For state fiscal year 2026-27, the act appropriates $5,000,000 from the species conservation trust fund (trust fund) in the state treasury for various wildlife conservation programs directed at conserving candidate species or species that are likely to become candidate species, as determined by the United States fish and wildlife service. The executive director of the Colorado department of natural resources, after consulting with the Colorado water conservation board, the parks and wildlife commission, and the director of the division of parks and wildlife, has submitted to the general assembly a list of programs and associated costs that are eligible to receive funding from the trust fund as follows:$2,380,000 for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program and San Juan river basin recovery implementation program;$60,000 for Rio Grande native fish protection and habitat improvements;$60,000 for selenium management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and control;$1,250,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation; and$1,250,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation. Trust fund money made available for native terrestrial wildlife conservation is not available for purposes of importing new wolves for reintroduction into the state for state fiscal year 2026-27.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act requires a water right owner that changes the use of their water right in water division 2 from agricultural irrigation purposes to another beneficial use on or after January 1, 2027, to engage in revegetation or a conversion to dryland farming with effective erosion control and weed management on the formerly irrigated agricultural land. The act implements a procedure that includes:The identification of site-specific criteria and an associated scientific and objective evaluation methodology to measure and determine the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming;A requirement that the water court appoint a third-party revegetation or dryland farming expert to conduct annual field reviews and issue reports concerning the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming until the revegetation or conversion is successfully established; andA requirement that the water court:Order the water right owner to provide financial assurance to the local land use authority to cover the anticipated cost to achieve successful revegetation;Place limitations on the timing of use or percentage of the water that may be used for the new beneficial use during the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming process; orIf the water right owner has obtained a permit or entered into an intergovernmental agreement that requires financial assurance or establishes requirements governing the timing of use or percentage of the water that may be used for the new beneficial use, incorporate those requirements into the change-of-use decree.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the functions of the Colorado podiatry board (board) for 9 years until September 1, 2035, pursuant to provisions of the sunset law. The act requires a licensed podiatrist (licensee) to develop a written plan to ensure the security of patient medical records, including the proper storage and disposal of records, the disposition of medical records in the event the licensee dies, retires, or otherwise ceases to practice, and the method by which a patient may access or obtain records if such events occur. A licensee shall attest to compliance with the requirement upon initial licensure and upon renewal of the license. A licensee who fails to comply with the requirements of the act is subject to discipline by the board.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
If certain conditions are met, the act requires health benefit plans that provide hospital, surgical, or medical expense insurance to provide reimbursement for health-care services provided by a pharmacist that are within the pharmacist's scope of practice without entering into a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement. Similarly, under the medical assistance program (medicaid), the act authorizes reimbursement for services that are within a pharmacist's scope of practice and not duplicative of other pharmacist services or programs reimbursed by medicaid. Further, solely on the basis of the type of license or certification, a health benefit plan or health insurance company (carrier) shall not discriminate against a pharmacist who is acting within the scope of the pharmacist's license or certification under state law, with respect to participation, referral, reimbursement of covered services, or indemnification, or prohibit a pharmacist from membership in a provider network; except that, in selecting pharmacist providers, the act does not:Prohibit a health benefit plan or carrier from including providers in its provider network only to the extent necessary to meet the needs of the plan or from limiting referrals or establishing quality control measures;Require a health benefit plan or carrier to contract with any provider willing to abide by the terms and conditions for participation established by the health benefit plan or carrier; orRequire coverage for any health-care service that is not otherwise covered. The act makes changes to the definitions in the pharmacy practice statutes to include a definition for 'final product verification'. For drug, device, or product orders that are not for controlled substances, final product verification may be delegated by a supervising pharmacist to a certified pharmacy technician or pharmacy intern. A pharmacy or other outlet shall have a continuous quality assessment system in place to periodically verify the accuracy of the final drug, device, or product and must create a plan for final product verification, including how pharmacists' hours will be maintained to provide direct patient