The act requires a landlord and residential tenant to participate in mandatory mediation prior to commencing an eviction action if the residential tenant receives supplemental security income, federal social security disability insurance, or cash assistance through the Colorado works program (collectively, "cash assistance"). The landlord and residential tenant do not have to participate in mediation if the residential tenant did not disclose or declined to disclose in writing to the landlord that the residential tenant receives cash assistance, the complainant is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that offers opportunities for mediation to residential tenants, or the complainant is a landlord with 5 or fewer single-family rental homes and no more than 5 total rental units. Failure to comply with mandatory mediation is an affirmative defense. The act prohibits a law enforcement officer from executing a writ of restitution against a residential tenant for at least 30 days after the entry of judgment if the residential tenant receives cash assistance, except in the case in which a court has ordered a judgment for possession for a substantial violation or in the case of a landlord with 5 or fewer single-family rental homes and no more than 5 total rental units. The act requires a written demand to include a statement that a residential tenant who receives cash assistance has a right to mediation prior to the landlord filing an eviction complaint with the court. The act requires a written rental agreement to include a statement that current law prohibits source of income discrimination and requires a non-exempt landlord to accept any lawful and verifiable source of money paid directly, indirectly, or on behalf of a person. The act prohibits a written rental agreement from including a waiver of mandatory mediation or a clause that allows a landlord to recoup any costs associated with mandatory mediation. The act appropriates $328,026 from the general fund to the judicial department for use by courts administration. To implement this act, the department may use this appropriation as follows: $246,076 for general courts administration; $75,000 for information technology infrastructure; and $6,950 for capital outlay. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 6, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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For income tax years commencing before January 1, 2024, the law allowed individuals younger than 55 years of age to subtract from federal taxable income for the purpose of determining state taxable income certain amounts received from military retirement benefits. The act extends the subtraction to income tax years commencing before January 1, 2029. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
An individual applying for the property tax exemption for a veteran with a disability has been required to submit the application to the division of veterans affairs (division) in the Colorado department of veterans and military affairs. The act instead requires an individual to submit an application to the individual's county tax assessor. When submitting an application, the act requires an individual to include proof of qualifying veteran with a disability status, which the act defines as documentary evidence from the United States department of veterans affairs that the individual is a qualifying veteran with a disability. The act further requires the division to develop guidance that specifies the documentary evidence from the United States department of veterans affairs that must be included with an application. The act eliminates the requirement that the division determine whether an individual is a qualifying veteran with a disability. To comply with an existing statutory requirement that "people first language" be used in new or amended statutes that refer to persons with disabilities, the act also changes the existing terms "disabled veteran" and "disabled veterans" to "veteran with a disability" and "veterans with a disability". APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE January 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For the purposes of health insurance coverage for a prosthetic device (device), the act requires a health insurance carrier to provide coverage for an additional device or devices if the covered person's treating physician determines that the additional device or devices are necessary for the covered person to engage in physical and recreational activities. The required coverage applies to large employer plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. For individual and small group plans, the act requires the division of insurance (division) to make a determination as to whether the required coverage for a prosthetic device or devices is in addition to essential health benefits that requires the state to defray the costs of the required coverage and to submit the determination to the federal department of health and human services (federal department) for confirmation of the division's determination. If the federal department confirms that the required coverage is not in addition to essential health benefits or fails to respond within 365 days after the division submitted the request, the required coverage applies to individual and small group plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates exceptions to the general rule that a person must first exhaust the proceedings and remedies available to them before filing an action in district court based on an alleged discriminatory or unfair practice related to certain employment practices, housing practices, or discriminatory advertising for actions alleging discrimination in places of public accommodation and private actions to enforce laws that prohibit discriminatory housing practices. The act also prohibits an individual with a disability from being excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities provided by a place of public accommodation. In addition, the act requires that, in certain civil suits, an individual with a disability is entitled to a court order requiring compliance with applicable provisions along with either actual monetary damages or a statutory fine. APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 25, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the task force on the rights of Coloradans with disabilities (task force) in the Colorado civil rights commission. The task force shall create a minimum of 4 subcommittees to study and make recommendations on specific issues related to persons with disabilities: The rewrite subcommittee, which must study and make recommendations concerning the various issues related to the rewrite and modernization of the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning civil rights of persons with disabilities; The outdoors subcommittee, which must study and make recommendations related to the basic accessibility of outdoor spaces for persons with disabilities; The housing subcommittee, which must study and make recommendations related to the affordability, accessibility, and attainability of housing for persons with disabilities; and The government subcommittee, which must focus on basic physical and programmatic accessibility within state and local government. Minimum mandatory membership and reporting requirements are outlined for the task force and each subcommittee. The task force shall produce a final report, including recommendations, to submit to the governor and general assembly on or before January 30, 2025. