The act adds language to Colorado's children's code to clarify that refusing an immunization on the grounds of medical, religious, or personal belief considerations or opting to exclude immunization notification information from the immunization tracking system does not alone constitute child abuse or neglect. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, when an employer is going to hire a person to work in a position in which the person has contact with at-risk adults, the employer must perform a check of the system that contains substantiated claims of mistreatment against an at-risk adult (CAPS check). The act makes various clarifying changes to the adult protection statutes related to the CAPS check program. The act states that if an employer receives a CAPS check on a person and does not hire the person at the time of receiving the check but wants to hire the person at a subsequent time, the employer shall request a new CAPS check prior to hiring the person. The act requires that if the employer is also an employee, the employer and employer's parent or oversight agency would get the results if the employer was a substantiated perpetrator. The act prohibits using a CAPS check request for a person who is not going to be an employee. The act prohibits an employee or volunteers from knowingly providing inaccurate information for a CAPS check or an employer or other person or entity conducting an employee screening on behalf of the employer from knowingly providing inaccurate information in the request for a CAPS check. The act requires entities that care for at-risk adults to cooperate with a county or district department of human or social services in investigations into allegations of mistreatment at the entities' facilities pursuant to department rule. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 2020 general election for the following tax changes: To increase the statutory per cigarette tax from 1 cent to 6.5 cents until July 1, 2024, then to 8 cents until July 1, 2027, and thereafter to 10 cents; To increase the statutory tobacco products tax from 20% of the manufacturer's list price (MLP) to 30% of MLP until July 1, 2024, then to 36% of MLP until July 1, 2027, and to 42% thereafter of MLP for tobacco products; To create a tax on nicotine products that is equal to 50% of MLP until July 1, 2024, then 56% of MLP until July 1, 2027, and thereafter 62% of MLP, which is the same tax as the total tax levied on most tobacco products, including the tax from Amendment 35, with the increase; To establish a tax rate for cigarettes, tobacco products, and nicotine products that are modified risk tobacco products approved by the United States department of health and human services that is 50% of the statutory tax rate; To establish a minimum tax for tobacco products that are moist snuff; To expand the cigarette and tobacco products taxes to include delivery sales made by a seller outside of the state directly to a consumer; and To create an inventory tax on cigarettes that is imposed on all stamped cigarettes and unaffixed stamps in a wholesaler or wholesale subcontractor's possession or control at the time of a tax increase that takes place after January 1, 2022. If voters approve the ballot measure, then the state will have the authority to impose these taxes and the rest of the act will be effective. The act also establishes a minimum price for cigarettes that is equal to $7 for a pack and $70 for a carton until July 1, 2024, and $7.50 for a pack and $75 for a carton on and after July 1, 2024, and civil penalties imposed for any person who sells cigarettes for less than the minimum amount. A portion of the sales tax revenue that is estimated to be attributable to the minimum price requirement is transferred from the general fund to the newly created preschool programs cash fund, from which the general assembly may appropriate money to a designated department to be used for an array of preschool education purposes. The new nicotine products tax is modeled after the tobacco products tax. Nicotine products are products that contain nicotine and that are ingested into the body, which at this time is typically through vaping with an electronic cigarette. The excise tax is levied on the sale, use, consumption, handling, or distribution of all nicotine products in the state, and it is imposed on a distributor at the time the product is brought into the state, made here, or shipped or transported to retailers in the state, or the wholesaler or distributor makes a delivery sale. If a distributor fails to pay the tax, then any person or entity in possession of the nicotine products is liable for the tax. To be a distributor of nicotine products, a person must have a license. The license costs $10 per year and requires that the distributor must have a tax license and comply with all of the laws relating to the collection of the tax. Distributors are required to file electronic quarterly returns. Licensees are required to maintain certain records, and retailers are likewise required to maintain records about nicotine products they purchase from a licensed distributor. The department of revenue may share the names and addresses of persons who purchased nicotine products for resale with the department of public health and environment and county and district public health agencies. To account for the fully phased-in increased taxes per cigarette, the discount percentage on cigarette stamps that a cigarette wholesaler may retain for its collection costs is reduced from 4% to .4% and the similar discount for a tobacco products distributor is reduced from 3.33% to 1.6%. A nicotine products distributor will be permitted to retain 1.1% of the taxes collected. The