The act creates a requirement that of the 90 hours of professional development training currently required for renewal of a teacher's license during the term of the teacher's license, at least 10 of those hours must include some form of behavioral health training that is culturally responsive and trauma- and evidence-informed and increases awareness of laws and practices relating to educating students with disabilities in the classroom, including child find and inclusive learning environments. The 10 clock hours may be obtained by any combination of related courses, so long as at least 1 of the 10 clock hours is related to behavioral health training and at least 1 of the 10 clock hours is related to educating students with disabilities in the classroom. The act requires teacher preparation programs to include in program graduation requirements that each teacher candidate in an initial educator licensure program complete at least 1 semester- or quarter-length course in behavioral health training that is culturally responsive and trauma- and evidence-informed. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies language and requirements related to the child care license exemption for family child care homes and extends the licensure exemption from September 1, 2020, to September 1, 2026. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Colorado interagency working group on school safety. The working group consists of 14 voting members. The mission of the working group is to enhance school safety through the cost-effective use of public resources. The working group shall: Study and implement recommendations of the state auditor's report regarding school safety released in September 2019; Consider program organization and recommend reorganization if necessary; Identify shared metrics to examine program effectiveness; Facilitate interagency coordination and communication; Increase transparency and accessibility of state grants and resources, particularly for school districts without a grant writer, which includes improving outreach and may include developing common grant applications; Facilitate and address data sharing, including allowable data sharing at the local level, when appropriate and allowable under state and federal law; and Address school safety program challenges in a coordinated way. The working group may contract with a consultant to optimize the alignment and effectiveness of the school safety efforts in Colorado and identify evidence-based best practices. The general assembly may appropriate money to the working group for a consultant, and the working group can accept gifts, grants, and donations. The working group only meets if the department of public safety identifies sufficient funding to cover the costs associated with the working group. The act repeals the working group on September 1, 2022, but the department of regulatory agencies shall review the working group prior to its repeal. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies that an offender sentenced pursuant to the "Colorado Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act of 1998" may be released to a community corrections program only if the offender meets certain requirements for an offender being released on parole including that: The offender has successfully progressed in sex offender treatment as determined by the department of corrections and would not pose a threat to the community if released to community corrections; There is a strong and reasonable probability that the offender would not thereafter commit a new criminal offense; and After considering criteria established by the sex offender management board and other relevant factors, the executive director of the department of corrections finds that release to community corrections is appropriate.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The voluntary contributions to the American Red Cross Colorado disaster response, readiness, and preparedness fund, Colorado domestic abuse program fund, Habitat for Humanity of Colorado fund, pet overpopulation fund, and Special Olympics Colorado fund are currently scheduled to appear on the state income tax return form for income tax years beginning prior to January 1, 2020. The contributions are set to repeal unless they are continued. The act reauthorizes the funds to remain on the form so long as they meet the existing statutory requirement that a voluntary contribution fund must receive at least $50,000 in contributions each tax year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the board of county commissioners of a county (board), in consultation with the county treasurer, to make loans to a governmental entity that is created by or located within the county subject to the following requirements: The board must adopt underwriting standards that require each proposed loan to be analyzed with respect to risks, market rates, and loan terms before making any loans; Each loan must be analyzed using the underwriting standards; The source of a loan must be legally available money that is not otherwise encumbered or obligated, and the amount loaned must not cause the total outstanding principal balance of all such loans made to exceed 8% of the amount of such money available at the time the loan is made; A loan must have a specified repayment term; A loan recipient must pay the county interest on the loan at an initial rate that is equal to or greater than the rate of return earned on all county financial investments; A loan recipient must use loan proceeds for the sole purpose of funding public infrastructure projects within the county; and The board must make the loan by entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the loan recipient that establishes loan terms and conditions. Before entering into such an intergovernmental agreement: The board must approve the public infrastructure project to be funded by the loan and the terms and conditions of the loan at a public board meeting; and The board or the loan recipient must pursue private sector options for funding the public infrastructure project to be funded by the loan and report regarding the options pursued at the board meeting at which the board approves the loan.