Colorado Bills

The bill requires health insurance carriers that contract with the state to provide group benefit plans to state employees to: Participate in the individual market through the health insurance exchange; Provide plans to 2 counties in a geographic rating area with the highest premiums; and Participate in medicaid, the children's basic health plan, and specific grant programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

There is an exemption from property tax for business personal property that would otherwise be listed on a single personal property schedule that is equal to $7,300 for the current property tax year cycle. The bill increases the exemption to $10,000 for the next 2 property tax years and adjusts it for inflation for subsequent property tax cycles. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

When a water right owner wishes to change a water right, the amount of water that can be changed is limited to the historical consumptive use of the water right. Current law provides that the reduced water usage that results from participation in a government-sponsored water conservation program will not be considered in analyzing the historical consumptive use of the water right, but only in water divisions 4, 5, or 6. The bill applies this rule statewide, includes water conservation pilot programs, and limits state agencies that can approve a water conservation program to only those that have explicit statutory jurisdiction over water conservation or water rights. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill, known as the 'Colorado Energy Impact Assistance Act', authorizes any investor-owned 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 a power plant occurs. 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 a specified percentage 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. 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.)

Currently and until September 1, 2018, a distributor can claim a credit for taxes paid on tobacco products that are shipped or transported by the distributor to a consumer outside of the state. The bill makes the credit permanent. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Current law requires engineering plans involving excavation to include only general information about the location of underground facilities, and the excavator is the party with the duty to seek specific information about these facilities' locations. The bill requires: Engineering plans involving excavation to include specific information about the location of underground facilities; Engineers to use their official stamps on the plans; and The stamped plans to be given to the person who will conduct the excavation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill, addressing appraisals conducted for insurance purposes, sets standards for when an appraiser, including an appraisals umpire, is considered fair, impartial, and neutral. The bill imposes the following requirements: An appraiser is prohibited from having a direct, material interest in the amounts determined by the appraisal process; An appraiser, including an appraisals umpire, must disclose to all parties any known fact discovered at any time that a reasonable person would consider likely to affect the appraiser's interest in the amount determined by the appraisal; Both the insurer and the insured, and their representatives, are prohibited from communicating with the other party's appraiser without the consent and participation of both parties; except that appraisers may directly communicate with each other to reach an agreed-upon settlement amount; The insurer, the insured, and their representatives, including adjusters, attorneys, and appraisers, must not have ex parte communications with the umpire during the appraisal process; and The umpire must not have ex parte communications with the insurer, including adjusters, the insured, and their representatives, including public adjusters.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill states that upon a court order, the department of human services (DHS) may transfer to the department of corrections (DOC) an individual who is at least 18 years of age and committed to the custody of the division of youth corrections within the DHS if: The individual is convicted of possession of contraband in the first degree when the contraband at issue is a deadly weapon; any crime of violence; first-, second-, or third-degree assault; or any offense for the possession or distribution of a controlled substance; and The DHS has certified that the individual is no longer benefitting from its programs or is unfit or unsafe for continued placement in a juvenile facility. Upon entering an order for such a transfer, the court shall issue a mittimus transferring all further jurisdiction over the individual to the DOC. Thereafter, the individual shall serve the unserved portion of his or her juvenile sentence as if he or she had been sentenced as an adult offender for such unserved portion. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Joint Budget Committee. The bill authorizes the department of revenue to establish a renewal application fee for each liquor license issued by the state.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

With respect to an application screening fee that a landlord may charge a prospective tenant, the bill: Limits the fee to cover the landlord's actual costs; Requires the landlord to provide any person who has paid the fee with either a disclosure of the landlord's anticipated expenses for which the fee will be used or a receipt that itemizes the landlord's actual expenses incurred. The landlord may provide the person with an electronic receipt, unless the person requests a paper receipt. Requires the landlord to return any amount of the fee that is not used as authorized by law; and Establishes a penalty for a landlord that does not comply with the requirements related to the fee. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill requires the contractor for any public project that does not receive any federal moneys to use apprentices registered with an apprenticeship program for at least 25% of the workforce in an apprenticeable occupation that is hired to work on the public project (apprenticeship requirements). For purposes of the bill, a public project is a project under the supervision of any state agency, including the department of transportation, that is likely to cost $500,000 or more in any fiscal year. The apprenticeship program must be registered with the United States department of labor, office of apprenticeship. A government agency may consider a bid or proposal for a public project that does not receive any federal moneys only if the bid or proposal indicates that at least 25% of the project workforce that is in an apprenticeable occupation and that is hired by the contractor to work on the public project will be apprentices registered with an apprenticeship program. Upon completion of a public project, the contractor is required to submit an affidavit to the government agency stating that the contractor has satisfied the apprenticeship requirements or made a good faith effort to comply with the apprenticeship requirements. If the contractor complied with the requirements, the affidavit must include the names of the registered apprentices, identify the specific apprenticeship programs with which the apprentices are registered, and specify the total number of people in the workforce for the public project who are in apprenticeable occupations. If the contractor was unable to comply with the apprenticeship requirements, the affidavit must include documentation of the contractor's good faith efforts to comply and the reason why compliance was not possible. If the contractor fails to submit the affidavit or if the state agency finds that the affidavit does not reflect the contractor's compliance or good faith effort to comply with the apprenticeship requirements, the agency may retain any unallocated portion of the amount of the contract price that the agency is authorized to withhold until the contract is completed as liquidated damages. A contractor that is awarded a contract by a state agency shall require, through private contract, that any subcontractor used to fulfill the terms of the contract complies with the apprenticeship requirements. The contractor may require, through private contract, that a subcontractor provide necessary information to allow the contractor to comply with the affidavit requirements. The bill specifies that the apprenticeship requirements do not supersede existing statutory requirements for licensed apprenticeable occupations. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)