The act expands student eligibility for the educator preparation stipend programs by increasing students' expected family contribution from no more than 200% to no more than 250% of the maximum federal Pell-eligible expected family contribution. For the 2022-23 and 2023-24 state fiscal years, expected family contribution is temporarily expanded to no more than 300% of the maximum federal Pell-eligible expected family contribution. The act allows a student who is eligible for the student educator stipend program to be placed as a student educator in a school- or community-based setting in Colorado or within 100 miles of the Colorado state border. The act modifies the Colorado commission on higher education considerations of student eligibility for the educator preparation stipend programs specific to funds appropriated for the programs from the economic recovery and relief cash fund. The act broadens the temporary educator loan forgiveness program (forgiveness program) requirements to allow applicants to be principals or special service providers in addition to teachers. The act extends the forgiveness program through July 2023, removes requirements that a school's at-risk student population must exceed 60% in order for an educator to be eligible for the forgiveness program, and expands qualified positions to include positions in any public school, board of cooperative services, or facility school in Colorado. The act also changes how the program prioritizes applicants for the program. The act directs a portion of the appropriation for the 2022-23 state fiscal year to the department of education for a portfolio management system to facilitate the multiple measures approach to the assessment professional competencies. APPROVED by Governor April 10, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 10, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, every health-care provider is required to report specified information about an individual known to the provider to have a diagnosis of or a positive test for a sexually transmitted infection to the department of public health and environment or a local public health agency. The act exempts from this reporting requirement a mental health professional who is not engaged in testing a patient for, diagnosing a patient with, or treating a patient with a sexually transmitted infection. APPROVED by Governor April 10, 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 Public Airport Authority Law authorizes a county or a municipality, or a combination of counties and municipalities, to create an airport authority to operate an airport located within the county or municipality or the combination of counties and municipalities. The act modernizes the Public Airport Authority Law by: Clarifying the extent of the power of a county, a municipality, or a combination of counties and municipalities, to terminate an airport authority. The act requires a terminating county, municipality, or combination to assume the terminated authority's outstanding financial and contractual obligations, maintain the airport that the airport authority previously operated, and receive and hold title to the land on which the airport is located. Specifying that members of an airport authority's board of commissioners (board) do not receive compensation for their services, are local government officials, and are subject to the statutory ethics and conflict of interest provisions that apply to local government officials; Clarifying that a member of a board who was appointed to fill a vacancy may be appointed to serve a successive term, and that board meetings are subject to statutory open meetings requirements; Changing the requirement that 60% of board members be present for a quorum to 50%; Clarifying that the majority vote of all members of a board is required for questions involving the inclusion in or exclusion from an airport authority of a municipality or county and for authorizing an expenditure greater than $250,000; Modifying the process by which a board procures contracts, including updating the process for a board to award a contract to the lowest bidder after soliciting an invitation for bids and clarifying that the process to award a contract to the lowest bidder applies only to capital improvement projects and the purchase of new vehicles and equipment; Clarifying an airport authority's powers to remove hazards and encroachments, impose fees on airport users to defray the cost of operating an airport, and regulate commercial activities conducted at an airport; Clarifying that an airport authority must follow local zoning regulations when erecting structures within an airport authority and that an airport authority may invest surplus money in a local government investment pool; Allowing an airport authority to request that a county or municipality within which the airport authority is located levy a tax for the airport authority's benefit or modify or adopt certain local zoning regulations; and Clarifying that tenants or users of an airport that an airport authority operates are not entitled to any of the tax exemptions that apply to airport authorities. APPROVED by Governor April 10, 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.)
With regard to a contract between a health insurance carrier (carrier) and a licensed health-care provider (provider) for the provision of health-care services to covered persons under a health coverage plan issued by the carrier (contract), the act: Requires the carrier to offer at least one method of payment to the provider for which there is not an associated fee; and Prohibits the carrier from restricting the form or method of payment the carrier uses to make payments to the provider so that the only acceptable payment method is a credit card payment. If a carrier initiates a payment to a provider using, or changes the payment method to, electronic funds transfer payments, including virtual credit card payments, the act requires the carrier to: Notify the provider of any fees associated with the particular payment method; Advise the provider of the available payment methods and include instructions on how to select an alternative available method; and With each payment, remit an explanation of benefits. The act prohibits a carrier from charging a fee for a change in the payment method to a specified electronic transaction and allows a provider's billing service to charge a fee under certain circumstances. The act grants enforcement authority to the commissioner of insurance. APPROVED by Governor April 10, 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 law allows a municipality to levy a lien against real property for costs associated with removing weeds, brush, and other rubbish from the property. Such a lien has priority over other liens, except liens for general taxes and prior special assessments imposed by a municipality. A municipal clerk may certify such a lien to a county treasurer for collection. The act requires a county treasurer to accept such a municipal lien for collection if a municipality records a notice of lien within 4 months of abating the nuisance and certifies the amount of the unpaid assessment for which the lien was levied to the county treasurer within one year of recording the notice of lien. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 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.)
