The act prohibits residential rental agreements, in relation to a tenant's death, from requiring acceleration of rent beyond the end of the month or more than 10 business days after the dwelling unit is vacated after notice to the landlord of the tenant's death, whichever is later. Further, the act prohibits the enforcement of terms in rental agreements that authorize liquidated damages or other penalties if the rental agreement is terminated before the end of its term due to the death of a tenant. The act authorizes a landlord to take possession of the dwelling unit without filing an eviction action or otherwise obtaining a court order if the personal representative of the tenant's estate notifies the landlord of the surrender of the premises or,30 days after the death of the tenant, rent remains unpaid or substantially all of the tenant's property has been removed. In addition, a landlord may retain a security or damages deposit sufficient to cover costs of damages caused by the death of the tenant. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act requires an employer or the employer's insurer to use the division of workers' compensation's (division) utilization standards when responding to a request for authorization from a treating physician, and, if they do not, the director of the division may deem the services as authorized, reasonable, and necessary and require payment for the services by the employer or the employer's insurer. The act provides injured workers control over the selection of their primary treating physician in workers' compensation cases, allowing them to choose from any level I or level II accredited physician through the division subject to geographic limitations. The act creates the mechanism by which an injured worker may select the treating physician and requires the employer or insurer to choose the physician when an injured worker is unable or unwilling to select the treating physician. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates an exception to the requirement that a member of the Colorado state patrol be bonded by a surety company or insured with third-party crime insurance if the Colorado state patrol is self-insured with the Colorado state office of risk management and is eligible to be compensated from the state self-insured property fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act changes the time period for which a licensee's or applicant's prior conviction of or plea of no contest to specific crimes requires the motor vehicle dealer board (board) to revoke or deny a license to the licensee or applicant from a 10-year period to a 3-year period beginning on the date of conviction or the end of incarceration, whichever date is later, if the applicant or licensee has not been convicted of any other criminal offense during the 3-year period. After the 3-year period, the board may only consider the individual's application or license; except that the board may consider a conviction for a crime that is directly related to the auto industry at any time. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires that, immediately after a railroad notifies the state's watch center in the department of public safety (watch center) of an emergency involving a train, the watch center must notify the public utilities commission (commission) and the office of rail safety (office) of the incident. The commission is required to submit a report to specified committees of the general assembly on the information reported by railroads regarding an emergency involving a train. A crew member of a train operated by a railroad may communicate with first responders during an emergency situation after notifying the railroad dispatch. A crew member has discretion in determining the appropriate response to the emergency situation, including cutting the railroad crossing. A railroad employee or a crew member is immune from civil liability and is not liable in civil damages for actions taken in good faith in the course of a response to an emergency situation involving a train. The act eliminates the shared authority that the commission, the department of public safety, and the department of transportation had to inspect and investigate railroads and grants the commission alone the authority to engage in inspection, investigation, and enforcement activities regarding the following railroads: A class I railroad; A railroad operating on any line that was used by class I railroads as of July 1, 2024; and A passenger railroad. The act requires the office to gather, analyze, and assess information, including: Data to create a more comprehensive understanding of railroad safety; Wayside detector information; Information regarding blocked public crossing locations; Information regarding railroad maintenance activity; An assessment of the state's ability to respond to a large-scale release of hazardous materials from railroad transportation; The best practices for ensuring financial responsibility for response, cleanup, and damages from major rail events, including reviewing best practices from other states; and Communication issues impacting railroad lines in the state. Beginning on or before July 1, 2027, a railroad regulated by the commission is required to pay a fee to cover the costs incurred by the commission and the office in relation to the act. The commission shall determine a methodology for calculating the fee by rule, and the commission may include specified criteria in the calculation. The total amount collected pursuant to the annual fee must not exceed $2,900,000 in a calendar year. A railroad regulated by the commission must pay the fee in equal quarterly installments and is subject to penalties and interest if they fail to timely pay the fee. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the Emily Keyes - John W. Buckner organ and tissue donation awareness fund indefinitely. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law requires the division of administration (division) within the department of public health and environment to report annually to the water quality control commission (commission) and to include in the report any regulatory or legislative recommendations the division may have. The act requires the report to also include: Information on the division's timing in considering and issuing water quality permits (permits); and For the report submitted in 2026, a detailed discussion of how the division has prioritized reducing the permit backlog, implemented recommendations from water quality permittees (permittees) for permitting efficiency, and increased safe drinking water program inspections. The act requires the division, upon receipt of an application to modify a permit, to limit its review and its approval or denial of the application to the scope of the specific requests contained in the application. The act requires the commission to adopt rules on or before December 31, 2026, that establish procedures whereby the division, prior to giving public notice of a complete permit application for an individual permit and the division's preliminary analysis of the application, may provide a period of public notice and review of a preliminary draft prepared by the division. If a period of public notice and review is required by rules of the commission, the period of public notice and review may not exceed 14 days, and the purpose of the review is limited to identifying errors in the division's preliminary draft. On or before December 31, 2027, the division must propose rules to the commission that establish a time frame during which the division will either grant or deny applications for each type of permitting action. On or before June 30, 2028, the commission shall adopt rules based on the division's proposal. The rules must establish the time frames for permitting actions. The act requires the division to consider current debt service on existing local government water infrastructure when developing schedules of compliance for new effluent limits in local government permits. Any schedule of compliance for new effluent limits in local government permits must, consistent with state and federal law, consider the local government's financial capability to repay existing debt on water infrastructure or to fund water infrastructure