human milk storage, to ensure a newborn can receive the milk that the newborn's postpartum parent has pumped for the newborn's nourishment. The act requires each health-care facility that provides labor and delivery services to establish a policy creating a process for the facility to receive individuals who are pregnant, undergoing physiologic birth, or in the physiologic postpartum process from locations other than licensed facilities. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the regulation of physical therapists and physical therapy assistants until September 1, 2035. The act also authorizes physical therapists to recommend and prescribe durable medical equipment to patients without a prescription from a physician. The act updates the definition of the practice of "physical therapy" to include wound debridement and also adds to the definition the ongoing review, integration, and understanding of a patient's or client's prescription and nonprescription medication regimen. The act also updates the titles and abbreviations that only a person licensed as a physical therapist or a physical therapy student may use. Currently, a physical therapist is authorized to perform wound debridement under the order of a physician or a physician's assistant. The act authorizes physical therapists to perform wound debridement under the order of an advanced practice nurse. The act clarifies that a physical therapist assistant may not perform sharp wound debridement, but may perform general wound care and nonsharp debridement. The act changes the term "foreign-trained" in reference to internationally educated applicants for licensure to instead describe an applicant who is educated by a program that is not accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education or a comparable organization. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 2024 general election for approval of a 6.5% excise tax on the net taxable sales of firearm dealers, firearms manufacturers, and ammunition vendors (vendors) from the retail sale of any firearm, firearm precursor part, or ammunition in Colorado. The ballot issue allows the state to keep and spend all new excise tax revenue, as a voter-approved revenue change, and specifies that the revenue, estimated at $39 million in the first fiscal year, will be used to fund mental health services, including for military veterans and at-risk youth, school safety and gun violence prevention, and support services for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes. If voters approve the ballot issue, then the state will have the authority to impose the excise tax and the rest of the act will become effective, except that the extension of the school security disbursement program cash fund, like the provision requiring submission of the ballot issue, is effective upon passage of the act. Beginning on April 1, 2025, the act requires every vendor to file a return and remit the excise tax due on the vendor's net taxable sales of firearms, firearm precursor parts, or ammunition in the state on a monthly basis, except that a vendor making $20,000 or less in such retail sales in a previous calendar year is not required to pay the tax unless and until the vendor's retails sales exceed $20,000 in a calendar year. Sales to peace officers, law enforcement agencies, and active duty military personnel are exempt from the tax and, thus, not counted as part of a vendor's net taxable sales subject to the tax. Th act also imposes a registration requirement, making it unlawful for any person to engage in the business of a firearms dealer, firearms manufacturer, or an ammunition vendor in the state without first having registered as a vendor with the executive director of the department of revenue (executive director) on a form prescribed by the executive director. Making sales of firearms, firearm precursor parts, or ammunition without first registering with the executive director is a petty criminal offense and may also be punished by civil penalties. A vendor must file a separate registration for each of the vendor's places of business in the state, and all registrations must be renewed every 2 years. The executive director may revoke a vendor's registration, after reasonable notice and a hearing, upon a finding that the vendor has violated a provision of the excise tax statutory scheme, including by failing to file a return, remit the proper amount of tax, or preserve or allow inspection of specified books and records. A vendor's false or fraudulent return or statement or willful evasion of the excise tax is punishable by criminal penalties. All money received and collected in payment of the excise tax will be deposited, first, in the firearms and ammunition excise tax cash fund (fund) created in the act and then transferred as follows: The first $30 million in the first fiscal year and that amount as adjusted for inflation or deflation in each fiscal year thereafter to the Colorado crime victim services fund in the division of criminal justice of the department of public safety for grants to enhance or provide services for crime victims or to support crime prevention; The next $8 million in each fiscal year to the behavioral and mental health cash fund, of which $5 million must be used by the behavioral health administration (BHA), in coordination with the division of veterans affairs, to continue and expand the veterans mental health services program, while the other $3 million must be used by the BHA to continue and expand access to behavioral health crisis response system services for children and youth; and The next $1 million in each fiscal year to the school security disbursement program cash fund to fund the school security disbursement program. Subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly, the department of revenue may expend money from the fund for direct and indirect costs associated with implementing and administering the excise tax. Additionally, on June 30, 2025, and June 30, 2026, the state treasurer shall transfer from the fund to the general fund an amount of money equal to the amount of money used, if any, in the state fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26 from the general fund to pay the costs of implementing and administering the excise tax. The act also makes technical changes to the behavioral and mental health cash fund and related program statutes and to the administration provisions of title 39 regarding the executive director's authority to implement and administer the excise tax. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $383,027 is appropriated to the department of revenue, of which $172,827 is reappropriated to the department of law for the purchase of legal services, for the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE on the date of the official declaration by the governor NOTE: This act takes effect only if, at the November 2024 statewide election, a majority of voters approve the ballot issue referred in accordance with section 39-37-201, Colorado Revised Statutes, created in section 1 of this act. If the voters approve the ballot issue, thenthis act takes effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor; except that section 39-37-201, Colorado Revised Statutes, created in section 1 of this act, and section 24-33.5-1811, Colorado Revised Statutes, amended in section 3 of this act, take effect upon passage. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the educator safety task force (task force) in the office of school safety (office) in the department of public safety (department). The task force consists of the following voting members: the director of the office, teachers, education support professionals, a school support professional, school administrators, a charter school teacher and a charter school administrator, a representative of an organization representing students and families from disproportionately impacted schools, a representative of a statewide organization that represents students with disabilities, an individual who works for a nonprofit that focuses on school safety, and a restorative justice professional. The task force members must be appointed by July 31, 2024. The task force also includes the following nonvoting members: the commissioner of education, a representative of the behavioral health administration, and a student who represents a community disproportionately impacted by school discipline. The task force shall convene no later than September 1, 2024, and shall meet at least 4 times in 2024 and at least 3 times in 2025 and may hold meetings with remote participation. On or before June 30, 2025, the act requires the task force to review, investigate, and make recommendations to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, the governor, the state board, the commissioner of education, and the department concerning: Any issue relating to the safety and well-being of public school staff, including laws or regulations that affect the safety and well-being of public school staff; The effects of the declining number of education professionals on student behaviors, as well as the impact of widespread staff shortages and the effects of class size and caseloads on disruptive learning environments; Incidents of aggressive student behaviors toward educators; The work and recommendations of existing education task forces; The impact of insufficient funding, lack of coordination of services between school and community, and the lack of wraparound services on learning environments; and The role that resource inequality may play in staff safety issues. The act appropriates $146,250 for the 2024-25 state fiscal year for administrative services related to the office from the general fund to the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
