The act concerns the concept of "community choice energy" (CCE) (also known as community choice aggregation or CCA), under which a community, or group of communities, may choose to purchase their electricity from a wholesale supplier other than the local investor-owned electric utility. The act declares that CCE has the potential to enable communities to meet their renewable energy goals and to reduce their electricity rates by allowing wholesale competition and local control over the energy supplier and energy mix without changing the local utility's current status as sole supplier of electric transmission, distribution, billing, and customer service functions.To lay the groundwork for evaluating the potential adoption of CCE in Colorado, the act proposes an investigatory proceeding at the public utilities commission that would invite testimony and documentation from interested stakeholders, utilities, the public, invited subject-matter experts, and persons with firsthand knowledge of CCE operations, including regulators from states in which CCE has been implemented. The proceeding would address a series of questions and topics that are specified in the act, with the goal of better understanding CCE in the Colorado context and identifying best practices that would allow CCE to function well in Colorado if adopted. The act does not change current statutes and regulations governing the electricity system.The act directs the commission to submit a report summarizing the investigatory proceeding to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over energy matters by December 15, 2022.The act appropriates $48,391 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the public utilities commission to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act updates the methods used to determine the cost-effectiveness of demand-side management (DSM) programs of public utilities selling natural gas at retail, including requiring that the calculation of future benefits reflects the avoided costs to ratepayers resulting from reduced consumption of natural gas. The act specifies that the calculation must be based on reliable estimates and published scientific data, including an increase in the social cost of carbon dioxide from $46 to $68 per short ton, and must include methane emissions using a social cost of methane of not less than $1,756 per short ton. In addition, the act adds savings targets and budget control mechanisms to the approval process for gas DSM programs, paralleling the existing process that applies to electric DSM programs. Section 5 of the act specifies labor standards that apply to all necessary plumbing, mechanical, and electrical work performed in connection with DSM projects for which a utility customer is eligible for a rebate from the utility. Under these standards, the utility may assign its own employees to do the work, but if a contractor is to be hired for a project in a commercial or industrial building or multifamily residential structure, the contractor must be chosen from a list of qualified contractors maintained by the Colorado department of labor and employment. To be eligible for inclusion on the list, a contractor must participate in specified apprenticeship programs. In addition, for smaller residential projects, the utility must condition customer rebates on the customer's use of licensed plumbing and electrical contractors.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, it is unlawful for a person to make available on the internet the personal information of certain law enforcement officials or certain human services workers if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the official's or the worker's safety or to the safety of the official's or the worker's immediate family. The act extends the crime to include the following persons:An employee or contractor of the department of corrections who has contact with persons in the custody of the department of corrections; A noncertified deputy sheriff or detention officer who has contact with inmates; An employee or contractor of a community corrections program who has contact with offenders in the program; and Public defenders and alternate defense counsel. The act redefines "law enforcement official" and includes officials covered under that statutory definition within the broader definition of "protected person". Further, the act repeals the crime specific to law enforcement officials and includes those officials within the same crime that is now inclusive of all protected persons.In addition, the act adds all protected persons to the statutory provision that allows protected persons to submit a written request to a state or local government official to remove personal information, as defined in statute, from public records that are available on the internet.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the hospice and palliative care license plate for vehicles. A person is qualified to be issued the plate if the person makes a donation to a designated nonprofit organization. The person must also make an annual donation to the organization.In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees for the issuance of the plate. One of these fees is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other fee is credited to the licensing services cash fund.To implement the act, $6,907 is appropriated to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review of and report on the state board of pharmacy (board) and its regulation of the practice of pharmacy and makes other modifications to the laws regulating the practice. Specifically:Sections 1 and 2 of the act continue the board and its functions for 9 years, until 2030, and consolidate within