upgrades before requiring new water infrastructure upgrades. To the extent allowable under federal law, the division may issue compliance schedules in a local government permit for a new effluent limit in excess of 20 years. The act states that, on and after May 1, 2026, after an application for permit modification or permit renewal has been pending before the division for 60 days, or for any application for permit modification or permit renewal that is pending before the division as of May 1, 2026, or if the division informs an applicant that the division will not process an application for preliminary effluent limitations, the applicant and the division may mutually agree to use a qualified and independent nongovernmental contractor (contractor) under the direction of the division to provide the division with technical assistance in completing the permit action. An applicant shall bear the contractor's costs for any technical assistance provided by the contractor and shall pay the contractor for such costs. The division may charge an applicant an additional fee in an amount not exceeding 10% of the contract amount for contract administration, technical review, and additional permit processing, which fee is credited to the clean water cash fund. The act requires the division, upon a permittee's request, to make available to the permittee all documents, data, and information the division relied upon in developing the permittee's permit modification or permit renewal, except to the extent that such materials are protected by an applicable privilege or exception. The act makes the following transfers of money: On July 1, 2025, $111,000 from the water quality improvement fund to the drinking water cash fund; On July 1, 2025, $3,518,564 from the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances cash fund to the clean water cash fund; On July 1, 2026, $3,002,435 from the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances cash fund to the clean water cash fund; and On July 1, 2026, $516,129 dollars from the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances cash fund to the drinking water cash fund. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $2,904,599 to the department of public health and environment. This appropriation consists of $446,315 from the drinking water cash fund and $2,458,284 from the clean water cash fund. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $160,611 to the department of law. This appropriation is from reappropriated funds received from the department of public health and environment. The act also makes and reduces certain appropriations as adjustments to the 2025 general appropriations act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements and describes the operation of the pediatric primary care practice program (primary care program) in the department of early childhood (department). The purpose of the primary care program is to provide funding and support to a pediatric primary care medical practice (medical practice) to integrate into the medical practice a professional who specializes in whole-child and whole-family health and well-being. The department shall contract with an implementation partner (primary care partner) to implement, operate, and administer the primary care program. The primary care partner shall create and implement a team-based, research-informed pediatric primary care practice evidence-based model (evidence-based model). The evidence-based model must be a comprehensive approach to guide pediatric care medical practices to deliver services to children from birth to 3 years of age and their families. The primary care partner shall: Establish an application and selection process with the department for select medical practices to participate in the primary care program; Review applications from medical practices and select applicants to participate in the primary care program; Work with selected applicants to complete assessments on the applicants' community health-care systems, health and well-being practices, and related concerns; and Train and support the medical practices selected to participate in the primary care program to maintain fidelity to the evidence-based model. The executive director of the department may adopt rules to carry out the purposes of the primary care program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a metropolitan district that is a party to a lease or rental agreement that was effective as of January 1, 2025, or later and was filed with the county assessor's office in support of a claim for a property tax exemption based on the use of the property for purposes of the metropolitan district to file with the county assessor's office a statement (statement) describing: The metropolitan district's use of the leased property; The metropolitan district's authority to use the leased property for the metropolitan district's purposes; Any use of the leased property by a private person for private purposes; and Any disclosure filed by a member of the board of directors of the metropolitan district in accordance with certain laws that govern disclosures of conflicts of interest. If the statement includes a disclosure that relates to the leased property and is filed by a member of the board of directors of the metropolitan district in accordance with certain laws that govern disclosures of conflicts of interest, the county assessor shall, within 14 days of receipt of the statement, submit the statement to the metropolitan district's governing body. Within 63 days of receipt of the statement, the governing body shall issue a written decision including findings of fact and a conclusion as to whether the leased property is used for a public purpose. If the governing body concludes that the leased property is not used for a public purpose, the leased property is not exempt from taxation, and the county assessor shall implement the governing body's decision. The decision of the governing body is not subject to appeal and does not give rise to any private right of action. The act clarifies that a leasehold interest in real or personal property that is owned by a private person and that has been leased to the state or a political subdivision of the state, the use and possession of which has been leased back to a private person for private purposes, is taxable to the owner. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act defines the board of trustees of the public employees' retirement association (board) as a local public body for purposes of the open meetings law. Section 2 limits the terms of both elected and appointed members of the board to not more than 2 consecutive 4-year terms; except that the state treasurer is not subject to the 2-term limit. A former trustee who has served 2 consecutive terms may be reelected or reappointed to the board after not serving on the board for a period of at least one term. Section 2 also clarifies how such term limits apply in the case of a vacancy appointment. Section 3 requires the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to conduct its meetings in accordance with the open meetings law as a local public body and requires the board to post and regularly maintain and update the public employees' retirement association's (association) website with information including: The notice with specific agenda information, if available, for the board's next public meeting; The policy for and process by which a member of the public may participate in any public meeting of the board; A link or other means of public access to the records of past public meetings of the board; and The official email address of the board. Section 3 also requires that, on or before January 1, 2026, and on or before January 1 of each calendar year thereafter, the board post certain financial information of the association on the association's website. Section 4 clarifies that, while the board may delegate any of its responsibilities, duties, and powers to the executive director of the association or other designated agents, the board retains authority and responsibility for the management of the association and all its statutory duties and powers through a specified existing administrative process. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)