Current law requires counties to give an indigent deceased person final disposition. The county may be reimbursed for this cost so long as the cost does not exceed $2,500, but if the cost exceeds $2,500, the county is not reimbursed. The bill: Raises this amount to $3,000; and Allows the county to be reimbursed, up to $3,000, when the cost exceeds $3,000.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill creates the rural development grant program to be administered by the Colorado office of economic development. The grants are to be awarded to early stage rural businesses that are primary employers in a rural area with the potential to export goods or services outside of the rural area. The businesses must be at the seed stage of capital financing, have raised less than five hundred thousand dollars of third-party capital, and are able to provide nonstate matching funding equal to at least one-third of the grant award. The grants may be used for developing prototypes, proof of business concepts, or proof of business models. The grants are funded from the general fund and are limited to no more than $150,000 per early stage rural business per year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Current law, enacted in Senate Bill 18-001, requires the state treasurer to transfer, on July 1, 2019, a total amount of $150 million from the general fund to fund transportation needs as follows: $105 million (70%) to the state highway fund; $22.5 million (15%) to the highway users tax fund for allocation in equal shares to counties and municipalities; and $22.5 million (15%) to the multimodal transportation options fund. The bill increases the total amount of the July 1, 2019, transfer to $340 million so that the amount of the individual transfer to the multimodal transportation options fund is unchanged and the individual transfers to the state highway fund and the highway users tax fund are increased to the following amounts: $266.5 million (78.38%) to the state highway fund; $51 million (15%) to the highway users tax fund for allocation in equal shares to counties and municipalities; and $22.5 million (6.62%) to the multimodal transportation options fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Beginning October 1, 2019, before entering into a professional services contract with personnel costs of $200,000 or more, school districts are required to: Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of contracting for the services rather than using district personnel to perform the services, to be completed prior to making a recommendation to contract for services; Hold at least one public hearing conducted by the school district prior to soliciting bids to provide professional services and before entering into a contract for professional services; Allow competitive bidding for the contract; Review of all bids in a regularly scheduled school board meeting, unless a special meeting is authorized; and Provide an opportunity for affected employees to counter the competitive bid. The bill defines the types of professional services to which the contract requirements apply and excludes educational services and professional services procured in the normal course of business for school construction. The contract requirements do not apply to a small rural school district, board of cooperative services, time-limited contract that the school district enters into because of an emergency, or the renewal of an existing contract entered into before October 1, 2019. The bill also requires a contractor for a contract in any dollar amount to provide proof of liability insurance equivalent in amount and scope with that provided by the school district for the contracting activity. Further, a school district shall not enter into a contract for professional services with a contractor that has committed unfair labor practices within the 5 years preceding the date that bids are solicited. In addition, the school district shall not enter into a contract that takes effect prior to the expiration of an existing collective bargaining agreement concerning the employees impacted by the new contract. The contractor may offer available employee positions to the existing employees. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Current law allows contributions to a qualified state tuition program, also known as a 529 account, so long as the distributions are used for qualified higher education expenses, with some exceptions, but not for elementary and secondary tuition expenses. The federal "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act", which became law in December 2017, added distributions for tuition expenses in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school as qualified distributions thereby allowing, on the federal level, income tax-free distributions for certain elementary and secondary education expenses in addition to already authorized income tax-free distributions for higher education expenses. The bill makes similar changes to Colorado law to allow a deduction for contributions to qualified state tuition programs for tuition expenses in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school and designating such expenses as qualified distributions, which ensures that a taxpayer does not encounter tax recapture of any claimed deductions when such contributions are distributed for tuition expenses in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Currently, under the federal educator expense deduction an eligible educator can claim a deduction, not to exceed $250, for the purchase of school supplies and certain professional development courses. The bill creates a state income tax credit for an eligible educator for the cost of expenses that qualify for the deduction that exceed $250 but are less than $750. The amount of the credit that exceeds the educator's income taxes is refunded to the educator.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Current law specifies that any individual who claims the basic standard deduction on their federal income tax return, and is therefore unable to claim a federal itemized deduction for charitable contributions, may take a deduction on their Colorado income tax return for the portion of the charitable contributions that exceed $500 that the individual makes during the tax year. The bill specifies, by removing the $500 calculation threshold, that for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2019, an individual who claims the basic standard deduction on their federal income tax return may take a deduction on their Colorado income tax return for all of the charitable contributions that they make during the tax year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
