The bill establishes a parent's bill of rights that sets forth specific parental rights related to directing the upbringing, education, and health care of a minor child. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill establishes the "Live and Let Live Act" in Colorado. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill defines parental rights as the right to direct the upbringing, education, and care of a parent's child and establishes parental rights as a fundamental right in Colorado that is subject to strict scrutiny. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill prohibits male students from participating on any athletic team for students in sixth through twelfth grade that participates in an athletic activity sponsored by a school and is designated for "females", "women", or "girls". If the participating student's sex is disputed, the student may prove that she is of the female sex by presenting a signed physician's statement indicating the student's sex based on the student's reproductive anatomy, levels of naturally occurring testosterone, and an analysis of the student's chromosomes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill permits a clerk to issue a license to marry and a marriage certificate only upon satisfactory proof that the marriage will be between one man and one woman, regardless of judicial decisions to the contrary. The bill authorizes a court, county department, or licensed child placement agency to approve an adoptive placement of a child only with prospective parents whose marriage consists of one man and one woman, or whose civil union, if it were considered a marriage, is only between one man and one woman, regardless of any judicial decisions to the contrary, and to allow stepparent adoptions only to a parent who is in a marriage or civil union that is between one man and one woman. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
For the purpose of making the amount of plug-in electric motor vehicle registration fees roughly equal to the combined amount of registration fees and motor fuel taxes levied on motor vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, the bill authorizes the high-performance transportation enterprise to impose the following fees upon the registration of a plug-in electric motor vehicle: An inflation-indexed surface transportation infrastructure equivalent use fee to be imposed at a maximum initial rate of $120 and thereafter indexed to inflation; and A longevity fee that annually increases for each year in which a vehicle is in service until the vehicle reaches its 18th year of service. Fee proceeds are credited to the statewide transportation enterprise special revenue fund for use by the high-performance transportation enterprise in funding surface transportation infrastructure projects. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Current law limits the place of use of water subject to a changed water right that has been decreed for use in a treated domestic or municipal water supply system to only that system. The bill authorizes the use of that water in an interconnected treated domestic or municipal water supply system if: The water is attributable to a water right for which the historical consumptive use has previously been quantified, diverted from a point of diversion that has already been decreed for that water right, and delivered from the decreed treated system to the interconnected treated system without the water being returned to the natural stream; and The owner of the water right has given written notice to the division engineer that identifies the proposed accounting for the use of the water right and the division engineer has approved the accounting. The owner of the water right must give notice to all persons on the substitute water supply plan notification list for the applicable water division. The division engineer will review any comments received on the proposed accounting and make a determination whether the accounting is adequate. This determination may be appealed to the water judge. Other than the place of use, all of the terms and conditions of the previous change of water right decree continue to apply to the water right. A claim to any return flows from the use of the water right in the interconnected treated domestic or municipal water supply system must be approved by the water judge. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill creates the college trust scholarship program (scholarship program) in the department of higher education (department) to disburse scholarship awards to institutions of higher education, as defined in the bill, on behalf of eligible graduates who are awarded a high school diploma from a Colorado public high school prior to enrolling in the fourth year of high school. The savings to the state due to the student graduating high school early is used for the scholarship award and to add money to the state education fund to eliminate the budget stabilization factor applied to total program funding under the public school finance formula. The scholarship award is equal to the greater of a portion of the average state share amount of the statewide average per pupil funding for public elementary and secondary schools or $3,000. The scholarship award is disbursed to the postsecondary program on behalf of the eligible graduate and may be used for the eligible graduate's cost of attendance for the postsecondary program, as determined by the department. An eligible graduate must enroll in a postsecondary program by the eligible graduate's twenty-first birthday or the eligible graduate forfeits the award; except that the department has the ability to waive this requirement in exceptional or unforseen circumstances. An eligible graduate may continue to use any unused portion of the scholarship award until the eligible graduate's twenty-sixth birthday, at which time the unused portion of the scholarship award is forfeited. Forfeited scholarship awards are transferred to the state education fund to be used first to eliminate the budget stabilization factor in the public school finance formula. The bill requires the department to report annually to certain committees of the general assembly certain information relating to the scholarship program. The