Rep. Junie Joseph

The act includes outdoor nature-based preschool programs (outdoor programs) as a type of licensed child care center (center) in the department of early childhood (department) for licensing-related matters. No later than December 31, 2025, the executive director of the department shall promulgate rules for centers operating as outdoor programs. The rules must include, but are not limited to: Land-use agreement requirements for outdoor programs operating on public or private land; Policies for site-specific alternative shelter plans; Policies for site-specific risk mitigation plans; Policies for site-specific emergency and disaster preparedness plans; Policies for site-specific evacuation plans; and Policies and procedures for outdoor programs to opt out of certain department requirements through the site-specific risk mitigation plan. The act requires the department to provide training to licensing staff who oversee outdoor program site inspections and, beginning December 1, 2026, to outdoor program operators and staff. The department shall collaborate with local fire departments on fire prevention and protection requirements for outdoor programs and with the department of public health and environment on sanitary standards for outdoor programs. The act requires the general assembly to appropriate $30,000 from the child care licensing cash fund to the department for the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 fiscal years to implement the outdoor programs. The act appropriates $179,569 to the department for purposes of licensing outdoor programs. The appropriation consists of $149,569 from the general fund and $30,000 from the cash fund. The act appropriates $35,341 to the department of public health and environmentfor environmental health programs related to outdoor program licensure. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For income tax years commencing before January 1, 2025, the law allowed any individual who was 65 years of age or older at the close of a taxable year to subtract the total amount of social security benefits that the individual received from the individual's federal taxable income, to the extent those benefits were included in federal taxable income, when determining the individual's state taxable income. The act expands this subtraction to any individual who is 55 years of age or older but less than 65 years of age and whose adjusted gross income for the applicable tax year is less than or equal to $75,000 if filing individually or $95,000 if filing jointly. The act requires the department of revenue, in consultation with the state auditor, to collect information necessary to measure the effectiveness of the income tax subtraction. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Beginning January 1, 2025, the act classifies a county coroner and deputy coroner elected, reelected, or appointed on or after January 1, 2021, by a local government division employer as a state trooper for the purpose of determining the county coroner's or deputy coroner's public employees' retirement association service retirement eligibility and benefits. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act establishes in statute a bill of rights for youth who are the responsibility of the department of human services (department), whether the youth is detained or committed to the care and physical custody of a juvenile facility operated by the department. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 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.)

The act requires that certain services provided to children or their families comply with the provisions of Title VI of the federal "Civil Rights Act of 1964" if they are provided by a county department of human or social services (county department), city and county, or a private-entity contractor. Furthermore, the act requires that the county department, city and county, or private-entity contractor take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful language access to services in the person's primary language for a person with limited English proficiency, in a timely manner and without unreasonable delay. The act requires a court to provide language access, including translation and interpretation services, to a child, parent, guardian, custodian, or other party in a dependency and neglect case if the person requests language access or has limited English proficiency. The act requires that during a dispositional hearing concerning the best interests of a child, the court consider services and programs that provide the parent and child with language access and effective communication. The act appropriates $74,953 from the judicial stabilization cash fund to the judicial department 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 an income tax subtraction (deduction) for income tax years 2026 to 2033 for the amount of any Segal AmeriCorps Education Award received by a taxpayer for service in the AmeriCorps national service program, which is used by the taxpayer during the income tax year. 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 board of trustees of a public library (board) is required to establish written policies for the acquisition, retention, display, and use of library resources and for the use of a public library facility. If a public library reconsiders library resources, the board is also required to establish a written policy for the reconsideration of a library resource. The board is required to comply with specified standards in establishing a policy for the acquisition, retention, display, use, and reconsideration of library resources and for the use of public library facilities. A public library may remove a library resource from its permanent collection only if the library resource has been reviewed in accordance with an established policy for the reconsideration of library resources that complies with the standards established in the act. These requirements do not apply to routine collection maintenance and deaccession in accordance with a public library's established collection development and maintenance policy. The board is required to make its policy for the reconsideration of library materials available to the public. Once a final determination has been made for a library resource that is the subject of a request for reconsideration, the board is required to make the determination available to the public. A request for reconsideration of a library resource is not a library user record and instead is an open record under the "Colorado Open Records Act". A librarian, media specialist, other employee, contractor, or volunteer (employee) at a public library is not subject to termination, demotion, discipline, or retaliation for refusing to remove a library resource before it has been reviewed in accordance with the public library's policy for the reconsideration of library resources or for making displays, acquisitions, or programming decisions that the employee believes, in good faith, are in accordance with the standards established in the act. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 31, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates a statutory scheme to regulate the use of deepfakes produced using generative artificial intelligence in communications about candidates for elective office. Distribution of a communication that includes an undisclosed or improperly disclosed deepfake with knowledge or reckless disregard as to the deceptiveness or falsity of the communication related to a candidate for elective office is prohibited. Proper disclosure requires the statement: "This (image/audio/video/multimedia) has been edited and depicts speech or conduct that falsely appears to be authentic or truthful". The disclosure statement must satisfy the requirements in the act, and any rule adopted by the secretary of state in accordance with the act, for a clear, conspicuous, and understandable disclosure statement regarding a deepfake. The disclosure statement must be included in the communication's metadata and, to the extent technically feasible, must be permanent or unable to be easily removed by subsequent users. Any person who believes there has been a violation of the statutory or regulatory requirements for disclosure of the use of a deepfake may file a complaint with the office of the secretary of state. The secretary shall hear such complaints in accordance with existing complaint and administrative hearing procedures under the "Fair Campaign Practices Act", and a hearing officer may impose a civil penalty of at least $100 for each violation involving unpaid advertising or at least 10% of the amount paid or spent to advertise the communication that includes an undisclosed or improperly disclosed deepfake. A candidate who is the subject of a communication that includes an undisclosed or improperly disclosed deepfake may bring a civil action for injunctive or other equitable relief or for compensatory and punitive damages, or both. The plaintiff-candidate may also seek reasonable attorney fees, filing fees, and costs of action, and any other just and appropriate relief necessary to enforce the prohibition on undisclosed deepfakes and to remedy the harm caused by violation of the prohibition. The plaintiff-candidate must prove the defendant's knowledge or reckless disregard as to the falsity or deceptiveness of the communication that includes the deepfake by clear and convincing evidence. Liability for a violation of the act does not extend to an interactive computer service, a radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer, producer, or streaming service, an internet website, a regularly published newspaper, magazine, or other periodical of general circulation, or a provider of technology used in the creation of a deepfake as specified in the act and in accordance with immunities provided by federal law. APPROVED by Governor May 24, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)