Statutory Revision Committee. Pursuant to section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), Colorado Revised Statutes, any report that is required to be made to the general assembly by an executive agency or the judicial branch on a periodic basis expires on the day after the third anniversary of the date on which the first report was due unless the general assembly, acting by bill, continues the requirement. The bill addresses reporting requirements of the department of revenue. Sections 1, 2, 6, 8, and 9 of the bill repeal a report that was scheduled to repeal according to section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I). Currently there is no repeal date listed in the organic statute. Sections 3 and 4 of the bill amend the organic statutes to remove requirements to send a report to the general assembly after the scheduled repeal date specified in section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I). Sections 5 and 7 of the bill add a repeal date in the organic statute that coincides with the scheduled repeal date specified in section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I). (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Water Resources Review Committee. Section 8 of the bill restructures the fee that the state engineer may charge for rating certain types of water infrastructure from $25 per day plus actual expenses incurred in determining the rating to a flat fee of $75. Section 1 specifies the location of the state engineer's office as within the capitol complex. Section 2 permits the state engineer to use new technology that can accomplish the same functions as satellite or telemetry-based monitoring systems and is more cost effective. The bill repeals certain requirements as follows: In sections 1, 4, and 11 , the requirement that certain officials take an oath and post bond; In section 8, certain fee requirements; and In section 14 , the requirement that the state engineer survey, lay out, and locate a ditch or canal along the Arkansas river. Section 16 increases the amount of time for filing comments on a substitute water supply plan from 30 days after the state engineer mails the notice to 35 days after mailing the notice. The bill updates language within the statutes related to the state engineer and the division of water resources. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Current law defines a mortgage loan originator as an individual who offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan, including to any family member, but there is an exemption for a parent who acts as a loan originator in providing loan financing to his or her child. The bill expands the exemption to include up to 3 loans per year without compensation, other than interest, between family members, and directs the board of mortgage loan originators to define 'family member' by rule. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Under current law, health benefit plans are required to cover health care services delivered to a covered person by a provider via telehealth in the same manner that the plan covers health care services delivered by a provider in person. The bill clarifies that: A health plan cannot restrict or deny coverage of telehealth services based on the communication technology or application used to deliver the telehealth services; The availability of telehealth services does not change a carrier's obligation to contract with providers available in the community to provide in-person services; A covered person may receive telehealth services from a private residence, but the carrier is not required to pay or reimburse for any transmission costs or originating site fees the covered person incurs; A carrier is to apply the applicable copayment, coinsurance, or deductible amount to health care services a covered person receives through telehealth, which amount cannot exceed the amount applicable to those health care services when delivered through in-person care; and Telehealth includes health care services provided through HIPAA-compliant audio-visual communication or the use of a HIPAA-compliant application via a cellular telephone but does not include voice-only telephone communication or text messaging.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill updates certain limited terms in statute that refer to persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities or physical disabilities using insensitive or outdated terminology. The bill changes references as follows: 'Mentally retarded', 'mentally deficient person', and 'mental deficiency' or 'mentally deficient' to ' a person with an intellectual and developmental disability'; 'Mental defect' to 'mental illness'; and 'Physical defect' to 'physical disability'.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Current law authorizes 2 grant programs relating to forest management: One relating to wildfire risk reduction that is administered by the department of natural resources, which is financed by a one-time transfer of $1 million from the general fund, and one relating to landscape-scale forest health that is administered by the state forest service located within Colorado State University, which is financed by annual transfers of $1 million from the severance tax operational fund that ended on July 1, 2016. Section 1 of the bill repeals the grant program administered by the department of natural resources, and section 4 transfers it to the state forest service, renamed as the 'forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation grant program'. Section 4 also adjusts the composition of the technical advisory panel and specifies that the panel is no longer subject to sunset review. Sections 2 and 3 realign the funding for the new grant program and the healthy forest and vibrant communities fund by allowing $50,000 that had been allocated to the department of public health and environment relating to the air quality impacts of prescribed fire to be used for any authorized purpose of the healthy forests and vibrant communities fund and extending funding for the consolidated grant program for 7 years. Section 2 also allows the forest service to use the existing unencumbered balance of the forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation grant program cash fund for community watershed restoration purposes. Section 3 also extends the funding for 2 related forest programs for 7 years. Section 5 makes the bill effective on July 1, 2017.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill requires the commissioner of agriculture to determine the level of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol in industrial hemp by measuring the combined concentration of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol and its precursor tetrahydrocannabinolic acid. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Statutory Revision Committee. Pursuant to section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), Colorado Revised Statutes, any report that is required to be made to the general assembly by an executive agency or the judicial branch on a periodic basis expires on the day after the third anniversary of the date on which the first report was due unless the general assembly, acting by bill, continues the requirement. The bill addresses reporting requirements of the department of public health and environment. Sections 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, and 15 of the bill continue indefinitely the reporting requirements contained in those statutory sections. Sections 2 to 5, 9, 10, 11, and 13 repeal reports that are or were scheduled to repeal according to section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I). Currently there are no repeal dates listed in the organic statute. Section 14 adds a repeal date in the organic statute that coincides with the scheduled repeal date specified in section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I). (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Signed by the President of the Senate
For the purposes of the schedules of controlled substances, the bill exempts from the definition of 'anabolic steroid' human chorionic gonadotropin licensed for animal use only if it is expressly intended for administration through implants or injection into cattle or other nonhuman species and has been approved by the secretary of health and human services for such administration. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
For elections conducted under both the 'Uniform Election Code of 1992' (uniform code) and the 'Municipal Election Code of 1965' (municipal code), an elector who shows his or her ballot after it is prepared for voting in such a way as to reveal its contents, commonly known and referred to as a 'ballot selfie', is subject to a criminal misdemeanor penalty. Section 1 of the bill modifies the ballot selfie prohibition in the uniform code. Specifically, section 1 deletes existing language prohibiting a voter from showing his ballot after it is prepared for voting to any person in such a way as to reveal its contents. Under the bill, any voter may show his or her voted ballot to any other person as long as the disclosure is not undertaken in furtherance of any election violation proscribed in the uniform code. The bill further provides that any voter makes available an image of the voter's own ballot through electronic means after it is prepared for voting is deemed to have consented to the transmittal of that image. The ability of a voter to exercise such right at a voter service and polling center (VSPC) or at any other location at which votes are being tabulated is subject to the power of a county clerk and recorder to monitor activity at such VSPC or other location, including placing reasonable restrictions on the use of photography in such settings or imposing other restrictions on activity in such settings as the county clerk and recorder finds necessary, to ensure the fair and efficient conduct of elections. Section 2 of the bill makes parallel modifications to the municipal code as section 1 of the bill makes to the uniform code regarding ballot selfie requirements.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Each person elected or appointed to the office of sheriff is required, with certain exceptions, to undergo at least 20 hours of in-service training each year during the sheriff's term. The bill modifies this provision to require each sheriff to undergo at least the number of hours required for all certified peace officers by the peace officers standards and training board (POST board), but in no case less than 20 hours. Current law further requires the training to be provided by the county sheriffs of Colorado, incorporated. The bill allows the training to also be provided by any other training resource agency approved by the POST board. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
