The act requires the state treasurer to transfer $1,500,000 from the general fund to the family and medical leave insurance fund for the purpose of defraying expenses incurred by the division of family and medical leave insurance (division) before the division receives premium revenue or revenue bond proceeds. The transfer is a loan from the state treasurer to the division that is required to be repaid and is not a grant for purposes of the state constitution or any other state law.The division is required to repay the loan and accumulated interest by December 31, 2023.Of the $1,500,000 transferred pursuant to the act:$1,162,202 is available for use by the division for program costs, including an additional 6.0 FTE; $231,920 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services for the department of labor and employment; and $105,878 is reappropriated to the department of law to provide legal services for the department of labor and employment.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report on the registration of direct-entry midwives by:Continuing the registration requirements for 7 years, until September 1, 2028; Authorizing direct-entry midwives to administer group B streptococcus (GBS) prophylaxis; Adding licensed birth centers to the locations where a direct-entry midwife may practice; and Requiring the director of the division of professions and occupations (director) to develop policies regarding direct-entry midwives in training. The act also:Specifies that a direct-entry midwife who is granted additional authority is not required to apply for renewal of that authority or pay any renewal fees for the authority; Removes the requirement that a direct-entry midwife report certain data at the time of registration renewal; Authorizes the director to order the physical or mental examination of a direct-entry midwife if the director has reasonable cause to believe that the direct-entry midwife is subject to a physical or mental disability that renders the direct-entry midwife unable to treat patients with reasonable skill and safety or that may endanger a patient's health or safety; and Requires the state registrar to revise the birth certificate worksheet form to include a requirement to report whether the live birth occurred after a transfer to a hospital by a direct-entry midwife. The act appropriates to the department of public health and environment: $50,080 from the health facilities general licensure cash fund for use by the health facilities and emergency medical services division for administration and operations; and $30,000 from the vital statistics records cash fund for use by the health statistics and vital records subdivision for operating expenses.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, public funds cannot be used to pay for an abortion, except in cases of life endangerment and in cases of rape or incest for medicaid-eligible women. If every reasonable effort is made to preserve the life of the pregnant woman and unborn child, then public funds may be used for medically necessary services. The medically necessary services must be performed only in a licensed health care facility and only by a licensed physician. The act removes these requirements and allows medically necessary services to be performed by a provider who is licensed by the state and acting within the scope of the provider's license and in accordance with applicable federal regulations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes it unlawful for a person to make available on the internet the personal information of a public health worker if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the public health worker's safety or the safety of the public health worker's family. "Public health worker" is defined in the act to include contractors or employees of contractors of the department of public health and environment or of county or district public health agencies, who are engaged in public health duties, and members of county or district boards of health, other than elected county commissioners. A violation of this law is a class 1 misdemeanor.Further, a public health worker meeting certain requirements specified in statute may submit a written request to a state or local government official to remove personal information from public records that are available on the internet.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the recommendation of the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report concerning the "Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act of 2010" to continue the act for 7 years, until 2028.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill creates the "Guard Training and Standards Act" (Act). The Act requires the following persons to obtain a license to practice their occupation: Armed guards who, for financial compensation, carry a firearm and may use physical force to protect a person or property; Protection guards who, for financial compensation, may use physical force to protect a person or property; and Security guards who, for financial compensation, secure a person or property. The Act also requires a guard employer to be registered with the director of the division of professions and occupations in the department of regulatory agencies (director). The licensing is administered by the director, who, subject to the administrative procedures act, has the power and duty to: Promulgate rules; Establish licensure fees; Investigate, hold hearings, and gather evidence; Enter, during business hours, the business premises of a licensee where violations are alleged to have occurred; Take disciplinary action upon proof of a violation of the Act or the rules promulgated to implement the Act; Issue cease-and-desist orders; Apply to a court for an order enjoining any act or practice that violates the Act; Approve training programs that are required to meet the standards for licensure as a protection guard or an armed guard; Implement a requirement that protection guards and armed guards wear body cameras and record interactions with members of the public in a similar manner to the requirements for peace officers; Set marking, design, and equipment standards for motor vehicles used by a guard in the guard's duties; Set standards for uniforms, including