The bill allows the district attorney to consent to an assessment for suitability for participation in restorative justice practices, including victim-offender conferences, as part of a recommended sentence in a plea bargain. The bill directs that the presentence report must indicate whether the offender meets the minimum eligibility requirements for participation in restorative justice practices. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Currently, only an organization that is exempt from taxation under section 501 (c)(3) of the federal internal revenue code (tax code) may accept services offered through a program of community or useful public service operated by a county court, probation department, county sheriff, or other local governmental entity in connection with sentencing for specified misdemeanors. Veterans' service organizations may be organized under other provisions of the tax code such as section 501 (c)(4) or 501 (c)(19). The bill expands the criteria for organizations that may accept community or useful public service assignments to include veterans' service organizations organized under 501 (c)(4) or 501 (c)(19) of the tax code, and specifies that the court or other entity making the assignment retains discretion to determine which organizations may be included in its program of community or useful public service. Section 1 amends the statute dealing with misdemeanor sentencing generally. Sections 2 and 3 insert analogous provisions into the statutes dealing specifically with sentencing of persons convicted of drug offenses and alcohol-related driving offenses, respectively. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill creates a technical demonstration forum consisting of eight members to study and document how advanced technologies can improve transportation access for people with disabilities. The forum consists of the following agency officers or their designees: The executive director of the department of labor and employment, who serves as chair of the forum; The executive director of the department of health care policy and financing, who serves as vice-chair of the forum; The director of the public utilities commission; The chief information officer of the office of information technology; The executive director of the department of human services; The director of the division of veterans affairs; The superintendent of the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind; and The executive director of the department of transportation. To demonstrate the transportation access needs of people with disabilities in both urban and rural areas of the state, the forum is directed to study the transportation access needs of people with disabilities in El Paso and Teller counties and explore technological and transportation business solutions that could increase transportation access for people with disabilities in those areas. The forum may recommend that the executive director of the department of labor and employment enter into a contract with a technology developer or transportation business to conduct one or more pilot projects in El Paso County, Teller County, or both counties to demonstrate the efficacy of a certain technology or transportation business product to improve transportation access for people with disabilities. On or before December 31, 2017, the forum is required to publish a report of its research and findings, including the results of any pilot projects and any legislative recommendations developed, and to furnish copies of the report to the governor, members of the general assembly's majority and minority leadership, and the members of the joint budget committee. The forum and its responsibilities are repealed, effective July 1, 2018. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill authorizes the fiduciary of an endowment fund to distribute principal, such as capital gains, under a unitrust election. This facilitates investing in stocks. The bill authorizes a cemetery authority to request that the fiduciary convert an endowment fund to a unitrust. The fiduciary and cemetery authority must agree on the terms of conversion, the distribution method, and the distribution rate. The distributions must be made on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, but the default is monthly. The unitrust must comply with certain current unitrust laws. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Transportation Legislation Review Committee. The bill increases the minimum weight for classification as a commercial vehicle subject to the statutory and regulatory standards for commercial vehicles from 10,001 pounds to 16,001 pounds unless the vehicle is registered for use in interstate commerce. With respect to vehicles that would be classified as commercial vehicles but for the fact that they weigh between 10,001 and 16,000 pounds, the chief of the Colorado state patrol is authorized to adopt rules that authorize the Colorado state patrol to: Annually inspect these vehicles; Enforce with respect to these vehicles all requirements for the securing of loads that apply to commercial vehicles; and Enforce with respect to these vehicles all requirements relating to the use of coupling devices for commercial vehicles.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
In assisting a student and his or her parent in creating the ICAP, the public school must discuss the skills and educational opportunities available through military enlistment and is encouraged to provide to the student information concerning the military enlistment test. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Under current law, the clerk of the court mails notice of the filing of certain petitions and the date and time of hearings on the petition to specified interested parties by registered mail. The bill changes the process so the clerk of the court may send the notice by first-class mail or electronically using the e-filing system of the judicial department. Under current law, if a respondent in a domestic relations action cannot be personally served and is served by publication, the clerk of the court is required to post a copy of the process on a bulletin board in the clerk's office for 35 days after the date of publication and may post the notice online on the court's website. The bill gives the clerk the option of posting the notice online on the court's website rather than on a bulletin board. The bill also updates the time frame for holding certain hearings to multiples of 7 days. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill creates a group under the commissioner of agriculture to study the feasability of including hemp products in animal feed. The group includes a hemp producer, a hemp processor, a legal expert, a person from an institution of higher education who has studied hemp policy, a veterinarian, a livestock producer, and any other person the commissioner determines would facilitate understanding the legal, practical, or business considerations. The group will make recommendations by December 31, 2017. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill creates a new provision that allows a child care worker who is employed in a licensed facility that is wholly owned, operated, and controlled by a common ownership group or school district to use a single completed fingerprint-based criminal history record check and a check of the records and reports of child abuse or neglect maintained by the department of human services to satisfy the requirements of the necessary background checks if the employee also works for or transfers to another licensed facility that is owned, operated, or controlled by the same common ownership group or school district, provided all other requirements for employment are met. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill clarifies that the attorney general or a district attorney may issue a subpoena to a person whom he or she has reasonable cause to believe has engaged or is engaging in a deceptive trade practice in violation of Colorado statute. It also specifies that the subpoena may be issued pursuant to rule 4 of the Colorado rules of civil procedure. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The retail marijuana code requires a license for retail marijuana business operators. The bill creates a corresponding medical marijuana business operator license. Under current law, a medical marijuana licensee may move his or her location within the city or county where the business is licensed upon approval of the local and state licensing authority. Under the retail marijuana code, a licensee can move his or her business anywhere in Colorado upon approval of the state and local jurisdiction. The bill allows a medical marijuana licensee to move his or her business anywhere in Colorado upon approval of the state and local jurisdiction to conform with the retail marijuana code. Under the retail marijuana code, if a test result indicated the presence of any substance determined to be injurious to health, the licensee has an opportunity to remediate the product if the test indicated the presence of a microbial. If the licensee is unable to remediate the product, then the licensee shall document and properly destroy the adulterated product. The bill gives a medical marijuana licensee the same opportunity to remediate its product. The bill allows medical marijuana-infused product manufacturers to sell or buy medical marijuana from another medical marijuana-infused product manufacturer. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill extends from 4 years to 8 years the period following the declaration by the governor of a disaster emergency in a county within which the board of county commissioners of the county may transfer county general fund money to the county road and bridge fund for the purposes of disaster response and recovery. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