bill creates the college trust scholarship fund and specifies the characteristics of the fund. Interest and income from the fund and any money from forfeited scholarships is transferred to the state education fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill creates the water resources financing enterprise (enterprise). The board of the enterprise (board) consists of the board of directors of the Colorado water resources and power development authority and the Colorado water conservation board. The enterprise will provide financing to "water providers", defined to include drinking water suppliers, wastewater treatment suppliers, and raw water suppliers. Raw water suppliers are limited to those that provide raw water for treatment and use as drinking water. Customers of drinking water suppliers will pay a fee to the supplier, who will transmit it to the enterprise to be used for the financing. The fee is 25 cents per 1,000 gallons of drinking water delivered per month to each metered connection in a drinking water supplier's public water system, collected after the first 4,000 gallons of drinking water delivered per month to an individual metered connection. The board may adjust the fee based on inflation and equity concerns for large nonresidential customers and customers who pay tiered rates that start higher than 4,000 gallons per month. The enterprise can provide financing for grants, loans, and in-kind technical assistance in arranging third-party financing. In determining whether to provide financing, the board shall consider the following factors: A water provider's ability to pay, including whether the water provider has sought or received other financial assistance; Whether a water provider is subject to noncompliance or increased requirements related to the provision of raw water, drinking water, water treatment, or wastewater treatment; Whether the proposed use of financing relates to a project identified in and in furtherance of the state water plan; and The geographic location and demographic characteristics of the water provider and its customers. The enterprise shall provide, and a water provider may use, the financing only: In connection with the provision of raw water, drinking water, water treatment, or wastewater treatment; and For feasibility studies, consulting, planning, permitting, and construction of infrastructure and water conservation projects and related recreational, hydroelectric, and flood control facilities, including necessary enlargement and rehabilitation of facilities but excluding maintenance and operation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill makes the modifications to the "Municipal Annexation Act of 1965" (act). Under the act, an unincorporated area within a county may not be annexed to a municipality unless not less than one-sixth of the perimeter of the land area is contiguous with the municipality. Section 2 of the bill modifies this requirement so that not less than one-third of the perimeter of the area to be annexed must be contiguous with the municipality. Section 2 modifies existing contiguity requirements to specify that county-owned open space (unlike other forms of public lands or public land uses) affect contiguity. The bill expands the group of land uses that affects contiguity to include any land area owned by a county and any land area upon which infrastructure owned or maintained by a county is located. Contiguity may be established across such land area owned or maintained by the county by resolution of the board of county commissioners (BOCC) approving an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the annexing municipality in which satisfaction of the contiguity requirement with respect to such land is acknowledged. Section 2 also prohibits a municipality from annexing an area of land unless the land is clearly depicted within an area planned for annexation as identified in an annexation plan that was adopted by the municipality at least 2 years prior to the proposed annexation. Under the act, one of the applicable tests for determining whether a community of interest exists between the annexing municipality and the area proposed to be annexed requires a finding that one-half or more of the land in the area proposed to be annexed is agricultural. Section 2 modifies this requirement to require a finding that one-third of the land area is being used for agricultural purposes or has been assessed by the county assessor in the 3-year period prior to the proposed annexation as agricultural. An alternate test for determining satisfaction of the community of interest requirement requires a finding that it is not physically practicable to extend to the area proposed to be annexed certain urban services. The bill modifies this requirement to require a finding that it is not physically practical or economically feasible to extend such urban services to the area and an agreement between the annexing municipality and a quasi-municipal corporation addressing the terms of services. In connection with existing requirements of the act pertaining to establishing the boundaries of an area to be annexed where land held in identical ownership is present, section 3 specifies that contiguity is affected by whether a street, road, or public way is owned or maintained by a county or whether infrastructure owned or maintained by the county is located on the land. In connection with an existing requirement of the act that prohibits certain annexations that would extend a municipal boundary more than 3 miles from any point of the municipal boundary, section 3 provides that, within this 3-mile area, the contiguity requirement may be achieved by a resolution of the BOCC in accordance with the bill. Prior to completion of an annexation within the 3-mile area, the bill requires that the municipality have in place a comprehensive annexation plan for the area. The bill specifies additional requirements pertaining to the plan. Prior to completion of an annexation in which the basic contiguity requirement of the act is achieved, section 3 also requires the municipality to determine if any of the land to be annexed is owned or maintained by the county or whether any infrastructure owned or maintained by the county is located on the land area. The annexation