The act clarifies that venue for filing a motion or complaint for a civil protection order is proper in any county where any one of the acts or behaviors that are subject to the motion or complaint occurred. The act authorizes a judge or magistrate to continue the temporary protection order for a period of not more than one year after the date when the permanent protection order hearing takes place. If the temporary protection order is continued for one year and the petitioner seeks a permanent protection order, the act requires the petitioner to file a motion at least 14 days before the scheduled hearing notifying the court and the respondent of the petitioner's intent to pursue a permanent protection order on the date of the scheduled hearing. The act requires the court to encourage the petitioner to notify the respondent if the petitioner intends not to appear at the permanent protection order hearing, but the court shall neither require the petitioner to attend nor assess attorney fees or costs against the petitioner for choosing not to attend the hearing. The act prohibits service upon the respondent and upon the person to be protected if the temporary protection order is denied or if the petitioner moves to vacate the temporary protection order prior to the court receiving confirmation that the respondent was personally served or had actual knowledge of the request for a civil protection order. If the temporary protection order is based in whole or in part on an act of domestic violence, and the act of domestic violence involved the threat of use of physical force, use of physical force, or attempted use of physical force, the act requires the citation to inform the respondent that the respondent must refrain from possessing or purchasing a firearm or ammunition for the duration of the order and must relinquish, for the duration of the order, a firearm or ammunition in the respondent's immediate possession or control or subject to the respondent's immediate possession or control. The act requires the court to grant additional continuances at the petitioner's request if the petitioner is unable to serve the respondent and if the petitioner is able to show the petitioner has made reasonable efforts to serve the respondent or that the respondent is evading service. The act clarifies that a municipal court shall include in the order a provision awarding temporary care and control of any joint or shared minor children of the parties involved for a period of not more than one year after the date on which the temporary care and control is awarded in the temporary protection order. If there is no pending or existing domestic relations or juvenile case in district court involving joint or shared children, the act prohibits the petitioner from being required or instructed to file a complaint for a protection order in district court when the petitioner is otherwise eligible to file for a civil protection order in county court. The act requires temporary protection orders and permanent protection orders to be written and communicated in simple and plain language. The act requires a judge to order a temporary protection order be made permanent if the judge finds that the respondent engaged in a behavior constituting grounds for the issuance of a civil protection order on the basis of sexual violence and that a risk or threat of physical harm or the threat of psychological or emotional harm exists to the petitioner. The act prohibits the court from awarding any costs or assessing any fees, including attorney fees, against a petitioner seeking a civil protection order. The act prohibits a state or public agency from assessing fees for service of process against a petitioner seeking a civil protection order as a victim of domestic abuse, domestic violence, stalking, or sexual violence. As part of a request for a temporary or permanent protection order in a case involving domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking, the act authorizes the court to enter an order directing a wireless telephone service provider to transfer the financial responsibility for and rights to a wireless telephone number to the petitioner if the petitioner: Is not the account holder; and Proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the petitioner and any minor children in the petitioner's care are the primary users of each wireless telephone number that the petitioner requested be transferred. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act creates the division of animal welfare (division) within the department of agriculture. The division is created to promote domestic animal welfare, including providing education and outreach, creating voluntary programs, and awarding grants. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law requires mandatory reporters to include certain information when reporting child abuse or neglect to the mandatory reporter's county department, local law enforcement, or through the statewide child abuse reporting hotline system (hotline system). The act requires a mandatory reporter to report any evidence of known domestic violence or intimate partner violence in the child's home, including any evidence of previous cases of known domestic violence or intimate partner violence in the child's home. The act requires the state department of human services (state department) to develop and implement a consistent screening process for a county department to follow, when possible, in responding to a report or inquiry to the hotline system. The screening process must include questions about domestic violence or intimate partner violence. The state department is required to develop and implement a disclosure procedure that notifies callers to the hotline system that calls are recorded. The act requires the state department to review the screening process used by county departments and hotline system operators to: Determine race; ethnicity; disability status; LGBTQ identity, if applicable; and English