Comprehensive human sexuality education - content requirements - grant program - appropriation. The act adds certain content requirements for public schools that offer comprehensive human sexuality education, including instruction on consent as it relates to safe and healthy relationships and safe haven laws. The act prohibits instruction from emphasizing sexual abstinence as the primary or sole acceptable preventive method available to students and prohibits instruction from explicitly or implicitly using shame-based or stigmatizing language or instructional tools; employing gender stereotypes; or excluding the health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals. If a public school teaches comprehensive human sexuality education, the public school is not required to include instruction on pregnancy outcome options. However, if a public school opts to provide instruction on pregnancy outcome options, it must cover all pregnancy outcome options available. Current law provides for a comprehensive human sexuality education grant program. The act amends certain provisions of the grant program to: Require the department of public health and environment to submit an annual report concerning the outcomes of the grant program indefinitely; Add 9 representatives to the oversight entity and require membership of the oversight entity to represent diverse community perspective and make an effort to include committee members who are diverse; Require grant applicants to demonstrate a need for money to implement comprehensive human sexuality education; and Require that rural public schools or public schools that do not currently offer comprehensive human sexuality education receive priority when selecting grant applicants. The act prohibits the state board of education from waiving the content requirements for any public school that provides comprehensive human sexuality education. However, the act does not prohibit charter schools or institute charter schools from applying for a waiver. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $1,000,000 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
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Census outreach grant program - department of local affairs - division of local government - appropriation. The 2020 census outreach grant program (grant program) is created in the division of local government (division) in the department of local affairs (department) to provide grants to local governments, intergovernmental agencies, councils of government, housing authorities, school districts, nonprofit organizations, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (eligible recipients) to support the accurate counting of the population of the state for the 2020 census. The department, in coordination with the grant program committee (committee), which is also created in the division, is required to implement and administer the grant program and to develop policies and procedures necessary for such implementation and administration. The committee consists of 5 members, one of whom is appointed by the secretary of state and 4 of whom are appointed, one each, by the speaker of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leaders of the house of representatives and the senate, although such appointees may not be members of the general assembly. Eligible recipients may use grant money to conduct 2020 census outreach, promotion, and education to focus on hard-to-count communities in the state and to increase the self-response rate and accuracy of the 2020 census. Eligible recipients may also use grant money to further award grants to other local governments, intergovernmental agencies, councils of government, housing authorities, school districts, or nonprofit organizations. To receive a grant, an eligible recipient must submit an application to the department in accordance with the policies and procedures developed by the department. The committee is required to review the applications received and to make recommendations to the department regarding which grant applications to approve. In developing its recommendations, the committee is required to consider whether the eligible recipient will be conducting outreach in hard-to-count communities and the size and geographic and demographic diversity of the hard-to-count communities in which outreach, education, and promotion of the 2020 census will occur as provided by all eligible recipients that receive grant money. The department is required to award grants for the purposes of the grant program on or before November 1, 2019, and to distribute the grant money to eligible recipients that were awarded grants within 30 days after the grants are awarded. In addition to money appropriated by the general assembly, the department may solicit, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the purposes of the grant program. Each eligible recipient that received a grant through the grant program is required to submit 2 reports to the department including information to be determined by the department. The department is required to submit 2 reports to the local government committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, and to the governor regarding the census outreach conducted through the grant program. On or before May 1, 2026, and on or before May 1 every 10 years thereafter, the department and the office of the governor are required to develop a strategic action plan, including a discussion of necessary funding for the plan, for outreach and promotion for a successful count of the population in Colorado during the upcoming decennial census. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, $6 million from the general fund is appropriated to the department for use by the division for the direct and indirect costs of administering the grant program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Child abuse and neglect - CARENetwork - resource center - appropriation. The act establishes the Colorado child abuse response and evaluation network (CARENetwork) to provide medical exams and behavioral health assessments to children who are subject to physical or sexual abuse or neglect. The department of public health and environment is to contract with a nonprofit organization to act as a resource center. The act specifies duties of the resource center. The act also establishes a CARENetwork advisory committee and specifies the membership and duties of the advisory committee. The act appropriates $632,717 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Demographic notes on bills - process for requesting - content of notes - appropriation. Beginning with the 2020 legislative session, the staff of the legislative council are required to prepare demographic notes on legislative bills in each regular session of the general assembly. The speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate are authorized to request 5 demographic notes each, or more at the discretion of the director of research of the legislative council. When a member of leadership requests a demographic note, the staff of