the sunset review the board's functions regarding the regulation of therapeutic interchange and therapeutically equivalent selections and of collaborative pharmacy practice agreements; Sections 3, 9, 10, 11, 18, 20, and 25 to 29 align the pharmacy practice act with the federal "Drug Quality and Security Act"; Section 3 also: Clarifies that an out-of-state pharmacy need not register with the board when distributing prescription drugs to in-state pharmacies under common ownership with the out-of-state pharmacy if the drugs remain in the original manufacturer's packaging and are not compounded and the transfer is necessary to address an inventory shortage; Includes in the definition of "other outlet" a community mental health clinic, a behavioral health entity, and an approved treatment facility, thereby allowing those facilities to register with the board and operate as a pharmacy outlet; Repeals the term "pharmaceutical care" and replaces it with "pharmacist care services" to reflect the services pharmacists provide in addition to compounding and dispensing drugs; Adds functions to the scope of practice of a pharmacy technician, such as documenting medical history and replenishing automated dispensing devices; and Adds functions to the scope of practice of a pharmacist, such as prescribing certain drugs for limited conditions, ordering and evaluating laboratory tests, and performing limited physical assessments; Section 4 specifies that, of the pharmacist members of the board, one must be practicing in a hospital setting, one must be practicing in a chain pharmacy, and one must be practicing in an independent pharmacy; Section 5 repeals the requirement that the board justify its reasons for deviating from a recommendation from the veterinary pharmaceutical advisory committee; Sections 5, 6, 21 to 25, and 35 make technical amendments to the pharmacy practice act, such as eliminating references to "diversion" in the peer health assistance program and correcting erroneous references to wholesalers as "licensed" rather than "registered"; Section 6 grants the board authority, after conducting a risk-based assessment, to inspect out-of-state pharmacies, out-of-state wholesalers, and nonresident 503B outsourcing facilities and requires the board to send quarterly electronic newsletters to pharmacists regarding updates in the law that affect the practice; Sections 7, 16, and 32 to 34 require pharmacists and pharmacies, as well as insurance companies that underwrite professional liability insurance for pharmacists and pharmacies, to report malpractice settlements and judgments to the board; Section 8 specifies tasks that a pharmacist may delegate to ancillary pharmacy personnel under the pharmacist's supervision; Section 10 increases the amount of medication that may be dispensed to an emergency room patient from a 24-hour supply to a 72-hour supply and allows a hospital to dispense a prescription drug to a hospitalized patient who leaves the hospital on a day pass; Sections 3, 12, and 31 authorize pharmacists to prescribe opiate antagonists; Sections 3 and 13 repeal the requirement that the label on an anabolic steroid prescription indicate the purpose for which the prescription was written; Section 14 authorizes a pharmacist, under specified circumstances, to substitute a drug in the same therapeutic class as the prescribed drug; Section 15 authorizes pharmacists to make specified types of minor adaptions to prescriptions; Section 16 specifies that a licensee, certificant, or registrant may be disciplined for habitual or excessive use or abuse of alcohol, habit-forming drugs, or controlled substances, but not for having a substance use disorder; Section 17 eliminates the requirement that the board send letters of admonition by certified mail; Section 19 requires the board to allow electronic storage of pharmacy records; Section 20 requires a pharmacist, with certain exceptions, to provide patient counseling in new medication therapy and authorizes a pharmacist, in the pharmacist's professional judgment, to provide patient counseling for any other prescription; and Section 30 increases from 3 to 6 the number of pharmacy technicians or other pharmacy staff that a pharmacist may designate to access, on behalf of a pharmacist supervising the pharmacy technician or other pharmacy staff, the prescription drug monitoring program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act defines a "gas distribution utility" (GDU) as a gas public utility with more than 90,000 retail customers. The bill requires each GDU to file a clean heat plan (plan) with the public utilities commission (PUC). A plan must demonstrate how the GDU will use clean heat resources to meet clean heat targets (targets) established by the act. The targets are a 4% reduction below 2015 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels by 2025 and 22% below 2015 GHG emission levels by 2030.The PUC will initiate a rule-making proceeding by October 1, 2021, to update demand-side management rules. The PUC will establish a cost cap for each GDU's compliance with its plan. The cost cap is 2.5% of annual gas bills for all of a GDU's full-service customers. The PUC is directed to approve a plan if the PUC finds that doing so is in the public interest.A municipal GDU must file a plan with the air quality control commission (AQCC) that demonstrates a 4% GHG emission reduction by 2025 and a 22% GHG emission reduction by 2030, both as compared with 2015 levels. Small GDUs may file a plan, which is subject to the cost cap and must contain its own targets.Section 2 requires the AQCC to initiate a rule-making proceeding by September 1, 2022, to establish protocols for recovered methane that utilities must use