The bill prohibits an employer from requiring union membership or payment of union dues as a condition of employment. The bill creates civil and criminal penalties for employer violations regarding union membership and authorizes the attorney general and the district attorney in each judicial district to investigate alleged violations and take action against a person believed to be in violation. The bill states that all-union agreements are unfair labor practices.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill requires the attorney general, or his or her designee, to organize and provide a training of at least one hour, which all Colorado civil rights commission members are required to attend, regarding the state's obligation of religious neutrality and consistency when considering claims that involve freedom of speech or free exercise of religion under the first amendment of the United States constitution. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
With regard to employment, housing, public accommodations, and advertising discrimination complaints investigated by the civil rights division in the department of regulatory agencies and, in some cases, heard or pursued by the Colorado civil rights commission, the bill specifies that: The respondent has a right to request representation by a public defender, regardless of indigent status or the lack of an arrest for or charge of a crime, at any point in the administrative process when the respondent is requested or required to participate; The respondent may request to move the matter to a court of competent jurisdiction if the respondent asserts that the respondent engaged in the alleged discriminatory conduct on the basis of first amendment rights; and If the respondent obtains a favorable decision after all appeals are exhausted or if the United States supreme court rules in favor of the respondent, the commission must pay the respondent's attorney fees and costs and lost business income, retroactive to appeals or actions for judicial review filed on or after December 1, 2013.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Current law requires each county to publish a report about its expenses and contracts (expense report), the salaries of public employees and officials in the county (salary report), and the financial statements for each fund kept by the county treasurer (financial statement). The expense report is published monthly and the salary report is published twice per year. The bill changes the salary report to an annual report. Commencing January 1, 2020, the bill allows a county to publish the expense report, the salary report, and the financial statement on a county website with a link to the report published in at least one legal newspaper.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
For income tax years commencing on and after January 1, 2019, the bill: Reduces both the individual and the corporate state income tax rate from 4.63% to 4.49%; and Reduces the state alternative minimum tax by 0.14%.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
In connection with any land area that is owned by the federal or state government that is located either within the territorial boundaries of a county or outside of but within 5 miles of the territorial boundaries of a county, where a supply of wildfire fuel materials exists on the land that is sufficiently concentrated posing a substantial threat of causing or aggravating a wildfire in such area, or where the federal or state government has failed to create a defensible space on such land to reduce the potential for damage from a wildfire, section 1 of the bill permits the board of county commissioners of any county to use persons employed by the county or to contract with for-profit or not-for-profit organizations or entities to supply persons able to enter the federal or state land for the sole purpose of removing such fuel materials or creating such defensible space. Under the bill, a person employed by or contracting with the county is not liable for any damages caused by any conduct he or she undertakes in accordance with this authority unless the person's conduct was due to willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith. Section 2 appropriates $10 million for the 2019-20 state fiscal year, from the general fund to the department of higher education for allocation to the Colorado state university system to be used for the forest restoration and wildfire mitigation grant program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill requires an executive agency with rule-making authority to obtain additional statutory rule-making authority to amend or reinterpret an existing rule unless the rule is amended or reinterpreted based on: The rule's expiration or pending expiration as a result of its inclusion in the annual rule review bill; or A determination that the existing rule has been rendered unconstitutional or otherwise in contravention of the law based on a court decision or changes made to state or federal statutes, federal regulations, or the state or federal constitution. Any rule that an agency promulgates or reinterprets without complying with the requirement to obtain additional statutory rule-making authority is void. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill repeals statutory provisions: Prohibiting the possession of certain ammunition magazines; and Requiring each of certain ammunition magazines that are manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013, to include a permanent stamp or marking indicating that the magazine was manufactured or assembled after July 1, 2013.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
With certain exceptions, current law limits the authority of a person who holds a valid permit to carry a concealed handgun by prohibiting a permit holder from carrying a concealed handgun on public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school grounds. The bill removes this limitation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill extends the right to use deadly physical force against an intruder under certain conditions to include owners, managers, and employees of a business. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill requires an agency or nonprofit organization operating a clean syringe exchange program to submit an annual environmental impact mitigation plan (plan) to its county or district board of health detailing: The number of syringes received from clean syringe exchange program participants in the previous calendar year; The number of syringes given to clean syringe exchange program participants in the previous calendar year; The agency's or nonprofit organization's plan to minimize the number of syringes near the clean syringe exchange program location that have not been disposed of safely; and The agency's or nonprofit organization's plan to minimize the environmental impacts of unsafe or improper syringe disposal. The county or district must forward the plan to the department of public health and environment (department). The department must compile the information received from all county and district boards of health and report the information to the general assembly during the department's "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill requires an entity that provides electronically accessible educational materials to a public school or school district to equip the materials with computer software or a filter service that prohibits access to material that is harmful to children or obscene. A parent or legal guardian may bring a civil action against an entity that provides electronically accessible educational materials and that violates this requirement if the parent's child viewed material that is harmful to a child or obscene through the material provided by the entity. The parent or legal guardian is entitled to injunctive relief, the greater of a fine in the range of $1,000 to $5,000 for each violation or actual damages incurred as a result of each violation, exemplary damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. It is an affirmative defense if the entity equips the materials with computer software or a filter service that prohibits access to material that is harmful to children or obscene. The bill requires each school district or public school to ensure that any database provided by an entity accessible to students is equipped with computer software or a filter service that prohibits access to material that is harmful to children or obscene by that entity, and each computer or other electronic device that a student may have access to is equipped with computer software or a filter service that prohibits access to material that is harmful to children or obscene. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
