Western state Colorado university - name change. The act simplifies the name of Western state Colorado university to Western Colorado university.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Revisor's Bill. To improve the clarity and certainty of the statutes, the bill amends, repeals, and reconstructs various statutory provisions of law that are obsolete, imperfect, or inoperative. The specific reasons for each amendment or repeal are set forth in the appendix to the bill. The amendments made by the bill are not intended to change the meaning or intent of the statutes, as amended.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Dyslexia screening and interventions - working group - pilot program - appropriation. The act directs the commissioner of education (commissioner) to convene a working group to analyze state and national data and practices concerning identification and support of students with dyslexia and to recommend dyslexia screening tools and processes, a statewide plan for identifying and supporting students with dyslexia, and educator training in recognizing and providing interventions for students with dyslexia. The working group must submit a report of its recommendations to the commissioner, and the commissioner must submit the report to the state board of education and the education committees of the general assembly. The act directs the department of education (department) to establish a pilot program to assist school districts, boards of cooperative services, and charter schools (local education providers) in using READ act assessments to screen for dyslexia and in providing interventions for students who are identified as having dyslexia. At the completion of the pilot program, the department must evaluate the effectiveness of the screening and interventions, refine the resources used, and disseminate the resources used to all local education providers in the state. The department must also provide technical assistance in implementing the resources at the request of a local education provider. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $106,196 from the general fund to the department of education to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act - grounds for discipline - waiting period after license revocation - fines - mandatory sterilization - continuation under sunset law - appropriation. The act implements some of the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report on the Colorado "Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act" as follows: Adds as grounds for discipline, a conviction of a local, state, or federal offense involving the theft, importation, capture, neglect, or abuse of an animal; Extends the commissioner of agriculture's authority to discipline a licensee or deny a license to an applicant for crimes involving animal cruelty to cases where a licensee or applicant has entered a plea of no contest; Extends the 2-year waiting period that a licensee whose license has been revoked must wait before applying for a new license to a principal, officer, director, manager, or any other person who has substantial control or authority over the daily operations of the entity, regardless of the reason for the revocation; and Requires the state treasurer to credit all fines to the general fund. The act removes the option of an animal shelter or pet animal rescue to release a dog or cat to a prospective owner with a fee and a signed agreement to have the animal sterilized within 90 days after the date of release and prohibits the animal's release unless the animal has been sterilized by a licensed veterinarian. The commissioner of agriculture may grant an exemption to a facility in an area with limited access to licensed veterinarians. The automatic termination date of the licensing of pet animal facilities by the department of agriculture is extended until September 1, 2026, pursuant to the provisions of the sunset law. $123,007 is appropriated to the department of agriculture from the general fund to implement the act along with a 1.6 FTE. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
County jails - data collection - appropriation. The act expands the information that a keeper of a jail (keeper) is required to maintain about the jail and the inmates confined in the jail. The keeper is required to submit a quarterly report of this information to the division of criminal justice within the department of public safety (division), and the division is required to publish that information in a searchable and sortable format. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, $26,107 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of public safety for use by the division of criminal justice. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Electric utilities - electric vehicles - charging ports and related infrastructure - cost recovery for investments - limitation on rate impact. The act authorizes electric public utilities to provide charging ports as regulated services and allows cost recovery. The retail rate impact from the development of electric vehicle infrastructure must not exceed one-half of one percent of the total annual revenue requirements of the utility. The act requires an electric public utility to apply to the public utilities commission to build facilities to support electric vehicles. Standards are set for approval. When a facility is built, the rates and charges for the services may allow: A return on any investment made by a public utility at the utility's weighted average cost of capital with the most recent rate of return on equity approved by the commission; For rate recovery mechanisms that allow earlier recovery of costs; and For performance-based incentive returns or similar investment incentives.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Comprehensive human sexuality education - content requirements - grant program - appropriation. The act adds certain content requirements for public schools that offer comprehensive human sexuality education, including instruction on consent as it relates to safe and healthy relationships and safe haven laws. The act prohibits instruction from emphasizing sexual abstinence as the primary or sole acceptable preventive method available to students and prohibits instruction from explicitly or implicitly using shame-based or stigmatizing language or instructional tools; employing gender stereotypes; or excluding the health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals. If a public school teaches comprehensive human sexuality education, the public school is not required to include instruction on pregnancy outcome options. However, if a public school opts to provide instruction on pregnancy outcome options, it must cover all pregnancy outcome options available. Current law provides for a comprehensive human sexuality education grant program. The act amends certain provisions of the grant program to: Require the department of public health and environment to submit an annual report concerning the outcomes of the grant program indefinitely; Add 9 representatives to the oversight entity and require membership of the oversight entity to represent diverse community perspective and make an effort to include committee members who are diverse; Require grant applicants to demonstrate a need for money to implement comprehensive human sexuality education; and Require that rural public schools or public schools that do not currently offer comprehensive human sexuality education receive priority when selecting grant applicants. The act prohibits the state board of education from waiving the content requirements for any public school that provides comprehensive human sexuality education. However, the act does not prohibit charter schools or institute charter schools from applying for a waiver. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $1,000,000 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Denver health and hospital authority - managed care organization contract. The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to offer to enter into a contract with the managed care organization (MCO) operated by Denver health and hospital authority (Denver health), as long as the MCO continues to operate a medicaid managed care program or until June 30, 2025, unless sooner reprocured. Denver health is required to collaborate, if applicable, with the MCO designated by the department to manage behavioral health services. The act requires the MCO operated by Denver health to maintain adequate financials, accept rates determined by the department, maintain service and quality metrics determined by the department, and meet statewide managed care system standards and operate as part of the overall managed care system. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Registrar of vital statistics - department of revenue - issuance of new a birth certificate, driver's license, or identity document - requirements - appropriation. Under current law, a person born in Colorado who seeks a new birth certificate from the registrar of vital statistics (state registrar) to reflect a change in gender designation must obtain a court order indicating that the sex of the person has been changed by surgical procedure and ordering that the gender designation on the birth certificate be amended, and the person must obtain a court order with a legal name change. The act: Repeals that provision and creates new requirements for the issuance of birth certificates to a person who has a gender different from the sex denoted on that person's birth certificate; Requires that the state registrar issue a new birth certificate rather than an amended birth certificate. The act allows a person who has previously obtained an amended birth certificate under previous versions of the law to apply to receive a new birth certificate. A person is not required to obtain a court order for a legal name change in order to obtain a new birth certificate with a change in gender designation; Gives the courts in this state jurisdiction to issue a decree to amend a birth certificate to reflect a change in sex designation for persons born in another state or foreign jurisdiction if the law of such other state or foreign jurisdiction requires a court decree in order to amend a birth certificate to reflect a change in sex designation; Creates new requirements for the issuance of a new driver's license or identity document to a person who has a gender different from the sex denoted on that person's driver's license or identity document after certain documents are submitted to the department of revenue; Exempts transgender persons from having to submit a public notice of name change. The act appropriates $58,500 from the licensing services cash fund to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles for DRIVES maintenance and support. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Drivers' licenses - renting or loaning a motor vehicle - use of electronic device for verification of driver's license. Current law prohibits a person from renting a motor vehicle to another person until the prospective lessor of the vehicle has inspected the prospective lessee's driver's license and compared and verified the signature on the license with the prospective lessee's signature in his or her presence. The act removes the requirement that the inspection be performed in the prospective lessee's presence and provides that the inspection may be performed through the use of an electronic device and must verify only that the license is unexpired. Current law requires a person who rents a motor vehicle to another person to keep a record of the registration number of the motor vehicle, the name and address of the other person, the number of the license of the other person, and the date and place when and where the license was issued. The act removes the requirement that the record include the date that the license was issued and permits the person who rents the motor vehicle to maintain the record in an electronic format. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Elimination of duplicate regulations commission - health and safety requirements. The act creates the elimination of duplicate regulations commission (commission) within the department of education and establishes membership criteria. The act requires the commission to analyze and identify duplicate regulations promulgated among the agencies relating to health and safety requirements for school-aged child care programs (programs); identify which regulations may be eliminated, revised, or delegated to the appropriate agency to eliminate duplicate regulations; and ensure the efficient regulation of health and safety requirements for programs. The agencies are required to commence respective rule-making consistent with the outcomes of the commission. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Procurement - source selection - disparity study. To ascertain whether disparities exist between the participation of historically underutilized businesses and other businesses in the state procurement system, the department of personnel is required to contract for a disparity study of the Colorado procurement process and to make recommendations to address any discrepancies identified by the study. The final report including the findings and recommendations from the study must be provided to the members of the general assembly and the executive director of the department of personnel (executive director) no later than December 1, 2020. The executive director is required to transmit a copy of the final report to the minority business office, which shall post the report on its official website. In addition, the executive director is required to include the findings and recommendations from the study in its report to the applicable house and senate committees of reference during its hearing pursuant to the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act". Any entity that is subject to the disparity study is required to respond to a request for information in connection with the study as soon as possible after receiving the request. $650,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of personnel for use by the division of accounts and control. Any unexpended and unencumbered money from the appropriation remains available for expenditure by the department of personnel for the purposes of the disparity study in the next fiscal year without further appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