external identification, worn by a guard; Set standards for when it is appropriate to wear plain clothes and for the issuance of a plainclothes permit; and Establish a procedure and standards for waiving a portion of the training required for a protection guard or an armed guard to be issued a license. A person may use the titles of "security guard", "protection guard", or "armed guard" only if the person is licensed. A person who engages in the occupation of being a guard without the required license or who employs a guard without a registration commits a class 2 misdemeanor for the first offense and a class 6 felony for the second or subsequent offense. Peace officers are exempt from the licensing requirements. To be issued a license, a person must apply, pay a fee, prove qualifications as required in the Act, and submit to a criminal history background check. Upon being licensed, the person is given a license document that contains the guard's photograph and other relevant information. Security guards are prohibited from carrying a firearm and using physical force to secure or protect people or property. To be qualified for a security guard license, a person must not have a conviction within the last 10 years for certain crimes that relate to violence or unlawful sexual behavior or for attempting or conspiring to commit these types of crimes. Protection guards are prohibited from carrying a firearm. To be qualified for a protection guard license, a person must: Not have a conviction, within the last 10 years, for the same type of crimes described for security guards; and Have successfully completed 80 hours of training that is approved by rule and covers the obligations and restrictions imposed on a protection guard by the Act. To be qualified for an armed guard license, a person must: Have a concealed carry permit for firearms; Not have a conviction, within the last 10 years, for the same type of crimes described for security guards; Have successfully completed 80 hours of training that is approved by rule and covers the obligations and restrictions imposed on an armed guard by the Act; and Have completed firearms training that is substantially equivalent to the training required to be certified as a peace officer. To renew a protection guard license or armed guard license, the license holder must successfully complete 8 hours of training approved by the director by rule. Within 30 days after a felony or misdemeanor conviction for certain listed crimes, which are broader than the crimes that disqualify a person to be a guard because the crimes cover certain property offenses and offenses involving fraud, a guard must report the conviction to the director. Within 30 days after terminating the employment of a guard for misconduct, a guard employer must report the termination and the misconduct that is the basis for the termination to the director. Within 30 days after using physical force to protect a person or property, a guard and the guard's employer must report the use of physical force to the director. The report must include the demographic information, as required by rule, of the guard using physical force and of the individual subjected to the physical force. The director will maintain a database of licensed guards. The database contains the name of each licensee and the following information about each licensee: Each criminal conviction of the type the guard must report; and Each termination of employment for misconduct and the misconduct. The director will make the database available, including online through the director's website, to a registered guard employer. The Act establishes standards of conduct for guards that include obeying the Act and rules promulgated under the Act and the following standards: All guards must: Wear a uniform unless the guard has been issued a plainclothes permit; Carry the guard's license; Use a vehicle that complies with the marking, design, and equipment rules promulgated by the director; and Not use a canine to detect explosive devices unless the canine is certified by a nationally recognized training association or a law enforcement agency, and the guard handling the canine is one of the canine's primary handlers. An armed guard must wear a form of identification on the outermost part of the armed guard's uniform. The director sets standards for issuing a plainclothes permit. The director may discipline each type of guard or a guard employer for: Fraud or intentional misrepresentation in obtaining or attempting to obtain, reinstate, or renew a license; Violating a currently valid order of the director; Violating the Act or a rule promulgated under the Act; Being convicted of a felony when acting within the course and scope of the guard's duties; Using false advertising or intentionally misleading advertising; Failing to meet the mentioned standards of practice; Failing to pay a fine assessed by the director; and Using deadly force or authorizing the use of deadly force against any individual unless the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent an immediate risk of serious physical harm to an individual. The director may discipline or require additional training of: A security guard for using unlawful physical force on another person; A protection guard or armed guard for: Failing to use a body camera; Using physical force that is prohibited for peace officers to use; or Being convicted of a crime that would disqualify the protection guard or armed guard from being issued a license; and A guard employer for: Authorizing a guard to take an action that is a ground for discipline; Failing to ensure that protection guards and armed guards use body cameras; or Failing to make a required report. The director may adopt rules establishing fines that the director may impose on a licensee for violating the Act or rules under the Act, with a minimum fine of not less than $50 and a maximum fine of not more than $5,000 per violation. In accordance with the sunset law, the Act will repeal on September 1, 2031. Before the repeal, the Act is scheduled for review by the department of regulatory agencies. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
