Rep. Regina English

The bill creates a medical marijuana independent delivery license and a retail marijuana independent delivery license (licenses) to deliver and sell respective marijuana and marijuana products to consumers at permissible delivery locations. A person must have a social equity license to be issued the licenses. The department of revenue (department) is required to promulgate rules concerning the licenses. The bill creates an accelerator independent deliverer license, accelerator hospitality business license, and accelerator transporter license for social equity licensees qualified to participate in the accelerator program. The bill defines "permissible delivery locations" to establish where licensees with delivery privileges may deliver to consumers. The bill adds mandatory and permissive rule-making authority to the department concerning social-equity-related matters. The bill allows a marijuana hospitality licensee with a mobile facility to temporarily suspend its license privileges related to mobility in order to conduct non-marijuana commercial activities. The bill adds mandatory rule-making authority to the department concerning these matters. Beginning January 31, 2026, the bill requires the state licensing authority to provide an annual report to the finance committees of the house of representatives and the senate concerning active social equity or accelerator licenses and licensees, recommendations for new social equity or accelerator licenses, and recommendations for new or innovative funding sources for the social equity program. The department is required to convene a new, or utilize an existing, working group of persons to develop recommendations for the annual report. Effective April 1, 2025, the bill amends the eligibility requirements for a person to qualify as a social equity licensee. The new eligibility requirements do not apply to licensee applications or licenses issued before April 1, 2025, except for a limited exception. The bill eliminates the $1 surcharge applied on deliveries. The bill requires the department of regulatory agencies, as part of its sunset review of the "Colorado Marijuana Code" in 2028, to review social equity licensing and the licenses. Under current law, there is the marijuana entrepreneur fund within the office of economic development that provides grants and loans to support marijuana industry entrepreneurs. The bill creates a new permissible grant for local jurisdictions that establish a social equity licensing program. The bill creates a tax credit for an accelerator-endorsed licensee who hosts and offers technical and capital support to a social equity licensee for at least 12 consecutive months. An eligible accelerator-endorsed licensee may claim up to $50,000 and may carry it forward as a credit against subsequent years' income tax liability for a period not exceeding 5 years. The tax credit may be claimed for tax years 2026 through 2035. The bill amends the statutory provision concerning the retail marijuana sales tax to state that a retailer is not allowed to retain any portion of the retail marijuana sales tax collected to cover the expenses of collecting and remitting the tax. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Under current law, various crimes related to child prostitution are class 3 felonies. These crimes include soliciting for child prostitution, one type of pandering of a child, procurement of a child, keeping a place of child prostitution, pimping of a child, inducement of child prostitution, and patronizing a prostituted child. The bill requires a court to sentence a person convicted of one of these crimes to the department of corrections for a term of at least the minimum of the presumptive range for a class 3 felony, which is 4 years. Under current law, the crime of pandering of a child is either a class 2 or a class 3 felony, depending on the conduct involved. Pandering that uses menacing or criminal intimidation to induce a child to commit prostitution is a class 2 felony. The bill requires a court to sentence a person convicted of this type of pandering to the department of corrections for a term of at least the minimum of the presumptive range for a class 2 felony, which is 8 years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires the commissioner of the department of agriculture (commissioner) to develop, implement, and maintain an online pet animal registration system (system). The bill establishes the pet animal registration enterprise (enterprise) in the department of agriculture to provide business services to pet animal owners who pay pet registration fees to the enterprise by developing, implementing, maintaining, and administering the pet animal registration system, connecting pet animals with their owners and designated caregivers when and after emergencies occur, and protecting pet animals by supporting animal shelters that are caretakers of last resort. A pet animal owner must register the pet animal in the system annually for a fee set by the enterprise, which must be no more than $8.50 annually per pet animal with a designated caregiver, $16 annually per pet animal that is a dog or cat that is not neutered or spayed and has a designated caregiver, and $25 annually per pet animal without a designated caregiver. The fee set by the enterprise is in addition to any pet registration or licensing fee assessed by any other jurisdiction. The enterprise will collect both state and local fees and transmit any fee levied by another jurisdiction to that jurisdiction and the fee levied by the state to the newly created pet animal registration cash fund. The state's fee will be used to develop, implement, maintain, and administer the system and reimburse animal shelters for the cost of taking custody of a pet animal for which a caregiver cannot be located or has refused to take custody. The bill also requires a pet animal owner to designate a caregiver for the owner's pet animal. The caregiver is responsible for the care and safekeeping of the pet animal during an emergency that incapacitates the pet animal owner. First responders will use the system to identify the designated caregiver of the pet animal and notify the caregiver of the incapacitation of the pet animal's owner. A caregiver must agree to be responsible for the pet animal. If a caregiver later refuses to take custody of the pet animal or cannot be located, a first responder will place the pet animal in an animal shelter. Only first responders and the department of public health and environment are allowed to use the system. The bill specifies that to own a pet animal without registering the pet animal; to refuse or fail to comply with the provisions of the bill; to make a material misstatement in a registration application, a registration renewal application, or to the department of agriculture; or to refuse or fail to comply with any rules or regulations adopted by the commissioner is unlawful. An unlawful act is punishable by a civil penalty in an amount set by the commissioner but not to exceed $100 per unlawful act. If the commissioner is unable to collect the civil penalty, the commissioner may sue to recover the civil penalty or refuse to renew a registration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems. The bill requires the general assembly to annually appropriate $250,000 from the general fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the public utilities commission (PUC) to fund the operations of the Colorado 911 resource center (center). The center is required to provide to the PUC quarterly a report outlining the use of the funding provided, and the PUC is required to include an accounting of the expenditure and uses of this funding in an annual report that current law requires it to make to the members of the general assembly. To help ensure that the training, guidance, and assistance provided by the center to 911 professionals, including public safety access point (PSAP) personnel, local 911 emergency call service authorities, and PSAPs, is useful and is being effectively implemented, and that the funding provided by the bill is being expended efficiently and effectively, the center is required to: Survey 911 professionals regarding their perception of the quality of the training; Survey local 911 emergency call service authorities and PSAPs to determine the extent to which the training, guidance, and assistance is being implemented and the extent to which it is helping them to improve efficiency, crisis response decisions, and outcomes in response to both behavioral health crisis calls specifically and all emergency calls received; and Summarize survey results in each quarterly report to the PUC.