Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill requires that all voting systems and voting equipment satisfy the latest voting systems standards promulgated by the federal election assistance commission. The bill also allows the secretary of state to promulgate rules requiring that voting systems and voting equipment satisfy additional requirements, so long as such requirements meet or exceed the latest voting systems standards promulgated by the federal election assistance commission.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires the state court administrator to provide the secretary of state with a report of all persons who report as ineligible to serve as a trial or grand juror because they are either not a citizen or do not reside in the county in which they are summoned for juror service. The bill also requires the secretary of state to forward this report to each county clerk and recorder. The bill then requires county clerk and recorders to cancel the voter registration of any elector who is either not a citizen or does not reside in the county and who the county clerk and recorders have received notice of from the state court administrator's report. The secretary of state may cancel the voter registration of any elector who is not a citizen and who the secretary of state has received notice of from the state court administrator's report. Nothing in the bill allows a county clerk and recorder or the secretary of state to cancel the registration of a uniformed-service voter who is absent from the county in which he or she is registered to vote by reason of active duty. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires the office of legislative legal services (office) to publish drafts on the general assembly's website (website) of any bills that may be introduced as one of a legislator's 5 bills by right (covered bills). Specifically, the bill establishes the following requirements for the office: 40 days prior to the 1st day of a regular legislative session, the office is required to publish the current draft of a returning member's covered bill; 30 days prior to the 1st day of a regular legislative session, the office is required to publish the subject of a new member's request for a covered bill; 10 days prior to the 1st day of a regular legislative session, the office is required to publish the current draft of a new member's covered bill; If there is no draft as of the deadline, the office is required to publish the subject of the request for the covered bill and then publish the draft as soon as it has been completed; A redraft of the covered bill is required to be published; and The office is required to publish a notice of any covered bill that is withdrawn after the bill subject or draft has been published on the website. To accommodate the deadlines for publishing the bill drafts and subjects on the website, the bill establishes the following bill request deadlines for covered bills: 70 days prior to the 1st day of a regular legislative session for a returning member; and 33 days prior to the 1st day of a regular legislative session for a new member.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022, the bill: Increases the maximum amount of actual value of the owner-occupied residence of a qualifying senior or veteran with a disability that is exempt from property taxation from $200,000 to $400,000; and Specifies that a senior is deemed to be a 10-year owner-occupier of a primary residence that the senior has owned and occupied for less than 10 years and therefore qualifies for the senior property tax exemption for the residence if: The senior would have qualified for the senior property tax exemption for the senior's former primary residence but for the fact that medical necessity required the senior to stop occupying the former primary residence; The senior has not previously received the exemption for a former primary residence on the basis of medical necessity; and The senior has not owned and occupied another primary residence since the senior first stopped occupying his or her former primary residence due to medical necessity. "Medical necessity" is defined as a medical condition of a senior that a physician licensed to practice medicine in Colorado has certified, on a form developed by the state property tax administrator, as having required the senior to stop occupying the senior's prior primary residence. When applying for an exemption on the basis of medical necessity, a senior must provide the form establishing proof of medical necessity. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires the transportation commission (commission) to annually contract with a fairness monitor to review and monitor the procurement process for transportation projects that the department of transportation (department) or an agency or enterprise of the department intends to procure using an alternative form of contracting. An alternative form of contracting is any method of procurement used by the department or an agency or enterprise of the department for a transportation project other than design bid build contracting. Before the department or an agency or enterprise of the department uses an alternative form of contracting to procure a transportation project, the fairness monitor is required to: Review the project to determine whether use of the alternative form of contracting will result in successful completion of the project sooner or at a lower cost; Review the decision making process by all involved department, agency, or enterprise employees regarding the decision to use an alternative form of contracting for the project; Oversee the fairness of the project criteria development, project advertisement, and contractor selection processes for the project; and Report to the contracting fairness committee (committee) required to be created by the commission regarding these reviews and oversight and make a recommendation