The act establishes the process used by county commissioner redistricting commissions (commissions) to divide counties that have any number of their county commissioners not elected by the voters of the whole county into county commissioner districts. In these counties, the act:Recommends the establishment of independent county commissioner redistricting commissions and provides criteria to consider when creating these independent commissions; Requires the commissions to hold multiple hearings, either online or throughout the relevant counties, that are broadcast and stored online and comply with state statutes regarding open meetings; Requires the commissions to provide the opportunity for public involvement by providing the ability to propose and comment on plans and to testify at commission hearings; Prohibits improper communication between a member of a commission and the staff of a commission or a member of an advisory committee; Mandates that paid lobbying of the commissions be disclosed to the secretary of state by the lobbyist; Establishes prioritized factors for the commissions to use in drawing districts, including federal requirements, the preservation of communities of interest and political subdivisions, and maximizing the number of competitive districts; Prohibits the commissions from approving a plan if it has been drawn for the purpose of protecting one or more incumbent members, or one or more declared candidates, of the board of county commissioners, or any political party, and codifies current federal law and related existing federal requirements prohibiting plans drawn for the purpose of or that results in the denial or abridgement of a person's right to vote or electoral influence on account of a person's race, ethnic origin, or membership in a protected language group; Requires the commissions to approve a redistricting plan and specifies the date by which a final plan must be adopted by the board of county commissioners; and Specifies that the staff of each commission or an advisory committee will draft no less than 3 plans. The act allows counties to complete the establishment, revision, or alteration of county commissioner districts by September 30 of the second odd-numbered year following a census, rather than the first odd-numbered year following a census. The act also ensures that, if the redistricting of county commissioner districts excludes the residence of a county commissioner from the district the commissioner represents, the commissioner may continue to hold the office of county commissioner until his or her term expires.The act aligns the redistricting population data used to establish county commissioner districts with the redistricting population data used to establish congressional districts, state house of representative districts, and state senate districts.The act also requires that, in a county where any number of county commissioners are not elected by the voters of the whole county and the board of county commissioners refers a measure to the voters of the county to change the method of electing county commissioners, the referred measure must provide at least 2 different methods of electing county commissioners.Finally, the act repeals anachronistic county precinct size rules and allows county clerk and recorders to redraw precincts less often.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows a person to sell, without licensure, regulation, or inspection by a public health agency, rabbit meat if the animal was raised and processed by the seller and to sell shares in the meat of an animal, which includes cattle, calves, elk, sheep, hogs, bison, goats, and rabbits, but not fish, for future delivery if:The person displays at the point of sale a disclaimer or gives the purchaser a document with a disclaimer that: The seller is not licensed and the animals or meat are not subject to state regulation or inspection by a public health agency; and The animals or meat are not intended for resale; and The animals or meat are delivered directly from the seller to an informed end consumer and are sold only in Colorado. The purchaser is prohibited from reselling the animal, animal share, or meat. A seller is not liable in a civil action for damages caused by inadequately cooking or improperly preparing the animal or meat for consumption.The act also limits the number of brand inspections for an animal share sale to a single inspection before slaughter. The state board of stock inspection commissioners will promulgate rules establishing procedures for a single inspection.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes several changes and clarifications to current juvenile diversion programs (diversion), including:Clarifying the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety's (division) authority over all programs funded with diversion money; Clarifying that diversion funding may be allocated to entities other than district attorneys' offices; Requiring eligibility criteria for diversion be made public; Establishing that a juvenile is eligible to divert if the juvenile meets the eligibility criteria; Clarifying that an approved validated assessment tool may be used for decisions on the length of supervision and necessary services; Clarifying that a risk screening tool is to be used to inform the level and intensity of supervision; Establishing a clear process for data collection so the division can properly evaluate its diversion programs; and Creating a clearer process and role for the division in the allocation process.