The act amends the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act" to make the sale of electronic smoking devices to minors an unfair or deceptive trade practice, which gives the attorney general or a district attorney explicit authority to bring an action against a person who sells or offers for sale an electronic smoking device to an individual who does not meet the age restriction to purchase the electronic smoking device. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires all large group health benefit plans to provide coverage for biomarker testing to guide treatment decisions if the testing is supported by medical and scientific evidence. The act defines "biomarker testing" as an analysis of a patient's tissue, blood, or other biospecimen for the presence of an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a specific therapeutic intervention. The required testing under the act does not include biomarker testing for screening purposes or direct-to-consumer genetic tests. The act requires the commissioner of insurance to implement biomarker testing coverage for all large employer health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. To the extent biomarker testing is not in addition to the benefits provided pursuant to the benchmark plan, all individual and small group health benefit plans must provide coverage for biomarker testing. Within 120 days after the act takes effect, the division of insurance (division) shall submit to the federal department of health and human services (HHS) its determination of whether biomarker testing is in addition to essential health benefits and would require state defrayal of costs pursuant to federal law. The division shall implement the requirement for coverage for biomarker testing for individual and small group health benefit plans within 12 months after the earlier of the division receiving confirmation from HHS that biomarker coverage does not require defrayal or more than 365 days passing since the division submitted its determination that defrayal was not necessary. Biomarker testing is subject to the health benefit plan's annual deductibles, copayment, or coinsurance but is not subject to any annual or lifetime maximum benefit limit. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
By March 31, 2026, the act requires the department of revenue (department) to create a process for a vehicle owner to request to receive and for the department to provide electronic communications and notifications, instead of written notifications, concerning vehicle transactions, including electronic notifications regarding driver's licenses and hearings related to the suspension of a driver's license, vehicle registration renewals, other hearings, and issuance of license plates. The department is not permitted, however, to provide electronic notifications for the revocation of a vehicle registration or license plate. The act also requires the department to adopt rules to create procedures for a vehicle owner to request the electronic notification. The act makes it mandatory, instead of optional, that the department establish a system to allow the electronic transmission of registration, lien, and titling information for motor vehicles, off-highway vehicles, or special mobile machinery by March 31, 2026. The act also requires that the system support the ability to generate a title and registration for new leased vehicles and support the ability to generate a title for a lessee who purchases the lessee's leased vehicle without affecting the lessee's existing registration. On or before January 1, 2027, the system must support the ability to generate a new registration for a vehicle to a new lessee without modifying the title. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $645,368 is appropriated from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund to the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Colorado disability opportunity office (CDOO) within the department of labor and employment (department). The executive director of the department is required to appoint the director of the CDOO. The CDOO is required to: Serve as a resource for state agencies, private and nonprofit organizations, and the public concerning disability issues in Colorado; Convene and coordinate a disability technical advisory committee; Ensure that goals of full societal integration for individuals with disabilities are met by meeting with stakeholders from entities around the state related to disabilities and with state agencies to develop recommendations on the administration of grants, restructuring of disability-related entities, and collaboration on overlapping aging and disability issues and other cross-agency efforts; and Submit the recommendations to the governor and state agencies. The CDOO is also required to: Implement a statewide strategy to facilitate economic stability for individuals with disabilities; promote successful economic, social, and community integration; and identify and address issues related to integration; Work toward enhanced inclusion and equitable opportunities for individuals with disabilities, as well as address concerns raised by disability populations; Coordinate with other entities to identify and eliminate barriers to prosperity for individuals with disabilities; As funding allows, undertake other projects, including analyzing economic and demographic trends, gathering insight and formulating and presenting recommendations to the governor and state agencies related to issues of concern and importance to individuals with disabilities in Colorado; and Promote the implementation of disability support through community-based initiatives and nonprofit organizations, which promotion includes economic opportunities, increased