On the effective date of the act through December 31, 2020, all employers in the state, regardless of size, are required to provide each of their employees paid sick leave for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the amounts and for the purposes specified in the federal "Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act" in the "Families First Coronavirus Response Act". Starting January 1, 2021, for employers with 16 or more employees, and starting January 1, 2022, for all employers, the act requires employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees, accrued at one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 48 hours per year. An employee begins accruing paid sick leave when the employee's employment begins, may use paid sick leave as it is accrued, and may carry forward and use in subsequent calendar years up to 48 hours of paid sick leave that is not used in the year in which it is accrued. An employer is not required to allow the employee to use more than 48 hours of paid sick leave in a year. Employees may use accrued paid sick leave to be absent from work for the following purposes: The employee has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; needs a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment related to such illness, injury, or condition; or needs to obtain preventive medical care; The employee needs to care for a family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; needs a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment related to such illness, injury, or condition; or needs to obtain preventive medical care; The employee or family member has been the victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment and needs to be absent from work for purposes related to such crime; or A public official has ordered the closure of the school or place of care of the employee's child or of the employee's place of business due to a public health emergency, necessitating the employee's absence from work. In addition to the paid sick leave accrued by an employee, the act requires an employer, regardless of size, to provide its employees an additional amount of paid sick leave during a public health emergency in an amount based on the number of hours the employee works. The act prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee who uses the employee's paid sick leave or otherwise exercises the employee's rights under the act. Employers are required to notify employees of their rights under the act by providing employees with a written notice of their rights and displaying a poster, developed by the division of labor standards and statistics (division) in the department of labor and employment (department), detailing employees' rights under the act. The director of the division will implement and enforce the act and adopt rules necessary for such purposes. An employer found in violation of the act is liable to the employee for back pay and other equitable damages. The act treats an employee's information about the employee's or a family member's health condition or domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment case as confidential and prohibits an employer from disclosing such information or requiring the employee to disclose such information as a condition of using paid sick leave. The act specifies the conditions in which collective bargaining agreements result in compliance with, or exemption from, the act. $206,566 is appropriated to the department for use by the division to implement the act, based on the assumption that the division will require an additional 2.7 FTE for such purpose. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 2020 general election for the following tax changes: To increase the statutory per cigarette tax from 1 cent to 6.5 cents until July 1, 2024, then to 8 cents until July 1, 2027, and thereafter to 10 cents; To increase the statutory tobacco products tax from 20% of the manufacturer's list price (MLP) to 30% of MLP until July 1, 2024, then to 36% of MLP until July 1, 2027, and to 42% thereafter of MLP for tobacco products; To create a tax on nicotine products that is equal to 50% of MLP until July 1, 2024, then 56% of MLP until July 1, 2027, and thereafter 62% of MLP, which is the same tax as the total tax levied on most tobacco products, including the tax from Amendment 35, with the increase; To establish a tax rate for cigarettes, tobacco products, and nicotine products that are modified risk tobacco products approved by the United States department of health and human services that is 50% of the statutory tax rate; To establish a minimum tax for tobacco products that are moist snuff; To expand the cigarette and tobacco products taxes to include delivery sales made by a seller outside of the state directly to a consumer; and To create an inventory tax on cigarettes that is imposed on all stamped cigarettes and unaffixed stamps in a wholesaler or wholesale subcontractor's possession or control at the time of a tax increase that takes place after January 1, 2022. If voters approve the ballot measure, then the state will have the authority to impose these taxes and the rest of the act will be effective. The act also establishes a minimum price for cigarettes that is equal to $7 for a pack and $70 for a carton until July 1, 2024, and $7.50 for a pack and $75 for a carton on and after July 1, 2024, and civil penalties imposed for any person who sells cigarettes for less than the minimum amount. A portion of the sales tax revenue that is estimated to be attributable to the minimum price requirement is transferred from the general fund to the newly created preschool programs cash fund, from which the general assembly may appropriate money to a designated department to be used for an array of preschool education purposes. The new nicotine products tax is modeled after the tobacco products tax. Nicotine products are products that contain nicotine and that are ingested into the body, which at this time is typically through vaping with an electronic cigarette. The excise tax is levied on the sale, use, consumption, handling, or distribution of all nicotine products in the state, and it is imposed on a distributor at the time the product is brought into the state, made here, or shipped or transported to retailers in the state, or the wholesaler or distributor makes a delivery sale. If a distributor fails to pay