Current law requires that a proposal to regulate a new professional or occupational group be submitted to the department of regulatory agencies (department) by December 1 of any year for a sunrise review by the department and requires the department to perform the review and report to the proponents and the general assembly by October 15 of the year following the submission. The act amends the timeline for the department to conduct sunrise reviews of proposals to regulate an unregulated professional or occupational group submitted on or after July 1, 2022, as follows: For proposals submitted between July 1 and December 31 of any year, the department must complete the review by June 30 of the following year; and For proposals submitted between January 1 and June 30 of any year, the department must complete the review by December 31 of that year. Current law allows the department to decline to conduct an analysis and evaluation after reviewing a proposal to regulate a professional or occupational group if the department conducted a review within the previous 36 months and finds that no new information has been submitted that would affect the department's previous determination. The act allows the department to also decline to conduct a review if: The proposed regulatory scheme appears to regulate fewer than 250 individuals; or At least 33 other states license, certify, or require registration of members of the same professional or occupational group. In determining whether a proposed regulation of a professional or occupational group is necessary, the act: Removes the requirement to consider whether, if the professional or occupational group remains unregulated, the potential for harm is easily recognizable and not remote or dependent upon tenuous argument; and Adds the requirement to consider whether the practitioners of the profession or occupation exercise independent judgment, and whether the public can reasonably be expected to benefit from the direct regulation of the profession or occupation if a practitioner's judgment or practice is limited or subject to the judgment or supervision of others.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Signed by the President of the Senate
The act creates the behavioral health administration (BHA) in the department of human services (department) to create a coordinated, cohesive, and effective behavioral health system in the state. The BHA will handle most of the behavioral health programs that were previously handled by the office of behavioral health in the department. The act establishes a commissioner as the head of the BHA and authorizes the commissioner and state board of human services to adopt and amend rules that previously were promulgated by the executive director of the department. By July 1, 2024, the act requires the BHA to establish: A statewide behavioral health grievance system; A behavioral health performance monitoring system; A comprehensive behavioral health safety net system; Regionally-based behavioral health administrative service organizations; The BHA as the licensing authority for all behavioral health entities; and The BHA advisory council to provide feedback to the BHA on the behavioral health system in the state. The act transfers to the department of public health and environment responsibility for community prevention and early intervention programs previously administered by the department. The act makes extensive conforming amendments. The act appropriates from the general fund to the department: $671,538 for use by the executive director's office; $542,470 for administration and finance; and $2,495,231 for use by the behavioral health administration; The act makes various adjustments to the 2022 general appropriations act for the department, the department of public health and environment, and the legislative department. The act appropriates to the department of public health and environment $638,608 for use by the prevention services division of which $48,111 is from the general fund and $590,497 is from the marijuana tax cash fund. The act appropriates to the department of public health and environment: From reappropriated federal funds $8,181,248 for use by the prevention services division; From the marijuana tax cash fund $18,127 for administration; and From the general fund $11,846 for use by administration and support. The act appropriates from the general fund to the department of health care policy and financing, $246,399 for use by the executive director's office. The act appropriates from the division of insurance cash fund $142,766 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the director of the division of professions and occupations (director) in the department of regulatory agencies to complete, on or before June 1, 2023, an audit of the regulated professions and occupations and the regulation of various professions and occupations by regulators of a specific profession or occupation (regulator) to determine what barriers exist for licensing, certification, and registration of individuals with criminal history records and, on or before July 1, 2023, to report the findings to the general assembly. The act limits the authority of a regulator to deny a license, certification, or registration based on an applicant's criminal history record on by requiring the hearing and mediation process established in current law. A regulator is required to document the grounds for the denial of the license, certification, or registration in writing to the applicant. The act clarifies that a regulator may grant a conditional license, certification, or registration to an applicant with a criminal history record consistent with the process established in current law. The director is required to compile de-identified information regarding the reasons why a license, certification, or registration was denied and make this information available to the public on the division's website. The act requires state and local agencies responsible for issuing occupational or professional credentials (occupational agency), before making a final determination that an applicant's criminal conviction disqualifies the applicant from receiving a license, certification, permit, or registration, to provide a written notice to the applicant specifying the reason for the disqualification and the right of the applicant to submit additional evidence for the occupational agency to consider before making a final determination. A final determination to disqualify an applicant based on a criminal conviction must be issued in writing and include notice of the applicant's right to appeal the determination and the earliest date on which the applicant may reapply. The act appropriates $11,036 from the division of professions and occupations cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of professions and occupations. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act: Amends the existing authority of the division of unemployment insurance (division) to issue bonds by clarifying that the division may issue the bonds through the state treasurer and granting the division the authority to levy bond assessments; Makes a temporary increase in partial unemployment benefits provided in current law permanent; Repeals the requirement that an individual wait at least one week before becoming eligible for unemployment compensation. This repeal will take effect when the unemployment compensation fund reaches a balance of at least $1 billion. Requires the division to study how to implement a dependent allowance for individuals receiving unemployment compensation. Requires the department of labor and employment to award grants to one or more third-party administrators for the purpose of providing recovery benefits to eligible individuals. The grants to the third-party administrators and the recovery benefits are funded through .00035 of the premium each employer is required to submit to the division. Provides that an individual is eligible to receive recovery benefits if the individual, regardless of the individual's immigration status: Separated from employment through no fault of the individual; received income from employment during a qualified base period or alternative base period; attests that the individual is not currently receiving any state-administered wage replacement assistance; is not eligible for state-administered wage replacement assistance for reasons related to the individual's authorization to work; and has a pay stub or form W-2 to verify the individual's employment and wage withholding. Requires an employer to provide an employee with certain information about unemployment compensation upon the employee's separation from employment; Extends the hold on an employer's solvency surcharge through calendar year 2023; Requires the state treasurer to transfer $600 million to a newly created fund. The transfer is from money received by the state through the federal "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021". The money in the fund may be used only to repay the outstanding balance of federal advances provided to the state through the unemployment insurance trust fund and interest owed on the advances. Sets forth factors that the division must consider in determining whether the repayment of overpaid unemployment compensation benefits repayment would be inequitable.