Rep. Terri Carver

The bill requires a court to sentence a person convicted of a class 2 felony for human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude 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 the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Transportation Legislation Review Committee. The bill requires the transportation legislation review committee to meet 5 times before November 15, 2017, once in each geographic quadrant of the state and once in the Denver metropolitan area, to: Make available to meeting attendees the 2016 research study of changes to the state transportation commission districts (districts) since the boundaries of the districts were last redrawn in 1991, prepared by legislative council staff with the cooperation of the department of transportation as required by House Bill 16-1031; and Offer opportunities to members of the public to express their opinions regarding the districts or the research study and offer comments and suggestions regarding whether the districts should be modified. The committee may consider the availability of remote testimony, and a public hearing conducted by remote testimony for the purpose of obtaining testimony from a single geographic quadrant of the state or from the Denver metropolitan area may count toward the requirements of the bill. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The 'State Administrative Procedure Act' (APA) currently defines a small business as a business with fewer than 500 employees. The bill redefines 'small business', for purposes of the APA, to mean a business entity, including its affiliates, that: Is independently owned and operated and employs fewer than 500 employees; or Has gross annual sales of less than $6 million. Prior to adopting rules, an agency is required to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis in which the agency considers using regulatory methods that will accomplish the objectives of applicable statutes while minimizing the adverse impact on small businesses. For purposes of the regulatory flexibility analysis, the bill defines 'small business' as a business that is independently owned and operated and employs 100 or fewer employees. When preparing the regulatory flexibility analysis, the agency shall consider methods to reduce the impact on small businesses, such as: Establishing less stringent compliance or reporting requirements; Establishing less stringent schedules or deadlines for compliance or reporting; Consolidating or simplifying compliance or reporting requirements; Establishing different performance standards; and Exemptions for small businesses. The agency shall also: Determine the necessity for the proposed rules; Identify the fiscal impact of the rules; Identify and analyze the least costly alternatives to the rules and adopt the least costly alternatives unless the agency provides written justification for adopting a more costly regulatory approach; and Analyze whether small businesses should be exempted from the rules or whether less burdensome rules should be applied to small businesses and adopt exemptions or less burdensome rules, unless the agency provides written justification for a more burdensome regulatory approach. The agency shall file the regulatory flexibility analysis with the secretary of state for publication in the Colorado register at the same time that it files its notice of proposed rule-making and the draft of proposed rules. The existing provision in the APA on forming representative groups to give input on proposed rules is amended to require any state agency (agency) proposing rules that are likely to have an impact on small businesses to expand outreach to and actively solicit representatives of small businesses to participate in the representative group and in the rule-making hearing for the rules. The agency must make good faith efforts to expand outreach and notification to small businesses that lack a trade association or lobbyist to represent the types of small businesses impacted by the proposed rules. The executive director of the department of regulatory agencies, or his or her designee, shall develop a one-stop location on the department's website that provides a place for small businesses and the public to access the regulatory flexibility analyses that are prepared by state agencies. A small business that is adversely affected or aggrieved by the failure of the agency to comply with the regulatory flexibility analysis requirements may file a request with the executive director of the department of regulatory agencies to require the agency to prepare a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed rules and to direct the agency to adjust the rule-making schedule to allow for the preparation of the cost-benefit analysis. For the 2017-18 fiscal year, the bill appropriates the following money for the implementation of the bill: $323,886 to the department of revenue; $102,664 to the department of public health and environment; $86,926 to the department of regulatory agencies; $8,240 to the department of state.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

In current law, several sex-assault-on-a-child crimes are designated 'pattern' offenses, meaning that the defendant has a pattern of sexually assaulting the same child repeatedly. When such assaults occur in more than one jurisdiction, the district attorney in each such jurisdiction must prosecute a case for the incident that occurred in his or her jurisdiction. The bill allows a prosecutor to charge and bring a pattern-offense case for all such assaults in any jurisdiction where one of the acts occurred. The bill allows the prosecution of a defendant charged with sex-assault-on-a-child pattern offense or sex-assault-on-a-child-in-a-position-of-trust pattern offense to be tried: In a county where at least one or more of the incidents of sexual contact occurred; or In a county where an act in furtherance of the offense was committed.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill repeals the fallen heroes memorial commission and requires the state capitol building advisory committee to take on any remaining duties of the commission. The bill requires the state capitol building advisory committee to perform any remaining duties with the assistance of the department of personnel and the Fallen Heroes Memorial Fund, Inc., a Colorado 501(c)(3) organization established to raise money for the construction of the memorial. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

In 1999, the voters of the state authorized the executive director of the department of transportation (executive director) to issue transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) in a maximum principal amount of $1.7 billion and with a maximum repayment cost of $2.3 billion in order to provide financing to accelerate the construction of qualified federal aid transportation projects. The executive director issued the TRANs as authorized. The final payments of principal and interest on the TRANs will be made during fiscal year 2016-17, which will make available for expenditure for transportation-related purposes only revenues dedicated for transportation by federal law, the state constitution, and state law that the state has been using to make principal and interest payments on the TRANs. Section 3 of the bill repeals a requirement that the state treasurer make conditional transfers, which are reduced or eliminated if the state is required to refund excess state revenues in accordance with the taxpayer's bill of rights, of a specified percentage of total general fund revenues from the general fund to the capital construction fund and the highway users tax fund for state fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20. Section 4 of the bill requires the state transportation commission to submit a ballot question to the voters of the state at the November 2017 statewide election, which, if approved, would authorize the executive director to issue additional TRANs in a maximum principal amount of $3.5 billion and with a maximum repayment cost of $5 billion once the TRANs already issued are repaid in full. The additional TRANs must have a maximum repayment term of 20 years, and the certificate, trust indenture, or other instrument authorizing their issuance must provide that the state may pay them in full before the end of the specified payment term without penalty. Additional TRANs must otherwise generally be issued subject to the same requirements and for the same purposes as the original TRANs; except that the transportation commission must pledge to annually allocate from legally available money under its control any money needed for payment of the notes in excess of amounts appropriated by the general assembly from the state highway fund for payment of the notes as authorized by section 6 of the bill until the notes are fully repaid. Section 5 of the bill requires proceeds from the sale of any additional TRANs that are not otherwise pledged for the payment of the TRANs to be used only for specified projects until all of the projects have been funded in whole or in part with such proceeds and have been fully funded and specifies additional transportation project contract award process requirements and limitations for a project to be funded in whole or in part with proceeds of additional TRANs. Sections 6 and 7 of the bill require 10% of state sales and use tax net revenue collected on or after July 1, 2017, to be credited to the highway users tax fund (HUTF), paid from the HUTF to the state highway fund for use, subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly, for payment of TRANs and, to the extent not used for that purpose, state transportation projects. Section 6 also requires 1% of state sales and use tax net revenue collected on or after July 1, 2017, less ten million dollars to be credited to the capital construction fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill makes findings regarding partnerships between military installations and their host communities in the state with regard to the shared-service opportunities that can cut costs and increase efficiencies in providing governmental services. The bill directs the department of local affairs to support cooperative intergovernmental agreements between military installations and local governments to the extent that the department may do so within existing programs, resources, and technical expertise. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)