care. The state board of pharmacy is required to adopt rules relating to final product verification no later than December 31, 2026. Under current law, a pharmacist may administer certain tests to patients who are 12 years old or older for certain conditions and prescribe drugs to treat the tested conditions. The act adds to the definition of the 'practice of pharmacy' independent prescriptive authority for drugs that are not controlled substances, drug categories, or devices that are prescribed to patients who are 5 years old or older but under 12 years old for conditions that do not require a new diagnosis, that are minor and self-limiting, or that have a test that guides diagnosis and are not medications that may only be prescribed pursuant to a certified education program and a limited distribution network. If a pharmacist tests or treats any patient who is under 18 years old, the act requires a pharmacist to notify the patient's primary care provider consistent with health-care privacy laws or, if the patient does not have or disclose a primary care provider, refer the patient to a primary care provider for further care.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the title board must set a ballot title for an initiative petition that is brief, does not conflict with another title for an initiative petition filed for the same election, and is in the form of a question that may be answered 'yes/for' or 'no/against' and that unambiguously states the principle of the provision sought to be added, amended, or repealed by the initiative. The act adds a requirement that the title board write a ballot title using accessible language, which means plain language that is understood by the widest possible audience. In determining whether a ballot title is written using accessible language, the title board may consider whether the title:Avoids using legal, technical, or specialized terminology when possible;Clearly identifies the principal change in law or policy proposed by the proposed statutory or constitutional amendment;Avoids unnecessary qualifiers, double negatives, and overly complex phrasing;Organizes clauses so that the effect of a 'yes/for' or 'no/against' vote is readily understood; andPresents necessary information within the ballot title in a logical and readable order. In addition, current law requires that specific language appear in the ballot title for certain initiatives that increase or reduce tax revenue. For initiatives that reduce state tax revenue or local district property tax revenue through a tax change, this required language must appear at the beginning of the ballot title. For initiatives that increase tax revenue for any district through a tax change, this required language must appear directly after language required by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The act modifies these statutory provisions so that the required ballot title language must only be substantially similar to the specific statutory language and may appear anywhere in the ballot title. The act applies to initiative petitions submitted to the secretary of state for title setting on or after the effective date of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act defines school zones as all roadways within at least 1,000 feet of a school property boundary, except state highways unless they are designated as part of a school zone with the written approval of the Colorado department of transportation, and including school zones established before August 12, 2026, that are 200 feet or more from a school property boundary. A school zone must have appropriate signs posted indicating it is a school zone and that the penalties and surcharges within the school zone will be doubled. The act allows a local government that has jurisdiction over a school zone to reduce the size of a school zone after first holding a public hearing, but the act does not allow a school zone to be reduced to less than 200 feet from a school property boundary. Additionally, the act does not prohibit local governments from expanding school zones to beyond 1,000 feet from a school property boundary. The act limits requirements the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality must complete regarding placing and using an automated vehicle identification system along a safe route to school. The act allows a local government to designate a portion of a roadway immediately adjacent to a school property boundary as a school street and requires the local government to post signs indicating it is a school street if the local government has jurisdiction to do so. The local government may close a school street to traffic. If there is traffic on the school street, the maximum speed limit is 10 miles per hour and vehicles must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians, bicyclists, or micromobility users. The local government may suspend additional traffic provisions on the school street that endanger pedestrians, bicyclists, or micromobility users.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates the following amounts for the 2026-27 state fiscal year from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects:Continuation of the satellite monitoring system, $380,000 (section 1 of the act);Continuation of the floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2);Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $500,000 (section 3);Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $200,000 (section 5);Continuation of the water forecasting partnership project, $2,500,000 (section 6);Continuation of Colorado decision support system operation and maintenance, $750,000 (section 7);Support for water plan agency actions, $1,350,000 (section 9);Continuation of the Colorado watershed restoration and flood mitigation projects, $5,000,000 (section 10); andContinuation of the upper Colorado river commission planning, $750,000 (section 11). Section 4 directs