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and the implementing legislation, the state is required to maintain an emergency reserve to be used for declared emergencies (state emergency reserve). The state may use the state emergency reserve for declared emergencies only.The act designates the cash and capital asset that constitute the state emergency reserve for the 2021-22 fiscal year. It also creates the state emergency reserve cash fund (fund) to be some or all of the state emergency reserve. On June 30, 2021, the state treasurer is required to transfer $101 million from the general fund and $100 million from the controlled maintenance trust fund to the fund. If money from any fund that is designated as part of the state emergency reserve is expended for a declared emergency and the state subsequently receives reimbursement for the expenditure, then the bill requires the state treasurer to deposit the reimbursement into the fund that was the source for the expenditure.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the homeland security and all-hazards senior advisory committee until September 1, 2031.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows counties, municipalities, and special districts to exempt up to 100% of business personal property from the levy and collection of property taxation for the 2021 property tax year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The practice act for professional architects directs the department of regulatory agencies to adopt rules establishing requirements for continuing education and also requiring an architect to demonstrate retention of the material presented in the continuing education program or course.The act removes the material retention requirement, allowing an architect to renew a license upon demonstrating compliance with the continuing education requirement alone.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
In 2020, the general assembly repealed the requirement in the mental health practice act that a professional must be licensed, registered, or certified as a mental health professional in order to practice auricular acudetox. The act makes a conforming amendment to clarify that it is not an unlawful act for a professional who is trained to perform auricular acudetox to perform the practice without a license, registration, or certification as a mental health professional.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law states that a common paymaster is not a single employing unit for purposes of considering the services performed by another employing unit subject to a single or common payroll. The act creates an exception for an employee leasing company or other employing entity that is owned by one or more persons who have a medical or retail marijuana license and who own at least 50% of an entity that shares the employee leasing company's or other employing entity's services. The employee leasing company or other employing entity is not considered a common paymaster for the purposes of the "Colorado Employment Security Act".(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
In 2020, the general assembly enacted legislation to require the state treasurer to transfer money from the small communities water and wastewater grant fund and off-highway vehicle recreation fund to the general fund to offset the general fund revenue reduction related to the COVID-19 public health emergency.The act requires the state treasurer to repay those cash funds by transferring the following amounts from the general fund:$5 million to the small communities water and wastewater grant fund; and $5 million to the off-highway vehicle recreation fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act:Makes current laws concerning governance and transparency for cooperative electric associations (associations) applicable to nonprofit generation and transmission cooperative electric associations that provide wholesale electric service directly to Colorado cooperative electric associations that are its members; Eliminates an exemption to those requirements for associations with fewer than 25,000 members; Allows an association to authorize, in its bylaws, its members and directors to participate in meetings electronically; Allows an association to authorize, in its bylaws, members to vote in an election through a secure and verifiable electronic voting system; Clarifies that members voting or participating in a meeting electronically are considered present in person for the purpose of establishing quorum; Defines joint memberships and clarifies how joint memberships can vote; Amends the deadlines and requirements for notice of an election; Requires an association to adopt written policies concerning the compensation of board members and disclosures of conflicts of interest for board members; Requires board members to fulfill their duty of loyalty to the cooperative association at all times; except that, if a director serves on the board of both a generation and transmission association and a distribution association, the director owes fiduciary duties to both associations and shall not be required to give priority to the duties the director owes to one association over the duties the director owes to the other association; and Requires associations to post on their websites information about their rates and net metering requirements and to make financial audits available to members on request.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act transfers:$191,289,178 from the general fund to the capital construction fund; $110,000,000 from the general fund to the controlled maintenance trust fund to be appropriated in the 2022-23 state fiscal year for controlled maintenance budget requests prioritized by the office of the state architect as level one and level two priority projects; $8,000,000 from the emergency controlled maintenance account to the capital construction fund; $27,040,302 from the general fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund; and $500,000 from the general fund exempt account of the general fund to the capital construction fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