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act creates a task force (task force) to establish shared goals, objectives, and guidelines for entities to utilize in prioritizing new and existing grant money to achieve maximum impact to reduce youth violence, suicide, and delinquency risk factors. The task force shall identify 3 target communities with the highest rates of youth violence, suicide, and delinquency risk factors. Beginning July 1, 2025, the task force shall create shared goals, objectives, and guidelines for governmental and community-based organizations to prioritize the use of new and existing state grant money, as well as help community-based organizations reduce youth violence, suicide, and delinquency risk factors in the target communities by using the shared goals, objectives, and guidelines when working in intervention, prevention, and tracking statistics. Membership in the task force is outlined. The task force shall make a preliminary "SMART Act" report in January 2024 followed by a final report in January 2025. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $92,447 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of public health and environment for use by the prevention services division. The division may use this appropriation for the grant prioritization task force related to administration. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 7, 2023(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Not later than September 1, 2023, the act requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to initiate a stakeholder process to promote the expansion and utilization of doula services for pregnant and postpartum medicaid recipients (recipients). The act requires the state department to work with a maternity advisory committee to create a report detailing the findings and recommendations from the stakeholder process and submit the report to the general assembly during the state department's "SMART Act" hearing. Not later than July 1, 2024, the act requires the state department to seek federal authorization for medicaid providers to provide doula services for pregnant and postpartum people. The act creates a doula scholarship program to provide financial support to eligible individuals to pursue doula training and certification. To be eligible for a scholarship, individuals must agree to enroll as a doula provider and provide doula services to recipients. The act requires the division of insurance (division) to contract with an independent entity to study the potential health-care costs and benefits of providing coverage for doula services in health benefit plans. The act requires the division to submit a report to the general assembly during the state department's "SMART Act" hearing detailing the results and recommendations from the study during state fiscal year 2024-25. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the state department for use by the other medical services division for the doula scholarship program. The act appropriates $100,000 from the division of insurance cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance to use for personal services. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 30, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law allows a grandparent or great-grandparent to seek a court order granting the grandparent or great-grandparent the right to visit grandchildren or great-grandchildren when there is or has been a child custody case or a case concerning the allocation of parental responsibilities relating to that child. The act allows a court to appoint a child's legal representative to represent the child's best interests in a matter seeking to grant grandparents or great-grandparents family time (family time) with grandchildren or great-grandchildren. The act clarifies that in determining the best interests of a child for the purpose of family time, the court shall presume that any parental determination regarding family time is in the best interests of the child. A grandparent or great-grandparent may overcome the presumption by proving through clear and convincing evidence that the family time is in the child's best interests. The act changes the term "visitation rights" to "grandparent or great-grandparent family time". APPROVED by Governor May 23, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill creates an independent delivery license for social equity licensees to deliver and sell retail marijuana and retail marijuana products to consumers at the consumer's private residence and requires the department of revenue to promulgate rules concerning the independent delivery license. The bill creates an accelerator independent delivery license, accelerator hospitality business license, and accelerator transporter license, and accelerator retail deliverer permittee for social equity licensees qualified to participate in the accelerator program. The bill requires the department of revenue to provide an annual report to the finance committees of the house of representatives and the senate concerning active social equity licenses, any recommendations for new social equity licenses and permits, and any recommendations for new or innovating funding sources for the social equity licensees or permittees. Effective January 2, March 1, 2024, the bill amends the eligibility requirements for a person to qualify as a social equity licensee. The bill clarifies that the new eligibility requirements only apply to social equity licensee applications received on or after January 2, March 1, 2024. or to the reinstatement or reactivation of social equity licenses originally issued before January 2, 2024. The new eligibility requirements do not apply to the renewal of social equity licenses applied for or issued before January 2, March 1, 2024. The bill authorizes a social equity licensee who satisfies the eligibility requirements effective January 2, 2024, with a retail marijuana transporter licensee and a retail marijuana delivery permit or an accelerator retail deliverer permit, to exercise the privileges of a retail marijuana store license without needing to obtain a retail marijuana store license or accelerator store license. The bill requires permits the department of revenue to create incentives for social equity licensees and accelerator-endorsed licensees, including reducing or waiving fees. The bill requires the department of regulatory agencies, as part its sunset review of the "Colorado Marijuana Code" in 2028, to review social equity licensing and the independent delivery license. The bill creates, in the office of economic development, a grant committee that is responsible for reviewing grant applications, selecting grant recipients, and determining grant awards that are issued pursuant to an existing grant program for supporting entrepreneurs in the marijuana industry. The bill amends the statutory provision concerning retail marijuana sales tax to state that a retailer is not allowed to retain any portion of the retail marijuana sales tax collected to cover the expenses of collecting and remitting the tax. The bill appropriates $330,625 to the department of revenue, and $114,199 to the department of law. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)