revenue from the new nicotine products tax, the inventory tax, and the additional cigarette and tobacco products taxes is deposited in the old age pension fund and then credited to the general fund in accordance with the state constitution. The state treasurer is required to transfer an amount equal to the total new tax revenue from the general fund to the 2020 tax holding fund (holding fund). For fiscal years beginning prior to July 1, 2023, the bulk of the money in the holding fund will be transferred to the state education fund, and thereafter, to the preschool programs cash fund. In addition, the state treasurer is required to transfer varying amounts of money in different fiscal years from the holding fund to the following funds: The tobacco tax cash fund; The general fund; The housing development grant fund; The eviction legal defense fund; The newly created rural schools cash fund, which will in turn be distributed to small and large rural school districts based on funded pupil counts; and The tobacco education programs fund. The state auditor is required to annually conduct a financial audit of the use of the new tax revenue. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of higher education to conduct a study concerning awarding academic credit for prior learning within all state institutions of higher education (institutions). An existing council charged with examining general education courses shall implement a plan for determining and awarding academic credit for postsecondary education based on work-related experience. The plan must not be created, adopted, or implemented unless sufficient money is available from gifts, grants, or donations to cover the costs of creating, adopting, and implementing a plan. Beginning in the 2022-23 academic year, unless a plan is implemented prior to then, institutions shall accept and transfer academic credit awarded for work-related experience as courses with guaranteed-transfer designation or part of a statewide degree transfer agreement. Beginning March 1, 2024, and each year thereafter, the council shall report to the education committees of the senate and house of representatives, or any successor committees, regarding the implementation of the credit for work-related experience plan. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Before passage of the act, the adult education and literacy grant program (grant program) was focused on workforce development partnerships to provide adult education that leads to increased levels of employment. The act recognizes that, in addition to increasing employment, adult education is necessary to ensure an adult population that is better prepared to support the educational attainment of the next generation and actively participate as citizens in a democratic society. The act expands the grant program to provide grants to adult education providers that enter into an education attainment partnership with elementary and secondary education providers or higher education providers to assist adults in attaining basic literacy and numeracy skills that lead to additional skill acquisition and may lead to postsecondary credentials and employment and that assist adults in providing academic support to their own children or to children for whom they provide care. The act allows the state board of education, in awarding grants, to give preference to adult education programs that serve populations that are underserved by federal funding. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state board to adopt standards related to Holocaust and genocide studies on or before July 1, 2021. The adoption of standards is conditional on the receipt of gifts, grants, or donations. The act requires each school district board of education and charter school to incorporate the standards on Holocaust and genocide studies adopted by the state board into an existing course that is currently a condition of high school graduation for school years beginning on or after July 1, 2023, if the standards are adopted by the state board on or before July 1, 2023. The act requires the department of education to create and maintain a publicly available resource bank of materials pertaining to Holocaust and genocide courses and programs, which must be available for access by public schools no later than July 1, 2021. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the safe2tell program is required to provide awareness and educational materials to preschools. The act removes this requirement. The act clarifies that safe2tell does not have to provide information about a call to law enforcement and school personnel if the call was forwarded to the statewide behavioral crisis response system. The act requires the safe2tell program to develop training materials outlining appropriate responses to safe2tell tips to ensure standardized messaging. The act directs the department of law to devise a process and develop standardized protocols so that any communication related to mental health or substance use received by safe2tell may be transferred to the statewide behavioral crisis response system. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The governing board of an institution of higher education may, but is not required to, require a national assessment test score as an eligibility criterion for admission for first-time freshman students who graduate from high school in 2021. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
