The act creates the purple star school program (program) in the department of education (department). The purpose of the program is to designate schools of a school district, district charter schools, institute charter schools, or boards of cooperative services (public schools) that provide services and supports to military-connected students and their families to help mitigate the academic and social-emotional challenges they may face as a result of frequent moves, new schools, parental deployments, and different social circles and experiences. The department is required to create: An application for a public school to apply for a purple star school designation; A rubric to measure whether a public school qualifies for a purple star school designation; and A timeline for a public school to apply for and to renew the purple star school designation. The department shall designate a public school as a purple star school if the public school applies and qualifies for the designation. To qualify as a purple star school, a public school shall: Designate a staff member as a military liaison; Create and maintain on the public school's website an accessible web page that includes resources for military-connected students and their families; Establish and maintain a student-led transition program that assists military-connected students who are relocating to the public school; Offer professional development for educators and staff on issues related to military-connected students; and Offer at least one of the following initiatives: A public school resolution published on the public school's website showing support for military-connected students and their families; Celebrations in April and November to recognize military children and military families, with associated events hosted by the public school; A partnership with a local military installation that facilitates opportunities for military members to volunteer on the public school's campus, speak at a public school assembly, or host a field trip; or Student-driven clubs and groups that show community-family engagement for military-connected students and their families. During the first week of April each year, the governor, or the governor's designee, shall recognize each purple star school and present the purple star schools with a certificate. A purple star school designation is valid for 3 years. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $33,247 to the department to implement the program. APPROVED by Governor May 18, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits a law enforcement officer or emergency service patrol officer who takes a juvenile into protective custody from detaining the juvenile in jail. Beginning July 1, 2024, the act requires each local law enforcement agency that has taken a person into protective custody to provide an annual report to the behavioral health administration that includes disaggregated and nonidentifying information concerning persons who were taken into protective custody in an approved treatment facility or detained in an emergency medical facility or jail. Beginning July 1, 2024, the act requires each approved treatment facility or emergency medical services facility that detains a person under protective custody or detains or holds a person on an emergency commitment to provide a quarterly report to the behavioral health administration that includes information about the persons detained or held at the facility. The act appropriates $64,738 from the general fund to the department of human services for use by the behavioral health administration. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For wage claims brought by individuals working in the construction industry, the act: Requires a subcontractor that receives a written demand for payment to forward a copy of the written demand for payment to the general contractor within 3 business days after receipt; Specifies that a general contractor entering into a construction contract is liable for all amounts owed to an employee for the employee's labor, construction, or other work, including amounts owed by a subcontractor acting under, by, or for the general contractor; and Allows a general contractor to require the following information from each subcontractor acting under, by, or for the general contractor: Pay data; Contact information; and An affidavit attesting to whether the subcontractor has participated in a civil or administrative proceeding within the last 5 years and, if so, the outcome of the proceeding. Unless a wage violation is caused by the general contractor's lack of payment to a subcontractor, the general contractor may seek indemnification from the subcontractor for all amounts owed by the general contractor for the subcontractor's wage violation. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits an employer from subjecting or threatening to subject an employee to discipline, discharge, or an adverse employment action on account of the employee's refusal to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting concerning religious or political matters or for declining to listen to the speech of or view religious or political communications from the employer or the agent, representative, or designee of the employer. With regard to state employees, the prohibitions apply only to meetings and communications relating to state employees' decisions to join or support a fraternal or labor organization. Certain employer communications are exempt from the prohibition, including communications: Required by law, a court order, or an agreement with a governmental entity to communicate to employees, but only to the extent of a legal requirement; That are necessary for an employee to perform the employee's job duties; or That are required to prevent unlawful discrimination or harassment. Certain communications from institutions of higher education and K-12 schools and school districts are also exempt when the communication is related to coursework, symposia, or an academic program. The act does not apply to certain religious corporations, entities, associations, educational institutions, societies, or nonprofit faith-based health systems or facilities. The act authorizes an aggrieved person to seek relief by filing a complaint with the department of labor and employment (department) or by filing an action in district court after the person has exhausted all administrative remedies and has filed a complaint with the department. The act also creates an affirmative defense for employers. Each employer is required to distribute, at the employer's workplace or through e-mail or a regularly used communication system, a notice to each employee of the employee rights outlined in the act. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $278,564 is appropriated from the general fund to the department for use by the division of labor standards and statistics to implement the act. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For state fiscal year 2024-25, the act appropriates $5,000,000 from the species conservation trust fund in the state treasury for various wildlife conservation programs directed at conserving candidate species or species that are likely to become candidate species, as determined by the United States fish and wildlife service, as follows: $1,800,000 for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program; $650,000 for selenium management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and control; $50,000 for 3 species recovery efforts; $1,700,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation; and $800,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act adds rare plants and invertebrates to the species that may be studied and conserved under the current "Nongame, Endangered, or Threatened Species Conservation Act", which is renamed the "Nongame, Endangered, or Threatened Wildlife and Rare Plant Conservation Act". The division of parks and wildlife in the department of natural resources (department) may undertake voluntary programs to conserve, protect, and perpetuate invertebrates. The department is required to include, in the department's SMART Act hearing, information about the investigations conducted under the act. The general assembly is required to make an appropriation from the general fund or the wildlife cash fund to study invertebrates. $774,788 is appropriated to the department for use by the division of parks and wildlife to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act enacts the "Physician Assistant Licensure Compact" (compact). The compact is designed to enable a physician assistant with a license in a state that has signed the compact (participating state) to more easily become authorized to practice in any other participating state. Participating states and physician assistants must meet specific conditions enumerated in the compact to participate in the compact. The compact allows only the participating state where a physician assistant is licensed to discipline the physician assistant, but allows a participating state where the physician assistant is practicing, but is not licensed, to revoke the physician assistant's authority to practice in that state. The act authorizes the Colorado medical board (board) to promulgate rules and to facilitate Colorado's participation in the compact, including notifying the Compact Commission (commission) established by the compact of any adverse action taken by the board against a physician assistant licensed in Colorado or practicing in Colorado under the compact. The commission includes a delegate from each participating state and has the powers and duties set forth in the act. The compact becomes effective on the date the compact is enacted in the seventh participating state. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Starting July 1, 2025, each youth sports organization shall require each coach to annually complete mandatory reporter training and shall encourage each coach to annually complete an abuse prevention training that includes: Prohibited conduct by coaches; Appropriate one-on-one interactions between players and coaches; How to recognize and appropriately respond to and prevent behaviors that violate the prohibited conduct policy; and How to respond to disclosures of sexual abuse, disclosures of child abuse, or reports of behaviors violating the prohibited conduct policy in a supportive and appropriate manner that meets the mandated reporting requirements pursuant to Colorado statutes. Each youth sports organization shall develop a prohibited conduct policy that its coaches must comply with and that must include: A list of prohibited conduct by parents, spectators, coaches, and athletes and a mandatory reporting policy for adults who have knowledge of an act of prohibited conduct; and A code of conduct for parents, spectators, coaches, and athletes to follow. The act requires the department of early childhood to make a model code of conduct available that a youth sports organization may adopt. The act requires all youth sports organization and local government coaches to obtain a criminal history record check and to not hire a coach with a record of child abuse or unlawful sexual behavior. A volunteer who is not acting in the capacity of a coach or manager and who only occasionally assists with the team is not required to obtain a criminal history record check. The act requires each local government that operates a youth athletic activity to make available a prohibited conduct policy related to youth athletic activities. The act requires the attorney general to draft a notice that explains the requirements of the act and make it available to all youth sports organizations. Each youth sports organization shall post the notice on its website or, if it does not have a website, provide the notice to parents and legal guardians. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act enacts the "Uniform Special Deposits Act" as drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, which addresses deposits at a bank where the identity of the person entitled to payment is not determined until the occurrence of a contingency identified at the time that the deposit is created. Concerns have arisen about such "special deposits" that may undermine the use of special deposits as a useful vehicle to hold funds that may be paid in the future to one or more persons depending on the resolution of one or more specified contingencies. The act addresses these concerns by reducing legal uncertainties related to the attributes that make a deposit "special" and the rights of the parties interested in the special deposit, their respective creditors, and the bank holding the special deposit prior to the resolution of the contingency. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The senior dental advisory committee created in the department of health care policy and financing is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2024. The act continues the senior dental advisory committee until September 1, 2029. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The "Colorado Digital Token Act" provides limited exemptions from the securities registration and securities broker-dealer and salesperson licensing requirements for persons dealing in digital tokens. "Digital token" is defined in the "Colorado Digital Token Act" as a digital unit with specified characteristics that is: Secured through a decentralized ledger or database; Exchangeable for goods or services; and Capable of being traded or transferred between persons without an intermediary or custodian of value. The act repeals the "Colorado Digital Token Act". APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals the pollution prevention advisory board and the pollution prevention advisory board assistance committee when the act takes effect, repeals the recycling resources economic opportunity program on October 1, 2025, and repeals the front range waste diversion enterprise and replaces it with the Colorado circular communities enterprise (enterprise). The enterprise, in merging and modernizing the purposes of the recycling resources economic opportunity program and the front range waste diversion enterprise, awards grants and other funding and provides technical assistance to local governments, nonprofit and for-profit businesses, public and private schools, and institutions of higher education throughout the state that pursue a circular economy for waste management, including waste diversion and aversion. The act also creates the statewide voluntary sustainability program to support businesses engaging, or looking to engage, in sustainability efforts. Under current law, user fees are imposed on operators of attended solid waste disposal sites (operators) to finance the recycling resources economic opportunity program and the front range waste diversion enterprise. The act applies those fees to the enterprise, requiring operators of sites located outside of the front range to pay a fee of either 2 or 4 cents per load transported for disposal and requiring operators of sites located in the front range, between July 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, to pay a fee of 74 cents per cubic yard per load transported for disposal and, on and after January 1, 2025, to pay a fee of 78 cents per cubic yard per load transported for disposal. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