in forecasting their emission reductions.Section 3 directs the oil and gas conservation commission (commission) to conduct a study to evaluate the resources that would be needed to ensure the safe and effective regulation of injection wells used for sequestration of GHG.Section 4 makes the following appropriations:$92,482 and 1.0 FTE is appropriated from the public utilities commission fixed utility fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the PUC; $199,111 and 1.6 FTE is appropriated from the general fund to the department of public health and environment; From reappropriated funds received from the department of public health and environment, $37,000 is appropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology and $21,268 and 0.1 FTE is appropriated to the department of law; and $49,362 and 0.5 FTE is appropriated from the oil and gas conservation and environmental response fund to the department of natural resources for use by the commission.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the revenue loss restoration cash fund (fund). The state treasurer is required to transfer $1 billion from the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" cash fund to the fund. This amount is a portion of the money that the state receives from the federal coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund that represents the state's revenue loss as calculated under United States department of treasury guidelines.The general assembly may appropriate or transfer money from the fund to a department for the provision of government services, including kindergarten through twelfth grade public education, housing, state employees, asset maintenance, seniors, criminal justice, state parks, agriculture, and transportation infrastructure. On and after January 1, 2022, the general assembly may only appropriate money from the fund through the annual general appropriation act or a supplemental appropriation act. The money in the fund is allocated to be used over the next 3 fiscal years.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The state controller is required to prescribe a unified system of accounts and prepare financial statements based on systems set forth by the governmental accounting standards board (GASB). Statement number 87 by GASB, which affects state and local government fiscal years after June 15, 2021, requires that a contract that transfers ownership of an asset be accounted for and reported as a financed purchase or sale of an asset, regardless of whether the contract is labeled by the parties as a lease.Effective July 1, 2021, the act replaces the term "lease-purchase agreement", and, as necessary to effectuate the purpose of the act, substantially similar terms, with "financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreement", and, as necessary to effectuate the intent of the act, substantially similar terms, throughout the Colorado Revised Statutes to clarify that, in accordance with GASB requirements, any such state or local public contract is to be accounted for and reported by the state controller as a financed purchase or sale of the underlying asset rather than as a lease.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act authorizes the public utilities commission (PUC) to approve utilities' applications to build new transmission facilities if the PUC, consistent with its authority, finds that the new facilities would assist the utilities in meeting the state's clean energy goals established in 2019. In constructing or expanding transmission facilities, a utility must use its own employees, engage a contractor whose employees have access to federally approved apprenticeship programs, or both. Section 1 also requires the PUC to consider the ability of the proposed facilities to support future expansion as needed to enable the utility to participate in an organized wholesale market (OWM), which is defined in section 2 as an organization established for the purpose of coordinating and managing the transmission of electricity among multiple public utilities on a multistate or regional basis. An application for construction or expansion of transmission facilities is deemed approved if the PUC does not deny it within 240 days after the application is complete and public notice has been given.Section 6 imposes a 180-day deadline for approval by a local government if local government approval is required.Sections 4 and 7 create the Colorado electric transmission authority (CETA) as an independent special purpose authority, and section 4 specifies the composition and manner of appointment of the board of directors that governs the authority. CETA is authorized to select a qualified transmission operator to finance, plan, acquire, maintain, and operate eligible electric transmission and interconnected storage facilities (eligible facilities).Under sections 4, 8, and 9, CETA is granted various powers necessary to accomplish its purposes, including the power to:Issue revenue bonds; Identify and establish intrastate electric transmission corridors; Coordinate with other entities to establish interstate electric transmission corridors; Exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire eligible facilities; and Collect payments of reasonable rates, fees, interest, or other charges from persons using eligible facilities. CETA is generally subject to state open-records and open-meetings requirements, but proprietary confidential information that it holds, including power purchase agreements, costs of production, costs of transmission, transmission service agreements, credit reviews, detailed power models, and financing statements, is not subject to inspection. Section 10 authorizes payment of CETA's