The act authorizes the department of public health and environment to prohibit the chemical modification, conversion, or synthetic derivation of intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol isomers that originate from industrial hemp or may be synthetically derived. The act also creates a task force to study intoxicating hemp products and make legislative and rule recommendations. The task force will submit a report to the general assembly by January 1, 2023. The task force consists of 20 members including representatives of state government, experts in marijuana and industrial hemp regulation, persons licensed in the marijuana and medical marijuana fields, persons working with industrial hemp, testing laboratories, and a representative of a county or district public health agency. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $587,347 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department of law, $4,630 of which is reappropriated to the department of personnel. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act expands the purposes of the peace officers behavioral health support and community partnerships grant program to include hiring, contracting, or developing a remote network to provide behavioral health counseling, therapy, or other related support services to peace officers involved in job-related traumatic situations. The act appropriates $3 million from the general fund to the peace officers behavioral health support and community partnership fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The department of human services (department) is required to transfer ownership of all or part of the Ridge View campus in Watkins, Colorado to the department of personnel for use by the division of housing (division) for a supportive residential community to provide transitional housing, a continuum of behavioral health service treatment, medical care, vocational training, and skill development for its residents and the general public. The division, in collaboration with the behavioral health administration and the department of human services, is required to develop a feasible master plan for the redevelopment and operations of the Ridge View campus into the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community, including a financial plan for start-up and ongoing operational costs. The division is required to enter into one or more contracts with public or private contractors to establish the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community at the Ridge View campus. The department, in partnership with the behavioral health administration and the department of health care policy and financing, is required to work to ensure that youth bed capacity will be created elsewhere in a manner that most appropriately serves the mental health needs of Colorado's youth. The Ridge View Supportive Residential Community is required to provide the following services and programs: A transitional housing program for individual adults with case management, care coordination, and vocational and housing placement assistance; A continuum of behavioral health services and treatment, informed by American Society of Addiction Medicine standards, available to people coming from the transitional housing program and to the general public; and A federally qualified health center or other primary care clinic at which people have access to medical treatments that help facilitate recovery, including medical and dental care and a continuum of behavioral health services. The health clinic and all behavioral health services and treatment are required to be accessible to people in the transitional housing program and the general public. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, and to the extent not spent in that state fiscal year the 2023-24 state fiscal year as well, the act appropriates money from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the division for the repurposing of the Ridge View campus. The division is authorized to use up to 10% of the amount appropriated for its administrative costs in connection with the repurposing of the Ridge View campus and up to 10% of the amount appropriated for its costs in connection with transportation. The act also appropriates $44,557 from the general fund to the department for use by the behavioral health administration to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state board of health in the department of public health and environment, with regard to nursing care facilities and assisted living residences, and the medical services board in the department of health care policy and financing, with regard to adult day care facilities, to adopt rules requiring these facilities to provide dementia training for staff providing direct-care services to clients and residents of the facilities. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the connecting Coloradans experiencing homelessness with services, recovery care, and housing supports grant program (grant program), administered by the division of housing (division) in the department of local affairs (department). The grant program provides grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations to enable those entities to make investments and improvements in their communities or regions of the state to address and respond to the needs of people experiencing homelessness. The act requires the division to develop policies, procedures, and guidelines governing the administration of the grant program. The act specifies how grant funding is to be awarded and the eligible uses of grant money awarded under the grant program. The act specifies requirements for grant recipients. The act creates the connecting Coloradans experiencing homelessness with services, recovery care, and housing supports fund (fund) in the department. The act specifies requirements pertaining to the administration of the fund. The act requires a transfer of $105 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the fund to administer the grant program. The act allows for up to $5 million of the money appropriated to the fund to be used for data collection and outreach efforts. The act sets forth specified reporting requirements pertaining to the grant program. The act requires the department, in conjunction with the department of health care policy and financing, to report to the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee and the senate health and human services committee, and to its committee of reference during its "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing, any results, recommendations, and federal implications concerning any supportive housing pilot program currently being administered by the department in conjunction with the department of health care policy and financing. The act requires the division to report on the activities of the grant program as part of the regular annual public report prepared by the division on affordable and emergency housing spending. The act appropriates $9,218 to the office of information technology to provide information technology services for the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law provides whistleblower protections for workers who raise a reasonable concern about health or safety related to a public health emergency. The act expands the protection to all health and safety concerns regardless of whether there is a declared public health emergency. To implement the act, the act appropriates: $417,629 to the department of labor and employment, of which $386,579 is for use by the division of labor standards and statistics and $31,050 is for the purchase of legal services; $228,499 to the department of personnel, of which $125,000 is for use by the division of human resources for liability claims and $103,499 is for the purchase of legal services; and $134,549 to the department of law, reappropriated from the department of labor and employment and the department of personnel.