The state treasurer is required to transfer $5 million from the general fund to the local firefighter safety and disease prevention fund (fund). The money is continuously appropriated to the department of public safety (department). The division of fire prevention and control (division) in the department is required to use the money transferred to directly pay for equipment and training for local and volunteer fire departments or to reimburse local and volunteer fire departments for the costs of equipment and training without requiring a grant application and review process. If the division determines it cannot use the full amount to directly pay for equipment and training, it may use the money for any purpose authorized prior to January 1, 2022, for money in the fund. The division is required to prioritize fire departments that it identifies as having the greatest need for assistance to ensure firefighter safety. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the equity diversity and inclusion task force (task force) established through a partnership agreement entered into pursuant to the "Colorado Partnership for Quality Jobs and Services Act" (partnership agreement) to contract for a pay equity study to assess pay inequities specific to gender, race, and other protected classes; to provide recommendations to alleviate pay inequities; and to comply with any other specifications set by the state personnel director, the task force, or the partnership agreement. A final report including findings and recommendations from the study must be provided by the contractor performing the study to the members of the general assembly, the governor, and the executive director of Colorado workers for innovative and new solutions, a certified employee organization pursuant to the "Colorado Partnership for Quality Jobs and Services Act". $500,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the division of human resources in the department of personnel for expenses in connection with the pay equity study. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes changes related to the requirements for various boards and commissions (boards). Section 1 of the act includes standard provisions that generally apply to boards for which membership is based in full or in part on representation from the congressional districts of the state. Specifically, unless a statute or constitutional provision creating a board provides otherwise: If a member appointed to represent a district no longer resides in the district due solely to a change in the district's boundaries following redistricting, the member may serve the remainder of their term notwithstanding the nonresidency; If a board increases in size due to the addition of a new congressional district in the state, the appointing authority shall appoint a new member to represent the new district as soon as practicable; and If a board decreases in size due to the loss of a congressional district in the state, the appointing authority shall determine which current member's term should be terminated, or, if the member will be replaced by an at-large or other member, which member should be replaced at the expiration of the member's term. The appointing authority must attempt to ensure that the remaining membership adequately represents the remaining congressional districts. Section 2 establishes standard provisions that apply to all boards unless the statute or constitutional provision creating a board provides otherwise. The standard provisions include: Requiring an appointing authority to fill a vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term; Allowing the designee of a state official who is an ex officio member of a board to fulfill the official's duties on the board; Defining the term "minimum majority" to mean the lowest number of members of a board that is more than half; Allowing members to participate in meetings of the board remotely if allowed by a board's policies or bylaws; and Clarifying that only a partial term that is more than half the length of a standard term counts towards any applicable term limit. Sections 33 and 40 update the statutes that establish the membership of the state board of education and the board of regents of the university of Colorado, respectively, both of which are elected boards created in the state constitution. For the state board of education, section 33 provides for the election of one new member to represent the eighth congressional district and one new member from the state at large at the 2022 general election. For the board of regents, section 40 requires the election of a member to represent the eighth congressional district in place of the election of a member representing the state at large at the 2022 general election. Sections 37, 42, 52, 60, 73, 85, 86, 90, 101, and 107 amend statutes governing boards for which membership is based on the number of congressional districts in the state. For each board, the total number of members is no longer specified. Instead, each statute provides for the appointment of members from each congressional district in the state plus, as applicable, additional members as is currently provided for each board. Provisions requiring staggering of terms and limits on the number of board members who may be affiliated with a single political party are amended to refer to a "minimum majority" of the board to accommodate any future changes in board membership resulting from changes in the number of Colorado congressional districts. Section 133 repeals a statute that addressed the impact of redistricting on boards following the 2000 federal decennial census and a statute that adjusted the lengths of terms of members of certain boards in 1987. The remaining sections of the act make changes to statutory provisions governing various boards with appointed members, including: Repealing deadlines for events or actions that have already occurred; Repealing language setting specific expiration dates or requirements for board members' terms in order to create staggering of the board members' terms and replacing it with a general requirement that terms be staggered; Repealing requirements for notice and hearing before a board member can be removed for cause by an appointing authority; Repealing, for certain boards, the requirement that a board member serve until the board member's successor is confirmed by the senate; Updating archaic language to conform to current drafting standards; Reorganizing sections to clarify requirements related to appointments, qualifications for appointees, and terms of office; Clarifying requirements related to the number of board members that may be affiliated with one political party; and Making conforming amendments.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
