The bill: Sets the reimbursement rate that a health insurance carrier must pay a health care facility if a covered person is treated for emergency services; Requires in-network health care facilities and health care providers to make disclosures to patients covered by a health benefit plan concerning the provision of services by an out-of-network provider; Outlines the claims and payment process, including reimbursement rates for the provision of out-of-network services for health care facilities and health care providers; and Authorizes arbitration for the payment of health care claims that are in dispute if certain criteria are met. The commissioner of insurance is required to submit a report annually to the general assembly concerning unanticipated out-of-network services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Tenants and landlords - rental application process. The act states that a landlord may not charge a prospective tenant a rental application fee unless the landlord uses the entire amount of the fee to cover the landlord's costs in processing the rental application. A landlord also may not charge a prospective tenant a rental application fee that is in a different amount than a rental application fee charged to another prospective tenant who applies to rent: The same dwelling unit; or If the landlord offers more than one dwelling unit for rent at the same time, any other dwelling unit offered by the landlord. The act requires a landlord to provide to any prospective tenant who has paid a rental application fee either a disclosure of the landlord's anticipated expenses for which the fee will be used or an itemization of the landlord's actual expenses incurred. The landlord is required to make a good-faith effort to refund any unused portion of an application fee within 20 days. The act states that if a landlord uses rental history or credit history as criteria in consideration of an application, the landlord shall not consider any rental history or credit history beyond 7 years immediately preceding the date of the application. If a landlord considers criminal history as a criterion, the landlord shall not consider an arrest record of a prospective tenant from any time or any conviction of a prospective tenant that occurred more than 5 years before the date of the application; except that a landlord may consider any criminal conviction record or deferred judgment relating to certain criminal offenses involving methamphetamine, any offense that required the prospective tenant to register as a sex offender, any offense that is classified as a homicide, or stalking. If a landlord denies a rental application, the landlord shall provide the prospective tenant a written notice of the denial that states the reasons for the denial. A landlord who violates any of the requirements created in the act is liable to the person who is charged a rental application fee for triple the amount of the rental application fee, plus court costs. A landlord who corrects or cures a violation not more than 7 calendar days after receiving notice of the violation is immune from liability. A person who intentionally and in bad faith brings a meritless claim against a landlord is liable for the landlord's court costs and reasonable attorney fees in defending the claim. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Under existing law, each licensed teacher receives a written evaluation, at least 50% of which must be based on student academic growth. Under the bill, 30% of the evaluation must be based on student academic growth and at least 20% on other measures determined by the school district board of education or the board of cooperative services to support student, educator, and system success. The bill creates a working group consisting of the commissioner of education, or his or her designee, several members appointed by the governor who represent teachers, administrators, parents, students, and education policy experts, and 6 legislators appointed by legislative leadership. The working group shall review the implementation of educator performance evaluation systems in Colorado and in other states and countries, identify best practices in performance evaluation, and make recommendations to the general assembly and the state board of education to improve the implementation and use of performance evaluations. The working group must complete its report by November 1, 2019, and submit it to the state board of education and the education committees of the general assembly. The department of education will post the report on the department's website. The working group is repealed, effective July 1, 2020. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Defendant pretrial release - no monetary bond for low level offenses. Under current law, the court is required to release a person charged with a class 3 misdemeanor, petty offense, or unclassified offense on a personal recognizance bond unless certain conditions exist. The act removes petty offenses from that requirement. The act prohibits a court from imposing a monetary condition of release for a defendant charged with a traffic offense, petty offense, or comparable municipal offense, except for a traffic offense involving death or bodily injury, eluding a police officer, circumventing an interlock device, or a municipal offense with substantially similar elements to a state misdemeanor offense. The act does not prohibit a defendant's release based on a pretrial policy that includes monetary conditions if the defendant is informed that he or she would be released without monetary conditions if he or she waits for a bond hearing. The act does not prohibit issuance of a warrant with monetary conditions of bond for a defendant who fails to appear in court as required or who violates a condition of release.