the legislative council must meet with the requesting member and the sponsor of the bill to discuss whether a demographic note can practically be completed for that bill. If not, the member of leadership may request a demographic note on a different bill, within the limits specified in the act. A demographic note is defined as a note that uses available data to outline the potential effects of a legislative measure on disparities within the state. Disparities means the difference in economic, employment, health, education, or public safety outcomes between the state population as a whole and subgroups of the population defined by relevant characteristics for which data are available, including race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and geography. The director of research of the legislative council must develop the procedures for requesting, completing, and updating the demographic notes and memorialize the procedures in a letter to the executive committee of the legislative council. The director may seek and expend gifts, grants, or donations to pay for training for staff. $89,474 is appropriated to the legislative department for use by the legislative council staff for the implementation of the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Primary care - collaborative created - affordability standards - targets - payment reform recommendations. The act: Establishes a primary care payment reform collaborative in the division of insurance in the department of regulatory agencies; Requires the commissioner of insurance to establish affordability standards for premiums, including adding targets for carrier investments in primary care; and Requires the department of health care policy and financing and carriers who offer health benefit plans to state employees to set targets for investment in primary care.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Health care coverage - prior authorization for health care services - publication of requirements and restrictions - deadline for making determination - required criteria - exceptions for compliant providers - duration of prior authorization - rules. With regard to the prior authorization process used by carriers or private utilization review organizations (organizations) acting on behalf of carriers to review and determine whether a particular health care service prescribed by a health care provider is approved as a covered benefit under the patient's health benefit plan, the act requires carriers and organizations to: Publish and update their prior authorization requirements and restrictions; Comply with specified deadlines for making a determination on a prior authorization request; Use current, clinically based prior authorization criteria that are aligned with other quality initiatives of the carrier or organization and with other carriers' and organizations' prior authorization criteria for the same health care service; and Consider limiting the use of prior authorization to providers whose prescribing or ordering patterns differ significantly from the patterns of their peers after adjusting for patient mix and other relevant factors. The act authorizes a carrier or organization to offer providers with a history of adherence to the carrier's or organization's prior authorization requirements an alternative to prior authorization, including an exemption from prior authorization for providers with an 80% approval rate of prior authorization requests over the previous 12 months. Carriers and organizations are to annually reevaluate a provider's eligibility for exemption from or other alternative to prior authorization requirements. If a carrier or organization fails to make a determination within the time required, the request is deemed approved. An approved prior authorization request is valid for at least 180 days, with some exceptions, and continues for the duration of the authorized course of treatment. The commissioner of insurance is authorized to adopt rules as necessary to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
The bill refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 2019 statewide election for the following tax increases: To increase the cigarette tax by 8.75 cents per cigarette; To increase the tobacco products tax by 22% of the manufacturer's list price; and To create a tax on nicotine products that is equal to 62% of the manufacturer's list price, which is the same total tax as the tax levied on tobacco products with the increase. If voters approve the tax, then the state will have the authority to impose these taxes and retain and spend the revenue as a voter-approved revenue change, and the remainder of the bill takes effect upon approval. 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. 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 quarterly returns, and the department of revenue (department) may require electronic fund transfers of the taxes paid. Licensees are required to maintain certain records, and retailers are likewise required to maintain records about nicotine products it purchases from a licensed distributor. The department 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 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. In general, 50% of the revenue from the new nicotine products tax and the additional cigarette and tobacco products taxes (new tax revenue) is allocated for purposes related to health care, and 50% is allocated for preschool programs and expanded learning opportunities. Specifically, the new tax revenue 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 then required to transfer 50% of the new tax revenue from the general fund to the behavioral health and health care affordability and accessibility cash fund (behavioral health fund). The state treasurer is further required to transfer money in the behavioral health fund as follows: 19%, up to $30 million, to the tobacco education programs fund, which is primarily used for tobacco education, prevention, and cessation programs, which are expanded to include nicotine products; and 9.5%, up to $15 million, to offset the decreased revenue from the existing taxes that may result from the voter-approved rate increases, and of this amount, 73% is further allocated to the tobacco tax cash fund and 27% to the general fund. For fiscal years that begin prior to July 1, 2023, the general assembly is required to appropriate the remainder of the money in the behavioral health fund as follows: 66% to make health care more affordable and accessible; and 34% to improve the provision of behavioral health services for children and youth. Thereafter, the specific allocation no longer applies and the only limitation on appropriating for these 2 purposes is that each purpose must receive at least 20% of the fund remainder. The state treasurer is required to transfer the other 50% of the new tax revenue to the newly created preschool programs cash fund, from which money is appropriated to the department of education to improve the availability, affordability, and quality of voluntary early childhood education, and to the