administrative expenses, not to exceed $500,000 annually, from an existing cash fund administered by the PUC.Section 2 sets out deadlines and conditions under which an electric utility that owns and controls transmission facilities (transmission utility) is required to join an OWM. The commission may delay or waive this requirement for a utility that is unable, despite its best efforts, to find a viable and available OWM to join or if the commission determines, based on its evaluation of specified factors, that requiring the transmission utility to join an OWM would not be in the public interest. A transmission utility that joins an OWM may recover costs of participating in the OWN from its ratepayers.Under current law, a cooperative electric association with an electric easement on real property is authorized to install or to allow a commercial broadband supplier to install broadband facilities on the real property, subject to notice and procedural requirements. Section 3 expands the authorization to apply to any non-investor-owned, non-municipally-owned, vertically integrated supplier of electric energy to its customers or members.Section 9 specifies that when a right-of-way is taken for an interstate electric transmission line, the court shall evaluate public purpose in light of the transmission system as a whole, including public use and benefits occurring either within Colorado or at a regional level.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allocates $20 million from the general fund to the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) to be spent to implement the state water plan as follows:$15 million, which is transferred to the water plan implementation cash fund and appropriated to the department of natural resources for expenditures and grants administered by the CWCB to implement the state water plan; and $5 million, which is transferred to the water supply reserve fund for the CWCB to disperse to the basin roundtables. The act also establishes a minimum 25% matching fund requirement for the water plan implementation grant program; except that, during 2021 and 2022, the CWCB can reduce the minimum match requirement.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the Colorado school of public health to do a systematic review of the scientific research related to the possible physical and mental health effects of high-potency THC marijuana and concentrates using only funding provided by the general assembly. The act creates a scientific review council (council) to review the report and make recommendations to the general assembly. Based on the research and findings, the Colorado school of public health shall produce a public education campaign for the general public, to be approved by the council, regarding the effect of high-potency THC marijuana on the developing brain and mental health.Current law requires a doctor to conduct a full assessment of the patient's medical history when making a medical marijuana recommendation. The act requires that assessment to include the patient's mental health history. If the recommending physician is not the patient's primary care physician, the act directs the recommending physician to review the records of a diagnosing physician or licensed mental health provider. When a practitioner makes a medical marijuana authorization, the practitioner must certify that authorization to the department of public health and environment (department). The act requires the certification to include:The date of issue and the effective date of the recommendation; The patient's name and address; The recommending physician's name, address, and federal drug enforcement agency number; The maximum THC potency level of medical marijuana being recommended; The recommended product, if any; The daily authorized quantity, if the quantity exceeds the maximum statutorily allowed amount for the patient's age; Directions for use; and The recommending physician's signature. The act prohibits a physician for charging an additional fee for recommending an extended plant count or making a recommendation related to an exception to a medical marijuana requirement. The act directs the department to annually report on the number of physicians who made medical marijuana recommendations in the past year, how many recommendations each physician made, and the number of homebound patients ages 18 to 20 years old in the registry.The act imposes the following requirements on medical marijuana patients ages 18 to 20 years old:Two physicians from different medical practices have to diagnose the patient as having a debilitating or disabling medical condition after an in-person consultation; One of the physicians must explain the possible risks and benefits of the medical use of marijuana to the patient; One physician must provide the patient with the written documentation specifying that the patient has been diagnosed with a debilitating or disabling medical condition and the physician has concluded that the patient might benefit from the medical use of marijuana; and The patient attends follow-up appointments every 6 months after the initial visit with one of the physicians unless the patient is homebound. The act requires the department to create a report from emergency room and hospital discharge data of patients who presented with conditions or a diagnosis that reflects marijuana use and provide that report at the department's annual "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing.The act directs the association representing coroners to establish a working group to study methods to test for all scheduled drugs and the presence and quantity of THC in each case of a non-natural death and make recommendations by July 1, 