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Current law, enacted in Senate Bill 18-001, requires the state treasurer to transfer, on July 1, 2019, a total amount of $150 million from the general fund to fund transportation needs as follows: $105 million (70%) to the state highway fund; $22.5 million (15%) to the highway users tax fund for allocation in equal shares to counties and municipalities; and $22.5 million (15%) to the multimodal transportation options fund. The bill increases the total amount of the July 1, 2019, transfer to $340 million so that the amount of the individual transfer to the multimodal transportation options fund is unchanged and the individual transfers to the state highway fund and the highway users tax fund are increased to the following amounts: $266.5 million (78.38%) to the state highway fund; $51 million (15%) to the highway users tax fund for allocation in equal shares to counties and municipalities; and $22.5 million (6.62%) to the multimodal transportation options fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill, known as the "Colorado Energy Impact Assistance Act", authorizes any electric utility (utility) to apply to the public utilities commission (PUC) for a financing order that will authorize the utility to issue low-cost Colorado energy impact assistance bonds (bonds) to lower the cost to electric utility customers (ratepayers) when the retirement of an electric generating facility occurs. A utility that issues bonds in conjunction with the retirement of an electric generating facility may apply to the PUC for approval to replace the retired electric generating facility with cost-effective generation resources or energy storage facilities, the granting of which by the PUC is subject to specified requirements and limitations. A portion of bond proceeds will provide transition assistance for Colorado workers and communities directly affected by the retirement of the facilities (transition assistance). To repay the bonds at the lowest cost to ratepayers, the PUC is authorized to review and approve a financing order and authorize a special energy impact assistance charge that is separate and apart from the utility's base rates on all ratepayer bills. The establishment and ongoing adjustment of the separate charge will allow bonds to achieve the highest possible credit rating, at least AA/Aa2, from the national independent credit rating agencies and will therefore allow bonds to be issued at the lowest possible interest rate and lowest subsequent cost to ratepayers. Before issuing a financing order, the PUC must hold a public hearing, receive testimony from affected groups, and make specified determinations concerning the necessity, prudence, justness, reasonableness, and quantifiable benefits to utility ratepayers of issuing the financing order. After the public hearing process, if a financing order is approved by the PUC, it must include specific information and instructions for the utility to which it applies relating to the amount of bonds to be issued and the imposition of the energy impact assistance charge and must require the utility to pay 15% of the net present value of the savings to a newly created Colorado energy impact assistance authority (authority) for the payment of transition assistance by the authority and the authority's reasonable and necessary administrative and operating costs. As an alternative to the financing order and bond issuance process, upon the closure of an electric generating facility, a Colorado electric utility may transfer to the authority an amount of up to 15% of the net present value of operational savings created by the closure of the electric generating facility, and such a transfer shall be deemed by the PUC to be a prudent action by the utility. The bill specifies that the authority is governed by a 7-member board of directors appointed by the governor and specifies mandatory and suggested occupational experience for the directors. The authority is authorized to receive bond proceeds from a utility to which a financing order applies and use the bond proceeds to provide transition assistance and pay its reasonable and necessary administrative and operating costs. Transition assistance is defined to include payment of retraining costs, including costs of apprenticeship programs and skilled worker retraining programs, for and financial assistance to directly displaced Colorado facility workers, compensation to Colorado local governments for lost property tax revenue directly resulting from the retirement of a facility, and similar payments, job retraining, assistance, and compensation for directly displaced Colorado workers and local governments in areas that produce fuel used in the retired facility directly resulting from the elimination of the need for fuel at the facility. The authority must disburse at least 50% of the transition assistance that it provides directly to Colorado workers; except that, if the local advisory committee established by the authority as required by the bill determines that the disbursement of 50% of all transition assistance directly to Colorado workers would be excessive based on the amount of transition assistance available and the amount of need for such direct assistance and recommends that a lower percentage of all transition assistance be disbursed directly to Colorado workers, the authority may reduce the percentage of all transition assistance disbursed directly to Colorado workers below50% to any percentage not less than 30%. When determining how best to provide transition assistance to a local community, the authority must, in conjunction with each board of county commissioners, municipal governing body, and school district that includes all or a portion of the impacted community, establish and take into consideration the advice of a local advisory committee. The authority is subject to open meeting and open records requirements and is required to submit a report to specified committees of the general assembly that sets forth a complete and detailed financial and operating statement of the authority for any fiscal year for which the authority has provided transition assistance. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) Read More
Public meetings - notice - online posting. Current law requires local governments to post notices of public meetings required by the state open meetings law in physical locations. The act allows a local government to post the notices on the local government's website. The notices are accessible to the public at no charge. The notices shall be searchable, if feasible, by type of meeting, date and time of meeting, and agenda contents. A local government that posts notices of public meetings on its website may continue to post the notices in a physical location, but is not required to do so.