Colorado Bills

The Colorado constitution allows a qualifying senior or a veteran who has a service-connected disability rated as a 100% permanent disability to claim a property tax exemption for 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value of the qualifying senior's or veteran's owner-occupied primary residence. The concurrent resolution extends eligibility for the exemption to the gold star spouse of a veteran. Gold star spouse is defined as the spouse of a deceased member of the United States armed forces who qualifies for a gold star lapel button due to the death of the member of the United States armed forces under applicable federal law and regulations prescribed by the federal secretary of defense.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this concurrent resolution as introduced in the second house.)

For purposes of addressing discriminatory or unfair employment practices pursuant to Colorado's anti-discrimination laws, the bill enacts the "Protecting Opportunities and Workers' Rights (POWR) Act", which: Continues the Colorado civil rights division (division) and the Colorado civil rights commission (commission) indefinitely; Directs the division to include "harassment" as a basis or description of discrimination on any charge form or charge intake mechanism; Allows an employment discrimination claim to be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in the county or district where the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred; and allows an individual to file a civil action, without otherwise exhausting administrative proceedings and remedies, as long as the individual either files a charge with the Colorado civil rights commission (commission) or serves a written demand for the relief on the individual's employer and allows the employer 14 days to respond; Directs the division to develop and provide to employers, free of charge, training and education programs regarding the prevention of harassment and discrimination in the workplace, bystander intervention, and workplace civility; Expands the definition of "employee" to include individuals in domestic service individuals who perform a service for a price, including independent contractors, subcontractors, and their employees; and individuals who offer services or labor without pay and specifies that an individual performing services for pay for another is deemed an employee unless, by a preponderance of the evidence, it is proven that the individual satisfies the conditions under the state wage law for a determination that the individual is not an employee; Adds a requirement that a written, electronic, or oral agreement or contract under which a person performs services for another must require that the person for whom the services are performed shall not engage in any discriminatory or unfair employment practice with respect to the individual performing the services ; Adds new definitions of "caregiver", "care recipient", "child", "minor child", and "harass" or "harassment" "hostile work environment", and "independent contractor" and repeals the current definition of "harass" that requires creation of a hostile work environment; Adds protections from discriminatory or unfair employment practices for individuals based on their "marital status" or "caregiver status"; Specifies that in harassment claims, the alleged conduct need not be severe or pervasive to constitute a discriminatory or unfair employment practice, and an employer has an affirmative defense to the claim if the employer demonstrates that, when the employer knew or should have known of the harassment, the employer took prompt, reasonable, and, if warranted, remedial action to end the harassment, deter future harassers, and protect employees; Specifies that it is a discriminatory or unfair employment practice for an employer to fail to initiate an investigation of a complaint or fail to take prompt , reasonable, and, if warranted, remedial action; if appropriate; Specifies the requirements for an employer to avoid liability when an employee proves that a supervisor unlawfully harassed that employee;Prohibits certain preemployment medical examinations, imposes limitations on inquiries and examinations about an employee's disability during employment, and specifies that violations of these prohibitions and limitations constitute discriminatory or unfair employment practices; Expands the time limit to file a charge with the commission from 6 months to 300 days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred; Repeals the limits on remedies in cases involving age discrimination; Limits the ability of an employer to require confidentiality of claims once a charge is filed with the commission Specifies requirements that must be satisfied for a nondisclosure provision in an agreement between an employer and employee to be enforceable; voids a nondisclosure provision if a party makes a material misrepresentation; and requires the division to provide to a charging party other charges filed with the division against the same respondent; and Requires employers with 20 or more employees to provide and maintain records of training and education to all employees regarding harassment and discrimination prevention, bystander intervention, and workplace civility, encourages other employers to provide the training and education, and authorizes the division director to impose penalties on employers that fail to comply with the training and recordkeeping requirements. The bill appropriates the following amounts to the following departments to implement the bill: $539,292 and 6.0 FTE to the department of corrections; $71,905 and 0.8 FTE to the department of education; $134,823 and 1.5 FTE to the office of the governor; $22,471 and 0.5 FTE to the department of health care policy and financing; $449,410 and 5.0 FTE to the department of human services; $449,410 and 5.0 FTE to the judicial department; $107,858 and 1.2 FTE to the department of labor and employment; $401,180 and 2.5 FTE to the department of law; $134,823 and 1.5 FTE to the department of natural resources; $630,465 and 1.5 FTE to the department of personnel; $125,835 and 1.4 FTE to the department of public health and environment; $161,788 and 1.8 FTE to the department of public safety; $652,879 and 9.7 FTE to the department of regulatory agencies; $134,823 and 1.5 FTE to the department of revenue; and $269,646 and 3.0 FTE to the department of transportation. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill creates the community response to low-level offenses working group in the department of public safety to study and propose statewide policy and legislative initiatives to safely increase community response in lieu of law enforcement engagement for lower-level offenses and calls for service when there is no criminal conduct. The working group shall report its findings to the judiciary committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees, by the February 1, 2022. The bill prohibits a peace officer from arresting a person based solely on the alleged commission of a traffic offense, petty offense, drug petty offense, municipal offense, drug misdemeanor offense, or misdemeanor offense, unless: Custodial arrest is statutorily required; The offense is a victim rights crime; the offense includes an element of illegal possession or use of a firearm; or the offense constitutes unlawful sexual behavior, failure to register as a sex offender, or the offense is a violation of a temporary or regular extreme risk protection order, a violation of a credible threat to a school, or a violation of eluding in a vehicle, or motor vehicle theft ; or The officer is unable to sufficiently verify the individual's identity absent a custodial arrest. The bill prohibits a court from issuing a monetary bond for a misdemeanor offense; municipal offense; class 4, 5, or 6 felony; or a drug felony unless the court finds the defendant will flee prosecution or threaten the safety of another and no other condition of release can reasonably mitigate the risk. The bill requires the court to issue a personal recognizance bond when the defendant fails to appear, unless: The defendant failed to appear when a witness was subpoenaed or a civilian witness was on call; The defendant intentionally failed to appear for the purpose of interfering with or deterring victim or witness participation in the case; or The defendant has failed to appear 2 or more times more than one time in the case. The bill requires the court to issue a personal recognizance bond in a failure to comply with a probation conditions case that is not based on a criminal offense, unless: The violation was for a failure to comply with any court- ordered treatment related to a sex offense or domestic violence; The defendant has already had probation revoked for failure to comply in the case; or The court finds the defendant is likely to flee prosecution. The bill permits appellate review of a court's bail or bond order by either the defendant or the prosecution after a reconsideration hearing, denial of a reconsideration of bond conditions, or order for bail after conviction. The bill requires annually each county jail to provide information regarding jail population and each judicial district to provide information regarding bonds, failures to appear, and summons to the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety. The division shall compile a report of the information and post the report on its website. The bill creates a fund to pay for the study using 25% of the money collected on a failure to appear personal recognizance bond. The bill authorizes sheriffs to actively manage their jail populations in order to keep the population as low as possible while maintaining community safety, including the authority to establish jail admission standards that include offense-based admission standards that limit jail admissions. The bill appropriates $24,436 from the general fund to the judicial department for trial courts to implement the bill. The bill appropriates $50,375 from the general fund to the department of public safety for the division of criminal justice to implement the bill. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Executive Committee of the Legislative Council. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a delay in the ability of the United States Census Bureau (Census Bureau) to deliver to the state the population and demographic data necessary to redraw election districts. The Census Bureau has indicated that the final census data will not be available for at least 6 months after the deadline contemplated in federal law. Under the current definition of "necessary census data" contained in state law, this delay prevents the independent congressional redistricting commission and the independent legislative redistricting commission (commissions) from completing their work by the deadlines in the constitution. An extended delay in finalizing the commissions' redistricting plans will make it impossible to complete all of the steps in the 2022 election procedures in time for the general election. For the commissions convened in 2021 only, the bill amends the definition of "necessary census data" to allow the preliminary and staff plans to be developed using the data on the total population by state that will be released by the Census Bureau on April 30, 2021, and other population and demographic data from federal or state sources that are approved by the commissions. Once final census data is released by the Census Bureau, the nonpartisan staff of the commission must complete adjustments for incarcerated populations required by current law within 5 days. All as soon as practicable, but no later than 10 days after the data is released. Nonpartisan staff are required to use the final data as adjusted to prepare all staff plans presented to the commissions or submitted to the Colorado supreme court after that date must use the final data as adjusted. A plan approved by the Colorado supreme court must be based on the final data as adjusted. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill provides injured workers control over the selection of the primary treating physician in workers' compensation cases, allowing them to choose from any level I or level II accredited physician through the division of workers' compensation. The bill creates the mechanism by which the injured worker may select the treating physician, and requires the employer or insurer to choose the physician when an injured worker is unable or unwilling to select the treating physician.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)