to the committee as to whether the alternative form of contracting proposed for the project should be used. The committee is required to review the information and recommendations reported to it by the fairness monitor and report to the commission its assessment of any recommendation of the fairness monitor that an alternative form of contracting project should not be used for a project. For any transportation project for which an alternative form of contracting is used, the fairness monitor is required to designate a third-party team of private persons with expertise in contracting for transportation projects for the purpose of monitoring the fairness of the procurement process for the project. The department or an agency or enterprise of the department is required to pay the costs of the third-party team and to impose an equal fee on all contractors seeking to be selected for the project in an amount calculated to generate 50% of the amount needed to pay those costs. Upon the completion of construction for any transportation project for which an alternative form of contracting is used, the fairness monitor is required to conduct a review of the project that, at a minimum: Compares actual project completion costs and time to the original budget, contract amount, and schedule for the project; and Makes a record of any claims, disputes, or pending litigation arising out of the project. The fairness monitor is required to report the results of the review to the committee. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill grants a person who is at least 21 years old and permitted to possess a handgun pursuant to federal and state law the same authority to carry a concealed handgun as a person who holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun (permit). A person who carries a concealed handgun without a permit has the same rights, limitations, and authority to carry as a person who holds a permit. A person may obtain a permit for the purpose of using the permit to carry a concealed handgun in another state that recognizes a Colorado permit. Under existing law, a permit is valid for 5 years. The bill makes a permit valid for the life of the permit holder. Existing permits, other than temporary emergency permits, are converted to lifetime permits. Because permits are valid for the life of the holder, the bill repeals provisions relating to the renewal of permits. The bill repeals the temporary emergency permit to carry a concealed handgun. The bill repeals local government authority to regulate open or concealed carry of a handgun, including repealing the authority of special districts and the governing boards of institutions of higher education, as applicable. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The membership of the transportation commission (commission) currently consists of 11 members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate from statutorily designated districts. If the bill is approved by the voters of the state at the November 2022 general election, on February 1, 2025, section 2 of the bill will replace the current membership of the commission with 9 members elected at the November 2024 general election, one from each congressional district of the state and one from the state at large. Thereafter, whenever the number of congressional districts in the state is odd, the membership of the commission consists of one member elected from each congressional district of the state, and whenever the number of congressional districts in the state is even, the membership of the commission consists of one member elected from each congressional district of the state and one member elected from the state at large. Commission members' terms are 4 years; except that: The initial terms of the members elected at the 2024 general election from the first, third, fifth, and seventh congressional districts and the initial term of the member elected from the state at large are 2 years; and Whenever congressional redistricting changes the number of congressional districts from even to odd, the term of the member of the commission elected from the state at large who is serving on the effective date of the redistricting ends upon the commencement of the terms of the members of the commission elected at the first general election held after the redistricting occurs. The governor is required to fill any vacancy that may occur in the commission. An individual appointed to fill a vacancy remains a member of the commission until the next general election and until the individual's successor is elected and duly qualified. On and after February 1, 2025, each member of the commission elected from a congressional district must actually reside in the congressional district that the member represents and any member elected from the state at large must actually reside in the state. If a member elected from a congressional district ceases to reside in the district or a member elected from the state at large ceases to live in the state, the members shall be deemed to have resigned as a member of the commission. On and after February 1, 2025, section 1 requires the commission to select the executive director of the department of transportation and specifies that the executive director serves at the pleasure of the commission; except that the executive director appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate who is serving as of February 1, 2025, remains the executive director until the commission appoints a successor, which the commission is required to do no later than July 1, 2025.Sections 3 through 10 make conforming amendments to the "Uniform Election Code of 1992" to ensure that candidates for the commission and members of the commission are treated similarly to candidates for and members of the state board of education and the regents of the university of Colorado with respect to membership on party committees, nomination as candidates, resolution of tie vote situations, election contests, and campaign finance disclosure requirements.