State sales tax is currently calculated based on the buyer's address when the taxable product or service is delivered to a consumer, and this is known as destination sourcing. There is an exception that allows small retailers with less than $100,000 of retail sales to source their sales to the business' location regardless of where a purchaser receives the tangible personal property or service. The act extends the repeal of this exception from February 1, 2022, until October 1, 2022. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, a seller, lessor, or company issuing a credit or charge card is prohibited from imposing a surcharge against a person who elects to pay for a sales or lease transaction by using a credit or charge card. The act:Repeals the prohibition; and Limits the maximum surcharge amount per transaction to 2% of the total cost to the buyer or lessee for the sales or lease transaction or the merchant discount fee, which is defined as the actual fee that a seller or lessor (merchant) pays its processor or service provider to process the transaction. A merchant is required to display notice regarding the surcharge on the merchant's premises or, for online purchases, before an online customer's completion of the sales or lease transaction.The act clarifies that a merchant is prohibited from applying the surcharge to cash or check payments, debit card payments, or payments made by redemption of a gift card.If a merchant imposes a surcharge in violation of the act, the merchant is subject to liability as a creditor under the "Uniform Consumer Credit Code".(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies what qualifies as a meeting and a location for purposes of the meeting of a board of a special district. The act also prohibits a challenge to the method of conducting any special district board meeting that was held virtually before the effective date of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under the act, a pharmacist is eligible for reimbursement under the medical assistance program for certain medically necessary pharmacist services, as described in the act, that are not duplicative of other pharmacist services or programs reimbursed under the medical assistance program. The department of health care policy and financing shall include services reimbursed pursuant to the act in the review of provider rates for the medical assistance program.Further, the act allows a pharmacist or pharmacy that dispenses or administers extended-release injectable medications for the treatment of mental health or substance use disorders to seek reimbursement for those medications under the medical assistance program as either a pharmacy benefit or as a medical benefit.The act requires that costs associated with services provided by clinical pharmacists through a federally qualified health center (FQHC) be considered allowable costs for the purpose of the FQHC's cost report and be included in the calculation of the reimbursement rate for a patient visit at an FQHC.The act appropriates $372,554 to the department of health care policy and financing from the general fund and the healthcare affordability and sustainability fee cash fund to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Before the act was passed, the law provided for an electronic system to transmit registration, lien, and titling information to the department of revenue (department).The act imposes a per-transaction fee up to $3, set by the department, on third-party providers that issue registrations and titles to administer the system. This fee will also be set and collected to reimburse the general fund for the $1,631,792 appropriated to implement the system.The general assembly is authorized to make an appropriation from the general fund or the highway users tax fund to fund the system. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $1,631,792 is appropriated from the general fund to the department.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the educator pay raise fund (fund), which consists of money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. The creation of the fund is conditioned on passage of a ballot measure by November 2027 that increases state tax revenue and requires the revenue to be deposited into the fund. The department of education (department) must distribute any money appropriated from the fund to assist school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative services in increasing teacher salaries and the hourly wage paid to other employees.The act creates the educator pay raise fund task force (task force) to recommend a process by which the department will disburse money from the fund to school districts and charter schools. The act specifies considerations that the process must address, including requiring that a school district or charter school must at least maintain the level of funding it provides for educator salaries and wages from revenue other than money received from the fund. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives must appoint the task force members who represent specific constituencies listed in the act. The task force must submit its recommendations to the education committees of the general assembly by January 15, 2022.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state forest service, at the discretion of the state forester, to implement a biomass utilization grant program (program) by awarding up to $2.5 million in grants to demonstrate the utilization of biomass throughout the state for purposes such as wildfire prevention and mitigation, increased biomass energy generation, and agricultural biochar. The forest service, at the discretion of the state forester, may administer the program with money from the healthy forests and vibrant communities fund and with any gifts, grants, and donations received.On or before March 1, 2023, and on or before March 1 in each year that the forest service awards one or more grants under the program, the state forest service shall submit a report summarizing the grant recipients' projects to the governor and the legislative committees with jurisdiction over agriculture and natural resources matters.The program is scheduled for sunset review in 2026.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act amends the high school innovative learning pilot program (ILOP) that authorizes school districts, district charter schools, and institute charter schools (local education providers) to count as full-time students high school students participating in innovative learning opportunities regardless of whether they meet the number of teacher-pupil instruction and contact hours for full-time enrollment. The act allows a school of a school district to participate in an ILOP with a district or independently and requires all applicants to demonstrate how their innovative learning plan disproportionately benefits underserved students.In selecting applicants to participate in the pilot program, the act requires the department of education (department) and the state board of education (state board) to consider whether the innovative learning plan includes opportunities for students to participate in registered or unregistered apprenticeships, internships, and technical training or skills programs through an industry provider, teacher training opportunities, concurrent enrollment, and industry certificates.Further, subject to available appropriations, the state board is encouraged to select up to 20 applicants and is not limited to choosing applicants that had part-time students in the prior year and that enroll fewer than 5,000 students.The act creates the fourth-year innovation pilot program (pilot program) in the department of higher education to disburse state funding to postsecondary education and training programs on behalf of low-income students who graduate early from a high school participating in the pilot program prior to enrolling in the fourth year of high school or prior to enrolling in the second semester of their fourth year in high school.The state funding awarded to a student graduating prior to enrolling in the fourth year of high school is equal to the greater of 75% of the average state share amount of the statewide average per-pupil funding for public elementary and secondary schools for the 2021-22 budget year, as calculated during the 2021 legislative session, or $3,500. The state funding for a student graduating prior to the second semester of their fourth year in high school is equal to the greater of 45% of the average state share amount of the statewide average per-pupil funding for public elementary and secondary schools for the 2021-22 budget year, as calculated during the 2021 legislative session, or $2,000. The state funding is disbursed to the postsecondary program on behalf of the eligible graduate and may be used for the eligible graduate's cost of attendance for the postsecondary program, as determined by the department of higher education. The local education provider from which the student graduated early prior to the fourth year of high school receives a portion of the state savings for school finance obligations due to the early graduation. An eligible graduate must enroll in a postsecondary program within 18 months after graduating or the state funding is forfeited.The act requires the department of higher education to report annually to the department, the governor's office of state planning and budgeting, the joint budget committee, and the education committees of the general assembly concerning certain information specified in the act relating to the pilot program. The act creates the fourth-year innovation pilot program fund for the pilot program. The pilot program repeals, effective December 31, 2027.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates:$220,115 and 0.3 FTE to the department of education for the high school innovative learning pilot program; and $44,222 and 0.6 FTE to the department of higher education to implement the for the fourth-year innovation pilot program .(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act subjects mortgage servicers to regulation by the assistant attorney general designated by the attorney general as the administrator of the "Uniform Consumer Credit Code". A "mortgage servicer" is a person that is responsible for servicing a Colorado residential mortgage loan. Regulation of mortgage services includes the requirements of notification, record keeping, payment of fees, compliance with applicable federal laws, reporting, examinations, inspections, and enforcement. A violation of the requirements is subject to enforcement by the administrator, which may include an order requiring the payment of refunds to injured consumers, penalties, costs, and attorney fees.$51,783 is appropriated from the uniform consumer credit code cash fund to the department of law to implement the act and is based on an assumption that the department will require 0.5 FTE to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
