The act repeals the technology advancement and emergency fund and the reversion of unspent general fund appropriations to the fund. Prior to the repeal, the state treasurer is required to transfer the unspent and unencumbered balance of the fund to the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the HOA information and resource center for 5 years, until 2025. The act also precludes an HOA governed by the "Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act" from prohibiting the display of a religious item or symbol on the entry door or entry door frame of a home or condominium, subject to the right of the HOA to limit such displays to a reasonable size or to prohibit displays that are obscene or unlawful or that threaten public health or safety. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the health insurance affordability enterprise, for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution, that is authorized to assess a health insurance affordability fee (insurer fee) on certain health insurers and a special assessment (hospital assessment) on hospitals in order to: Provide business services to carriers that pay the insurer fee, including services to increase enrollment in health benefit plans offered by carriers across the state; increase the number of individuals who are able to purchase health benefit plans in the individual market by providing financial support for certain qualifying individuals; fund the reinsurance program that offsets the costs carriers would otherwise pay for covering consumers with high medical costs; improve the stability of the market throughout the state by providing consistent private health care coverage and reducing the movement of individuals from insured to uninsured status; reduce provider cost shifting from the individual market and the uninsured to the group market; and create a healthier risk pool for all carriers by establishing a path for consistent coverage for individuals; and Provide business services to hospitals, including by reducing the amount of uncompensated care provided by hospitals; reducing the need of providers to shift costs of providing uncompensated care to other payers; and expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care for low-income and uninsured residents. The enterprise is to start assessing and collecting the insurer fee in 2021, which fee is based on a percentage of premiums collected by health insurers in the previous calendar year on health benefit plans issued in the state. The hospital assessment is a specified amount assessed and collected in the 2022 and 2023 calendar years. Money collected from the insurer fee and hospital assessment is to be deposited in the health insurance affordability cash fund (fund), which the act creates. The act also transfers an amount of premium taxes collected by the state in 2020 or later years that exceeds the amount collected in 2019, but not more than 10% of the enterprise's revenues, to the fund. The enterprise is required to use the insurer fee, the hospital assessment, and any premium tax revenues or other money available in the fund, in accordance with the allocation specified in the act, for the following purposes: To provide funding for the Colorado reinsurance program; To provide payments to carriers to increase the affordability of health insurance on the individual market for Coloradans who receive the premium tax credit available under federal law; To provide subsidies for state-subsidized individual health coverage plans purchased by qualified low-income individuals who are not eligible for the premium tax credit or public assistance health care programs; To pay the actual administrative costs of the enterprise and the division of insurance for implementing and administering the act, limited to 3% of the enterprise's revenues; and To pay the costs for consumer enrollment, outreach, and education activities regarding health care coverage. The enterprise is governed by an 11-member board composed of the executive director of the Colorado health benefit exchange and the commissioner of insurance or their designees and 9 members appointed by the governor and representing various aspect of the health care industry and health care consumers. With regard to the Colorado reinsurance program and enterprise, the act: Incorporates the reinsurance program enterprise within the health insurance affordability enterprise; Eliminates funding for the reinsurance program from special assessments on hospitals and health insurers, excess premium tax revenues, and specified transfers from the state general fund and instead allocates a portion of the health insurance affordability enterprise revenues to the reinsurance program annually; and Extends the reinsurance program, subject to federal approval of a new or extended state innovation waiver to enable the state to operate the reinsurance program and access federal funding for the program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the air quality enterprise and specifies that its revenues are exempt from the state constitution's TABOR provisions. The enterprise will conduct air quality modeling, monitoring, data assessment, and research; implement emission mitigation projects; and provide its data to the division of administration (division) and the air quality control commission (commission) in the department of public health and environment (department) to facilitate the administration of the state's air quality laws, including by facilitating the timely issuance and effective enforcement of appropriate emission permits. The enterprise is governed by a board of directors comprised of the executive director of the department or the executive director's designee and 9 members appointed by the governor and representing the commission, fee payers, business management, and scientific researchers. The board shall establish by rule the following enterprise fees in an amount that, in aggregate, reflects