Colorado expanded learning opportunities cash fund, from which money is used for the Colorado expanded learning opportunities program. The allocation of the new tax revenue between the 2 funds is as follows: For the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years, 35% to the preschool programs cash fund and 15% to the Colorado expanded learning opportunities cash fund; For the 2021-22 fiscal year, 30% to the preschool programs cash fund and 20% to the Colorado expanded learning opportunities cash fund; and For the 2022-23 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, 27.5% to the preschool programs cash fund and 22.5% to the Colorado expanded learning opportunities cash fund. The state auditor is required to annually conduct a financial audit of the use of the new tax revenue. The bill also creates the Colorado expanded learning opportunities program, which is established to allow eligible students to participate in out-of-school learning experiences. The Colorado expanded learning opportunities agency, which is an independent agency in the department of education, through an administering nonprofit, pays providers for eligible students to participate in such experiences. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Oil and gas operations - air quality regulation - local government authority - oil and gas conservation commission - composition - authority - financial assurance requirements - pooling - appropriation. The act prioritizes the protection of public safety, health, welfare, and the environment in the regulation of the oil and gas industry by modifying the oil and gas statutes and by clarifying, reinforcing, or establishing various aspects of local governments' regulatory authority over the surface impacts of oil and gas development. Current law specifies that local governments have so-called "House Bill 1041" powers, which are a type of land use authority over oil and gas mineral extraction areas, only if the Colorado oil and gas conservation commission (commission) has identified a specific area for designation. Sections 1 and 2 of the act repeal that limitation. Section 3 directs the air quality control commission to review its rules to consider whether to adopt more stringent rules and to adopt rules to minimize emissions of methane and other hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen. Section 4 clarifies that local governments have land use authority to regulate the siting of oil and gas locations to minimize adverse impacts to public safety, health, welfare, and the environment and to regulate land use and surface impacts, including the ability to inspect oil and gas facilities; impose fines for leaks, spills, and emissions; and impose fees on operators or owners to cover the reasonably foreseeable direct and indirect costs of permitting and regulation and the costs of any monitoring and inspection program necessary to address the impacts of development and enforce local governmental requirements. Section 4 also allows a local government or oil and gas operator to request the director of the commission to convene a technical review board to evaluate the effect of the local government's preliminary or final determination on the operator's application. Section 5 repeals an exemption for oil and gas production from counties' authority to regulate noise. The remaining substantive sections of the act amend the "Oil and Gas Conservation Act" (Act). The legislative declaration for the Act states that it is in the public interest to "foster" the development of oil and gas resources in a manner "consistent" with the protection of public health, safety, and welfare, including protection of the environment and wildlife resources; this has been construed to impose a balancing test between fostering oil and gas development and protecting public health, safety, and welfare. Section 6 states that the public interest is to "regulate" oil and gas development to "protect" those values. Currently, the Act defines "waste" to include a diminution in the quantity of oil or gas that ultimately may be produced. Section 7 excludes from that definition the nonproduction of oil or gas as necessary to protect public health, safety, welfare, the environment, or wildlife resources. Section 7 also repeals the requirement that the commission take into consideration cost-effectiveness and technical feasibility with regard to actions and decisions taken to minimize adverse impacts and repeals the limitation of the term "minimize adverse impacts" to wildlife resources. The 9-member commission currently includes the executive directors of the departments of natural resources and public health and environment as ex officio members, 3 members who must have substantial experience in the oil and gas industry, and one member who must have training or experience in environmental or wildlife protection. Section 8 reduces the number of industry members to one and requires one member with training or substantial experience in wildlife protection; one member with training or substantial experience in environmental protection; one member with training or substantial experience in soil conservation or reclamation or technical expertise relevant to the issues considered by the commission; one member who is an active agricultural producer or a royalty owner; and one member with training or substantial experience in public health. This version of the commission is repealed on the earlier of July 1, 2020, or the date on which 3 specific rules promulgated by the commission have become effective. On that date, section 9, which creates a professional 5-member commission (along with the 2 ex officio executive directors), becomes effective. Section 10 requires the director of the commission to hire up to 2 deputy directors. Upon receipt of a request for a technical review, the director is required to appoint technical review board members. The Act currently specifies that the commission has exclusive authority relating to the conservation of oil or gas. Section 11 clarifies that nothing in the Act alters, impairs, or negates the authority of: The air quality control commission to regulate the air pollution associated with oil and gas operations; The water quality control commission to regulate the discharge of water pollutants from oil and gas operations; The state board of health to regulate the disposal of naturally occurring radioactive materials and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials from oil and gas operations; The solid and hazardous waste commission to regulate the disposal of hazardous waste and exploration and production waste from oil and gas operations; or A local government to regulate land use related to oil and gas operations, including specifically the siting of an oil and gas location. Currently, an operator first gets a permit from the commission to drill one or more wells within a drilling unit, which is located within a defined area, and then notifies the applicable local government of the proposed development and seeks any necessary local government approval. Section 12 