When the statewide internet portal authority (SIPA) was created, it was charged with offering information technology products and services to local governments and "state agencies". At that time, SIPA's statute defined "state agency" to have the same meaning as the term was defined in the statute that governed the former office of innovation and technology. That definition defined "state agency" to mean every state office, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, and all of its respective offices, departments, divisions, commissions, boards, bureaus, and institutions, excepting only state-supported institutions of higher education, the department of higher education, the Colorado commission on higher education, or other instrumentality thereof. Subsequent to SIPA's creation, the statutes that governed the former office of innovation and technology were amended to create the office of information technology (OIT), and the definition of "state agency" was narrowed to cover only the agencies to be served by OIT. The statute now excludes the legislative and judicial departments, the departments of law, state, and treasury, state-supported institutions of higher education, and the department of education. The changes to the OIT definition of "state agency" have inadvertently excluded these agencies from the scope of state agencies that may obtain services from SIPA. The act restores the definition of "state agency" in SIPA's statutes to its original scope and also includes higher education institutions and agencies, as the practice has been for SIPA to serve all state agencies, including higher education institutions and agencies. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the state board of human services (state board) in the department of human services (DHS) to establish licensing standards that will allow an early care and education program to be licensed for a period of time determined by the state board if one or more early childhood educators have pursued DHS-approved early childhood credentials but have not yet completed the credential and other state-board-determined quality, safety, and supervision conditions are met. The state board shall also promulgate rules allowing an early childhood educator to earn points toward an early childhood credential based on the candidate's prior experience and demonstrated competency. DHS and the department of education (CDE) shall streamline and align the early childhood professional credential, child care program licensing, and educator licensing to make requirements clear and consistent and to reduce the administrative and paperwork burden relating to credentialing and licensing of early childhood educators. DHS shall analyze and prepare a written report every year, starting in 2022, concerning Colorado's current supply of qualified early childhood educators. DHS, CDE, and the department of higher education shall direct resources to support concurrent enrollment opportunities and career pathways for high school students and other nontraditional students interested in earning college credit toward becoming an early childhood educator. The act authorizes DHS to provide technical assistance and financial incentives to programs that are rated at a level one or 2 in the Colorado shines system to support the programs in advancing to a level 3 or higher quality level, and to programs at a level 3, 4, or 5 to support the programs in maintaining a high-quality level or advancing to a higher quality level. The early childhood council (council) may support DHS by providing local community outreach and engagement strategies. A council seeking school-readiness quality improvement funding must describe how the council will target and recruit programs that are rated at a level one or higher and target and recruit programs to increase access and availability of quality care. The act directs DHS to design, implement, and operate a statewide voluntary program of early childhood mental health consultation (program) by July 1, 2022. The purpose of the program is to support mental health care across the state in a variety of early childhood settings and practices. Specifically, the program must be designed to increase the number of qualified and appropriately trained early childhood mental health consultants (mental health consultants) for on-site consultations and to utilize the mental health consultants, through on-site visits, to support a variety of early childhood settings and practices from the prenatal period through 8 years of age. The program must also include a model of consultation for mental health consultants (model) that includes job qualifications and expectations, expected outcomes, and guidance on ratios of mental health consultants and the settings they support. Further, the model must include standards and guidelines for mental health consultants developed from evidence-based programs and a professional development plan for mental health consultants. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows a homeowner in a community organized under the "Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act" to operate a licensed family child care home, as defined in state laws governing child care facilities, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the community's governing documents. The community's regulations concerning architectural control, parking, landscaping, noise, and other matters continue to apply, but the community must make reasonable accommodations for any requirements pertaining to fences under the state's family child care home licensing laws. The owner or operator of the child care home may also be required to carry additional liability insurance. The act does not apply to a community qualified as housing for older persons under federal law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits a student's assessment score from being indicated on the student's high school transcript. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