proficiency in a screening report and recommend a process for improving the accuracy of determining the demographic information, which must include opportunities to update the TRAILS statewide case management system; Understand the types of questions asked during the screening process to determine demographic information and recommend questions that reflect best practices and cultural competency; and Understand the sequence of questions asked during a screening process to determine demographic information and recommend a sequence of questions that better reflects best practices. The state department shall recommend and implement a screening process procedure to determine demographic information that reflects best practices and cultural competencies. No later than January 15, 2025, the office of the child protection ombudsman (ombudsman) shall select a third-party evaluator to conduct an audit on the Colorado family risk assessment (risk assessment) and the Colorado family safety assessment (safety assessment). In conducting an audit of the risk assessment, the third-party evaluator shall: Identify tools and resources to ensure the risk assessment is carried out consistently; Identify gaps and solutions to enable caseworkers to complete the risk assessment in real time while in the field; Examine the impacts of geography when using the risk assessment; Examine the impacts of race and ethnicity when using the risk assessment and how they affect communities that are over-represented in the child welfare system; Evaluate and recommend best practices for sharing the risk assessment with families, legal professionals, and the judicial branch; Evaluate and recommend best practices for training on the risk assessment; and Examine the risk assessment for domestic violence or intimate partner violence and recommend best practices. In conducting an audit of the safety assessment, the third-party evaluator shall: Examine the same issues set forth for the risk assessment; Study the inter-rater reliability of the safety assessment; and Study the required documentation for the planning and removal of a child from the child's primary caregiver. The third-party evaluator shall create a report summarizing the results of the audit. On or before March 1, 2026, the ombudsman is required to submit the audit report to the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee and the senate health and human services committee, or their successor committees, 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. The act appropriates $109,392 from the general fund to the judicial department for use by the ombudsman to implement this act. APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 28, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The Colorado professional fire fighters license plate is a distinctive special license plate. Under current law, distinctive special license plates do not expire when an owner of a motor vehicle who has been issued a distinctive special license plate transfers or assigns the owner's title or interest in the motor vehicle. The act provides that the Colorado professional fire fighters license plate expires upon the transfer or assignment of the motor vehicle. A person whose Colorado professional fire fighters license plate expires as a result of the transfer or assignment of the motor vehicle may apply again for the license plate by paying the required fees and fulfilling the application requirements. APPROVED by Governor May 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the office of future of work to create a grant program, in coordination with the Colorado energy office, for lineworker apprenticeship programs (grant program). In connection with the grant program, the office of future of work must create a competitive application process and select apprenticeship programs that meet certain training and matching requirements. On July 1, 2024, the state treasurer must transfer $800,000 from the general fund to the Colorado lineworker apprenticeship grant program cash fund, which is created in the act, for the purposes of the grant program. The act also requires an investor-owned electric utility that serves 500,000 customers or more in the state (qualifying retail utility) to upgrade the qualifying retail utility's distribution systems as necessary to support the: Achievement of the state's beneficial and transportation electrification and decarbonization goals; and Implementation of federal, state, regional, and local air quality and decarbonization targets, standards, plans, and regulations (decarbonization targets and standards). In connection with these goals and decarbonization targets and standards, a qualifying retail utility is required to: Commence a data collection process to inform future energization timelines; Adopt certain cost caps; Propose to the public utilities commission (commission) the use of an optional flexible interconnection or energization tariff or phased interconnection or energization agreement by a customer as an alternative to system upgrades that would otherwise be required for interconnection or energization; and Establish a procedure for customers with a hybrid facility to complete the interconnection and energization process through a single application. A qualifying retail utility is required to identify interconnection and load hosting capacity for distributed energy resources for disproportionately impacted communities within its service territory. Prior to the establishment of a grid modernization adjustment clause, a qualifying retail utility shall recover forecasted investments placed into service and costs incurred for certain capital investment and operations and maintenance expenses (distribution activities) for a period of time ending on December 31, 2025. Recovery of the costs associated with the distribution activities must occur through the transmission cost adjustment clause or another existing adjustment clause, subject to certain conditions. Current