Current law subjects a peace officer who uses unlawful force or fails to intervene in the unlawful use of force to criminal and civil penalties as well as disciplinary measures through the peace officers standards and training board (P.O.S.T. board). The act defines prone restraint as a use of force. The act requires law enforcement agencies to adopt written policies and procedures concerning use of the prone position and prone restraint by officers certified by the P.O.S.T. board; sheriff's deputies, regardless of P.O.S.T. board certification; and Colorado state patrol officers. Law enforcement agencies must post the adopted policies and procedures on their publicly accessible websites or make them available upon request. The policies and procedures must address how and when to request or render medical aid for use of force involving prone restraint, when to get medical clearance for use of force involving a prone restraint when there are injuries or complaints of injuries, how and when to render appropriate medical aid within the scope of a peace officer's training for any use of force involving prone restraint, and how and when to transition a person placed in a prone position into a recovery position that allows the person to breathe normally. The act requires law enforcement agencies to review the adopted policies and procedures at least every five years and, beginning on or before July 1, 2026, to implement and train peace officers on their contents. The P.O.S.T. board must make its training on the use of the prone position available to all law enforcement agencies in the state. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law prohibits electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) from being performed on a minor under 16 years of age. The act authorizes ECT to be performed on a minor who is under 16 years of age only if: 2 individuals licensed to practice medicine in Colorado and specializing in psychiatry approve the ECT; Other less-invasive treatments have failed; ECT is medically necessary to treat life-threatening malignant catatonia; ECT is performed by at least one physician, or the physician's designee, who is trained and credentialed in ECT; and The minor's parent or guardian consents to ETC. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act relocates the "Colorado Loans for Increasing Main Street Business Economic Recovery Act" and renames it the "Colorado Loans for Increasing Main Street Business Economic Resiliency Act" (CLIMBER Act). The administration of the CLIMBER Act small business recovery and resiliency loan program (loan program) is moved and the powers, duties, and functions associated with the administration of the CLIMBER Act are transferred from the department of the treasury to the office of economic development (office). Along with this relocation, the act makes the following changes to the CLIMBER Act: Removes the requirement for the loan program that at least 90% of the money in any prior tranche be invested in small business loans before the office can provide another tranche to a loan program or to the Colorado credit reserve; Allows the office to accept and expend gifts, grants, donations, and federal funds to support the CLIMBER Act and credits this money to the existing small business recovery and resiliency fund; and Removes the future repeal of the CLIMBER Act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE September 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a car sharing program operating in the state, on and after January 1, 2028, to indicate a car's accessibility modifications for each shared car available through the program. A car sharing program that makes a reasonable effort to obtain accurate information from the shared car owner regarding any modification for accessibility is not liable for incorrect or false information provided by the shared car owner. The energy code board must include in its model low energy and carbon code accessibility requirements related to electric vehicles that consider design recommendations from the United States access board (access board) and any applicable federal regulations. For an electric vehicle charging station constructed or replaced on and after January 1, 2026, the act specifies that no fewer than 5% or one vehicle charging space should incorporate the standards from the access board until applicable regulations are issued by the federal department of justice or the federal department of transportation. The act clarifies that an individual shall not block reasonable access to reserved parking, curb ramps, access aisles, or accessible routes by any means. A peace officer or parking enforcement officer is required to investigate a complaint that accessible parking has been blocked within a reasonable time. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, if maintenance, repair, or construction activities are occurring or will occur within 4 hours on a portion of a state highway, the Colorado department of transportation (department) is permitted, but not required, to designate the portion of the highway as a highway maintenance, repair, or construction zone. The act: Removes the 4-hour time period relating to maintenance, repair, or construction activities that will occur on a portion of a state highway but maintains the 4-hour time period relating to maintenance, repair, or construction zones that are not on a state highway; and Requires the department to designate a portion of a state highway on which construction activities are occurring as a highway construction zone. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a pharmacy, on and after July 1, 2025, to provide an individual who has difficulty seeing or reading standard printed labels on prescription drug containers with access to the prescription drug label information by: Including an electronic label affixed to the prescription drug container that transmits the prescription drug's label information, directions, and written instructions to an individual's external accessible device, including an individual's compatible prescription drug reader; Providing a prescription drug reader at no cost to the individual; Providing a prescription drug label in braille or large print; or Providing the individual with a method recommended by the United States access board. A pharmacy has 28 days to provide such access if a patient requests a method of access the pharmacy has not yet been asked by any other patient to provide. A pharmacy must make reasonable efforts to inform the public that prescription drug label information is available in accessible formats. The act creates the prescription accessibility grant program in the department of public health and environment to provide hardship grants to pharmacies for the purchase of equipment used to create accessible prescription labels. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
House Bill 22-1137, concerning practices of unit owners' associations, imposed a number of procedural requirements on unit owners' associations (HOAs) with respect to collecting payments from unit owners with delinquent accounts. The act changes some of these procedural requirements by: Removing a requirement that an HOA physically post notice of a unit owner's delinquent account on the unit owner's unit; In addition to sending notice by certified mail, requiring an HOA to contact a unit owner or designated contact by 2, rather than one, of certain described means; Authorizing an HOA to contact a unit owner or designated contact via telephone call to a telephone number that the HOA has on file for the unit owner or the unit owner's designated contact; and Allowing an HOA to charge a unit owner for the cost of sending notices or documentation by certified mail. The act also exempts time share units that are not occupied on a full-time basis from some of the procedural requirements imposed by House Bill 22-1137. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Arie P. Taylor sickle cell disease outreach program (outreach program) in the department of public health and environment (department). To implement the outreach program, the act requires the department to contract with one or more community-based nonprofit organizations (outreach organizations) to provide outreach and support services in the community to individuals living with sickle cell disease and their families. The department is required to solicit applicants and administer the outreach program. On or before January 1, 2025, the department is required to contract with one or more outreach organizations to implement the outreach program and to give priority to outreach organizations with experience in providing services and support to the sickle cell community and that meet other criteria in the act. The outreach program may include informal counseling and health guidance, direction and support to individuals and their families in locating and accessing services in the community, outreach concerning activities and programs available to individuals and families living with sickle cell disease, peer support and referrals, advocacy regarding the interests of the sickle cell disease community, referrals for screening, and other services and support identified by the department. The department is required to approve the services provided through a contract and may consult with the university of Colorado school of medicine's sickle-cell anemia treatment and research center to identify needed services and supports. Prior to the expiration of a contract, the outreach organization is required to prepare and submit a written report to the department describing the impact of the outreach program provided under the contract, and the department shall provide the report to the legislative health and human services committees or their successor committees. The act repeals the outreach program, effective July 1, 2030. The act appropriates $200,000 from the general fund to the department to implement the outreach program. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes it a deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act" for a manufacturer of insulin to fail to comply with the manufacturer requirements under the insulin affordability program and for the emergency supply of prescription insulin. The act also authorizes the attorney general to enforce the epinephrine auto-injector affordability program (epinephrine program). For the insulin affordability program, the state board of pharmacy (board), rather than the division of insurance (division) and the department of health care policy and financing (department), shall develop an application form for the insulin affordability program, make the application form available on the board's website, provide the application form to pharmacies and health-care providers and others, and promote the availability of the program to Coloradans. For the emergency supply of prescription insulin, the board, rather than the division and the department, shall develop an application form for individuals seeking an emergency supply of prescription insulin, make the application form available to the public, and promote the availability of the emergency supply of prescription insulin to Coloradans. The act also changes the amount of a fine for a manufacturer's failure to comply with the requirements of the insulin affordability program or with the requirements for the emergency supply of prescription insulin, or for failure to comply with the epinephrine program, to the amount and frequency of the fine that is permitted under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act". For the epinephrine program, the act requires all manufacturers subject to the epinephrine program to participate in the epinephrine program. The board shall develop a program application form and make the form available to individuals, pharmacies, health-care providers, and health facilities through the board's website, with each manufacturer required to link to the epinephrine program on the manufacturer's website. The board shall also provide information to pharmacies about the epinephrine program that includes a quick response (QR) code to allow individuals to access the epinephrine program's application online, including how to submit the application, and information necessary for a dispensing pharmacy to successfully submit an electronic claim for reimbursement of the cost to dispense an epinephrine auto-injector to an individual, above any required cost sharing by the individual. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the teacher mentor grant program (grant program) provides funding to partnerships between local education providers and educator preparation programs to provide training and stipends for experienced teachers who mentor teacher candidates in clinical practice. The act expands the grant program to include mentorship of novice teachers who have fewer than 3 years of teaching experience. The act requires the general assembly to appropriate $100,000 dollars to the department of higher education for the grant program for the 2024-25 state fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter. Any appropriation remaining at the end of the 2024-25 state fiscal year or subsequent fiscal year may be used for the grant program in subsequent fiscal years. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado commission on higher education for growing great teachers - teacher mentor grants. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act enacts the "Social Work Licensure Compact" (compact). The compact is designed to: Eliminate the necessity for social workers to obtain licenses from multiple states by providing for the mutual recognition of licenses from other states that have signed the compact (member states); Facilitate the exchange of licensure and disciplinary information among member states; Authorize member states to hold a regulated social worker accountable for abiding by a member state's laws, regulations, and applicable professional standards in the member state in which the client is located at the time care is rendered; and Allow for the use of telehealth to facilitate increased access to regulated social work services. The act authorizes the state board of social work examiners (board) to promulgate rules and to facilitate Colorado's participation in the compact, including notifying the social work licensure compact commission (commission) established by the compact of any adverse action taken by the board against a Colorado regulated social worker. The commission includes a delegate from each member state and has the powers and duties set forth in the act. The compact becomes effective on the date the compact is enacted in the seventh member state. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $78,750 from the division of professions and occupations cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of professions and occupations to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the rural housing and development asbestos and lead paint abatement pilot grant program (pilot grant program) in the department of public health and environment (department) to award grants, beginning July 1, 2025, to local governments in rural areas to offset costs associated with the abatement of asbestos and lead paint in housing, commercial buildings, and other development projects. To be eligible for a grant, a local government must submit an application to the department. The application must: For renovation or demolition sites, include an inspection report consistent with rules detailing asbestos-containing materials in excess of trigger levels; For renovation of lead-based paint abatement sites, include a description of eligibility that shows that the facility meets the statutory definition; For both asbestos and lead-based paint abatement, renovation, or demolition, include documentation demonstrating that the applicant has acquired any necessary permits and regulatory approval from the air pollution control division; and Include an assessment of needs of the local government's rural communities. The act creates the rural housing and development asbestos and lead paint abatement fund (fund) in the state treasury. The fund consists of money generated from penalties and fines collected in association with violations of laws concerning hazardous materials in an amount up to $200,000 for the 2025-26 state fiscal year and up to $200,000 for the 2026-27 state fiscal year. The department may expend money in the fund to award grants. The pilot grant program and the fund are repealed, effective July 1, 2027. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
