Colorado Bills

The bill creates the family and medical leave insurance (FAMLI) program in the division of family and medical leave insurance (division) in the department of labor and employment to provide partial wage-replacement benefits to an eligible individual who takes leave from work to care for a new child or a family member with a serious health condition or who is unable to work due to the individual's own serious health condition. Each employee in the state will pay a premium determined by the director of the division by rule, which premium is based on a percentage of the employee's yearly wages and must not initially exceed .99%. The premiums are deposited into the family and medical leave insurance fund from which family and medical leave benefits are paid to eligible individuals. The director may also impose a solvency surcharge by rule if determined necessary to ensure the soundness of the fund. The division is established as an enterprise, and premiums paid into the fund are not considered state revenues for purposes of the taxpayer's bill of rights (TABOR). (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

Under current law, persons who offer cryptocurrency "wallets", buy or sell cryptocurrencies, or exchange cryptocurrency with fiat currency are not clearly outside the scope of activity subject to the "Colorado Securities Act" or the "Money Transmitters Act". The bill defines a new term, "open blockchain token", to describe a unit of cryptocurrency (e.g., bitcoin), and amends the definition of a security to exclude an open blockchain token so long as it is developed and sold in accordance with specified standards. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

The bill requires the department of health care policy and financing (department), in consultation with the Colorado healthcare affordability and sustainability enterprise board, to develop and prepare an annual report detailing uncompensated hospital costs and the different categories of expenditures made by general hospitals in the state (hospital expenditure report). In compiling the hospital expenditure report, the department shall use publicly available data sources whenever possible. Each general hospital in the state is required to make available to the department certain information, including: Hospital cost reports submitted to the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services; Annual audited financial statements; except that, if a hospital is part of a consolidated or combined group, the hospital may submit a consolidated or combined financial statement if the group's statement separately identifies the information for each of the group's licensed hospitals; Utilization and staffing information and standard units of measure; and Information accessed through a secure, online data collection and reporting system that provides a central location for the collection and analysis of hospital utilization and financial data. The hospital expenditure report must include, but not be limited to: A description of the methods of analysis and definitions of report components by payer group; Uncompensated care costs by payer group; and The percentage that different categories of expenses contribute to overall expenses of hospitals. The department is required to submit the hospital expenditure report to the governor, specified committees of the general assembly, and the medical services board in the department. The department is also directed to post the hospital expenditure report on the department's website. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

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Under the current language in the constitution, county clerks are required to write a separate retention question for each justice or judge standing for retention. The proposed referendum would allow county clerks to write a single ballot question for each level of courts, shortening and simplifying the ballot. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this concurrent resolution as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

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The bill requires podiatrists, physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, and optometrists, starting July 1, 2021, and dentists and practitioners serving rural communities or in a solo practice, starting July 1, 2022, to prescribe schedule II, III, or IV controlled substances only via a prescription that is electronically transmitted to a pharmacy unless a specified exception applies. Prescribers are required to indicate on license renewal questionnaires whether they have complied with the electronic prescribing requirement. Pharmacists need not verify the applicability of an exception to electronic prescribing when they receive an order for a controlled substance in writing, orally, or via facsimile transmission and may fill the order if otherwise valid under the law. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

The bill requires a provider of commercial mobile radio service in Colorado to make network-level distraction control technology available to the provider's customers so that, at the customer's request, the provider can limit distracting content on an authorized user's mobile electronic device from the network level while the authorized user is driving. The bill specifies that the public utilities commission does not have the authority to regulate, enforce, or promulgate rules regarding the bill. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

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