law requires certain utilities to file a distribution system plan (plan) with the commission. The act also requires the plans of a qualifying retail utility to create sufficient hosting capacity across the qualifying retail utility's electrical distribution system to support the implementation of the decarbonization targets and standards and certain other laws, rules, plans, and policies. In developing a plan, a qualifying retail utility must consult with and provide opportunities to engage disproportionately impacted communities. As part of a plan proceeding, a qualifying retail utility is required to present at least 2 future planning scenarios with corresponding investments to show future different states of the distribution system. In evaluating a qualifying retail utility's plans, the commission must evaluate whether the plan satisfies certain criteria. In addition, the plan must include a performance-based framework, which must consist of certain specified components. A qualifying retail utility must include in the qualifying retail utility's plan an analysis of current and future qualified staffing levels necessary to comply with state laws regarding distribution system planning (adequate staffing levels). The commission must review whether each qualifying retail utility's plan has adequate staffing levels before the qualifying retail utility's plan may proceed. A qualifying retail utility must ensure that, in any projects undertaken to implement a plan, all labor is performed by the employees of the qualifying retail utility or by a contractor that meets certain labor requirements. The commission must open a rule-making, for a qualifying retail utility, to consider and establish rules regarding energization timelines; interconnection; interconnection, energization, and electrification of end uses; and maximum individual customer cost caps or fees. Subject to commission review and approval, a qualifying retail utility is required to recover certain projected costs related to distribution activities as part of the qualifying retail utility's plans. If the commission finds that the distribution activities benefit or advance the decarbonization targets and standards or state energy policy goals, recovery of the costs must occur through the grid modernization adjustment clause. For distribution system activities that do not benefit or advance the decarbonization targets and standards or state energy policy goals, recovery of the costs may occur through the grid modernization adjustment clause if the qualifying retail utility meets the criteria established in the performance-based framework in the qualifying retail utility's approved plan. A qualifying retail utility is required to make an annual grid modernization adjustment clause advice letter filing with the commission no later than November 1 of each year with an effective date of January 1 of the subsequent year. No later than February 1, 2025, a qualifying retail utility is required to create and file with the commission an application to implement a virtual power plant program, including a tariff for performance-based compensation for a qualified virtual power plant. The virtual power plant program and tariff must include and implement certain requirements. A qualifying retail utility may apply to recover certain business costs to facilitate a virtual power plant program through the grid modernization adjustment clause. By January 1, 2025, a qualifying retail utility is required to file a plan with the commission to implement programs for the undergrounding of utility distribution infrastructure (undergrounding) in nonfranchised areas of the qualifying retail utility in the state using 1% of the area's gross electric revenues from the prior year. A qualifying retail utility must also consider the public benefit of undergrounding and other community benefit investments in its plans. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $420,500 is appropriated from the public utilities commission fixed utility fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the commission as follows: $382,670 for personal services; and $37,830 for operating expenses. APPROVED by Governor May 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 22, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For wage claims brought by individuals working in the construction industry, the act: Requires a subcontractor that receives a written demand for payment to forward a copy of the written demand for payment to the general contractor within 3 business days after receipt; Specifies that a general contractor entering into a construction contract is liable for all amounts owed to an employee for the employee's labor, construction, or other work, including amounts owed by a subcontractor acting under, by, or for the general contractor; and Allows a general contractor to require the following information from each subcontractor acting under, by, or for the general contractor: Pay data; Contact information; and An affidavit attesting to whether the subcontractor has participated in a civil or administrative proceeding within the last 5 years and, if so, the outcome of the proceeding. Unless a wage violation is caused by the general contractor's lack of payment to a subcontractor, the general contractor may seek indemnification from the subcontractor for all amounts owed by the general contractor for the subcontractor's wage violation. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits an employer from subjecting or threatening to subject an employee to discipline, discharge, or an adverse employment action on account of the employee's refusal to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting concerning religious or political matters or for declining to listen to the speech of or view religious or political communications from the employer or the agent, representative, or designee of the employer. With regard to state employees, the prohibitions apply only to meetings and communications relating to state employees' decisions to join or support a fraternal or labor organization. Certain employer communications are exempt from the prohibition, including communications: Required by law, a court order, or an agreement with a governmental entity to communicate to employees, but only to the extent of a legal requirement; That are necessary for an employee to perform the employee's job duties; or That are required to prevent unlawful discrimination or harassment. Certain communications from institutions of higher education and K-12 schools and school districts are also exempt when the communication is related to coursework, symposia, or an academic program. The act does not apply to certain religious corporations, entities, associations, educational institutions, societies, or nonprofit faith-based health systems or facilities. The act authorizes an aggrieved person to seek relief by filing a complaint with the department of labor and employment (department) or by filing an action in district court after the person has exhausted all administrative remedies and has filed a complaint with the department. The act also creates an affirmative defense for employers. Each employer is required to distribute, at the employer's workplace or through e-mail or a regularly used communication system, a notice to each employee of the employee rights outlined in the act. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $278,564 is appropriated from the general fund to the department for use by the division of labor standards and statistics to implement the act. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The senior dental advisory committee created in the department of health care policy and financing is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2024. The act continues the senior dental advisory committee until September 1, 2029. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act adopts the dentist and dental hygienist compact (compact) to facilitate the interstate practice of dentistry and dental hygiene. With the adoption of the compact, a dentist or dental hygienist who holds an active, unencumbered license in a participating state and does not have an encumbered license from any participating state may apply to another participating state (remote state) for a privilege to practice dentistry or dental hygiene, as applicable, (compact privilege) in that state. Under a compact privilege, the dentist or dental hygienist must practice within the scope of practice authorized for a dentist or dental hygienist licensed in the remote state and is subject to the remote state's licensing authority, which may, within the borders of the remote state, take adverse action against the dentist's or dental hygienist's compact privilege in order to protect the health and safety of its citizens. If a remote state, acting through its licensing authority, takes adverse action, the dentist's or dental hygienist's compact privilege in all remote states is removed until any restriction on the compact privilege is removed. Only the participating state in which the dentist or dental hygienist is licensed may take adverse action against the dental or dental hygienist's license; however, a remote state may take adverse action against the dentist's or dental hygienist's compact privilege in the remote state. The compact creates the dentist and dental hygienist compact commission (commission). The commission consists of one commissioner from each participating state who is selected by the state's licensing authority. The compact authorizes the commission to create the administrative structure for the compact, including granting the powers necessary to establish and operate the commission, adopt rules and bylaws, establish an executive committee, hire employees, establish an office, and conduct the commission's meetings. Further, the commission shall develop and maintain a coordinated database and reporting system to include significant investigatory information from participating states concerning the dentist's or dental hygienist's practice and to record any adverse action against the dentist or dental hygienist. To pay the costs associated with the compact, the compact authorizes the commission to levy and collect an annual assessment from each participating state and to impose fees on licensees for the granting or renewal of a compact privilege; except that an active military member or the member's spouse will not be required to pay the commission's fee for a compact privilege. The compact includes provisions governing disputes among participating states and between the commission and a participating state, enforcement provisions, and withdrawal of participating states from the compact. The compact is effective for participating states on the date on which the compact is enacted in the seventh participating state. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $78,750 is appropriated to the department of regulatory agencies from the division of professions and occupations cash fund for use by the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the Colorado bureau of investigation (bureau) to investigate particular illegal activity involving firearms statewide. The bureau shall communicate with the appropriate local law enforcement agency in such an investigation to deconflict investigative operations and determine investigative responsibilities prior to taking investigative or enforcement action and shall collaborate with the local district attorney in the beginning stages of the investigation. An agent or other employee of the bureau who is a peace officer shall wear and activate a body-worn camera when conducting any public-facing part of an investigation authorized in the act. The act appropriates $1,477,127 from the general fund to the department of public safety for the bureau to conduct the investigations. APPROVED by Governor May 15, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)