is also made subject to the terms of any IGA the municipality has entered into with the county. Section 3 enlarges the time before the hearing on the annexation petition in which the petition must be received by the municipality for the annexation to proceed and extends the time for certain required notices to be provided in advance of the hearing. Under the act, in establishing the boundaries of any area proposed to be annexed, if a portion of a platted street or alley is annexed, the entire width of said street or alley is to be included within the area annexed. Section 3 specifies that the length and extent of the county owned or maintained roadway that is to be annexed, and any monetary reimbursement paid to the county, must be determined by an IGA approved by the county and the annexing municipality prior to the annexation of any parcel of land adjacent to or severed by the county roadway. The act specifies that an annexation map must be filed with the annexation petition. Section 4 requires the map to include additional information. Under the act, the hearing on the annexation petition before the annexing municipality must be held not less than 30 days nor more than 60 days after the effective date of the resolution setting the hearing. Section 5 changes these deadlines so the hearing must be held not less than 60 nor more than 90 days after the effective date of the resolution. Section 6 makes modifications to various requirements in the act pertaining to the annexation impact report (AIR), including the date by which the AIR must be prepared and adds new information that must be included in the AIR. Under the act, the annexing municipality must issue certain findings and conclusions addressing the legal sufficiency of the annexation. Section 7 expands the findings to include a determination as to how any IGAs entered into by one or more counties and the municipality affect the proposed annexation. In the case of an annexation without the need for an election, section 8 permits such an annexation to take place subject to the terms of any IGA entered into between or among the annexing municipality and one or more counties. Section 9 requires the annexing municipality to file a copy of any applicable operations and maintenance agreement entered into between the municipality and a county if the IGA associated with the proposed annexation requires the annexing municipality to assume the operation and maintenance of public infrastructure owned or maintained by the county that is located on land within the land area to be annexed. If an IGA is required and an annexing municipality fails to enter into such an agreement with a county, or violates any of the terms of such agreement , section 10 permits the BOCC to file a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief to compel the municipality to enter into an IGA or to compel enforcement of the agreement. Section 11 permits a county to direct disconnection of land owned by the county from within an incorporated municipality. The bill specifies the process by which such disconnection is to take place and the legal effects of the disconnection . Sections 12 and 13 deal with petitions for disconnection by court decree involving statutory cities and statutory towns, respectively. These sections provide that, once any land area has been previously annexed by a particular city or town, the same land area shall not become the subject of a petition disconnecting the land area from the same city or town at anytime thereafter unless the land is to be annexed into another city or town, respectively, or upon agreement to the disconnection by passage of a resolution of the BOCC of the county.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill repeals the Colorado reinsurance program in 2022 and limits the operation of the program to one benefit year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill authorizes the parents of children enrolled in a low-performing school, or the parents of children enrolled in schools that matriculate to the low-performing school, (petitioners) to petition the school district board of education for the low-performing school, or the state charter school institute board if the low-performing school is an institute charter school, (oversight board) to implement specified reforms. A school is considered low-performing if it is required to adopt a priority improvement or turnaround plan for 2 consecutive school years. The bill specifies the types of reforms that petitioners may request and the requirements for petitions. A petition must be signed by at least 50% of the parents of students enrolled in the low-performing school or in schools that matriculate to the low-performing school. If an oversight board receives a valid petition, the oversight board must hold a hearing at which the petitioners may present the requested reforms. The oversight board may propose alternative reforms, and the petitioners may amend the requested reforms or withdraw the petition. At the conclusion of the meeting, if the petitioners have not withdrawn the petition, the oversight board must vote whether to implement the reforms, as originally presented or as amended, and adopt a plan to implement the reforms by the following school year. If the oversight board chooses not to approve and adopt a plan to implement the reforms, the petitioners may submit the petition to the state board of education (state board) and may consider recall procedures against the oversight board if it is a school district board of education. If the state board receives a petition, it must hold a public hearing at which it takes testimony from the petitioners, other eligible parents, and the oversight board concerning the requested reforms. At the conclusion of the meeting, the state board must decide whether to require the school district or state charter school institute, whichever is applicable, to implement the reforms or require other specified actions. If the state board requires the school district or the institute to take actions, the low-performing school is subject to the same oversight and requirements that apply to public schools that have been on priority improvement or turnaround plans for 5 school years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
