Rep. Shannon Bird

The act requires the following transfers to be made on April 1, 2024: $18,971,100 from the general fund to the capital construction fund; and $3,275,000 from the preschool programs cash fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund. APPROVED by Governor February 27, 2024 EFFECTIVE February 27, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to suspend the enrollment of a medicaid and children's basic health plan (programs) provider only if the state department identifies that the provider is participating in an alleged and ongoing organized crime or organized fraud scheme (scheme) that impacts the programs and if the state department documents in writing that at least 3 of the following factors are met: The provider has been enrolled in the programs for less than 3 years; At least 3 providers are involved in the scheme; The collective billing amount identified in the scheme exceeds $1 million; The provider's billing indicates a pattern of abuse or noncompliance; The volume of claims or billing amount has increased at a significant rate and there is no other reasonable explanation for the increase; The federal centers for medicare and medicaid services has approved a provider enrollment moratorium for the provider type involved in the scheme; or The state department has notified law enforcement of the scheme. The state department is required to notify the provider of the suspension in writing, including the reasons for the suspension. The state department may suspend a provider's enrollment for an initial period of 6 months while the state department conducts a review of the scheme. After the state department's review is complete, the state department must reinstate the provider's enrollment if the department determines the provider did not engage in a scheme. If the state department's review cannot be completed during the initial 6-month period, the state department may extend the review period in additional 6-month increments if the state department documents in writing the necessity for extending the review. APPROVED by Governor February 20, 2024 EFFECTIVE February 20, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the summer electronic benefits transfer for children program (summer EBT) in the department of human services (state department). The purpose of summer EBT is to provide food benefits to students in low-income households for the summer months when students are not in school pursuant to federal law. The state department is designated as the lead agency to administer summer EBT in Colorado, in cooperation with the federal government. The state department may enter into an agreement with the secretary of the United States department of agriculture food and nutrition service to accept federal program benefits for summer EBT and disburse those benefits to qualified households. To administer summer EBT, the state department shall: Establish eligibility criteria and distribute benefits consistent with federal law; Develop procedures to pursue claims for benefit recovery; Develop an outreach plan and conduct outreach to community-based organizations and households; Develop and provide resources, training, and technical assistance to local community-based organizations, specifically to local community-based organizations in rural areas, to conduct outreach and provide support and information to parents, legal guardians, and emancipated students seeking to access program benefits; Develop and provide resources and technical assistance, including providing contact information for local community-based organizations, to local education providers and school food authorities, specifically local education providers and school food authorities in rural areas; and Promulgate rules to manage household and administrative errors and any other rules necessary to comply with federal law. The act designates the department of education as the partner agency for the administration of summer EBT. To administer summer EBT, the department of education shall: Develop an outreach plan and conduct outreach to local education providers and school food authorities participating in the national school lunch program (lunch program) or national school breakfast program (breakfast program); and Provide technical assistance to school food authorities, specifically school food authorities located in rural areas. The state department and the department of education shall jointly: Develop protocols for the sharing of relevant data necessary for the administration of summer EBT and outreach to households with students who are eligible for summer EBT; Streamline data collection; and Develop and provide an opt-out process for parents, legal guardians, and emancipated students, to the extent allowable by federal law. The act requires school food authorities that participate in the lunch program or breakfast program to provide the department of education with the minimum student-level data necessary to gather and maintain the eligibility information required by federal law. The department of education shall share the data with the state department to administer summer EBT. As required by federal or state law, all data must be treated as protected personally identifiable information. The act appropriates $3,140,412 to the department of human services for use by the office of economic security and $169,870 to the department of education for school district operations to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor November 28, 2023 EFFECTIVE November 28, 2023(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act makes indecent exposure a class 6 felony if committed when the person who commits indecent exposure knew there was a child under 15 years of age in view of the exposure and the person is more than 18 years of age and more than 4 years older than the child. The act appropriates $54,797 to the judicial department from the general fund for the 2023-24 state fiscal year for probation programs and capital outlay. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 7, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates a state income tax credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2024, but before January 1, 2027, for employers who make a monetary contribution to an employee for use by the employee in purchasing a primary residence. The amount of the credit allowed is 5% of an employer's contribution to an employee, but the credit is capped at $5,000 per employee per year and an employer cannot receive a credit of more than $500,000 for all contributions made in a year to employees. The employee must use the money contributed for eligible expenses which include a down payment and closing costs, including fees for appraisals, mortgage origination, and inspections. An employee may authorize their employer to withhold a specified amount of the employee's earnings as an employee contribution into the savings account established by the employer that holds the employer contribution. If an employee ends their employment with the employer or if the employee intends to use the employee contribution in a manner that is not consistent with an eligible expense, the employee forfeits any unexpended amount of the employer contribution and the amount of the credit allowed to the employer for the employer contribution is subject to recapture. In such an occurrence, the employee is entitled to the employee contribution, plus any interest earned. The credit is not refundable but may be carried forward by the employer for a period of not more than 5 years. The executive director of the department of revenue may promulgate rules related to the implementation of the credit. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2024, but before January 1, 2027, the amount contributed by the employer may be subtracted by the employee from the employee's federal taxable income for the purpose of determining their state taxable income; except that, if an employee forfeits the employer contribution, then the amount that the employee had subtracted from their federal taxable income is added back to their federal taxable income for the purpose of determining their state taxable income for the subsequent tax year. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 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.)

