The act changes the child restraint system requirements in existing law as follows: Increases the age at which children are required to use a child restraint system from under 8 years of age to under 9 years of age; Increases the age, from under one year of age to under 2 years of age, and the weight, from under 20 pounds to under 40 pounds, of children who must be restrained in a rear-facing child restraint system in a rear seat of the vehicle; Requires that children who are under 2 years of age but over 40 pounds in weight be restrained in a rear-facing or forward-facing restraint system; Increases the age, from one year of age or older to 2 years of age or older but less than 4 years of age, of children who must be restrained in a rear-facing or forward-facing child restraint system, depending on the child's weight, in a rear seat of the vehicle, if a rear seat is available; Adds a requirement that children who are at least 4 years of age but under 9 years of age and who weigh at least 40 pounds use a child restraint system or booster seat, which must be situated in a rear seat of the vehicle, if a rear seat is available; and Increases the age at which children must be restrained in a safety belt or child restraint system from under 16 years of age to under 18 years of age. The act requires the division of highway safety to use existing national highway traffic safety administration occupant protection grant funds to implement a program for public information and education concerning updates to child restraint system requirements, the use of child restraint systems, and Colorado law regarding child restraint system. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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Under current law, a court may appoint a child and family investigator (investigator) to investigate and report to the court relevant factors for determining the best interest of a child or youth in a proceeding involving parental responsibilities allocation. Similarly, under current law, a court may appoint a parental responsibilities evaluator (evaluator) to evaluate and report to the court concerning disputed issues relating to the parental responsibilities allocation. The act: Requires investigators and evaluators to include all information obtained concerning domestic violence and child abuse in a written report; Requires additional training requirements for investigators and evaluators; Requires investigators and evaluators to provide certain written disclosures to each party before performing duties; and Allows the court to implement caps on charges for duties performed by evaluators. The act defines "coercive control" to include a pattern of threatening, humiliating, or intimidating actions, including assaults or other abuse, that is used to harm, punish, or frighten an individual. If the court orders unsupervised parenting time for a parent, and there is any information, including an accusation, that the parent has committed domestic violence, child abuse, child emotional abuse, or coercive control, the court is required to make a statement in writing or orally on the proceeding record regarding why unsupervised parenting time was determined to be in the best interests of the child. The act states that the court may interview the child in the judge's chambers regarding the child's wishes for parental responsibilities allocation upon a motion. The court is required to make findings why it grants or denies the request to interview the child in chambers and give paramount consideration in cases involving an allegation by a child regarding domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or child sexual abuse. The act requires that if allegations of domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or child sexual abuse have been made, the court is required to give strong consideration to the child's or youth's preference concerning allocation of parental responsibilities, if the preference is consistent with protecting the child's safety and needs. The act clarifies that, pursuant to a chief justice directive, the office of the state court administrator is responsible for accepting complaints regarding investigators and evaluators, and is authorized to administer appropriate sanctions. Furthermore, the act requires the judicial department to include information during its annual "SMART Act" hearing and publish information on its website concerning investigator and evaluators. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 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.)
Units that combust municipal solid waste (combustion units) that are in existence in the state on or before July 1, 2024, are eligible, pursuant to section 2 of the act, for a state incentive to conduct technological upgrades. Section 2 clarifies that, on and after January 1, 2025, combustion and combustion units do not meet certain environmental standards established by state law or rules. In addition, section 2 prohibits combustion units that target plastic as a feedstock from eligibility for any state incentives not granted or awarded, or that apply to income tax years, before January 1, 2025, with certain exceptions. Sections 3 and 4 clarify that a solid waste-to-energy incineration system includes pyrolysis and gasification processes. Section 5 changes current law to specify that synthetic gas produced by the pyrolysis of waste materials is not an eligible energy resource for the purpose of certain state-level renewable energy standards. Section 6 changes current law to specify that methane derived from the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste is not recovered methane that is a clean heat resource for the purpose of clean heat plans. VETOED by Governor May 17, 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.)
Under current law, individual and small group health benefit plans (plans) are required to cover fertility diagnosis and treatment and fertility preservation services (fertility services) in the state 12 months after the federal department of health and human services determines that coverage for fertility services does not require defrayal of costs by the state. The bill removes the language relating to state defrayal of costs and requires the division of insurance to implement the coverage for plans issued or renewed on and after January 1, 2025. In addition, the bill: Prohibits a health benefit plan from imposing any exclusions, limitations, or other restrictions on coverage of any fertility services based on a covered individual's participation in fertility services provided by or to a third party; and Amends the definition of "infertility" to include a "status" as well as a disease or condition.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires state and local public bodies (public bodies) to ensure that the following accessibility requirements are implemented by July 1, 2025: Any public meeting at which public business is discussed, formal action may be taken, or recommendations to the governing body of the public body may be discussed (meeting) held by a public body is required to be accessible in real time by live streaming video or audio that is recorded and accessible to individuals with disabilities; A public body is required to post on its website, at least 24 hours before a meeting, any documents that will be distributed during the meeting; For any meeting of a public body during which public testimony will be heard, the public body is required to allow any individual to participate in the meeting and offer public testimony by using a video conferencing platform unless the meeting occurs in a geographic location that lacks broadband internet service; and A public body is required to provide any auxiliary aids or services requested in time for the meeting for which they were requested. A public body may require that a request for auxiliary aids or services to attend a meeting of the public body with the use of the video conferencing platform be made up to 7 days before the date of the meeting. Nothing in the bill prohibits a public body from promulgating rules for the administration of public testimony so long as the rules apply to both in-person and remote testimony, and nothing in the bill requires a public body to provide hardware or software or internet or phone access at an individual's