The act requires the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) to enact a policy directing the department of higher education (department) to develop student success measures that measure the progression of students through postsecondary education and the impact of postsecondary pathways on a student's career opportunities and success. The student success measures must include postsecondary success measures and workforce success measures. The act requires the department to create and maintain a statewide student success data system that includes institution-specific interfaces and a public interface. An institution interface includes student success data that may be more timely, more granular, appears in a different format, or include functionality that is different from information provided on the public interface. The public interface includes student success information that is aligned with the student success measures and must allow a user to view and compare student workforce success information for specific institutions of higher education in Colorado. The commission determines the information included in the public interface and how that information is disaggregated by various student populations, such as populations identified by race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic factors. The department may include in the statewide data system employment and wage outcome data of a workforce development or training program that joins the data system. The act requires the commission to use the data included in the institution and statewide data system to examine educational and workforce success disparities among various student populations. The act requires the commission to facilitate information sharing among institutions about practices implemented by an institution based on data learned from the data system. The department may enter into an agreement with a third party to create and maintain the data system. The act requires the department to update and modernize its data collection systems to facilitate the collection of student success data. The act appropriates $3 million from the workers, employers, and workforce centers cash fund to the department for the data system. The appropriation is from the money in the cash fund that originated from the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies, as contained in the department's sunset review of the regulation of persons in connection with the control of asbestos, as follows: Continues the regulation for 5 years, until September 1, 2027; Removes limits on the ability of the air quality control commission to promulgate rules more stringent than the standards set forth in the federal "Occupational Safety and Health Act" (OSHA) and federal regulations promulgated pursuant to OSHA; and Requires a local government to add language regarding asbestos inspections on each application to renovate or demolish property. The act also: Expands the definition of "area of public access" to include any building, facility, or property that a member of the general public can enter or be exposed to asbestos; Amends the definition of "asbestos abatement" to include conducting a major spill response to prevent the escape of asbestos fibers into the atmosphere; Adds a definition of "facility"; and Expands the types of facilities for which a person must be certified before conducting asbestos inspections or asbestos abatement actions from schools or public or commercial buildings to any building, facility, or property.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires that before a person conducts a controlled burn, the person must provide notice in accordance with any local rules and regulations and if there are no local rules and regulations, then the notice is provided to the local dispatch center, the county sheriff, and where applicable to the fire department (defined to include a fire protection district as well as a county, municipality, or metropolitan district or county improvement district that provides fire protection). The act also defines "controlled burn" to include specific types of burns that are intentionally started on private property that is not classified as agricultural land. The act requires the state treasurer to transfer $100,000 from the general fund to the local firefighter safety and disease prevention fund for need-based grants to volunteer fire departments. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the circular economy development center (center) in the department of public health and environment (department). The purpose of the center is to grow existing markets; create new markets; and provide necessary infrastructure, systems, logistics, and marketing to create a sustainable circular economy for recycled commodities and compost in Colorado. On or before July 1, 2023, subject to available appropriations, the department must contract with a third-party administrator to operate the center. The center must conduct a statewide, end-market gap analysis and opportunity assessment and submit a final report of the analysis and assessment to the department by August 1, 2024. Beginning September 1, 2023, and on or before each September 1 thereafter, the center must also submit a report to the department describing the progress of the center. The department must include the report in its annual presentation to the general assembly pursuant to the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act". The center is repealed, effective September 1, 2030. Before the repeal, the activities of the center are scheduled for a sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies. The act requires the front range waste diversion enterprise (enterprise), in coordination with the department, to pay for direct and indirect costs associated with the operation of the center through the front range waste diversion cash fund (fund). The act also makes changes to the front range waste diversion enterprise grant program as follows: Current law imposes limitations for grant applications that are received from a waste hauler or a landfill owner or operator. Specifically, as to the portions of such an application that relate to infrastructure or equipment, only 50% of infrastructure or equipment can be funded through the grant program and, if the board of directors of the enterprise (board) awards a grant to a waste hauler or landfill owner or operator for infrastructure or equipment, the grantee is ineligible to receive a grant for the following 5 years. The act removes these limitations. Current law prohibits the board from allocating more than 20% of the annual fund revenue in any single grant award. The act raises this maximum to 50%. The act also requires the department to use money appropriated from the recycling resources economic opportunity fund to pay for up to 40% of the direct and indirect costs associated with the operation of the center. Under current law, the solid waste user fee is repealed, effective July 1, 2026. The act eliminates this repeal date and extends, from September 1, 2029, to September 1, 2030, the repeal date of a specific user fee that is associated with the solid waste user fee. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the wildfire mitigation resources and best practices grant program (grant program) within the Colorado state forest service (forest service). To be eligible to receive a grant, a recipient must be an agency of local government, a county, a municipality, a special district, a tribal agency or program, or a nonprofit organization. The forest service is tasked with reviewing grant applications. Grants must be awarded only to applicants proposing to conduct outreach among landowners in high wildfire hazard areas, and the forest service must consider the potential impact of an applicant's proposed outreach when awarding grants. The forest service must report to the wildfire matters review committee on the grant program. Commencing no later than the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act requires the general assembly to annually appropriate money from the general fund to the healthy forests and vibrant communities fund to implement the grant program. The act extends the existing income tax deduction created to offset the landowner's costs incurred in performing wildfire mitigation measures, currently set to expire with the 2024 income tax year, through the 2025 income tax year. The act also creates a state income tax credit to reimburse a landowner for the costs incurred in performing wildfire mitigation measures on the landowner's property. Specifically, a landowner with a federal taxable income at or below $120,000, annually adjusted for inflation and rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, for any income tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2023, but prior to January 1, 2026, is allowed a state income tax credit in an amount equal to 25% of up to $2,500 in costs for wildfire mitigation measures. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the wildfire mitigation incentives for local government grant program (grant program) in the Colorado state forest service (forest service). The grant program is established to provide state funding assistance in the form of grant awards to local governments to either match revenue raised by such governments from a dedicated revenue source or to expand existing programs administered by the local government on a long-term basis, which efforts are intended to be used for forest management or wildfire mitigation efforts at the local level. Such wildfire mitigation efforts include, without limitation, projects that promote fuel breaks, forest thinning, a reduction in the amount or extent of fuels contributing to wildfires, outreach and education efforts directed at property owners and other members of the public, and any other means of forest management or wildfire mitigation as determined appropriate for funding by the forest service. On or before March 1, 2023, the forest service is required to adopt polices, procedures, and guidelines for the grant program that include, without limitation: Procedures and timelines by which an eligible recipient may apply for a grant; Criteria for determining grant eligibility and grant amounts; and Reporting requirements for grant recipients. Any funding awarded under the grant program must match either revenues raised by the local government from a dedicated revenue source or supplement existing programs administered by the local government on a long-term basis, which efforts are intended to be used for forest management or wildfire mitigation efforts at the local level in accordance with policies, procedures, and guidelines developed by the forest service. A local government is eligible for funding under the grant program even in the absence of a dedicated revenue source if the local government has created and administers an existing program, project, or funding mechanism that creates long-term funding at the local level for wildfire mitigation or forest health or has created and administers other creative and innovative approaches for promoting wildfire mitigation and forest health. In allocating funding under the grant program, preference must be given to certain eligible recipients based on prioritization factors enumerated in the act. Eligible recipients may apply for funding from the grant program, and the recipient's application for funding may be approved by the forest service before the local government has created a dedicated revenue source that forms the basis for the match if the electors of the local government approve a ballot issue creating the revenue source at an election that takes place in the same calendar year in which the funding is awarded. The act creates the wildfire mitigation incentives local government grant program fund (fund) in the state treasury. On July 1, 2022, the state treasurer is required to transfer $10 million from the general fund to the fund. The forest service is to use the money transferred to fund awards under the grant program and pay the administrative costs of the forest service in administering the grant program. On or before November 1, 2024, and on or before November 1 of each year thereafter, the forest service is required to publish a report summarizing the use of all of the money that was awarded under the grant program in the preceding fiscal year. The act specifies additional required components of the report. The report must be posted on the website of the forest service. The act requires the Colorado department of higher education to summarize the information contained in the report in its "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearings. The act requires the forest service to prepare educational materials concerning the grant program and to display such materials on its official website. The forest service is also required to undertake outreach activities to inform local governments located in priority areas for wildfire mitigation of the grant program. The grant program is repealed, effective September 1, 2027. Before its repeal, the department of regulatory agencies is required to review the grant program as part of the general assembly's review of regulatory agencies and functions for repeal, continuation, or reestablishment. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For state fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23, $1,000,000 is annually appropriated from the general fund to the department of human services for use by administration and finance for grants for operational expenses related to the Colorado 2-1-1 collaborative. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, an additional $55,645 is appropriated from the general fund to the department for use by administration and finance for the 2-1-1 collaborative based on the assumption that the department will require an additional 0.9 FTE. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to prepare a behavioral health rates report of medicaid reimbursement rates for community mental health providers and independent mental health and substance use treatment providers. The department shall hire an independent auditor to prepare the behavioral health rates report. The department shall, in coordination with the behavioral health rates report, prepare recommendations to create equitable payment models between providers of community mental health centers and independent mental health and substance use treatment providers providing comparable behavioral health services. The department shall present the behavioral health rates report and recommendations to the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee. The audit conducted must reflect data from state fiscal year 2020-21 and include a determination and recommendations on the adequacy of reimbursement rates paid to medicaid mental health providers. The department shall present an action plan to implement changes to reimbursement rates based on the findings of the audit to the joint budget committee before November 15, 2022. The department shall also prepare an annual progress report on the state's progress in implementing the action plan and provide an update at the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing on or before August 1, 2023, and annually thereafter through August 1, 2025. The act requires the department to fully implement the action plan no later than December 31, 2025. The department shall publish an annual cost report on or before March 15, 2023, and each year thereafter. The department shall establish a cost report template and cost reporting schedule to assist community mental health centers in relaying cost information to the state department. The department shall establish a transparency report that translates the cost report data into meaningful and actionable information to ensure equity in provider compensation and adequate access to care for medicaid members. The department shall redact certain information from the cost reports to ensure compliance with state and federal privacy laws. The department shall create a publicly accessible website providing information on the behavioral health rates reports and information to assist the public, medicaid providers, and medicaid members in understanding the published information. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act enacts the "Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals Consumer Protection Act" to establish a regulatory scheme that prohibits the sale or distribution of certain products that contain intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS chemicals). On and after January 1, 2024, a person shall not sell or distribute in the state any products in the following product categories if the products contain intentionally added PFAS chemicals: Carpets or rugs; Fabric treatments; Food packaging; Juvenile products; and Oil and gas products. On and after January 1, 2024, a manufacturer of cookware sold in the state that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals in the handle of the product or in any product surface that comes into contact with food, foodstuffs, or beverages is required to: List the presence of PFAS chemicals on the product label of the cookware; and Include a statement on the product label of the cookware that directs the consumer to a website with information about why PFAS chemicals were intentionally added to the product. On and after January 1, 2024, a manufacturer of cookware is prohibited from making a statement that the cookware is free of PFAS chemicals unless no individual PFAS chemical is intentionally added to the cookware. On and after January 1, 2025, a person shall not sell or distribute in the state any products in the following product categories if the products contain intentionally added PFAS chemicals: Cosmetics; Indoor textile furnishings; and Indoor upholstered furniture. On and after January 1, 2027, a person shall not sell or distribute in the state any products in the following product categories if the products contain intentionally added PFAS chemicals: Outdoor textile furnishings; and Outdoor upholstered furniture. The act includes products that do not contain intentionally added PFAS chemicals in the definition of "environmentally preferable products" for the purposes of state agency procurement. The act also: Requires a person that uses class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals (firefighting foam) to prohibit a release of the firefighting foam into the environment, fully contain the firefighting foam during its use, safely store the firefighting foam, and report certain information to the water quality spills hotline within 24 hours if there is a release of the firefighting foam into the environment; Requires a person that uses firefighting foam to report its use to the water quality spills hotline within 24 hours after the use; Authorizes the attorney general to enforce laws regulating firefighting foams that contain PFAS chemicals; and Extends to January 1, 2024, the effective date of an existing restriction on the use of firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals at certain airports.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act supports various aspects of early childhood and child care by extending current grant programs and developing new programs by making the following appropriations: $50 million from federal funds from child care development funds for the purposes of implementing the child care sustainability grant program; $16 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund for the emerging and expanding child care grant program. $10 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to implement the employer-based child care facility grant program; $15 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to implement the early care and education recruitment and retention grant and scholarship program. Of the $15 million, $5 million must be dedicated for home visiting workforce, early childhood mental health consultants, and early intervention providers. $7.5 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to implement the family, friend, and neighbor training and support programs; and One million dollars from the economic recovery and relief cash fund for the purposes of implementing the home visiting grant program. The act creates the family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) support programs, which include an advisory group and a training and support program. The family, friend, and neighbor advisory group is created to advise the department on the needs of FFN providers and to make recommendations on changes to regulations, policies, funding, and procedures that would benefit the FFN community. The family, friend, and neighbor support program is created to allow community-based organizations and nonprofit organizations that have expertise working with FFN providers to provide them with information, training, materials, and technical assistance to support best practices. Subject to available appropriations, the department of early childhood shall make existing state programs available to the FFN community, including, but not limited to, home visitation, early intervention, early childhood mental health, workforce recruitment and retention, and family resource center services. The act creates the home visiting grant program, in which "home visiting" means a voluntary, evidence-based, 2-generation, and home-based prevention program for families with children from prenatal to 6 years of age. The purpose of the home visiting grant program is to support school readiness, social-emotional growth, and age-appropriate child development delivered by a trained home visitor. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies that the housing requirements with which agricultural employers must comply during a public health emergency apply only during a statewide public health emergency that concerns COVID-19 or another communicable disease. The act allows an alternative to compliance with the existing housing requirements by authorizing a person engaged in agricultural employment to instead comply with alternative protections identified in a public health order issued by the department of public health and environment. The act authorizes the department of labor and employment to consult with the department of public health and environment concerning the enforcement of agricultural worker housing requirements. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows the state board of human services (state board) to utilize eligibility processes from other public assistance or entitlement programs when promulgating rules for redetermining and verifying eligibility for the Colorado works program (works program). When determining income requirements for the works program, the act requires the department of human services (state department) to use an income conversion ratio for converting weekly and biweekly income to a monthly amount using the lowest ratio or methodology that results in the lowest monthly income amount allowable under federal law. Current law prohibits a person convicted of a drug-related felony offense from being eligible for assistance under the works program unless the person is determined by a county department of human or social services (county department) to have taken action toward rehabilitation. The act removes the ban on eligibility. No later than July 1, 2023, the act requires the state board to promulgate rules establishing statewide standards and procedures that require counties to: Offer an extension beyond the 60-month lifetime maximum for all households that demonstrate good cause, which includes, but is not limited to, an applicant or participant who is a child-only case, the head of a single parent household and has a child under one year of age, or experiencing hardship; and Inform and not penalize any applicant or household that demonstrates good cause for an exemption from work requirements which includes, but is not limited to, an applicant or participant who is the head of a single-parent household and has a child under one year of age or is experiencing hardship. The act requires the state department to annually review and promulgate rules as necessary to update the standard of need to ensure the standard of need is equitable, promotes economic mobility and self-sufficiency, and reflects the current economic status of the state. Current law requires the state department to ensure the amount of a basic cash assistance grant that an applicant or participant receives is equal to or exceeds 102% of the need standard for a participant in a similarly sized household on January 1, 2008. For the state fiscal year commencing July 1, 2022, the act requires the amount of the basic cash assistance grant to equal or exceed 100% of the basic cash assistance in 2021, plus 10%. For the state fiscal year commencing July 1, 2024, and each state fiscal year thereafter, the act requires the amount of the basic cash assistance grant to equal or exceed the amount of basic cash assistance for the previous state fiscal year plus a 2% cost of living adjustment or a cost of living adjustment that is equal to the average of the federal social security administration's cost of living adjustment for that fiscal year plus the previous 2 fiscal years, whichever is greater. On July 1, 2022, the act requires the state treasurer to transfer $21.5 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund (cash fund) to the Colorado long-term works reserve to cover any increase in basic cash assistance above the amount of basic cash assistance in state fiscal year 2021-22. Beginning in state fiscal year 2023-24, and each state fiscal year thereafter, the act requires the state department to first expend any money remaining that is transferred to the Colorado long-term works reserve from the cash fund. The state department shall then expend money in an amount equal to one-third of the amount necessary to cover any such increase from available "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families" (TANF) funds, and an amount equal to two-thirds of the amount necessary to cover any such increase that the general assembly appropriates to the state department from the state general fund or any other available fund. If the total statewide county TANF reserve falls below 15% of the county block grant amount, the act requires the general assembly to appropriate money from the Colorado long-term works reserve to the county block grant until the balance of the total statewide TANF reserve exceeds 15% or until the Colorado long-term works reserve falls below 25% of the state block grant amount. If the Colorado long-term works reserve falls below 25%, of the state block grant amount and the total statewide county TANF reserve exceeds 15% of the county block grant amount, the act requires counties to fund the TANF program from available TANF funds until the total statewide county TANF reserve falls below 15% of the county block grant amount. The act strongly encourages a county department to contact each participant using each method of communication provided by the participant in order to conduct exit and follow-up interviews upon case closure. The act expands the purpose of the exit and follow-up interviews to include evaluating the participant's experience with the works program, how well the program met the participant's needs and assisted the participant in meeting the participant's goals, and informing the state department of any changes to rules that are needed to improve the participant's experience. Beginning January 2023, and each January thereafter, the state department is required to submit a report to the general assembly on the effectiveness of the works program. Current law requires the state board to promulgate rules that require a percentage reduction in the basic cash assistance grant upon the imposition of a sanction affecting the grant, with the percentage to be specified in the rules but not to be less than 25%. The act requires the percentage not to exceed one dollar. The act requires the works allocation committee to review, at least quarterly, the balance of the Colorado long-term works reserve, the balance of the total statewide county TANF reserve, and the amount of basic cash assistance grants provided to participants to monitor whether the reserves will fall below specified amounts. The act authorizes a county department that is projected to exhaust all money available in the county's TANF reserve and faces a local or statewide natural disaster or other emergency to request money from the county block grant support fund. No later than September 30, 2022, the act requires the state department to develop an outreach and engagement plan to promote access to the works program for eligible persons. The act appropriates: $3,500,00 from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the department of human services for use by the office of economic security; $9,849,303 from the Colorado long-term works reserve to the department of human services; and $1,066,400 to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