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law requires an electrical or plumbing employer to register an apprentice with the respective governing board within 30 days after beginning employment. When an apprentice is no longer employed as an apprentice, the act requires an employer to remove each apprentice from the apprentice program and annually notify the applicable board of the termination of employment. The act requires an employer, an apprenticeship program registered with the United States department of labor's employment and training administration, and a state apprenticeship council recognized by the United States department of labor that employs an apprentice in Colorado to track the number of practical training hours and, for electrician apprentices, the classroom hours of each apprentice and provide the information to the state electrical board or the state plumbing board, as applicable. The boards are required to keep this information confidential. If existing resources or gifts, grants, or donations are available, the boards must provide the reported information to the department's online apprenticeship directory. Contingent on the availability of existing resources within the department or the receipt of gifts, grants, and donations, the act requires electrician apprentices and plumbing apprentices who have been registered with their respective boards for at least 6 years to take a license examination at least every 3 or 2 years, respectively, based on the registration renewal cycle, until the apprentice passes the examination. If an apprentice fails the examination, the apprentice may apply for an exemption from the examination requirement. The act allows an apprentice to request special accommodations to take the examination if the apprentice has a learning disability. Subject to available funds, the department of regulatory agencies, in collaboration with the electrician and plumbing governing boards, industry stakeholders, examination proctors, national code organizations, apprenticeship training coordinators, and the department of labor and employment, is required to conduct research to determine what barriers exist to preparing for and taking the licensing examinations for apprentices for whom English is a second language and report its findings to the general assembly by January 1, 2021. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The annual salary of an elected county officer (officer) is currently specified in statute. The act allows an officer in certain counties classified under specific salary categories to make an election to receive 50% of the amount specified in law. The officer may subsequently elect to increase or decrease his or her salary annually as long as it does not exceed the amount allowed in statute. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows county clerk and recorders to receive and preserve original plats for recording in an electronic format. The act also specifies the conditions for properly submitting plats to county clerk and recorders in both electronic and original formats. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a new civil cause of action and crime if a health care provider, in the course of performing or assisting with an assisted reproduction procedure, knowingly uses gametes from a donor without the express consent of the patient to use the donor's gametes. The act authorizes specified compensatory damages or liquidated damages of $50,000 in the civil action and specifies that the crime is a class 6 felony. Conviction of an offense under the new crime is unprofessional conduct as defined in the licensing statutes for health care providers. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits a health insurance carrier from: Imposing specific requirements or limitations on the HIPAA-compliant technologies used to deliver telehealth services; Requiring a covered person to have a previously established patient-provider relationship with a specific provider in order to receive medically necessary telehealth services from the provider; or Imposing additional certification, location, or training requirements as a condition of reimbursement for telehealth services. The act specifies that, to the extent the state board of health adopts rules addressing supervision requirements for home care agencies, the rules must allow for supervision in person or by telemedicine or telehealth. For purposes of the medicaid program, the act: Requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to allow home care agencies to supervise services through telemedicine or telehealth; Clarifies the methods of communication that may be used for telemedicine; Requires the state department to reimburse rural health clinics, the federal Indian health service, and federally qualified health centers for telemedicine services provided to medicaid recipients and to do so at the same rate as the department reimburses those services when provided in person; Requires the state department to post telemedicine utilization data to the state department's website no later than 30 days after the effective date of the act and update the data every other month through state fiscal year 2020-21; and Specifies that health care and mental health care services include speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, hospice care, home health care, and pediatric behavioral health care. The act appropriates $5,068,381 to the state department from the care subfund for telemedicine expansion services and prohibits the state department from using the appropriation for the state-share of medicaid services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The broadband deployment board (board) awards grants for the provision of broadband service in unserved areas of the state, which are areas deemed to have insufficient broadband service. The act authorizes but does not require an applicant seeking grant money from the board to submit to the board a written certification from the local entity with jurisdiction over the area that the applicant proposes to serve, certifying that the area is an unserved area. A local entity that is requested to provide written certification may not do so without first holding a hearing on the matter after providing notice of the hearing, including notice to any incumbent provider. The board is required to give substantial weight to a local entity's written certification that an area is an unserved area. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
