The act requires the office of information technology (office) in partnership with each principal department of the state to file a report by October 15, 2021, with the joint technology committee (committee) concerning the department's electronic filing capacity. The report must include information on the proportion of documents that can currently be filed electronically with the department, the actions required to allow at least 80% of documents filed with the department to be filed electronically, and any obstacles or barriers the department or the office would face in implementing electronic filing for at least 80% of documents filed with the department.The governing body of each county and city and county is also required to file a report with the committee by October 15, 2021, concerning the county's electronic filing capacity. The report must include information on the proportion of documents that can currently be filed electronically with the county, the actions required to allow at least 80% of documents filed with the county to be filed electronically, and any obstacles or barriers the county would face in implementing electronic filing for at least 80% of documents filed with the county.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows the department of public health and environment, in contracting with certain grantees for the provision of services, to dispense up to 25% of the total value of the payments under the contract to the grantee immediately upon the execution or renewal of the contract.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
To the extent possible, the department of education (department) is directed to streamline the application process and other requirements relating to the award of money to local education providers, including school districts, charter schools, and other authorized local education providers (local education providers), as defined in the act, to implement one or more extended learning opportunities to address COVID-19 learning impacts. The department is authorized to administer the programs as part of a single combined application, reporting, and evaluation process created by the department.Extended learning opportunities are defined in the act to include, in part, summer school programming, extended school days or extended school weeks, high-impact tutoring, creative enrichment tied to academic gains, social-emotional supports, and additional mental health supports tied to academic success.The combined application allows a needs-based approach to identify the programs and services that meet the needs of the eligible local education provider and allows the department to help match the local education provider with funding sources. In addition to a combined application, the department is authorized to streamline local-education-provider reporting to the department and department reporting to the general assembly and align reporting deadlines.The local education provider shall establish an internal progress-monitoring system to monitor progress using family- and community-informed practices to measure extended learning opportunities program effectiveness through student educational gains.The department shall ensure that eligibility requirements, application provisions, allowable uses of funding, data collection and reporting, and any other requirements specific to the program or funding source are met for all programs or services administered pursuant to this section.If required by law and subject to available funding, the department shall evaluate one or more extended learning opportunities implemented across local education providers using a common set of evaluation criteria and metrics.The state board may adopt any rules necessary for the implementation of the combined application, reporting, and evaluation process.The general assembly may appropriate money to the department for use by local education providers to implement extended learning opportunities.The act repeals the statute, effective July 1, 2026.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, a court must inquire at the defendant's first appearance whether the defendant is a veteran. If the jurisdiction does not have a veterans treatment court, the act requires the court to inform a veteran defendant of the possibility of petitioning to transfer the case to a jurisdiction with a veterans treatment court.The act allows a veteran defendant or defendant who is currently serving in the U.S. armed forces and who is suffering from a diagnosable mental health condition that is related to the veteran's military service to petition the court to transfer the supervision of any post disposition of the case to a jurisdiction with a veterans treatment court if the jurisdiction of trial does not have a veterans treatment court and the district attorney and any victim in a victim's rights case consent to the petition. The petition must include the jurisdiction that the defendant is seeking to have the case transferred to and a description of the services or supports the defendant is seeking to access from the veterans treatment court in that jurisdiction. After receiving a petition, the court must consult with the judge administering the veterans treatment court and the district attorney of the hosting jurisdiction. The court may grant the petition to transfer the supervision of probation in the case if the veterans treatment court and the district attorney in the hosting jurisdiction consent to the transfer and that jurisdiction has the current ability to provide the resources and support necessary to responsibly accept the transfer. If the host jurisdiction files a motion for revocation of the veterans treatment court program probation, the host jurisdiction shall conduct the revocation hearing. If probation is revoked, the host jurisdiction shall refer the matter to the original jurisdiction for resentencing.