requires operators to file, with the application for a permit to drill, either: Proof that the operator has already filed an application with the affected local government to approve the siting of the proposed oil and gas location and of the local government's disposition of the application; or proof that the affected local government does not regulate the siting of oil and gas locations. Section 12 also specifies that, until the commission has promulgated rules regarding 3 specific topics and the rules have become effective, the director may delay the final determination regarding a permit if the director, following a public comment period, determines that the permit requires additional analysis to ensure the protection of public health, safety, and welfare or the environment or requires additional local government or other state agency consultation. Pursuant to commission rule, an operator may submit a statewide blanket financial assurance of $60,000 for fewer than 100 wells or $100,000 for 100 or more wells. Section 12 directs the commission to adopt rules that require financial assurance sufficient to provide adequate coverage for all applicable requirements of the Act. Current law allows the commission to set numerous fees used to administer the Act and sets a $200 or $100 cap on the fees. Section 12 eliminates the caps and requires the commission to set a permit application fee in an amount sufficient to recover the commission's reasonably foreseeable direct and indirect costs in conducting the analysis necessary to assure that permitted operations will be conducted in compliance with all applicable requirements of the Act. Current law gives the commission the authority to regulate oil and gas operations so as to prevent and mitigate "significant" adverse environmental impacts to the extent necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare, taking into consideration cost-effectiveness and technical feasibility. Section 12 requires the commission to protect and minimize adverse impacts to public health, safety, and welfare, the environment, and wildlife resources and protect against adverse environmental impacts on any air, water, soil, or biological resource resulting from oil and gas operations. Section 12 also requires the commission to adopt rules that require alternate location analyses for oil and gas facilities that are proposed to be located near populated areas and that evaluate and address the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development. Finally, section 12 directs the commission to promulgate rules to: Ensure proper wellbore integrity of all oil and gas production wells, including the use of nondestructive testing of weld joints and requiring certification of several categories of oil and gas workers; Allow public disclosure of flowline information and to evaluate and determine when a deactivated flowline must be inspected before being reactivated; and Evaluate and determine when inactive, temporarily abandoned, and shut-in wells must be inspected before being put into production or used for injection. Section 13 modifies the commission's administrative procedures, including by taking into account determinations made by administrative law judges. Current law authorizes "forced" or "statutory" pooling, a process by which "any interested person", typically an operator who has at least one lease or royalty interest, may apply to the commission for an order to pool oil and gas resources located within a particularly identified drilling unit. After giving notice to interested parties and holding a hearing, the commission can adopt a pooling order to require an owner of oil and gas resources within the drilling unit who has not consented to the application (nonconsenting owner) to allow the operator to produce the oil and gas within the drilling unit notwithstanding the owner's lack of consent. Section 14 requires that the owners of more than 45% of the mineral interests to be pooled must have joined in the application for a pooling order and that the application include either: Proof that the applicant has already filed an application with the affected local government to approve the siting of the proposed oil and gas facilities and of the local government's disposition of the application; or proof that the affected local government does not regulate the siting of oil and gas facilities. Section 14 also specifies that the operator cannot use the surface owned by a nonconsenting owner without permission from the nonconsenting owner. Current law also sets the royalty that a nonconsenting owner is entitled to receive at 12.5% of the full royalty rate until the consenting owners have been fully reimbursed (out of the remaining 87.5% of the nonconsenting owner's royalty) for their costs. Section 14 raises a nonconsenting owner's royalty rate during this pay-back period from 12.5% to 13% for gas and 16% for oil and makes corresponding reductions of the portions of the nonconsenting owner's royalty from which the consenting owners' costs are paid. Current law requires the commission to ensure that the 2-year average of the unobligated portion of the oil and gas conservation and environmental response fund does not exceed $6 million and that there is an adequate balance in the environmental response account in the fund to address environmental response needs. Section 15 directs the commission to ensure that the unobligated portion of the fund does not exceed 50% of total appropriations from the fund for the upcoming fiscal year and that there is an adequate balance in the account to support the operations of the commission and to address environmental response needs. Section 16 specifies that for permit-specific conditions for wildlife habitat protection, the commission is required to consult with and obtain consent from a surface owner only if the permit-specific conditions directly impact the affected surface owner's property or use of that property. Section 17 amends preemption law by specifying that both state agencies and local governments have authority to regulate oil and gas operations and establishes that local government requirements may be more protective or stricter than state requirements. Section 18 appropriates $851,010 to the department of natural resources to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
The bill authorizes the board of county commissioners of any county, by duly enacted ordinances, resolutions, or other forms of binding law, to establish and create a program that implements voluntary housing agreements within an unincorporated area of the county. The bill defines "voluntary housing agreement program" to mean a program adopted by a county government that enables agreements between the county and a developer that increase the supply of housing stock within the county that is priced as affordable for low- and moderate-income households. Nothing in the bill is intended to challenge or affect the legal status of any such program implemented and in effect prior to the effective date of the bill. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More