The bill creates a voluntary option for interested custodial parents who are experiencing a crisis whereby they may enter into an authorization agreement (agreement) with certified family caregiver (caregiver) to temporarily care for their child or children. Caregivers are considered mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect by law and must receive the training provided to mandatory reporters. The agreement is not a termination of parental rights, nor is it considered abandonment of the child or children or placement in the custody of a county department of human or social services for the purposes of foster care. The agreement is valid for no longer than 6 months, with an option to renew the agreement, unless the parent or parents are deployed or called to active duty in the United States military, in which case the agreement is valid for the length of the deployment plus 30 days. The terms of each agreement are specific to the parents who are entering into the agreement. It grants the caregiver the right to perform certain parental functions as specifically outlined in the agreement, and the agreement may be revoked at any time by a custodial parent. A substitute care organization (organization), which must be a tax-exempt charitable or social welfare organization, shall assist both parties in the creation and implementation of an agreement. The state department of human services (department) shall license any organization that wishes to serve in this capacity prior to the date at which the organization begins providing services to families. The department shall promulgate rules for the licensing requirements for organizations, after working collaboratively to receive recommendations for such rules from interested and affected parties. The rules must include requirements for various fingerprint-based criminal history record checks and child abuse and neglect background checks on the state's TRAILS system. The organization shall ensure that adequate notice of a child's placement with a caregiver is given to both parents. The organization is responsible for conducting a fingerprint-based criminal history record check on each adult in the nonparent's household, as well as a child abuse and neglect background check on the state TRAILS system for both the parent and each adult in the caregiver's household. The organization is responsible for ensuring that the caregiver is fully trained in the rights, duties, and limitations regarding the care of a child pursuant to the agreement. Organizations are required to collect data on agreements, caregivers, and outcomes and report aggregate data to the department. The bill establishes a provision for a parent of a minor child to create a custodial power of attorney that grants to another person certain of the parent's rights and responsibilities regarding the care, physical custody, and control of the minor child. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More
The bill creates a new public school funding distribution formula to replace the existing formula (1994 formula). The new distribution formula is effective for the second budget year following voter approval of a ballot measure that increases state revenue for funding preschool through high school public education, which is not included in the bill. The new public school funding distribution formula: Calculates a school district's (district's) total program funding by starting with statewide base per pupil funding and adding additional funding for student and district characteristics in the form of district factor funding as follows: Size factor funding; Poverty factor funding for students eligible for free or reduced-price meals; English language learner factor funding, adjusted for district size; Gifted child factor funding, adjusted for district size; Special education factor funding, adjusted for disability and district size; and Cost of living factor funding, limited to a percentage of statewide cost of living factor funding. In calculating district total program funding, the new formula: Counts kindergarten students as half-day or full-day pupils depending on the length of the kindergarten program; Counts preschool students as half-day pupils, anticipating conforming changes to the Colorado preschool program, following enactment of the bill, to remove limits on the number of 4- and 5-year-old pupils attending state-funded preschool and the pupil eligibility criteria for 4- and 5-year-old pupils; Differentiates between pupils with specified disabilities for purposes of determining the new special education factor funding, anticipating conforming changes to categorical funding programs, following enactment of the bill, to use special education categorical funding only for high-cost disability reimbursement grants; and Applies English language learner factor funding for up to 7 years to all English language learners, except for those students with no English proficiency, anticipating conforming changes to categorical funding programs, following enactment of the bill, to use categorical funding only for students with no English proficiency. The bill creates a hold-harmless provision if a district's total program funding under the new public school funding distribution formula is less than it was under the 1994 formula without the budget stabilization reduction in funding. The bill takes effect only if voters approve a ballot measure no later than the 2022 statewide general election that increases funding for preschool through high school public education. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
Under current law, a retail marijuana store is prohibited from selling any consumable product other a retail marijuana product. The bill removes that prohibition. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
The bill removes the requirement that the state assessment in social studies be administered in high school. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
The bill amends the "Life and Health Insurance Protection Association Act" as follows: Adds health maintenance organizations (HMOs) as members of the association and subjects HMOs to assessments from the association; Allocates responsibility for long-term care insurance assessments between health insurance and life insurance association members; and Requires member insurers that write health benefit plans in Colorado to collect a fee of up to $2 per month from each certificate holder, policyholder, or contract holder for each certificate, policy, or contract the member insurer issues, to be deposited into a fund for the purpose of defraying the costs of a health insurer insolvency.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
