The bill repeals a section on assisted reproduction of the "Uniform Parentage Act" and replaces it with a new "Colorado Surrogacy Agreement Act" (act). The act: Establishes eligibility requirements for entering into surrogacy agreements (agreements) and required elements of the agreements; Contains provisions governing the termination of agreements and the effect of a death or a change in marital status of any of the parties to such agreements; Authorizes court orders recognizing and enforcing agreements; and Specifies the duties of persons under the agreements.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill creates the educator pay raise program (program) to provide funding to school districts and charter schools to assist them in increasing their minimum teacher salaries to the district required minimum teacher salary amount specified in the bill and the minimum hourly wage paid to other employees to the district required minimum hourly wage amount specified in the bill. A school district or charter school that seeks to participate in the program must submit an application to the department of education (department) that meets the requirements specified in the bill. A school district or charter school may choose to participate to increase minimum teacher salaries or the minimum hourly wage, or both. The department shall review the applications and recommend to the state board of education (state board) those applicants that should be selected to participate in the program. In selecting program participants, the department and the state board must prioritize those applicants that demonstrate the greatest financial need. The bill specifies criteria to apply in determining the prioritization. As a condition of participating in the program, each participant seeking to increase teacher salaries must increase its minimum teacher salary to the district required minimum teacher salary amount and each participant seeking to increase the hourly wage must increase its minimum hourly wage to the district required minimum hourly wage amount. In the first year in which a school district or charter school participates, the amount required for the increases is paid through the program. In the second and subsequent years of participation, each program participant is required to contribute an increasing amount of matching money while the amount that the program participant receives is decreased over time. The department determines the amount of matching money and the amount that a program participant receives based on schedules for increasing teacher salaries and schedules for increasing the hourly wage adopted by rule of the state board. A program participant may continue participating in the program so long as the participant meets the matching money requirement and continues to qualify for the program. A program participant no longer qualifies for the program when the department determines that the participant has sufficient resources to pay the district required minimum teacher salary amount or the district required minimum hourly wage amount or both, as applicable, without assistance. The bill creates the educator pay raise fund (fund), which consists of the greater of 10% or $15 million of the gross income annually earned on the public school lands and any other money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. Beginning in the 2022 regular legislative session, the department shall include in its annual report to the joint education committee information concerning implementation of the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill prohibits stores and retail food establishments, on and after July 1, 2021, from providing single-use plastic carryout bags, single-use plastic stirrers, single-use plastic straws, and expanded polystyrene food service products (collectively "single-use products") to customers at the point of sale. The executive director of the department of public health and environment is authorized to enforce the prohibition. The prohibition does not apply to inventory purchased before July 1, 2021, and used on or before December 31, 2021. A store or retail food establishment, on or after July 1, 2021, may furnish recyclable paper carryout bags to a customer at a charge of at least 10 cents per customer, which amount the store or establishment may retain in full, unless a local government's ordinance or resolution prohibits the store or establishment from retaining the full charge. A local government, on or after July 1, 2021, is preempted from enacting an ordinance, resolution, rule, or charter provision that is less stringent than the statewide prohibition. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill updates various provisions of the "Colorado Children's Trust Fund Act", including renaming it the "Colorado Child Abuse Prevention Trust Fund Act" (act). Changes include: Expanding the membership on the Colorado child abuse prevention board (board) from the current 9 members to 17 members; Expanding the powers and duties of the board to include advising and making recommendations to the governor, state agencies, and other entities regarding child maltreatment prevention; developing strategies to decrease the incidences of child maltreatment and other adverse childhood experiences; and implementing and monitoring the ongoing development of local child maltreatment prevention plans throughout the state; and Extending the repeal of the act from 2022 to 2026.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The property tax administrator is required by law to prepare and publish manuals, appraisal procedures, instructions, and guidelines (property tax materials) concerning the administration of the property tax. Beginning January 1, 2021, section 1 of the bill requires the administrator to conduct a public hearing on a proposed change to the property tax materials prior to submitting the proposed change to the advisory committee to the property tax administrator (advisory committee). The administrator must publish notice of the hearing and mail notice to those people who so request. At the hearing, interested persons may submit information and the administrator is required to consider these submissions. Any interested person may also petition the administrator for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of any property tax material. At least 2 weeks prior to the advisory committee reviewing a proposed change to the property tax materials, section 2 requires the property tax administrator to publish notice about the proposed change.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill defines a "health care cost-sharing arrangement" as a health care sharing ministry or medical cost-sharing community that collects funds from its members on a regular basis, at levels established by the arrangement, for purposes of sharing, covering, or defraying the medical costs of its members. A health care cost-sharing arrangement is required to: Report specified information to the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) regarding its operations, financial statements, membership, and medical bills submitted, paid, and denied; Provide certain disclosures on its website, in marketing materials, and to potential members; and Respond to requests for payment of medical expenses from health care providers within a period specified by the commissioner by rule. If an insurance broker offers to enroll or enrolls individuals or groups in a health care cost-sharing arrangement, the broker must provide the same disclosures that a health care cost-sharing arrangement is required to provide. The bill also prohibits a health care cost-sharing arrangement or insurance broker from offering or enrolling participants in the arrangement during the annual open enrollment period for health benefit plans. The commissioner is authorized to adopt rules to implement the data reporting, disclosure, and response time requirements and to impose fines for failure to comply with the requirements and prohibitions specified in the bill. A person is prohibited from making, issuing, circulating, or causing to be made, issued, or circulated any statement or publication that misrepresents the medical cost-sharing benefits, advantages, conditions, or terms of any health care cost-sharing arrangement. The commissioner is authorized to issue an emergency, ex parte cease-and-desist order against a person the commissioner believes to be violating this prohibition if it appears to the commissioner that the alleged conduct is fraudulent, creates an immediate danger to public safety, or is causing or is reasonably expected to cause significant, imminent, and irreparable public injury. If a person violates the emergency order, the commissioner may impose a civil penalty, order restitution, or both. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill modifies the Colorado health service corps program administered by the primary care office (office) in the department of public health and environment, which includes a loan repayment program, as follows: Allows geriatric advanced practice providers, which include advanced practice nurses and physician assistants, to participate in the loan repayment program on the condition of committing to provide geriatric care to older adults in health professional shortage areas for a specified period; and Requires the general assembly to annually and continuously appropriate money from the general fund to the office for the 2020-21 through the 2024-25 fiscal years to help repay loans for geriatric advanced practice providers.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill encourages each food manufacturer to affix a label indicating an elevated risk date on each product that poses a high level of risk to an individual who consumes the food product after the elevated risk date. On and after July 1, 2023, food that is offered for sale with such a label must: Display the elevated risk date preceded by the phrase "USE BY" unless the executive director of the department of public health and environment (department) promulgates rules establishing a different phrase; and Express the date by the first 3 letters of the month, followed by numerals designating the calendar day and year, or by the numerical calendar month followed by numerals designating the calendar day and year. On and after July 1, 2023, if a food manufacturer or retail food facility includes a quality date on a food product, the quality date must be: Displayed preceded by the phrase "BEST IF USED BY" unless the executive director promulgates rules establishing a different phrase; and Expressed by the first 3 letters of the month followed by numerals designating the calendar day and year, or by the numerical calendar month followed by numerals designating the calendar day and year. The bill requires the department to make publicly available on its website information indicating the distinction between elevated risk dates and quality dates on food labels. The executive director may promulgate rules to implement the new labeling requirements. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Effective January 1, 2022, the bill prohibits a retail food establishment from distributing an expanded polystyrene product for use as a container for ready-to-eat food in this state. The executive director of the department of public health and environment or the executive director's designee may, through the attorney general, seek injunctive relief against a retail food establishment that violates the prohibition.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill: Increases the statutory limitation period for actions based on construction defects from 6 years to 10 years; Allows tolling of the limitation period on any statutory or equitable basis; and Requires tolling of the limitation period until the claimant discovers not only some physical manifestation of a construction defect but also its cause.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires the owner or operator of a carpooling service internet application (internet application) to register annually with the department of transportation and disclose to users of the internet application that operational requirements for other transportation services are not being met by the carpooling services provided by drivers matched to users through the internet application. The bill also limits the amount that can be charged to a user through the internet application, the number of passengers that can receive carpooling service at any one time from a driver through the internet application, and the number of round trips that a driver providing carpooling service through the internet application may make in a single day.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Capital Development Committee. Current statute requires the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) to request annually from the governing board of each state institution of higher education (institution) a 2-year projection (projection) of capital construction projects to be undertaken by an institution that is estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $2 million if the capital construction project is for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and funded solely from cash funds held by the institution or the project is funded through the higher education revenue bond intercept program, or exceeding $10 million if the project is not for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and is funded solely from cash funds held by the institution. The bill adjusts the law to current practice and instead requires the projection to be reviewed at the commission's next available meeting and repeals the requirement that an institution amend the projection prior to commencing a project if the project is not in the institution's most recent projection. The bill repeals the requirement that the commission annually prepare a unified, 2-year report for capital construction or capital renewal projects acquired or constructed and operated and maintained solely from cash funds held by the institution that are not for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and are estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $10 million. The bill repeals the requirement that the commission annually prepare a unified, 2-year report for capital construction projects for new acquisitions of real property or for new construction, estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $2 million. Current law requires the capital development committee (CDC) to review the projections at a hearing but does not specify what to do when the legislature is not in session. The bill clarifies deadlines for when such hearings must be held. The bill also requires each state institution of higher education, for informational purposes only, to annually present its current projections at the capital development committee's December hearings. Current law requires the CDC to have a hearing regarding projections whenever a projection is amended. The bill repeals this requirement. Current law specifies that the CDC is required to review and approve guidelines prepared by the office of the state architect regarding the classification of facilities as academic facilities or auxiliary facilities. The bill repeals this requirement. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