the state treasurer to transfer up to $6,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the CWCB litigation fund on or before July 1, 2026. Section 8 restores the fish and wildlife resources fund balance by transferring $2,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the fish and wildlife resources fund. Section 12 authorizes the CWCB to make a loan in an amount of $151,500,000 from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the city of Fort Collins to support the Halligan water supply project. Section 13 authorizes the CWCB to make a loan in an amount of $20,166,670 from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the Lower Latham Reservoir Company for the Jurgens reservoir construction project. Section 14 appropriates $37,700,000 from the water plan implementation cash fund to the CWCB to award grants that will help implement the state water plan. Section 15 clarifies that the money that is currently in the turf replacement fund is appropriated for designated purposes to the CWCB until June 30, 2028. Any money remaining in the turf replacement fund on July 1, 2028, is transferred to the CWCB construction fund. Section 16 makes technical corrections so that money appropriated in 2025 is available to the department of natural resources executive director's office for the purpose of paying for a study by the Colorado water center at Colorado state university. Under current law, the CWCB may authorize loans up to $10 million from the CWCB construction fund or severance tax perpetual base fund without legislative authorization. The act increases that amount to $30 million (section 17).(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes a bill of rights for adults subject to guardianship (ward) and details what decisions a court may authorize a guardian to make on behalf of a ward. The act updates the duties of a guardian to include a duty to notify the ward at least 30 days before the ward is permanently moved to a nursing home, mental health institution, or other facility that restricts the ward's ability to leave the facility or have visitors. On or before November 1, 2027, and November 1, 2028, the act requires the state court administrator's office to submit a report detailing the fiscal impact of this act on the judicial department to the joint budget committee, the senate judiciary committee, and the house of representatives judiciary committee, or their successor committees, and requires the state court administrator's office to create the report using existing data sources.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the implementation dates for capping family copayments for child care at 7% of family income, for paying child care providers in advance of the provision of services, and for utilizing grants and contracts to improve access to child care for underserved populations to August 1, 2028. The act modifies existing reporting requirements to include the total amount of child care assistance program (CCCAP) allocation that is spent by the department and each county on administrative expenses, county indirect expenses, program implementation costs, and direct service expenses.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act defines a 'conversational artificial intelligence service' as an artificial intelligence system that is accessible to the general public and that primarily simulates human conversation and interaction through adaptive textual, visual, or aural communications. Effective January 1, 2027, the act creates requirements and prohibitions for a person, partnership, corporation, or entity that develops and makes publicly available a conversational artificial intelligence service or offers a conversational artificial intelligence service to a consumer (operator). An operator is required to use commercially reasonable methods or generally accepted methods to estimate the age of a consumer who has or opens an account or profile to use a conversational artificial intelligence service (account holder) and the age of other users of a conversational artificial intelligence service. If an operator knows that an account holder or user is a minor, an operator is:Required to provide certain disclosures;Prohibited from providing the minor account holder or minor user with points or rewards to encourage engagement with the conversational artificial intelligence service;Required to institute technically feasible measures to prevent the conversational artificial intelligence service from producing explicit sexual conduct, intimate digital depictions, or statements that simulate emotional dependence;Required to implement a protocol for a conversational artificial intelligence service to stop engaging in response to a user prompt regarding sexual conduct with a minor; andRequired to provide tools for the minor account holder or minor user or a parent or guardian of the minor account holder or minor user to manage the minor account holder's or minor user's privacy and account settings. The act also requires an operator to provide a disclosure to a user that a conversational artificial intelligence service is artificial intelligence, implement a protocol for user prompts regarding suicidal ideation or self-harm, and annually report to the attorney general's office information regarding the protocol the operator is implementing. The act prohibits an operator from stating that any output data provided by a conversational artificial intelligence service is provided by, endorsed by, or equivalent to services provided by certain licensed or certified professionals. The act clarifies that nothing in the act limits an individual's ability to access certain information and resources pursuant to the state constitution, requires an operator to disclose confidential information, or authorizes content moderation practices inconsistent with the United States constitution.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)