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Under federal law, money deposited in a qualified tuition program under section 529 of the internal revenue code (529 plan) grows tax deferred and is withdrawn tax free when used for eligible expenses. In addition to the federal tax benefit, the state provides an incentive for the deposit of money into a 529 plan by offering a state income tax deduction for contributions to a plan. In 2019, the federal government included paying principal or interest on any qualified education loan, up to a $10,000 lifetime limit per plan beneficiary or sibling of a plan beneficiary, as an eligible expense. Current law requires the state income tax deduction to be recaptured from the taxpayer if a distribution is not used for listed purposes. The bill specifies that using a 529 plan for paying principal or interest on any qualified education loan, not to exceed $10,000, is also an eligible distribution for purposes of the state income tax deduction for contributions to such 529 plans. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Under current law, executive agency rules take effect 20 days after the agency adopts the rule, or on a later date if specified in the rule. After adoption, the office of legislative legal services (OLLS) at the direction of the general assembly's committee on legal services (committee) reviews agency rules on an annual cycle, commencing with agency rules adopted on or after November 1 of one year through October 31 of the following year, and recommends the expiration of certain rules to the committee based a determination that the rules do not comply with statute. The committee votes on whether to recommend the nonextension of those rules to the general assembly, as reflected in the annual rule review bill. Rules that are not extended by the general assembly in the annual rule review bill expire on May 15 of the year following the year in which they were enacted. The bill requires the governor or the governor's designee to review each proposed rule for compliance with the agency's statutory authority and other criteria set forth in statute, and prohibits an agency from adopting such proposed rule unless and until the governor or governor's designee determines its compliance. The bill creates a new prior review process for review of rules adopted by an agency on and after November 1, 2022, that significantly increase the regulatory burden on businesses, professions, occupations, and industries, including the oil and gas, aerospace, energy efficiency and environmental technology, transportation, and agriculture industries (economic impact rules). As part of the rule-making process, the agency determines whether the rule is an economic impact rule at the conclusion of the rule-making process. The agency must send the list of economic impact rules to the general assembly, the OLLS, and the secretary of state. A rule that an agency determines to be an economic impact rule cannot take effect until completion of the prior review process established in the bill. Each economic impact rule is assigned to a single legislative prior review committee consisting of the members of either the house of representatives' or senate's committee of reference that hears matters relating to the subject of the economic impact rule or that considered the legislation authorizing the economic impact rule. Within 21 days after the commencement of the regular legislative session, the prior review committee may select economic impact rules for review under the prior review process established in the bill. Economic impact rules that are not selected for prior review take effect on the twenty-second day after the commencement of the legislative session. With respect to economic impact rules selected by a prior review committee for prior review, the prior review committee may take the following actions: By majority vote, make the rule effective immediately or on another date; By majority vote, determine that the rule exceeds the agency's rule-making authority or fails to meet other requirements for rule-making set forth in statute; or Take no action. If the committee takes no action on a selected economic impact rule within 64 days after the commencement of the applicable regular legislative session, the selected rule is deemed effective on the sixty-fifth day after the commencement of the legislative session. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Current law limits, with some exceptions, the amount of nonalcohol products a retail liquor store may sell by limiting the amount of annual gross revenues derived from the sale of nonalcohol products to 20% of the store's total annual gross sales revenues. The bill adds fruit, vegetables, nuts, and meat, if not substantially modified, to the list of items a retail liquor store may sell without including the sales revenues from those products in the calculation of the 20% limit. These food items may be cut, canned, dried, frozen, shelled, or packaged.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
In 2020, the general assembly enacted, and the governor subsequently signed into law, Senate Bill 20-205 (SB20-205), which required that employers offer sick leave to their employees. SB20-205 included an exception for employers with fewer than 16 employees, but the exception repealed January 1, 2022. The bill recreates this exception to apply in perpetuity.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill prohibits a state agency, local government, and common interest community from limiting or prohibiting the use of natural gas, propane, solar photovoltaics, micro wind turbines, or small hydroelectric power for electricity generation, cooking, hot water, or space heating in residences, units, or businesses. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