County treasurers have been ex officio district treasurers for drainage districts, irrigation districts, and internal improvement districts that provide services related to drainage and ditches (collectively, district). The act removes the duty of the county treasurer to be the ex officio district treasurer and requires district treasurers to be appointed by the board of directors of the district. The act also clarifies that the former duties of the county treasurer as the ex officio district treasurer are now solely duties of the district treasurer. Additionally, the act clarifies that irrigation district assessments and internal improvement district assessments are distributed in alignment with current law for the distribution of assessments collected by county treasurers and updates the amount of fees a county treasurer can charge and receive for collecting drainage and irrigation district assessments to 0.25% upon all money collected by the county treasurer for assessments beginning on and after January 1, 2026. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 2023 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2024 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Before passage of the act, Colorado law required a motor vehicle or a powersports vehicle manufacturer (manufacturer) to timely compensate a motor vehicle or a powersports vehicle dealer (dealer) for warranty repairs based on the dealer's typical charges for parts and labor if these charges were reasonably consistent with the law governing the setting of these charges. The act repeals the condition that the charges must be reasonably consistent with this law, requiring the manufacturer to pay the charges even if there is a dispute as to the charges. The law governing the setting of these charges is not repealed, so the charges must continue to comply with the law. Before passage of the act, Colorado law governing these charges allowed a manufacturer to challenge the setting of a labor rate or part markup if either was inaccurate or if either was substantially different than the charges of other similarly situated line-make dealers. The act repeals the manufacturer's ability to challenge these charges when the rates are substantially different than the charges of other similarly situated line-make dealers. In order to challenge the setting of a labor rate or part markup as allowed before the passage of the act, the manufacturer was required to provide the dealer a notice that explains why the calculation was subject to contest. The act changes this requirement, requiring instead that the notice must explain why the calculation is materially inaccurate. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 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, with certain exceptions, a broker engagement contract for the sale of a residential premises must not: Purport to be a covenant running with the land or to be binding on future owners of interests in the real property; Allow for assignment of the right to provide service without notice and agreement of the owner of the residential premises; or Purport to create a recordable lien, encumbrance, or other real property security interest. Any such lien, encumbrance, or other real property security interest is void and unenforceable. The act defines a "broker engagement contract" as a written contract in which a seller, buyer, landlord, or tenant of a residential premises becomes the client of a broker or agrees to retain the services of a broker in the future and promises to pay the broker a valuable consideration or agrees that the broker may receive a valuable consideration from another person in exchange for the broker producing a seller, buyer, tenant, or landlord ready, able, and willing to sell, buy, or rent the residential premises or for performing other services. A person that offers to a consumer a broker engagement contract that includes a prohibited provision commits an unfair or deceptive trade practice. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 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 makes the following changes regarding county public hospitals: Allows the board of county commissioners of a county with a population of less than 3,000 to determine, by a resolution of the board of county commissioners, that the public hospital board of trustees (hospital board) will consist of 7, rather than 5, citizens at large and specifies the length of the terms of the additional hospital board trustees in a manner that staggers the terms; Authorizes real property to be in the name of either the county or the hospital, rather than only in the name of the county; Clarifies that any indebtedness incurred by a hospital board is an obligation of the hospital board and not an obligation of the board of county commissioners; Specifies that a hospital board needs the approval of the board of county commissioners before incurring indebtedness only if the repayment of the indebtedness is dependent on tax money received for hospital purposes from the board of county commissioners; Allows a hospital board to offer to the general public products and services of any health-care organization, association, partnership, or corporation to the extent that the products and services are consistent with the powers and duties of a county public hospital; and Removes the annual 5% limit on appropriations from a county's general fund for the improvement or enlargement of any public hospital established in the county and also allows such money to be used for the operation of a public hospital. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 3, 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 a proposed metropolitan district that submits a service plan to one or more boards of county commissioners or one or more governing bodies of a municipality on or after January 1, 2024, the service plan is required to include: The maximum mill levy that may be imposed for the payment of general obligation indebtedness, as determined by the board of county commissioners of each county that is approving the service plan or the governing body of each municipality that is approving the service plan, as applicable; and The maximum debt that may be issued by the metropolitan district, as determined by the board of county commissioners of each county that is approving the service plan or the governing body of each municipality that is approving the service plan, as applicable. In addition to any other meetings held by the board of directors of a metropolitan district (board), beginning in the 2023 calendar year, the board is required to hold an annual meeting if the metropolitan district was organized after January 1, 2000, has residential units within its boundaries, and is not in inactive status. The board is prohibited from taking any official action at the annual meeting and shall ensure that the annual meeting includes a presentation from the metropolitan district regarding the status of public infrastructure projects within the metropolitan district and outstanding bonds, if any, a review of unaudited financial statements showing the year-to-date revenue and expenditures of the metropolitan district in relation to its adopted budget for that calendar year, and an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions about the metropolitan district. In addition, the board is required to provide a public comment period during the separate meeting at which the board adopts the annual budget for the metropolitan district. Prior to issuing debt to a director of a metropolitan district or to an entity with respect to which a director of a metropolitan district must make a disclosure pursuant to current law, the board is required to receive a statement of a registered municipal advisor certifying that specified limits on the maximum interest rate of the debt have been met. On and after January 1, 2024, the seller of residential real property that is located within a metropolitan district is required to provide the purchaser of the property with the official website established by the metropolitan district. The seller is required to provide the information on the Colorado real estate commission approved seller's property disclosure. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 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 defines "child-occupied facility" for the purposes of lead-based paint abatement as a building or portion of a building that is visited by a child on 2 or more days within any week, with each visit totaling 6 or more hours. The act reduces the total daily visit time to 3 or more hours. APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2023 EFFECTIVE March 31, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates an additional exception to the general prohibition on advance payment in the state's fiscal rule by directing the controller to promulgate rules providing for advance payment for the purchase of state agricultural products by a charitable food organization using state grant money. APPROVED by Governor March 31, 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.)
