The bill creates the highly effective teacher bonus program to provide money to school districts, boards of cooperative services that operate public schools, and charter schools (local education providers) to pay bonuses to teachers who are rated as highly effective and to provide monetary incentives to recruit highly effective teachers. The department of education (department) will distribute the money to each local education provider based on a formula that takes into account the number of teachers employed by the local education provider. Each local education provider must submit to the department a report concerning its use of the money, and the department must provide a summary of the reports to the state board of education and the education committees of the general assembly.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
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Under current law, any completed internal investigation file is open for public inspection. In the case of an exonerated officer, the bill states that the investigation file is only available for inspection if a court issues an order of inspection after finding the requester has a compelling interest in inspecting the investigation file and the requester is a party to the investigation, the complainant, or a person who can demonstrate a viable interest in the investigation. The bill allows an agency complying with a request for an internal investigation file to bill a reasonable fee for the time involved in complying with the request. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill prohibits any person from intentionally or recklessly performing or attempting to perform an abortion on a person if the gestational age of the fetus is 22 weeks or older except in limited circumstances. Any person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion in violation of this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor but may only be subject to punishment by fine and not by jail time. A woman who has an abortion is not subject to criminal penalties. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires the staff of the legislative council to prepare business fiscal impact notes (notes) on legislative bills in each regular session of the general assembly. The speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate are authorized to request 2 notes each, or more at the discretion of the director of research of the legislative council. The bill requires the staff of the legislative council to meet with the member of leadership requesting the note and with the sponsor of the legislative bill to discuss whether a note can practically be completed for that legislative bill. If not, the member of leadership may request a note on a different legislative bill. A business fiscal impact note is defined as a note that uses available data to analyze the potential direct economic effects of a legislative bill on Colorado businesses, including costs related to compliance, impacts on hiring or job losses, savings or cost reductions, and other fiscal impacts. The bill requires the director of research of the legislative council to develop the procedures for requesting, completing, and updating the notes and to memorialize the procedures in a letter to the executive committee of the legislative council. The staff of the legislative council must designate a 5-day period during which Colorado businesses can submit comments on the impacts of a legislative bill selected for the preparation of the note, or a shorter time if the bill is selected during the last 30 days of session. The staff must summarize and compile the comments as part of the note. Finally, the legislative bill requires each state department, agency, or institution to cooperate with and provide information for a note of a legislative bill in the manner requested by the staff of the legislative council. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill states that if an insurer or an insured party requests an administrative hearing concerning an allegation that an insurer has breached the terms of an enforceable policy or other contract: The commissioner of insurance (commissioner) shall hold the hearing not later than 60 days after receiving the request; Neither the commissioner nor the division nor any administrative court may impose or require a fee of any party in association with the hearing; The commissioner shall conduct the hearing pursuant to the Colorado rules of procedure for small claims courts; The commissioner shall issue a ruling, and the ruling is not subject to appeal and does not prevent de novo judicial proceedings; If the commissioner determines, pursuant to the hearing, that the insurer has breached the terms of an enforceable policy or other contract, the commissioner may award treble damages and attorney fees to the insured party; and Any determination made by the commissioner, the division of insurance, or an administrative law judge pursuant to the hearing is admissible as evidence in any subsequent civil action. The bill states that in any civil action in which a plaintiff claims that an insurer wrongfully denied a claim submitted by the plaintiff pursuant to an enforceable policy issued by the insurer to the plaintiff: The court shall not charge the plaintiff any fee to recover costs associated with a jury trial; and The defendant insurer may not file a motion for summary judgment, a directed verdict, a judgment on the pleadings, or any other alternative outcome if the plaintiff has requested a jury trial. The bill states that in any civil action in which the trier of fact determines that an insurer wrongfully denied a claim submitted by a plaintiff pursuant to an enforceable policy issued by the insurer to the plaintiff, that the insurer denied the claim in bad faith, and that the plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the wrongful denial, the court shall award treble damages, court costs, and attorney fees to the plaintiff. The bill states that it is an unfair method of competition and an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance for an insurer to unilaterally change or cancel, or attempt to unilaterally change or cancel, the terms of a prepaid policy of insurance until the policy is due for renewal. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Drivers' licenses - renting or loaning a motor vehicle - use of electronic device for verification of driver's license. Current law prohibits a person from renting a motor vehicle to another person until the prospective lessor of the vehicle has inspected the prospective lessee's driver's license and compared and verified the signature on the license with the prospective lessee's signature in his or her presence. The act removes the requirement that the inspection be performed in the prospective lessee's presence and provides that the inspection may be performed through the use of an electronic device and must verify only that the license is unexpired. Current law requires a person who rents a motor vehicle to another person to keep a record of the registration number of the motor vehicle, the name and address of the other person, the number of the license of the other person, and the date and place when and where the license was issued. The act removes the requirement that the record include the date that the license was issued and permits the person who rents the motor vehicle to maintain the record in an electronic format. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Registration - fees and surcharges - appropriation. The act requires the department of revenue to give prorated credit for registration fees and surcharges on a vehicle that is sold before the vehicle's registration year ends. The credit is applied to vehicles subsequently registered. To implement the act, $7,200 is appropriated to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
If a major political party charges a delegate or alternate to a party assembly a fee or other cost to participate in the party assembly, the bill requires the major political party to waive the fee or charge, without further inquiry, upon request of a delegate or alternate. The bill specifies that a delegate or alternate's inability to pay such fee or charge shall not prevent his or her participation in the party assembly. In addition, the bill requires major political parties to notify electors at party caucuses that electors who are chosen to be delegates or alternates to any party assembly are not required to pay any fee or other charge to participate in the party assembly.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill prohibits a state agency from expending any public funds to undertake, on behalf of the agency, lobbying of the general assembly, any of the staff agencies of the general assembly, or any member of the general assembly. The bill also prohibits the agency from contracting with any lobbying firm or any other private organization or entity that provides lobbying services for the purpose of lobbying on its behalf the general assembly, any of the staff agencies of the general assembly, or any member of the general assembly. The bill defines "state agency" to mean every executive department, board, commission, committee, bureau, and office of state government including the departments of state, law, and treasury; the office of the governor; the office of the lieutenant governor; and the judicial branch of state government. The bill also permits a state agency to employ a legislative liaison on its behalf but prohibits the legislative liaison from undertaking any lobbying on behalf of the agency. In connection with the consideration of any official matter before state government, the bill specifies that a legislative liaison employed by an agency is not undertaking lobbying on behalf of the agency as long as a liaison restricts his or her personal activities to giving testimony or providing information in various settings, the liaison clearly identifies himself or herself and the agency for which the liaison is testifying or providing information, and the liaison does not express his or her personal support of or opposition to any such matter or the agency's position with respect to any such matter. The bill permits an elected public official to express his or her personal opinion in support of or in opposition to any matter before the government of the state. The bill makes conforming amendments to the existing statutory provision authorizing executive departments to designate one person to lobby on behalf of the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
With regard to employment, housing, public accommodations, and advertising discrimination complaints investigated by the civil rights division in the department of regulatory agencies and, in some cases, heard or pursued by the Colorado civil rights commission, the bill specifies that: The respondent has a right to request representation by a public defender, regardless of indigent status or the lack of an arrest for or charge of a crime, at any point in the administrative process when the respondent is requested or required to participate; The respondent may request to move the matter to a court of competent jurisdiction if the respondent asserts that the respondent engaged in the alleged discriminatory conduct on the basis of first amendment rights; and If the respondent obtains a favorable decision after all appeals are exhausted or if the United States supreme court rules in favor of the respondent, the commission must pay the respondent's attorney fees and costs and lost business income, retroactive to appeals or actions for judicial review filed on or after December 1, 2013.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More