access to resources, and state education and outreach. The act also transfers the Colorado disability funding committee (committee) from the department of personnel to the CDOO. The transfer includes a transfer of the committee's responsibilities, including: The program to assist persons to obtain disability benefits; The program to investigate, fund, and pilot projects or programs to benefit individuals with disabilities; and The buying and selling of select registration numbers for license plates to raise funds for the disability support fund. The act appropriates $5,538,925 from the disability support fund to the department for use by the executive director's office, which may use the appropriation for the CDOO. The act adjusts appropriations from the disability support fund and the disabled parking education and enforcement fund to the department of personnel. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act, the "CARE for Living Organ Donors Act", includes the following benefits and recognition for living organ donors: A list of provisions in current law, as well as in the act, that may benefit a living organ donor; and A requirement that, at least twice before performing an organ donation recovery operation on a living organ donor donating an organ without an intended recipient, a transplant center shall advise the potential donor that the transplant center or another transplant center in Colorado has or may have an organ voucher program or that a national-level organ voucher program exists or may exist for the organ being donated. Further, the act requires a transplant center to provide information to all organ donors and organ recipients about benefits that may be available at each transplant center in Colorado. The list must be updated at least annually. The act prohibits an employer from intimidating, threatening, coercing, discriminating, or retaliating against or taking an adverse action against an employee, as described in the act, for the period extending 30 days before and 90 days after the employee is or becomes a living organ donor. The act designates April 11 each year as "Living Organ Donor Recognition Day". APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements, with amendments, the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (DORA) in its sunset review and report on the division of financial services (division), which is created within DORA. Specifically, the act: Continues the division and the financial services board (board) for 9 years, until 2033; Authorizes a credit union to merge with a credit union that is chartered in another state; Increases the maximum civil penalty for violating a cease-and-desist order or suspension order from $1,000 per day to $5,000 per day; Repeals a provision that prohibits credit unions from having overlapping geographic fields of membership; Repeals a requirement that the board send hearing notices by certified or registered mail; Authorizes a credit union to determine the date upon which its fiscal year ends and the date of the credit union's annual membership meeting; and Replaces gender-specific language with gender-neutral language. Additionally, the act removes obsolete statutory references to the federal office of thrift supervision, which no longer exists. Under Colorado law pertaining to life care institutions, an entrance fee is an initial or deferred transfer to or for the benefit of a provider of a sum of money or other property made or promised to be made as full or partial consideration for the acceptance or maintenance of a specified individual as a resident in a life care facility. The act states that if an entrance fee is in the form of a sum of money, the sum must be greater than 4 times the amount of a regular periodic charge under a life care contract at the life care facility. The act also clarifies that: The term "life care" includes the occupancy of a living unit, nutrition services, and nursing services; A resident's living unit may change based on the appropriate care needs of the resident; and The term "provider" does not include a unit owners' association of a common interest community. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits the department of health care policy and financing (department) from requiring an adult to be prescribed an antipsychotic prescription drug that is included on the preferred drug list and used to treat a mental health disorder or mental health condition if: During the preceding year, the adult was prescribed and unsuccessfully treated with an antipsychotic prescription drug that is included on the preferred drug list and used to treat a mental health disorder or mental health condition and for which a single claim is paid; or The adult is stable on an antipsychotic drug used to treat a mental health disorder or mental health condition that is not included on the preferred drug list. The act appropriates $1,092,134 to the department. This appropriation consists of $888,555 from the general fund and $203,579 from the healthcare affordability and sustainability fee cash fund. The department may use this appropriation for medical and long-term care services for medicaid-eligible individuals. It is anticipated that the department will receive an additional $2,295,189 in federal funds for the implementation of this act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the equal justice authority as a special purpose authority to distribute an equal justice fee for the purpose of providing monetary support to local organizations that provide legal representation and legal advice to low-income individuals. The equal justice authority is governed by the equal justice authority board, which is created in the act. The act requires certain court filings to incur the equal justice filing fee, which must be collected by the court and transmitted to the equal justice authority. The equal justice authority must deposit the money collected from the filing fee into an account maintained by a financial institution and distribute the money, beginning July 1, 2025, and each July 1 thereafter, to local organizations that provide legal representation and legal advice to low-income individuals. On or before January 1, 2026, and each January 1 thereafter, the equal justice authority must prepare and submit a report to the house of representatives judiciary committee and the senate judiciary committee that details the use of the equal justice fees. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The clerk of a municipality (clerk) is authorized to refer a campaign finance complaint (complaint) that was filed with the clerk and that arises out of a municipal campaign finance matter to the secretary of state (secretary) if the municipality in which the complaint was filed has adopted an ordinance that: Authorizes the municipality to refer a complaint to the secretary based on an actual or potential conflict of the clerk or the clerk's staff, as determined in writing by the clerk; or Authorizes the municipality to refer a complaint to the secretary because the municipality does not have a complaint and hearing process. Before referring a complaint to the secretary, a clerk is required to review the complaint to determine if it was filed in writing, signed by the complainant, and identifies one or more respondents. If the complaint does not satisfy these 3 criteria, the clerk is required to dismiss it, and if it does, the clerk is required to refer it to the secretary. To refer a complaint to the secretary a municipality must provide a copy of the ordinance that authorizes such referral to the secretary within 180 days of the election. The act specifies certain criteria that the ordinance must satisfy. A clerk is required to provide notice to a person who files a complaint if the clerk dismisses the complaint or refers the complaint to the secretary. A municipality is required to cooperate with the secretary in the review, investigation, and determination of any complaint referred to the secretary. If the secretary receives a complaint referred by a clerk, the secretary is required to deem the complaint filed with the secretary on the date of receipt from the clerk and ensure that the complaint is addressed in accordance with the requirements of the act. In addition, if the complaint is referred by a home rule municipality, the secretary is required to apply the substantive provisions of the home rule municipality's local law in processing, investigating, and resolving the complaint. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $170,723 is appropriated to the department of state from the department of state cash fund for the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the legislative recommendations of the fraudulent filings working group as identified in the working group's February 2023 report. These recommendations make the following changes: On and after July 1, 2025, a registered agent who is an individual and not a business entity is required to hold a valid Colorado driver's license, state identification, or otherwise verify the individual's residency status; A registered agent that is a business entity is required to be in good standing in the Colorado business registry; A registered agent is prohibited from using a United States or commercial post office box as the registered agent's address; The secretary of state is authorized to change a business entity's status to delinquent in the business registry immediately following a finding or concession that the entity was created or registered without authorization or for fraudulent purposes; A law enforcement agency is allowed to initiate a fraudulent filing complaint regarding a business entity; A business entity that has been delinquent for 5 years or longer can cure its delinquency only after the filing of an affidavit and photographic identification in addition to the already required statement; A business entity that has been dissolved for 2 years or longer can be reinstated only after the filing of an affidavit and photographic identification in addition to the already required articles of reinstatement; and The perjury statement affirmed by all persons when delivering a document to be filed with the secretary of state is simplified. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $464,310 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for use by the business and licensing division and the information technology division for personal services and operating expenses. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The capitol building advisory committee (committee) advises the general assembly regarding the protection of the historic character of the capitol building and other buildings in the capitol annex. The act: Clarifies that it is the general assembly's intent that the committee will advise the general assembly regarding the protection of the capitol building's historic character, including its art, memorials, furniture, and architectural fixtures; Clarifies that the ex officio members of the committee are voting members of the committee in accordance with current practice; Adds the capitol building annex to the list of buildings for which the committee is required to review, advise, and make recommendations to the capital development committee regarding plans to restore, redecorate, and reconstruct historic elements of the building; Specifies the buildings and areas within the capitol complex for which the committee may engage in long-range planning for modifications and