Rep. Meg Froelich

The bill requires a person who owns, leases, leases to, or operates a movie theater open to the public in Colorado to provide, on or before January 1, 2022, and ongoing thereafter, open captioning at all indoor and outdoor movie showings of each movie that is produced and offered with open movie captioning, including trailers. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review of the water and wastewater facility operators certification board by: Extending the repeal date of the board until September 1, 2031; Amending the definition of "domestic wastewater treatment facility" by excluding small on-site wastewater treatment systems with a design capacity of 2,000 gallons or less per day, unless the system discharges directly to surface water; Amending the definition of "industrial wastewater treatment facility" by: Repealing the exclusion of facilities designed to operate for less than one year and facilities with in-situ discharges; and Adding an exclusion of construction dewatering activities that use only passive treatment and occur for less than one year; Creating a water and wastewater facility operators fund for fees that the board receives directly and uses for the exclusive use of the regulatory program; and Repealing an obsolete provision of law relating to a reorganization of the board on July 1, 2004. The act appropriates $24,815 from the water and wastewater facility operators fund to the department of public health and environment for use by the drinking water program in the water quality control division. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

If a court appoints as an emergency guardian or special conservator a professional person or public administrator, the act requires the court to also appoint a court visitor to interview the respondent and others and report to the court on the supported decision-making surrounding the respondent. Current law allows a court on its own motion or at the request of an interested person to conduct an emergency review of a fiduciary's actions. The act requires the judge to rule on the motion or request within 14 days. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Zero Waste and Recycling Interim Study Committee. The bill tasks the executive director of the department of public health and environment (executive director) or the executive director's designee and the commissioner of agriculture (commissioner) or the commissioner's designee with developing an organics management plan (plan) on or before September 1, 2022. The department of public health and environment may incorporate the plan into the department's existing work regarding organics management if its existing work meets the standards established for the organics management plan. In developing the plan, the executive director and the commissioner are required to study and make recommendations regarding organic waste management practices to encourage compost use on soil to promote carbon storage. The executive director and the commissioner must also complete 2 statewide surveys as part of the plan, with one survey examining end uses for the major categories of organic waste feedstock generated within the state and the other survey examining existing organic waste generation facilities and processing capacity. On or before February 1, 2023, the executive director, in collaboration with the commissioner, shall submit a report summarizing the plan to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over energy or agricultural matters. For the 2020-21 state fiscal year, the bill appropriates $150,000 from the solid waste management fund to the department of public health and environment for use by the solid waste control program to implement the plan. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill repeals a section on assisted reproduction of the "Uniform Parentage Act" and replaces it with a new "Colorado Surrogacy Agreement Act" (act). The act: Establishes eligibility requirements for entering into surrogacy agreements (agreements) and required elements of the agreements; Contains provisions governing the termination of agreements and the effect of a death or a change in marital status of any of the parties to such agreements; Authorizes court orders recognizing and enforcing agreements; and Specifies the duties of persons under the agreements.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the "Traveling Exotic Animal Safety Protection Act" (Act), which prohibits the use of exotic animals in a traveling animal act. A person who violates the Act commits a misdemeanor and is subject to a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per violation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill enacts recommendations of the Colorado child support commission concerning the establishment, calculation, and enforcement of child support, including: Technical amendments to clarify changes made to the child support guidelines pursuant to House Bill 19-1215 relating to a missing component of the schedule of basic child support obligations and clarifications relating to calculation of support; Defines the terms "child" and "parent" for purposes of commencing actions concerning the allocation of parental responsibilities and clarifies that the court shall determine legal parentage and join all necessary parties to the action; Reduces the interest rate and adds a new statute of limitations to seek interest on unpaid child support; Eliminates outdated provisions of the income assignment statute and brings the statute in compliance with federal law; Clarifies notice requirements for income assignments and requires an employer to report and withhold from lump sum payments; Clarifies that both the dependency and neglect court and the paternity and child support court have concurrent jurisdiction to address issues or parentage; Removes a limitation on the amount of the increase for orders increasing support filed by the child support enforcement agency against an obligor for whom income information is not available; Requires life insurance settlements to be reported to the child support enforcement agency; and Adds contract employee to the state directory of new hires for child support enforcement purposes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety (division) and a statewide coalition for sexual assault victims to convene a statewide multidisciplinary committee to research the creation of a existing statewide system systems to track forensic medical evidence related to a sexual assault (medical evidence) whereby victims may access specified information concerning the medical evidence. The division shall report its findings to specified committees of the general assembly. The bill requires the medical professional collecting the medical evidence to inform victims of the contact information for the nearest sexual assault victim's advocate or confidential victim's advocate , the length of time that medical evidence must be preserved, and their right to be notified of the destruction of the medical evidence. If a conviction or plea has not been entered in a case, the bill requires the entity holding the medical evidence to notify the victim: When the evidence is submitted to a laboratory for testing; When the results of the testing are received; and Prior to the medical evidence being destroyed and to maintain the medical evidence for an additional 10 years if the victim objects to the destruction. The bill requires the executive director of the department of public safety to promulgate rules requiring the entity holding medical evidence to maintain the medical evidence until the statute of limitations on commencing a criminal action has passed law enforcement agency to maintain the medical evidence until the statute of limitation has run on the crime and for an additional 10 years if the victim objects to its destruction . (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill requires an administrative unit to allow a behavior analyst to provide medically necessary services to a student during school hours if the student's parent or legal guardian requests such services. The bill requires each administrative unit to adopt a policy that outlines certain requirements for a behavior analyst who is providing services in a school setting and parents who request the services of a behavior analyst. An administrative unit may establish consequences for a behavior analyst for failure to comply with the administrative unit's policy no later than July 1, 2021, concerning behavior analysts providing medically necessary services to a student during school hours. Prior to adopting the policy, each school district board of education shall solicit and receive input from parents and community members and discuss, in public at a regularly scheduled meeting of the school district board of education, behavior analysts providing medically necessary services to a student during school hours. The policy must be posted and made publicly available on the school district's website. The bill requires each administrative unit to establish reporting requirements and prohibits an administrative unit from entering into a contract or an exclusive agreement with a behavior analyst that prohibits the parent or legal guardian from choosing a behavior analyst for the student. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The act allows the department of human services to promulgate rules to make any necessary changes to the relevant human services automated systems to ensure child support payments are not passed through to temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) recipients if the general assembly does not appropriate an amount of money that is at least 90% of the total county share of collections passed through to the custodial party after the full federal share is paid. The act also creates the child support collection fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)