Beginning with the 2021-22 academic year, the act requires a state institution of higher education (institution) to adopt a policy to offer in-state tuition classification to students who would not otherwise qualify for in-state tuition if the student is a federally recognized member of a federally recognized American Indian tribe with historical ties to Colorado, as designated by the Colorado commission of Indian affairs in partnership with history Colorado.The institution may count the student as a resident student for any purpose within the tuition classification statutes and for purposes of resident enrollment requirements. The student is eligible to apply for the Colorado opportunity fund stipend and state-funded financial aid, and may be eligible for private financial aid programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act allocates $20 million from the general fund to the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) to be spent to implement the state water plan as follows:$15 million, which is transferred to the water plan implementation cash fund and appropriated to the department of natural resources for expenditures and grants administered by the CWCB to implement the state water plan; and $5 million, which is transferred to the water supply reserve fund for the CWCB to disperse to the basin roundtables. The act also establishes a minimum 25% matching fund requirement for the water plan implementation grant program; except that, during 2021 and 2022, the CWCB can reduce the minimum match requirement.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the Colorado school of public health to do a systematic review of the scientific research related to the possible physical and mental health effects of high-potency THC marijuana and concentrates using only funding provided by the general assembly. The act creates a scientific review council (council) to review the report and make recommendations to the general assembly. Based on the research and findings, the Colorado school of public health shall produce a public education campaign for the general public, to be approved by the council, regarding the effect of high-potency THC marijuana on the developing brain and mental health.Current law requires a doctor to conduct a full assessment of the patient's medical history when making a medical marijuana recommendation. The act requires that assessment to include the patient's mental health history. If the recommending physician is not the patient's primary care physician, the act directs the recommending physician to review the records of a diagnosing physician or licensed mental health provider. When a practitioner makes a medical marijuana authorization, the practitioner must certify that authorization to the department of public health and environment (department). The act requires the certification to include:The date of issue and the effective date of the recommendation; The patient's name and address; The recommending physician's name, address, and federal drug enforcement agency number; The maximum THC potency level of medical marijuana being recommended; The recommended product, if any; The daily authorized quantity, if the quantity exceeds the maximum statutorily allowed amount for the patient's age; Directions for use; and The recommending physician's signature. The act prohibits a physician for charging an additional fee for recommending an extended plant count or making a recommendation related to an exception to a medical marijuana requirement. The act directs the department to annually report on the number of physicians who made medical marijuana recommendations in the past year, how many recommendations each physician made, and the number of homebound patients ages 18 to 20 years old in the registry.The act imposes the following requirements on medical marijuana patients ages 18 to 20 years old:Two physicians from different medical practices have to diagnose the patient as having a debilitating or disabling medical condition after an in-person consultation; One of the physicians must explain the possible risks and benefits of the medical use of marijuana to the patient; One physician must provide the patient with the written documentation specifying that the patient has been diagnosed with a debilitating or disabling medical condition and the physician has concluded that the patient might benefit from the medical use of marijuana; and The patient attends follow-up appointments every 6 months after the initial visit with one of the physicians unless the patient is homebound. The act requires the department to create a report from emergency room and hospital discharge data of patients who presented with conditions or a diagnosis that reflects marijuana use and provide that report at the department's annual "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing.The act directs the association representing coroners to establish a working group to study methods to test for all scheduled drugs and the presence and quantity of THC in each case of a non-natural death and make recommendations by July 1, 2022. The recommendation must be reported to the house of representatives health and insurance committee and the senate health and human services committee, or their successor committees. Beginning January 1, 2022, the act requires the coroner in each case of a non-natural death to complete a toxicology screen. The coroner shall report the results of the toxicology screen to the Colorado violent death reporting system. The department then produces an annual report of the data beginning January 2, 2023, and annually each year thereafter.The act prohibits medical marijuana advertising that is specifically directed to persons ages 18 to 20 years old and requires medical and retail marijuana concentrate advertising to include a warning regarding the risks of medical marijuana concentrate overconsumption.A medical marijuana store and retail marijuana store shall provide a patient with a tangible education resource regarding the use of medical or retail marijuana concentrate when selling concentrate.The act requires medical marijuana stores to immediately record transactions in the seed-to-sale inventory tracking system to allow the system to:Continuously monitor entry of patient data to identify discrepancies with daily purchase limits and potency authorizations; Access and retrieve real-time sales data based on patient identification number; and Respond with a user error message if a sale to a patient or caregiver will exceed the patient's allowed purchase limit for that business day or potency authorization. The data collected is confidential and shall not be shared with anyone except when necessary to complete a sale.The act limits the amount of medical marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams, unless the patient is 18 to 20 years old then the limit is 2 grams, except in the case of a homebound patient, if the patient's certification states that the patient needs more than 8 grams or 2 grams respectively. The limit does not apply to medical marijuana patients if it would be a significant physical or geographic hardship for the patient to make a daily purchase or if the patient had a registry identification card prior to being 18 years old.The act limits the amount of retail marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams.The marijuana enforcement division shall convene a stakeholder work group to develop and complete by January 1, 2022:A uniform certification form to be used by recommending physicians when authorizing the patient to purchase more than the statutorily allowed quantities, as required by section 25-1.5-106 (5), Colorado Revised Statutes, which may be relied upon by medical marijuana stores. The form must contain a uniform weight and uniform potency description to enable a medical marijuana store to fulfill its obligations without the need to make a further calculation or examine other documents. The form shall not contain any information concerning the patient's medical condition or diagnosis. A tangible educational resource regarding the use of regulated marijuana concentrate. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates:$4,000,000 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado school of public health and any unexpended money from the appropriation is further appropriated to the department for the same purpose; $541,826 to the department of public health and environment for use by the center for health and environmental information: $265,656 of the appropriation is from the general fund and is $276,170 from the medical marijuana program cash fund; $50,000 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment for use by disease control and public health response; $255,167 from the marijuana cash fund to the department of revenue to implement the act; $95,706 and allocates 0.5 FTE to the department of law from reappropriated funds from the department of revenue; and $2,000,000 from the first time drunk driving offender account to the department of transportation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law requires a private college or university operating in the state to be institutionally accredited on the basis of an on-site review by a regional or national accrediting body recognized by the United States department of education (DOE). The act allows private colleges and universities and private occupational schools to be accredited by:Institutional or programmatic accrediting bodies recognized by the DOE; or Programmatic accrediting bodies that are recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as having the ability to accredit freestanding, single-purpose institutions of construction education. The act states it is a deceptive trade or sales practice for a private occupational school to advertise or otherwise represent that it is accredited unless the school is accredited by an accrediting body that is recognized by the DOE or is accredited by a programmatic accrediting body that is recognized by the CHEA as having the ability to accredit a freestanding, single-purpose institution of construction education.The act allows an educational institution or educational service that is exempt from the requirements of the "Private Occupational Education Act of 1981" to waive its exempt status in order to apply for authorization to operate a private occupational school, subject to certain conditions.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $98,796 to the department of higher education from the private occupational schools fund, $45,626 of which is for use by the division of private occupational schools for program costs and $53,170 of which is reappropriated to the department of law to use to provide legal services to the department of higher education.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Effective July 1, 2022, the act creates the department of early childhood (new department) to:Provide early childhood opportunities; Coordinate the availability of early childhood programs and services throughout Colorado; Establish state and community partnerships for a mixed delivery of child care and early childhood programs through school- and community-based providers; Prioritize the interests and input of children, parents, providers, and the community in designing and delivering early childhood services and programs; Prioritize the equitable delivery of resources and supports for early childhood; and Unify the administration of early childhood programs and services. The act moves the early childhood leadership commission (commission) to the new department, effective July 1, 2022.The act creates a transition working group (working group), consisting of the co-chairs of the commission and representatives of certain state agencies and the governor's office, and directs the co-chairs of the commission to convene a transition advisory group (advisory group).The act directs the working group, working with a consultant and with the advice of the advisory group, to develop a transition plan (plan) for the coordination and administration of early childhood services and programs by the new department and the departments of education, human services, and public health and environment, including, to the extent necessary, the transition of existing programs and services to the new department. The act includes specific requirements for the plan.The governor's office must submit the plan to the joint budget committee as part of the governor's 2022 budget request, and the working group must submit the plan to the commission for approval. As soon as practicable after the plan is approved, the governor's office must submit the approved plan to the joint budget committee with any necessary budget request amendments. The working group must submit the approved plan to other committees of the general assembly by November 15, 2021, and must meet with the early childhood and school readiness legislative commission by December 1, 2021, to present the plan.The act also directs the working group, working with the consultant and with the advice of the advisory group, to develop recommendations for a new voluntary, universal preschool program (recommendations) to be funded partially by the recently increased sales tax on tobacco and operated by the new department beginning in the 2023-24 school year. The act specifies requirements that the new preschool program must meet. The working group must also convene and work with a subgroup that focuses on issues relating to serving children with disabilities through the new preschool program. The working group must submit the recommendations to the commission for approval and must then submit the recommendations to the joint budget committee and other committees of the general assembly by January 15, 2022.The act requires the governor's office to contract with one or more private entities to consult with the working group in developing and implementing the plan and in developing the recommendations and to analyze the current use of existing early childhood programs in the state.For the 2021-22 fiscal year, to implement the act, there is appropriated from the general fund:$587,500, with the assumption of an additional 3.6 FTE, to the office of the governor; $267,161, with the assumption of an additional 1.2 FTE, to the office of early childhood in the department of human services; and $96,867, with the assumption of an additional 0.9 FTE, to the department of education.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
On and after May 31, 2021, the act changes the name of Lincoln park and Liberty park in the capitol complex to "Lincoln veterans' memorial park".The act makes an appropriation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act amends Senate Bill 21-196, the bill that provides appropriations for the legislative branch for the 2021-22 state fiscal year, to increase the funding for and FTE allocated to the general assembly to allow the general assembly to provide health benefits for legislative aides.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The length of the bill summary for this bill requires it to be published on a separate page here: https://leg.colorado.gov/sb21-260-bill-summary(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For the 2020 property tax year, the existing statute corrects the total program mill levies for school districts that are not subject to constitutional property tax revenue restrictions but whose mill levies were erroneously reduced. Each school district that levies a higher number of mills as a result of the correction must grant a tax credit for the number of mills by which the levy is increased.The act requires the department of education to adopt a correction schedule to begin phasing out the tax credits in the 2021 property tax year. The correction schedule must apply consistently to each affected school district; must require each district's tax credit to phase out as quickly as possible, but by no more than one mill per year; and must ensure that the tax credits are fully phased out in 19 years.The act specifies that, until the general assembly determines that stabilizing the state budget no longer requires a reduction in the appropriation for the state share of total program, the general assembly shall annually ensure that the savings to the state share that occurs as a result of the decrease in the temporary property tax credits is appropriated to fund a portion of the state share of total program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)