the tax, then any person or entity in possession of the nicotine products is liable for the tax. To be a distributor of nicotine products, a person must have a license. The license costs $10 per year and requires that the distributor must have a tax license and comply with all of the laws relating to the collection of the tax. Distributors are required to file electronic quarterly returns. Licensees are required to maintain certain records, and retailers are likewise required to maintain records about nicotine products they purchase from a licensed distributor. The department of revenue may share the names and addresses of persons who purchased nicotine products for resale with the department of public health and environment and county and district public health agencies. To account for the fully phased-in increased taxes per cigarette, the discount percentage on cigarette stamps that a cigarette wholesaler may retain for its collection costs is reduced from 4% to .4% and the similar discount for a tobacco products distributor is reduced from 3.33% to 1.6%. A nicotine products distributor will be permitted to retain 1.1% of the taxes collected. The revenue from the new nicotine products tax, the inventory tax, and the additional cigarette and tobacco products taxes is deposited in the old age pension fund and then credited to the general fund in accordance with the state constitution. The state treasurer is required to transfer an amount equal to the total new tax revenue from the general fund to the 2020 tax holding fund (holding fund). For fiscal years beginning prior to July 1, 2023, the bulk of the money in the holding fund will be transferred to the state education fund, and thereafter, to the preschool programs cash fund. In addition, the state treasurer is required to transfer varying amounts of money in different fiscal years from the holding fund to the following funds: The tobacco tax cash fund; The general fund; The housing development grant fund; The eviction legal defense fund; The newly created rural schools cash fund, which will in turn be distributed to small and large rural school districts based on funded pupil counts; and The tobacco education programs fund. The state auditor is required to annually conduct a financial audit of the use of the new tax revenue. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report on the regulation of naturopathic doctors as follows: Continues the regulation of naturopathic doctors by the department of regulatory agencies for 9 years, until September 1, 2029; and Provides immunity from liability for the director of the division of professions and occupations (director), division staff, consultants, and complainants in any civil action brought against the individual for acts occurring while the individual is acting in the individual's capacity as director, board member, staff, consultant, or witness, respectively. The act also: Requires that of the 3 doctors of medicine or osteopathy who serve on the naturopathic medicine advisory committee (committee), one must be a pediatrician and one must be a member of a statewide multispecialty medical society; Requires the committee to meet at least once each year and tasks the committee with reviewing the naturopathic doctor formulary, making recommendations to the director on additions to the formulary, and discussing issues of importance to naturopathic doctors and their patients; Allows the director to make additions to the naturopathic formulary; and Prohibits a person who is not registered as a naturopathic doctor from using any title that implies the person is registered or licensed as a naturopathic doctor.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the air quality enterprise and specifies that its revenues are exempt from the state constitution's TABOR provisions. The enterprise will conduct air quality modeling, monitoring, data assessment, and research; implement emission mitigation projects; and provide its data to the division of administration (division) and the air quality control commission (commission) in the department of public health and environment (department) to facilitate the administration of the state's air quality laws, including by facilitating the timely issuance and effective enforcement of appropriate emission permits. The enterprise is governed by a board of directors comprised of the executive director of the department or the executive director's designee and 9 members appointed by the governor and representing the commission, fee payers, business management, and scientific researchers. The board shall establish by rule the following enterprise fees in an amount that, in aggregate, reflects the value of the services the enterprise provides: A fee per ton of air pollutant; A fee for services performed for third parties for air quality modeling, monitoring, assessment, or research; A fee for emission mitigation project services. The fees are credited to the newly created air quality enterprise cash fund. Revenue collected from the fees must not exceed the following amounts: For state fiscal year 2021-22, $1 million; For state fiscal year 2022-23, $3 million; For state fiscal year 2023-24, $4 million; and For state fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2024, $5 million. The enterprise is required to submit an annual report to the general assembly each December 1 detailing its activities, revenues, and the value of its business services. The enterprise is repealed on September 1, 2034, and is subject to sunset review. For purposes of the fees for air pollutant emission notices, annual per-ton emissions, and application processing, the act: Removes the statutory maximum for the fees; Establishes the amount of the fees for state fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22; and Allows the commission to thereafter adjust the fees by rule. Additionally, for annual per-ton emission fees and processing fees, the act specifies the purposes for which the increased revenues from those fees may be spent and requires annual reporting by the division regarding the fees. The act appropriates $10,660 from the general fund to the department and reappropriates the money to the department of law for legal services necessary to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)