For the income tax year commencing on January 1, 2024, the act increases the earned income tax credit that a resident individual can claim on their state income tax return from 25% to 38% of the federal credit claimed on the resident individual's federal income tax return. The amount a taxpayer can claim as an income tax credit for the state child tax credit has been calculated based on a percentage, which varies depending on the taxpayer's income level, of what the taxpayer claimed for a federal child tax credit. For income tax years commencing on and after January 1, 2024, the act restructures the state child tax credit so that the amount of the credit that a taxpayer can claim is a flat rate instead of a percentage of what the taxpayer claimed for the federal child tax credit as follows: A taxpayer filing a single return with adjusted gross income of $25,000 or less and taxpayers filing a joint return with adjusted gross income of $35,000 or less can claim $1,200; A taxpayer filing a single return with adjusted gross income greater than $25,000 but less than or equal to $50,000 and taxpayers filing a joint return with adjusted gross income greater than $35,000 but less than or equal to $60,000 can claim $600; and A taxpayer filing a single return with adjusted gross income greater than $50,000 but less than or equal to $75,000 and taxpayers filing a joint return with adjusted gross income greater than $60,000 but less than or equal to $85,000 can claim $200. The act also provides that for income tax years commencing on and after January 1, 2025, the department of revenue must adjust the adjusted gross income amounts to reflect inflation if cumulative inflation since the last adjustment, when applied to the current limits, results in an increase of at least $1,000 when the adjusted limits are rounded to the nearest $1,000. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 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.)

For each transportation project identified in the 10-year transportation plan (plan) prepared by the department of transportation (department) under the direction of the transportation commission (commission), section 1 of the act requires the following information to be specified and regularly updated as circumstances change: The time frame for project completion; The total estimated amount of funding required to complete the project; and Accounting for the total estimated amount of funding for the project, and the amount of funding from each funding source that has been allocated for the project or is anticipated to be allocated for the project. The plan must always identify specific funding sources and amounts that taken together account for full funding for each project identified in the plan but may indicate, both with respect to the plan generally and with respect to any specific project, the extent to which and reasons why the source and amounts of funding listed are uncertain and subject to change. Section 1 also requires the department to provide to state and local government elected officials a designated and readily available department contact to receive and respond to their questions about the status and funding of specific transportation projects and to inform such elected officials of the existence of the designated contact and the means by which the designated contact may be reached. Section 2 requires the department to annually report to the transportation legislation review committee (TLRC) on the status of project delivery for the projects identified in the plan and requires the commission to include an update on the plan in its annual proposed budget allocation plan presented to the joint budget committee. As part of its reporting to the TLRC, the department is required to provide guidance to the TLRC as to how to access and understand the plan, and the TLRC may, if it determines that the plan does not include all the information required by section 1, instruct the department to ensure that any missing required information is promptly added to the plan. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2023 EFFECTIVE September 1, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act increases the amounts of transfers from the general fund to the capital construction fund and from the general fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund that are scheduled to be made on July 1, 2023, as follows: The transfer from the general fund to the capital construction fund is increased by $14,607,257, from $233,361,030 to $247,968,287; and The transfer from the general fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund is increased by $3,605,507, from $60,308,481 to $63,913,988. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 6, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the transportation commission to annually allocate $1.5 million from the state highway fund to the department of transportation for allocation to the office of transportation safety (office), which will then distribute the money to local governments that implement high-visibility alcohol and drug impaired driving prevention enforcement episodes. The act also requires local law enforcement agencies to follow written policies and procedures about racial profiling and use of force, complete in-service training annually, implement a recognizable pattern by which vehicles are stopped to prevent a bias-motivated stop, and locate checkpoints in areas where drunk or impaired driving crashes are likely to occur. No money may be allocated to a law enforcement agency subject to a judicially-ordered consent decree. In collaboration with the department of public safety, the office will publish an annual report. A law enforcement agency not complying with the requirements of the act may lose funding or be required to pay back funding already received. The attorney general may bring a civil action to enforce the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law criminalizes auto theft as "aggravated motor vehicle theft in the first degree" and "aggravated motor vehicle theft in the second degree." The penalties for both aggravated motor vehicle thefts are based on the value of the vehicle or vehicles stolen. The act changes the term "aggravated motor vehicle theft" to "motor vehicle theft," changes the elements for motor vehicle theft in the first degree and second degree, and creates the offense of motor vehicle theft in the third degree. The penalties for motor vehicle theft are no longer based on the value of the vehicle or vehicles stolen. The act makes motor vehicle theft in the first degree a class 3 felony, motor vehicle theft in the second degree a class 4 felony, and motor vehicle theft in the third degree a class 5 felony. The act creates the offense "unauthorized use of a motor vehicle" and makes it a class 1 misdemeanor, or a class 5 felony for a second or subsequent offense. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $24,409 is appropriated from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund to the division of motor vehicles in the department of revenue for DRIVES maintenance and support. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)