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of education (department) to utilize a stakeholder process when updating the model bullying prevention and education policy (model policy), which process must include the parents of students who have been bullied. At a minimum, the model policy must clearly differentiate between a conflict and bullying and differentiate between harassment and bullying and clarify the role of cyberbullying during online instruction, which may occur on or off school property.Current law requires each school district and charter school to adopt a safe school plan that includes:A conduct and discipline code with a specific policy concerning bullying prevention and education (bullying policy). The act requires the bullying policy to incorporate the approaches, policies, and practices outlined in the model policy. Safe school reporting requirements that include the number of conduct and discipline code violations relating to a school activity or sanctioned event that are detrimental to the welfare or safety of other students or of school personnel, including incidents of bullying. The act requires incidents of bullying be listed as a separate type of violation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires that family child care homes be classified as residences for purposes of licensure and local regulations, including zoning, land use development, fire and life safety, and building codes. The act also adds a provision stating that whenever the state department of human services reviews and rewrites its rules concerning child care agencies or facilities, it shall seek advice from the department of public safety when such rules relate to specific types of child care agencies or facilities.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The department of personnel (department) is required to contract for the services of a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for group benefit plans provided pursuant to the "State Employees Group Benefits Act" (state employee group benefits plans) and to procure a technology platform with the required capabilities for conducting a PBM reverse auction and the related services of a technology platform operator.The department is required to repurpose the technology platform used to conduct the reverse auction over the duration of the PBM services contract to perform reviews of all invoiced PBM prescription drug claims, and to identify all deviations from the specific terms of the PBM services contract. The department is required to reconcile the electronically adjudicated pharmacy claims with PBM invoices to ensure that state payments do not exceed the terms specified in any PBM services contract.Each PBM reverse auction is required to be completed and the PBM services contract awarded to the winning PBM within a specified timeline.The department may perform a market check for providing PBM services during the term of the current PBM services contract to ensure continuing competitiveness of incumbent prescription drug pricing over the life of a PBM services contract.To ensure that the department does not incur additional expenditures associated with the requirements of the act, the department is required to implement a no-pay option that obligates the winning PBM to pay the cost of the technology platform and related technology platform operator services by assessing a per-prescription fee and requiring the PBM to pay these fees to the technology operator over the duration of the PBM services contract.The act allows other health plans to use the processes and procedures established in the act individually, collectively, or as a joint purchasing group with the state employee group benefits plans.After completion of the first state employees group benefits plans PBM reverse auction, self-funded private sector employer or multi-employer health plans have the option to participate in a joint purchasing pool with state employees for conduct of subsequent PBM reverse auctions.The state employees group benefits plans and any self-funded public or private sector health plans that opt to participate with the state employees group benefits plans in a joint PBM reverse auction purchasing pool shall retain full autonomy over determination of their respective prescription drug formularies and pharmacy benefit designs and shall not be required to adopt a common prescription drug formulary or common prescription pharmacy benefit design.Any PBM providing services to the department or a self-funded public or private sector employee health plan is required to provide the department and the plan access to complete pharmacy claims data necessary to conduct the reverse auction and carry out their administrative and management duties.The department may elect to vacate the outcome of a PBM reverse auction if the lowest cost bid is not less than the projected cost trend for the incumbent PBM contract as verified by the department.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act enacts the recommendations of the Colorado child support commission concerning the establishment, calculation, and enforcement of child support, including:Technical amendments to clarify changes made to the child support guidelines pursuant to House Bill 19-1215 relating to a missing component of the schedule of basic child support obligations and clarifications relating to calculation of support; Defines the terms "child" and "parent" for purposes of commencing actions concerning the allocation of parental responsibilities and clarifies that the court shall determine legal parentage and join all necessary parties to the action; Reduces the interest rate on unpaid child support; Eliminates outdated provisions of the income assignment statute and brings the statute in compliance with federal law; Clarifies notice requirements for income assignments and requires an employer to report and withhold from lump sum payments; Clarifies that both the dependency and neglect court and the paternity and child support court have concurrent jurisdiction to address issues of parentage; Removes a limitation on the amount of the increase for orders increasing support filed by the child support enforcement agency against an obligor for whom income information is not available; Requires life insurance settlements to be reported to the child support enforcement agency commencing January 1, 2022; and Adds contract employee to the state directory of new hires for child support enforcement purposes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act modifies the laws that create the joint technology committee (JTC), the Colorado cybersecurity council (council), and the office of information technology (office), to reflect the current information technology (IT) environment and direction in the state.Modifications related to the JTC are as follows:Updates definitions used by the JTC to be consistent with the definitions used by the office; and Allows the JTC to request information and presentations regarding data privacy and data security, specifies that the JTC oversees any state agency that has been delegated IT functions by the office, and makes other modifications to make the provisions governing the JTC and