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the teen parent driver's license program (program) in the department of human services (department) to provide financial assistance for the cost of driver's education school training for eligible individuals and the cost to obtain a driver's license or permit. A person is eligible for the program if the person is a parent and 15 years of age or older and under 21 years of age. The department must solicit interest and cost distribution proposals from teen parent organizations to administer the program. The department must annual report on: The total number of teen parent organizations contracted with the department; The total amount of money awarded to each teen parent organization; The location of each teen parent organization and the counties served; The total number of eligible individuals who received driver's licenses each year, disaggregated by each month; and The total number of eligible individuals who received training from a driver's education school, disaggregated by each month. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the department of human services for use by the office of economic security to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the division of housing in the department of local affairs (division) to award a grant to a local government in the Denver metropolitan area or a community partner in conjunction with a local government in order to build or acquire, and then facilitate, a regional navigation campus to respond to and prevent homelessness. The act requires the division, in collaboration with the department of human services and the behavioral health administration in the department of human services, to establish application requirements, review applications, select a grant recipient, and ensure the grant is only awarded after a fair and rigorous open competition among eligible applicants. The act creates the regional navigation campus cash fund (cash fund) and requires the state treasurer to transfer $50 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the regional navigation campus cash fund on July 1, 2022. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $44,557 to the department of human services for use by the behavioral health administration from the funds transferred to the cash fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (department), as specified in the department's sunset review of the "Speech-language Pathology Practice Act", as follows: Continues the practice act for 11 years, until September 1, 2033; Allows the director of the division of professions and occupations in the department to extend a provisional certification beyond 24 months; and Specifies that insurance fraud and abuse are grounds for discipline.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of education to identify specific goals for its foster care education initiative to improve the educational attainment of youth in foster care. The act also requires the department of education to report specified data on annual improvement of the educational attainment of youth in foster care to specified committees of the general assembly. The act creates the fostering educational opportunities for youth in foster care program (program) in the department of human services (department), modeled after an existing program in Jefferson county. Under the program, the department shall contract with at least 2 and to up to 5 additional school districts to monitor youth in foster care enrolled in the districts. The act also requires the department to annually report to specified committees of the general assembly on the program. The act appropriates from the general fund $210,677 to the department of education and $563,568 to the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
By the beginning of the 2024-25 school year and continuing thereafter, the act requires each school district, board of cooperative services, and charter school (local education provider) to ensure that each reading interventionist employed to teach children in any of grades 4 through 12, the principal in each school that serves kindergarten or any of grades one through 3, and each school district administrator with responsibility for programs in kindergarten or any of grades one through 3 successfully completes evidence-based training in the science of reading. The local education provider may request a one-year extension from the state board of education to ensure that the teachers, reading interventionists, principals, and administrators whom it employs meet the training requirements. Each local education provider must submit to the department of education (department) evidence that it is in compliance with the reading interventionist, principal, and administrator training requirements to receive per-pupil intervention money in a budget year. The act encourages the director of each public library to work with the department to provide evidence-based training in the science of reading for each librarian and to identify and provide materials and activities for parents and children to improve literacy. Each library director may prepare a plan and submit it to the state librarian describing how the director and librarians will work with children and families to support literacy. At the request of a local education provider or a library director, the department shall provide free training in the science of reading to reading interventionists, principals, and administrators employed by the local education provider and librarians employed at the public library. The act directs the state librarian to work with public libraries throughout the state to facilitate access to evidence-based training in the science of reading for librarians and assist in identifying materials and activities for parents and children to improve literacy. For the 2022-23 budget year, the act appropriates $251,139 from the early literacy fund to the department to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the victims of a violent crime brain injury task force (task force). The purpose of the task force is to develop a plan for the creation and implementation of a pilot program for the identification, screening, support, and services of victims of violent crimes for brain injury and providing those who screen positive with the appropriate support and services. The act describes the necessary elements of the plan, the membership for the task force, and reporting requirements. The task force is repealed, effective June 30, 2026. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $65,000 from the general fund to the department of public safety for use by the division of criminal justice for implementation of the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