the value of the services the enterprise provides: A fee per ton of air pollutant; A fee for services performed for third parties for air quality modeling, monitoring, assessment, or research; A fee for emission mitigation project services. The fees are credited to the newly created air quality enterprise cash fund. Revenue collected from the fees must not exceed the following amounts: For state fiscal year 2021-22, $1 million; For state fiscal year 2022-23, $3 million; For state fiscal year 2023-24, $4 million; and For state fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2024, $5 million. The enterprise is required to submit an annual report to the general assembly each December 1 detailing its activities, revenues, and the value of its business services. The enterprise is repealed on September 1, 2034, and is subject to sunset review. For purposes of the fees for air pollutant emission notices, annual per-ton emissions, and application processing, the act: Removes the statutory maximum for the fees; Establishes the amount of the fees for state fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22; and Allows the commission to thereafter adjust the fees by rule. Additionally, for annual per-ton emission fees and processing fees, the act specifies the purposes for which the increased revenues from those fees may be spent and requires annual reporting by the division regarding the fees. The act appropriates $10,660 from the general fund to the department and reappropriates the money to the department of law for legal services necessary to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act suspends, for 2 years, the operation of statutory provisions allocating specific amounts of revenue derived from the tax on limited gaming activity to the following cash funds: The Colorado travel and tourism promotion fund, administered by the board of directors of the Colorado tourism office; The advanced industries acceleration cash fund, administered by the Colorado office of economic development; The local government limited gaming impact fund, including the limited gaming impact account and the gambling addiction account, administered by the departments of local affairs and human services and local governmental entities; The innovative higher education research fund, administered by the higher education competitive research authority; The creative industries cash fund, administered by the council on creative industries; and The Colorado office of film, television, and media operational account cash fund, administered by the Colorado office of film, television, and media. The act also changes allocations within the local government limited gaming impact fund by: Eliminating a temporary earmarking of funds in the gambling addiction account for: A study, by the department of local affairs, to define the documented expenses, costs, and other impacts incurred directly as a result of limited gaming; and The development, by the department of human services, of a statewide program to address gambling addiction; and Making money available from the limited gaming impact account, in addition to the gambling addiction account, to award grants for the provision of gambling addiction counseling to Colorado residents. Finally, the act adjusts current long bill appropriations to fund the programs listed above for the 2020-21 state fiscal year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act: Continues the opioid and other substance use disorders study committee (committee) for an additional 4 years, meeting every other year beginning in 2021; In addition to the existing areas of study, for the 2021 interim, requires the committee to study the relationship between mental health conditions and substance use disorders and the effect of COVID-19 on substance use disorders; Requires the state substance abuse trend and response task force to convene stakeholders for the purpose of generating policy recommendations related to opioid and other substance use disorders and reviewing progress on bills introduced by the committee and passed by the general assembly; Modifies how child abuse, neglect, or dependency is determined in situations involving alcohol or substance exposure; and Authorizes the statewide perinatal substance use data linkage project to conduct ongoing research related to the incidence of perinatal substance exposure or related infant and family health and human service outcomes based on the new standards for determining child abuse, neglect, or dependency when alcohol or substance exposure is involved. $74,620 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of human services and reappropriated to the department of law to purchase legal services. The appropriation to the office of the governor, for use by the office of information technology for applications administration, is reduced by $74,620. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Preexisting law requires a home builder to offer to a buyer of a new home one of the following: A solar panel system or a solar thermal system; To prewire or preplumb the home for these systems; or A chase or conduit to wire or plumb the home for these systems in the future. The act requires the home builder to offer each of these options to the buyer and deletes these requirements for manufactured homes. The act also requires a home builder to offer the following options to a buyer of a newly constructed residence, which is defined to mean a traditional detached, single-family home: An electric vehicle charging system; upgrades of wiring to accommodate future installation of an electric vehicle charging system; or a 208- to 240-volt alternating current plug-in located in a place accessible to a motor vehicle parking area; Efficient electric heating and water heating options; and Pricing, energy efficiency, and utility bill information for each option available from the builder. The Colorado energy office must develop basic consumer education about leased solar installation and purchased solar installation in consultation with industries that offer these options to consumers. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Before the enactment of the act, existing law, enacted by Senate Bills 18-001 and 19-263, required that a ballot issue seeking approval for the issuance of transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) be submitted to the voters of the state at the November 2020 general election. If the ballot issue had been approved, the requirement, enacted by Senate Bill 17-267, that the state execute 2 separate tranches of up to $500 million each of lease-purchase agreements in state fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 for the purpose of funding transportation would have been repealed. Existing law, enacted by Senate Bill 19-239, also required department of transportation (CDOT) rule-making and reporting relating to motor vehicles used for certain types of commercial purposes. The act: Delays from the November 2020 general election to the November 2021 statewide election the requirement that a ballot issue seeking approval for the issuance of transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) be submitted to the voters of the state; Amends the ballot issue to reduce the amount of TRANs authorized to be issued by $500 million to offset the additional $500 million of lease-purchase agreement transportation funding that becomes available because the approval of the ballot issue at the November 2020 general election will repeal only the state fiscal year 2021-22 and tranche of Senate Bill 17-267 lease-purchase agreements, rather than both the state fiscal year 2020-21 and 2021-22 tranches of such lease-purchase agreements; Eliminates 2 statutory transfers of $50 million each from the general fund to the state highway fund that are scheduled under current law to be made on June 30, 2021, and June 30, 2022; Reduces the amount of general fund money dedicated to make lease-purchase agreement payments due in state fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 by $12 million per year by increasing the amount of such payment to be paid by the department of transportation from its other sources of legally available money by $12 million per year; Makes corresponding adjustments to the state fiscal year 2020-21 long bill appropriations to the department of treasury for lease-purchase agreements that decrease the general fund appropriation by $12 million and increase the cash funds appropriation from various cash funds under the control of the transportation commission by $12 million; and Repeals the CDOT rule-making and reporting requirements relating to motor vehicles used for certain types of commercial purposes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For purposes of suspending legislative interim committee activities during the 2020 interim, the act: Prohibits the legislative council of the general assembly from prioritizing any requests for legislative interim committees, including task forces, for the 2020 interim; and Prohibits meetings, field trips, and legislative recommendations and reports by, and suspends for one year certain reports required to be submitted to, existing legislative interim committees, including the Colorado youth advisory council review committee; wildfire matters review committee; statewide health care review committee; Colorado health insurance exchange oversight committee; pension review commission and pension review subcommittee; early childhood and school readiness legislative commission; water resources review committee; and transportation legislation review committee. Additionally, the act removes the requirement that the early childhood and school readiness legislative commission meet at least 4 times each year and instead limits the commission to up to 4 meetings per year. The act also reduces the state fiscal year 2020-21 general fund appropriation to the general assembly by $100,867 to reflect the savings resulting from the suspension of interim committee activities in the 2020 interim. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law requires appropriations of $750,000 for state fiscal years 2019-20 through 2023-24 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies to implement a program to increase public awareness concerning the safe use, storage, and disposal of opioids and the availability of naloxone and other drugs used to block the effects of an opioid overdose. The act reduces the appropriation to $250,000 for state fiscal years 2020-21 through 2023-24. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act removes the requirement that the state department of human services (department) implement a behavioral health capacity tracking system and make available to the public appropriate information from the capacity tracking system, unless money is appropriated for the system. The act removes the requirement that the department implement a care navigation program to assist engaged clients in obtaining access to treatment for substance use disorders, unless money is appropriated for the program. The act requires the department to report to the general assembly if the care navigation program is implemented. For the 2020-21 fiscal year, the act reduces the appropriation from the marijuana tax cash fund, created in section 39-28.8-501, to the department of human services by $546,013. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act limits to 2% the annual increase in the general fund share of per diem rates to nursing facilities for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 state fiscal years. For the 2020-21 fiscal year, the act decreases the general fund appropriation to the department of health care policy and financing for medical services premiums by $3,288,230, with an anticipated corresponding decrease in federal funds of $3,722,921. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