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the statewide care coordination infrastructure to include a cloud-based platform to allow providers that do not utilize an electronic health record to actively participate in the care coordination infrastructure. The act requires the behavioral health administration (BHA) to: Ensure navigators are available through the statewide care coordination infrastructure website and mobile application, as well as in specific regional locations; and Utilize behavioral health administrative service organizations to help individuals and families initiate care and ensure timely access to services. To implement the care coordination infrastructure, the act requires the BHA to train new and existing navigators on behavioral health safety net system services, behavioral health service delivery procedures, and social determinants of health resources; ensure that the care coordination infrastructure can direct individuals where to seek in-person or virtual navigation support; ensure that the administrative burden associated with provider enrollment and credentialing for navigators and care coordination providers is minimal; include a summary of outcomes for individuals who access the infrastructure in the BHA's annual report; and ensure the 988 crisis hotline responds to anyone experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, documents referrals and transfers of care of persons with one or more community-based service providers, and includes connections to available behavioral health systems and services. Beginning January 2025, and each January thereafter, the act requires the department of health care policy and financing to assess the care coordination services provided by managed care entities and provide a report as part of its State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act hearing. The act appropriates $12.2 million from the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the department of human services for use by the behavioral health administration for the care coordination infrastructure. The act only takes effect if House Bill 22-1278, which creates the behavioral health administration, becomes law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act amends the criteria that the department of regulatory agencies and the general assembly must consider in sunset review hearings by removing some of the current criteria, adding new criteria, and modifying the criteria to apply to the regulation of professions and occupations and other governmental programs. The act removes the following criteria: Whether the conditions that led to the initial regulation have changed and whether other conditions have arisen that would warrant more, less, or the same degree of regulation; and Whether entry requirements encourage affirmative action. The act adds the following criteria: Whether the conditions that led to the initial creation of the program have changed and whether other conditions have arisen that would warrant more, less, or the same degree of governmental oversight; Whether regulatory oversight can be achieved through a director model; and Whether entry requirements encourage equity, diversity, and inclusivity.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the existing school leadership pilot program (program) by repealing the repeal date for the program and removing the word "pilot" from the name of the program. The act repeals the ability of the department of education (department) to award grants to the employers of school principals who participate in the program and limits the amount that the general assembly may annually appropriate for the program to no more than $250,000. For the 2022-23 budget year, the act appropriates $250,000 to the department to implement the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies the duties of the department of education (department) related to licensed personnel performance evaluation systems, including the following duties, which the department must comply with by the beginning of the 2023-24 school year: Creating a modified rubric for evaluating personnel who are consistently rated highly effective; Creating specialized rubrics for particular teacher or principal roles; Providing free evaluator training for school districts and boards of cooperative services (BOCES); Providing guidelines for incorporating a licensed person's professional growth achievements into the evaluation; and Providing best practices in methods of conducting evaluations. The act directs the state board of education (state board) to adopt rules as necessary to ensure that, beginning with evaluations completed in the 2023-24 school year: 30% of a teacher's or principal's evaluation is based on the academic growth of students, and the remainder is based on the teacher's or principal's attainment of quality standards; Of that 30%, up to 10% of a teacher's or principal's evaluation may be based on measures of collective student academic growth for a particular grade level or for an entire school, but the evaluation must not include measures of collective student academic growth for students who are not enrolled in the school at which the teacher or principal is employed; and If a licensed person has been employed by a school district or BOCES for one year or less, the person's evaluation must not include data created before the licensed person's employment began. School districts and BOCES are encouraged to experiment with innovative methods of conducting observations for licensed personnel evaluations and train multiple persons to serve as evaluators. A school district or BOCES must complete the licensed personnel evaluations within the school year for which the person is evaluated and report the performance ratings to the department by October 15 of the next school year. For the 2022-23 fiscal year, the act appropriates $452,973 from the general fund to the department. Of that amount: $343,059 is for educator effectiveness unit administration; $90,200 is for information technology services; and $19,714 is for legal services and is reappropriated to the department of law.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires new and amended state statutes that enumerate or define local government entities or agencies that are eligible for state grant or benefit programs to also designate tribal nations with jurisdiction in Colorado as eligible recipients if legal and appropriate. The legislative council staff is required to submit a report to the legislative council by December 1, 2022, identifying state grant programs in statute and whether those programs include tribal governments as eligible recipients. The office of the Colorado commission on Indian affairs is required, in consultation with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, to submit a report to the legislative council by March 1, 2023, identifying opportunities for tribal governments to be included in the operations or programs of the state as a partner, assessing whether the Colorado commission on Indian affairs can facilitate or provide those opportunities, and recommending other ways for the state to facilitate or provide those opportunities. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Colorado rotary license plate. To qualify for the license plate, a person must be a member in good standing of a rotary district of Colorado. In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees of $25 for the issuance of the plate. The fees are credited to the highway users tax fund and the licensing services cash fund, respectively. To implement the act, $18,184 is appropriated to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles, and, of this amount, $2,129 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services to the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Colorado land-based tribe behavioral health services grant program (grant program) to provide funding to one or more Colorado land-based tribes to support capital expenditure for the renovation or building of a behavioral health facility to provide behavioral and mental health services. The grant program repeals on July 1, 2027. The act appropriates $5 million from the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the department of human services for use by the behavioral health administration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