2022. The recommendation must be reported to the house of representatives health and insurance committee and the senate health and human services committee, or their successor committees. Beginning January 1, 2022, the act requires the coroner in each case of a non-natural death to complete a toxicology screen. The coroner shall report the results of the toxicology screen to the Colorado violent death reporting system. The department then produces an annual report of the data beginning January 2, 2023, and annually each year thereafter.The act prohibits medical marijuana advertising that is specifically directed to persons ages 18 to 20 years old and requires medical and retail marijuana concentrate advertising to include a warning regarding the risks of medical marijuana concentrate overconsumption.A medical marijuana store and retail marijuana store shall provide a patient with a tangible education resource regarding the use of medical or retail marijuana concentrate when selling concentrate.The act requires medical marijuana stores to immediately record transactions in the seed-to-sale inventory tracking system to allow the system to:Continuously monitor entry of patient data to identify discrepancies with daily purchase limits and potency authorizations; Access and retrieve real-time sales data based on patient identification number; and Respond with a user error message if a sale to a patient or caregiver will exceed the patient's allowed purchase limit for that business day or potency authorization. The data collected is confidential and shall not be shared with anyone except when necessary to complete a sale.The act limits the amount of medical marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams, unless the patient is 18 to 20 years old then the limit is 2 grams, except in the case of a homebound patient, if the patient's certification states that the patient needs more than 8 grams or 2 grams respectively. The limit does not apply to medical marijuana patients if it would be a significant physical or geographic hardship for the patient to make a daily purchase or if the patient had a registry identification card prior to being 18 years old.The act limits the amount of retail marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams.The marijuana enforcement division shall convene a stakeholder work group to develop and complete by January 1, 2022:A uniform certification form to be used by recommending physicians when authorizing the patient to purchase more than the statutorily allowed quantities, as required by section 25-1.5-106 (5), Colorado Revised Statutes, which may be relied upon by medical marijuana stores. The form must contain a uniform weight and uniform potency description to enable a medical marijuana store to fulfill its obligations without the need to make a further calculation or examine other documents. The form shall not contain any information concerning the patient's medical condition or diagnosis. A tangible educational resource regarding the use of regulated marijuana concentrate. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates:$4,000,000 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado school of public health and any unexpended money from the appropriation is further appropriated to the department for the same purpose; $541,826 to the department of public health and environment for use by the center for health and environmental information: $265,656 of the appropriation is from the general fund and is $276,170 from the medical marijuana program cash fund; $50,000 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment for use by disease control and public health response; $255,167 from the marijuana cash fund to the department of revenue to implement the act; $95,706 and allocates 0.5 FTE to the department of law from reappropriated funds from the department of revenue; and $2,000,000 from the first time drunk driving offender account to the department of transportation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects:Continuation of the satellite monitoring system, $100,000 (section 1 of the act); Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2); Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $350,000 (section 3); and Continuation of technical assistance for federal cost-share programs, $300,000 (section 4). Section 5 directs the state treasurer to transfer up to $2,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the litigation fund on July 1, 2021.Section 6 appropriates $3,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the department of natural resources for use by the CWCB to make a grant to the Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation in furtherance of the San Luis valley confined aquifer recovery project.Section 7 reinstates severance tax funding of the water efficiency grant program by authorizing a transfer of $550,000 in each state fiscal year commencing on or after July 1, 2020, from the grant program reserve of the severance tax operational fund, which reserve is part of the "tier 2" funding that is used only if the general assembly chooses not to spend 100% of the money in the operational fund on core departmental programs, to the water efficiency grant program cash fund. The reinstated funding is repealed on July 1, 2030, when the water efficiency grant program is scheduled to repeal.Section 8 restores the continuous appropriation of $150,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the CWCB for the ongoing operations of a water education foundation, which is currently known as Water Education Colorado, which continuous appropriation was repealed in HB 20-1403, enacted in 2020.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