the office consistent. Modifications related to the council are as follows:Specifies additional functions of the council, modifies the composition of the council, and allows the council to coordinate with other entities regarding cybersecurity. Modifications related to the office are as follows:Consolidates all of the definitions that apply to the office into one section and updates some definitions to align with best practices and industry standards; Relocates provisions of current law regarding the information technology revolving fund and the coordination of the statewide geographic information system; Repeals and reenacts the roles and responsibilities section of law for the office and defines the office's roles and responsibilities in connection with IT; adds additional responsibilities when a state agency undertakes a major IT project, when a state agency is the business owner of an IT system, and when the office is involved in a state agency's IT project only as a party to the contract; Authorizes the office to delegate an IT function to a state agency and specifies procedures and requirements that the office and the state agency are required to follow when such delegation occurs; Repeals and reenacts the current provisions in law regarding the duties and responsibilities of the chief information officer (CIO) and updates the duties and responsibilities of the CIO; Relocates current law that authorizes the revisor of statutes to change certain statutory references in connection with the creation of the office; Updates the timelines and dates for the development of IT security plans and certain required reports regarding those plans for state agencies, institutions of higher education, and the legislative branch; Repeals and reenacts current law regarding interdepartmental data protocol that governs data-sharing among state agencies and specifies requirements of the office and the government data advisory board regarding the creation of a data-sharing and privacy master plan and additional requirements for when a state agency shares personal identifying information with another state agency; and Updates the office's annual reporting requirement to the general assembly regarding IT asset inventory. The act makes conforming amendments and repeals obsolete provisions regarding the consolidation of IT functions to the office, the transfer of employees and officers to the office, the creation of a work eligibility verification portal, the creation and implementation of the Colorado financial reporting system, and a reporting requirement on the transfer of IT infrastructure ownership. The act also repeals provisions regarding the statewide communications and information infrastructure that are incorporated into other provisions of law.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits a third-party food delivery service from taking and arranging for the delivery or pickup of an order from a retail food establishment, other than grocery and convenience stores, without the retail food establishment's consent. A retail food establishment may bring an action against a third-party food delivery service that violates the act for damages, a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per violation, and injunctive relief, and the prevailing party in such action is entitled to reasonable attorney fees.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a pharmacist who dispenses an opioid to an individual to inform the individual of the potential dangers of a high dose of an opioid and offer to prescribe the individual an opiate antagonist if:The individual is, at the same time, prescribed a benzodiazepine, a sedative hypnotic drug, carisoprodol, tramadol, or gabapentin; or The opioid prescription being dispensed is at or in excess of 90 morphine milligram equivalent. If an individual accepts the offer for an opiate antagonist, the pharmacist is required to counsel the individual on how to use the opiate antagonist and notify the individual of available generic and brand-name opiate antagonists.The act does not apply to a pharmacist dispensing a prescription medication to a patient in hospice or palliative care or a resident in a veterans community living center.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state department of human services (state department) to reimburse a county or district department of human or social services (county department) for costs paid by the county department to a public or private driving school for the provision of driving instruction to an individual in the custody of the county department who is 15 to 20 years of age.The act does not waive or limit a county department's governmental immunity or place any liability on a county department for:Contracting with a driving school to provide driving instruction to an individual who is in the custody of the county department; or An injury alleged to have occurred while an individual in the custody of the county department received driving instruction. The act requires the state board of human services to promulgate rules on or before December 1, 2021, to administer the new requirements.The act states that:A guardian ad litem, an official of a county department, or an official of the division of youth services in the state department who signs a minor's application for an instruction permit or a minor driver's license but does not sign an affidavit of liability does not impute liability on themselves, on the county, or on the state for any damages caused by the negligence or willful misconduct of the applicant; and An individual who is in the custody of the state department or a county department who does not possess all of the required documents to apply for an instruction permit or a minor driver's license may be eligible for exception processing pursuant to rules of the department of revenue. The act requires the executive director of the department of revenue to promulgate rules on or before November 1, 2021, establishing, to the extent permissible under federal law, forms of documentation that are acceptable for the purpose of allowing individuals who are in the custody of the state department or a county department to verify their legal residence in the United States, establish identity, and satisfy any other prerequisites for the acquisition of an instruction permit or a minor driver's license.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $54,180 to the department of human services for use by the division of child welfare to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
