Current Colorado law requires that a decree providing for placement of a child with a public agency be accompanied by a court order that obligates the child's parent to pay a fee, based on the parent's ability to pay. The fee covers the costs of a guardian ad litem and of providing for residential care of the child. The act removes the requirement for a court order obligating a child's parent to pay the fee for residential child care and guardian ad litem costs. Instead, the act authorizes a delegate child support enforcement unit to impose a fee only when a county child welfare unit determines a referral is appropriate in accordance with rules promulgated by the state board of human services (state board). The act removes the requirements that this fee be based on a parent's ability to pay and that the fee cover the cost of a guardian ad litem. Current Colorado law assigns child support by operation of law to the state department of human services to reimburse county, state, and federal out-of-home placement costs when a child is placed in foster care. The act limits assignments to current, rather than previously accrued, child support obligations. The act grants a delegate child support enforcement unit discretion to enforce a child support obligation when a county child welfare unit determines a referral is appropriate in accordance with rules promulgated by the state board. APPROVED by Governor May 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 22, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Rep. Junie Joseph
Sponsored bills
Starting July 1, 2025, each youth sports organization shall require each coach to annually complete mandatory reporter training and shall encourage each coach to annually complete an abuse prevention training that includes: Prohibited conduct by coaches; Appropriate one-on-one interactions between players and coaches; How to recognize and appropriately respond to and prevent behaviors that violate the prohibited conduct policy; and How to respond to disclosures of sexual abuse, disclosures of child abuse, or reports of behaviors violating the prohibited conduct policy in a supportive and appropriate manner that meets the mandated reporting requirements pursuant to Colorado statutes. Each youth sports organization shall develop a prohibited conduct policy that its coaches must comply with and that must include: A list of prohibited conduct by parents, spectators, coaches, and athletes and a mandatory reporting policy for adults who have knowledge of an act of prohibited conduct; and A code of conduct for parents, spectators, coaches, and athletes to follow. The act requires the department of early childhood to make a model code of conduct available that a youth sports organization may adopt. The act requires all youth sports organization and local government coaches to obtain a criminal history record check and to not hire a coach with a record of child abuse or unlawful sexual behavior. A volunteer who is not acting in the capacity of a coach or manager and who only occasionally assists with the team is not required to obtain a criminal history record check. The act requires each local government that operates a youth athletic activity to make available a prohibited conduct policy related to youth athletic activities. The act requires the attorney general to draft a notice that explains the requirements of the act and make it available to all youth sports organizations. Each youth sports organization shall post the notice on its website or, if it does not have a website, provide the notice to parents and legal guardians. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals the pollution prevention advisory board and the pollution prevention advisory board assistance committee when the act takes effect, repeals the recycling resources economic opportunity program on October 1, 2025, and repeals the front range waste diversion enterprise and replaces it with the Colorado circular communities enterprise (enterprise). The enterprise, in merging and modernizing the purposes of the recycling resources economic opportunity program and the front range waste diversion enterprise, awards grants and other funding and provides technical assistance to local governments, nonprofit and for-profit businesses, public and private schools, and institutions of higher education throughout the state that pursue a circular economy for waste management, including waste diversion and aversion. The act also creates the statewide voluntary sustainability program to support businesses engaging, or looking to engage, in sustainability efforts. Under current law, user fees are imposed on operators of attended solid waste disposal sites (operators) to finance the recycling resources economic opportunity program and the front range waste diversion enterprise. The act applies those fees to the enterprise, requiring operators of sites located outside of the front range to pay a fee of either 2 or 4 cents per load transported for disposal and requiring operators of sites located in the front range, between July 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, to pay a fee of 74 cents per cubic yard per load transported for disposal and, on and after January 1, 2025, to pay a fee of 78 cents per cubic yard per load transported for disposal. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a system for courts in Colorado to officially store and preserve wills that individuals voluntarily submit for safekeeping. It requires court clerks to keep these documents for a specific period, creating a permanent electronic record if the original is destroyed after the retention time expires. The law also updates probate procedures to recognize these court-stored electronic records as valid proof of a will, ensuring they can be used to settle estates without needing the original physical document.
No later than July 1, 2025, the bill requires the office of state public defender to implement workload standards for determining when a deputy public defender's workload is excessive pursuant to the federal and state constitutions and the Colorado rules of professional conduct. The bill requires the office of state public defender to consult with employees of the office of state public defender in creating the standards.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The Colorado supreme court approved the licensure of legal paraprofessionals (LLPs), which allows LLPs to represent clients and perform certain types of legal services related to domestic relations matters, including: Legal separations, declarations of invalidity of marriage, or dissolutions of marriage or a civil union; Initial allocations or modifications of an allocation of parental responsibility, including parentage determinations; Matters involving establishment or modification of child support or maintenance; Seeking, modifying, or terminating a civil protection order; Matters involving a name change; and Matters involving a request for an amended birth certificate to change the sex designation of an adult. The act amends the relevant statutory provisions to align with the Colorado supreme court rule authorizing the licensure of LLPs. APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The attorney general is authorized to appear for the state and prosecute and defend all actions and proceedings, civil and criminal, in which the state is a party or is interested when required to do so by the governor. In these circumstances, the act allows the attorney general to also expend funds, manage staff, and perform other administrative functions essential for the operation of a district attorney's office. If it is essential during this time for the attorney general to hire personnel, while the attorney general has the ultimate authority regarding hiring decisions, a committee consisting of the attorney general, a representative from the Colorado district attorneys' council, and the highest ranking attorney or official at the district attorney's office shall make recommendations regarding hiring decisions that the attorney general must consider. APPROVED by Governor April 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill establishes a process by which a student, parent, or member of the community may object to a library resource in a school or public library. Each library resource that is reconsidered pursuant to the process must be evaluated based on standards applied by a committee for school libraries and a director of a public library. Members of the committee for school libraries are appointed by the superintendent of the school district, and the committee covers reconsideration requests in all schools in the district. For public libraries, the director is selected by the library's board of trustees and covers the library or libraries in the library district. A library resource may not be removed while a request for reconsideration is pending. A principal, librarian, media specialist, other employee, contractor, or volunteer may refuse a directive to remove a library resource if such an individual has a good faith belief that the directive conflicts with law or policy established pursuant to the bill, and such an individual may not be subjected to retaliation. The bill prevents the state board of education from waiving the requirements of the bill as they are applied to public schools, district charter schools, and institute charter schools. The bill specifies that it is a discriminatory practice and unlawful for anyone to discriminate against anyone in the selection, retention, reconsideration, or display of a library resource. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)