home. The failure of any public body to comply with the applicable requirements of the bill constitutes discrimination on the basis of disability. Any individual who is subjected to a violation is entitled to seek relief as currently provided in law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Section 1 of the bill requires state agencies to prioritize awarding grants that satisfy a list of criteria described in the bill. Sections 2 and 3 require, beginning January 1, 2025, upon updating a county or municipal master plan, a county or municipality (local government) to include a climate action element in its master plan. A climate action element must include climate-related goals, plans, or strategies and a description of any money from the federal, state, or a local government that a local government has received for the implementation of any of the plans or goals described in the climate action element. The bill requires a local government to provide the Colorado energy office (office) with the climate action element and then requires the office to deliver a copy of any climate element it receives to the department of local affairs, the Colorado department of transportation (CDOT), and any other state agency that the office determines. Section 4 requires CDOT to coordinate with metropolitan planning organizations to establish criteria that define growth corridors and identify these growth corridors. Having identified these growth corridors, the department and metropolitan planning organizations shall coordinate with local governments to develop transportation demand management plans for these growth corridors. Section 5 makes 2 changes related to the statewide transportation plan. First, the bill requires the statewide transportation plan to include: An examination of the impact of transportation decisions on land use patterns; The identification of highway segments where promotion of context-sensitive highway permitting and design can encourage the development of dense, walkable, and mixed-use neighborhoods in transit-oriented centers and neighborhood centers; and An emphasis on integrating planning efforts within CDOT to support multimodal transportation, neighborhood centers, and transit-oriented centers in infill areas as well as growth corridors through the associated transportation demand management corridor planning. Second, the bill requires CDOT to conduct a study in connection with the statewide transportation plan that identifies: Policy barriers and opportunities for the implementation of context-sensitive design, complete streets, and pedestrian-bicycle safety measures in locally-identified urban centers and neighborhood centers; and The portions of state highways that pass through locally identified transit-oriented centers and neighborhood centers that are candidates for context-sensitive design, complete streets, and pedestrian-bicycle safety measures.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Section 1 of the bill, on and after January 1, 2027, prohibits the sale and distribution of certain air conditioners that are manufactured on or after January 1, 2027, (covered HVAC) unless the covered HVAC complies with certain technical standards (technical standards). On or before January 1, 2029, and again on or before January 1, 2034, the executive director of the department of public health and environment (executive director) must assess compliance with the technical standards. On or before February 1, 2029, and again on or before February 1, 2034, the executive director must prepare a report of the assessments. Before January 1, 2027, the executive director must establish a secure process that allows an individual to make an anonymous report of a violation of the technical standards. In the case of the first 2 violations of the technical standards, the executive director must send a warning letter to the alleged violator. In the case of a third or subsequent violation, the attorney general may bring a civil action to seek a civil penalty of no more than $2,000 per ton of cooling and certain other remedial actions. Section 3 , on or before January 1, 2026, and every other January 1 until January 1, 2034, requires the Colorado energy office (energy office) to conduct a market study or literature review to estimate the average cost difference for certain income-qualified households and income-qualified housing providers between installing a covered HVAC that meets the technical standards and installing a covered HVAC that does not meet the technical standards (study). On or before January 1, 2027, the energy office shall establish a program to offer certain financial incentives to certain income-qualified households and income-qualified housing providers to cover the average cost difference described in the energy office's most recent study. For income tax years commencing on and after January 1, 2024, but before January 1, 2034, section 4 creates a refundable, assignable state income tax credit that a home builder or an HVAC contractor that installs certain cold-climate heat pumps or ground-source heat pumps (eligible heat pump) can claim in the tax year that the eligible heat pump is placed into service. The amount of the tax credit is $5,000 per installation of an eligible heat pump, but the amount claimed may be increased based on certain criteria. A home builder or an HVAC contractor must provide certain verification information to the department of revenue to qualify for the tax credit. Section 5 : Makes certain changes to definitions; Changes the state income tax credit amounts that may be claimed for the installation of certain other heat pumps; and Requires the energy office to post information about the tax credit on the energy office's website. Section 6 makes certain changes to definitions. Section 8 , on or before April 1, 2025, requires a public utility that provides electricity to submit to the public utilities commission a proposal for a specific voluntary rate or rates for electricity supplied to residential customers who utilize a heat pump as their primary heating source. Section 9 requires, on and after January 1, 2025, recipients of state financial assistance for new building construction projects that include energy-consuming products covered by the Energy Star program (covered energy-consuming products) to use covered energy-consuming products certified by the Energy Star program (requirements). On and after January 1, 2025, a state agency that provides or administers state financial assistance for a new building construction project (state agency) must include certain requirements in the state agency's criteria for receiving state financial assistance and request an affidavit signed by the recipient of the state financial assistance that declares that the requirements have been or will be followed or that the recipient is requesting a waiver from the requirements. A state agency may issue a waiver from the requirements based on certain evidence and an attestation from a licensed professional engineer or design professional. On or before December 1, 2024, the energy office must distribute and periodically update certain guidance and forms related to the requirements. If the attorney general has probable cause to believe that a recipient of state financial assistance has violated the requirements, the attorney general may bring a civil action to seek a civil penalty of up to the total amount of state financial assistance received by the violator. Current law prohibits a person from selling or leasing new residential windows, residential doors, and residential skylights in the state on and after January 1, 2026, unless the product satisfies certain criteria under the Energy Star program. Section 10 changes current law to require new residential windows, residential doors, and residential skylights to instead satisfy certain standards in the International Energy Conservation Code.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Current law prohibits a local government from creating laws that regulate the use of pesticides by pesticide applicators regulated by state or federal law. The bill allows a local government to create and enforce laws regulating the sale or use of pesticides to protect the health and safety of the community with certain exceptions. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)