improvements; Requires the committee to determine, based on consultation with and the recommendations of history Colorado, which art, memorials, architectural fixtures, and furniture that is original to the state capitol building is part of the state's collection of historic materials known as the Colorado collection (Colorado collection); and Clarifies that the committee has authority over publications on the history of the state capitol building and that the committee may authorize other state capitol building memorabilia for sale to the public. In addition, history Colorado, at the direction and under the supervision of the committee, is required to inventory all art, memorials, architectural fixtures, and furniture that is original to the state capitol building and make recommendations to the committee regarding which items are appropriate for inclusion in the Colorado collection. The act specifies that history Colorado holds in trust for the people of Colorado any items original to the capitol building that are part of the Colorado collection, but that the committee retains authority over the collection on behalf of the general assembly and in accordance with the policies and requirements of the state register of historic properties. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies that venue for filing a motion or complaint for a civil protection order is proper in any county where any one of the acts or behaviors that are subject to the motion or complaint occurred. The act authorizes a judge or magistrate to continue the temporary protection order for a period of not more than one year after the date when the permanent protection order hearing takes place. If the temporary protection order is continued for one year and the petitioner seeks a permanent protection order, the act requires the petitioner to file a motion at least 14 days before the scheduled hearing notifying the court and the respondent of the petitioner's intent to pursue a permanent protection order on the date of the scheduled hearing. The act requires the court to encourage the petitioner to notify the respondent if the petitioner intends not to appear at the permanent protection order hearing, but the court shall neither require the petitioner to attend nor assess attorney fees or costs against the petitioner for choosing not to attend the hearing. The act prohibits service upon the respondent and upon the person to be protected if the temporary protection order is denied or if the petitioner moves to vacate the temporary protection order prior to the court receiving confirmation that the respondent was personally served or had actual knowledge of the request for a civil protection order. If the temporary protection order is based in whole or in part on an act of domestic violence, and the act of domestic violence involved the threat of use of physical force, use of physical force, or attempted use of physical force, the act requires the citation to inform the respondent that the respondent must refrain from possessing or purchasing a firearm or ammunition for the duration of the order and must relinquish, for the duration of the order, a firearm or ammunition in the respondent's immediate possession or control or subject to the respondent's immediate possession or control. The act requires the court to grant additional continuances at the petitioner's request if the petitioner is unable to serve the respondent and if the petitioner is able to show the petitioner has made reasonable efforts to serve the respondent or that the respondent is evading service. The act clarifies that a municipal court shall include in the order a provision awarding temporary care and control of any joint or shared minor children of the parties involved for a period of not more than one year after the date on which the temporary care and control is awarded in the temporary protection order. If there is no pending or existing domestic relations or juvenile case in district court involving joint or shared children, the act prohibits the petitioner from being required or instructed to file a complaint for a protection order in district court when the petitioner is otherwise eligible to file for a civil protection order in county court. The act requires temporary protection orders and permanent protection orders to be written and communicated in simple and plain language. The act requires a judge to order a temporary protection order be made permanent if the judge finds that the respondent engaged in a behavior constituting grounds for the issuance of a civil protection order on the basis of sexual violence and that a risk or threat of physical harm or the threat of psychological or emotional harm exists to the petitioner. The act prohibits the court from awarding any costs or assessing any fees, including attorney fees, against a petitioner seeking a civil protection order. The act prohibits a state or public agency from assessing fees for service of process against a petitioner seeking a civil protection order as a victim of domestic abuse, domestic violence, stalking, or sexual violence. As part of a request for a temporary or permanent protection order in a case involving domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking, the act authorizes the court to enter an order directing a wireless telephone service provider to transfer the financial responsibility for and rights to a wireless telephone number to the petitioner if the petitioner: Is not the account holder; and Proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the petitioner and any minor children in the petitioner's care are the primary users of each wireless telephone number that the petitioner requested be transferred. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