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Professions and occupations - organizational recodification of laws. Title 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes relates primarily to the regulation of professions and occupations. In 2016, the general assembly enacted Senate Bill 16-163, which authorized a multi-year project to recodify title 12. In 2017 and 2018, the General Assembly enacted numerous bills to relocate from title 12 to other titles in the Colorado Revised Statutes all laws that do not relate to the regulation of professions and occupations. After the passage of those relocation bills, title 12 generally contains only laws administered by the department of regulatory agencies (DORA) that regulate a profession or occupation. Section 1 of the act recodifies title 12, as contemplated by Senate Bill 16-163, by: Reorganizing and renumbering articles and parts within the title, all of which are administered by the division of real estate, the division of conservation, or the division of professions and occupations (DPO) within DORA; Relocating into title 12 statutes in part 1 of article 34 of title 24 of the Colorado Revised Statutes relating to the creation, powers, and duties of DPO in administering the laws regulating professions and occupations (practice acts); Creating common provisions that are generally applicable to all practice acts administered by DPO, except as otherwise specified, and modifying the various practice acts to eliminate redundancies with the common provisions; and Eliminating provisions in title 12 that are archaic or obsolete. Article 1 of the recodified title 12 contains provisions that apply to the entire title. Article 10 includes the laws governing real estate, including the division of real estate within DORA, while article 15 includes laws governing conservation easements, including the division of conservation within DORA. The remainder of the title relates to professions and occupations regulated by DPO within DORA. Article 20 includes laws relocated from title 24 relating to the creation of DPO and DPO's powers and duties and consolidated common provisions derived from the practice acts that relate to procedures, immunity, disciplinary and enforcement authority, and judicial review of final orders of DPO and the regulatory boards within DPO. Article 30 includes common provisions governing health care professions and occupations regulated by DPO, including the "Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act of 2010", health care work force data collection requirements, and opioid prescribing limitations. Articles 100 to 315 contain the practice acts governing individual professions and occupations regulated by DPO. The comparative tables detailing how the act reorganized and renumbered specific provisions in title 12 is located at . Section 2 of the act relocates a law that prohibits the mandatory donation of services from title 12 to the "Administrative Organization Act of 1968" in title 24. Section 3 repeals relocated provisions from titles 24 and 25. To give agencies time to make necessary adjustments to their rules and forms, section 265 delays the effective date of the act until October 1, 2019. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Facilities - menstrual hygiene products. The act requires the following facilities to provide whichever menstrual hygiene products are requested by a person in custody to the person in custody at no expense to the person in custody: Local jails, multijurisdictional jails, and municipal jails; Correctional facilities and private contract prisons; and Department of human services facilities. The act prohibits any facility required to provide menstrual hygiene products pursuant to the act from imposing any condition or restriction on a person's access to menstrual hygiene products. The act requires cities and counties that are seeking reimbursement from the state for maintaining people in a local jail after their sentence to the department of corrections' custody to annually report costs of menstrual hygiene products to the joint budget committee. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Certification of factory-built structures - insignias of approval. The act amends the state director of housing's authority to obtain injunctive relief to be consistent with the removal of the requirement that factory-built structures that are only substantially altered or repaired bear an insignia of approval issued by the division of housing. The act removes the requirement that factory-built structures that are manufactured or sold for transportation to and installation in another state bear an insignia of approval issued by the division of housing and the requirement that factory-built structures that are only substantially altered or repaired in Colorado bear an insignia of approval issued by the division of housing. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Urban drainage and flood control - director compensation. A member of a board of directors of an urban drainage and flood control district is currently limited to receiving $1,200 per year as compensation, not to exceed $75 per meeting attended. The act changes these maximum amounts to be the same as the amounts allowed for directors of special districts generally, which is currently specified in statute as $2,400 per year, not to exceed $100 per meeting.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
State institutions of higher education - requirements for developmental education and basic skills courses - supplemental academic instruction. The act directs the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) to adopt a developmental education policy requiring the governing boards of state institutions of higher education (institutions) to maximize the likelihood of success in entry-level (gateway) college-level course work when placing students into developmental education. The act also specifies that institutions cannot place a student into developmental education based on a single instrument or test. For institutions authorized to offer developmental education, the act requires that, by 2022, such institutions shall directly enroll no more than 10 percent of students enrolling in the institution into stand-alone developmental education courses that may extend the student's time to degree. Instead, a student should be enrolled in a gateway college-level course with additional supports through supplemental academic instruction (SAI) or co-requisite remediation. The act allows institutions to pilot new approaches to remediate students who may not benefit from SAI or co-requisite remediation and to seek waivers from the commission to expand or duplicate successful pilots. The act authorizes all 4-year institutions to offer SAI, without approval from the commission, to students who need additional supports to be successful in college-level courses. The act clarifies and adds reporting requirements relating to developmental education and SAI. The act changes the term "basic skills" in statute to "developmental education" and makes conforming amendments throughout. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