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $289,568 from the general fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the civil rights division to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 25, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The health equity commission created in the office of health equity in the department of public health and environment is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2023. Pursuant to the recommendation in the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report, the act extends the repeal date of the health equity commission to September 1, 2029. APPROVED by Governor May 16, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are required to perform certain acts and are prohibited from engaging in certain acts. Specifically, PBMs are prohibited from: Requiring patients to obtain their prescription drugs through mail order; Charging pharmacies fees to adjudicate claims; Requiring pharmacies to obtain accreditations or certifications that are different than what the PBM requires of its affiliated pharmacies; Retroactively reducing a payment made to a pharmacy on a drug claim after the point of sale or reimbursing a pharmacy in an amount that is less than the amount reimbursed to its own affiliated pharmacy for the same pharmacy service; Modifying the prescription drug formulary under a health benefit plan during the plan year; With regard to audits, using specified techniques in calculating a recoupment or penalty, subjecting a pharmacy to recoupment when a clerical error is discovered, and requiring pharmacies to be audited more than once a year; Prohibiting a pharmacy or pharmacist from, or penalizing a pharmacy or pharmacist for, providing information to patients about more affordable, therapeutically equivalent alternatives to a prescribed drug; or Requiring a pharmacy or pharmacist to charge or collect a copayment from an insured patient that exceeds the total charge submitted by the pharmacy for the prescription drug. Additionally, PBMs are required to: Provide pharmacies 7 days' written notice before an audit, conduct an audit by or in consultation with a pharmacist, allow the pharmacy to supplement claims documentation, and establish an appeals process; Provide an insured individual, the insured's health-care provider, or a third party acting on behalf of the insured or provider with up-to-date and real-time cost, benefit, and coverage information under the terms of the insured's health benefit plan; and Provide contracted pharmacies with the list of sources the PBM used in determining maximum allowable cost pricing, update the information every 7 days, allow pharmacies the ability to readily review the information, follow specified requirements when placing a drug on the maximum allowable cost list, and establish an appeals process to resolve disputes. The act specifies that the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) has the power to enforce these prohibitions and requirements and impose penalties on PBMs for failing to comply with these prohibitions and requirements. The commissioner is also authorized to adopt rules as necessary to implement and enforce these prohibitions and requirements. Additionally, the act requires PBMs to register with and pay a registration fee to the commissioner and authorizes the commissioner to deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue, continue, or renew a PBM registration or to issue a cease-and-desist order if the commissioner finds that a PBM has engaged in specified activities, including violating an insurance law. The PBM registration fees imposed under the act are to be used to fund the costs of the division of insurance in enforcing requirements and prohibitions on PBMs. The act appropriates $206,647 from the division of insurance cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance for personal services and operating expenses related to implementing the act. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill requires state and local public bodies (public bodies), including the general assembly, and political parties to comply with certain accessibility requirements within specified periods. Access to ballot by candidates. The bill requires the general assembly, the secretary of state, and each political party to ensure that the caucus process or any future alternative process by which candidates may access the ballot that is accessible to persons with disabilities remains an option in the state. The bill specifies that the petition process is not a means of ballot access that is accessible to persons with disabilities. In addition, the bill requires that within 6 months of the effective date of the bill, any person, upon request, must be able to participate in a precinct caucus or a party assembly with the use of a video conferencing platform that is accessible to persons with disabilities unless the precinct caucus or party assembly is held in a geographic location that lacks broadband internet service. Auxiliary aids and services for members of the general assembly. The house of representatives and the senate are required to provide auxiliary aids and services to any member of the general assembly upon request of the member for use by the member while the member is in the capitol building or any other building in the capitol complex where legislative business regularly occurs. Video conferencing platforms in court proceedings. Within 5 years of the effective date of the bill, all courts in the state are required to allow a person to appear in court by the use of a video conferencing platform upon request of the person who is required to appear in court; except that the court may make a finding of fact that the person's physical presence in the courtroom is required. The supreme court is required to prescribe rules of procedure to implement the use of a video conferencing platform. The bill includes an exemption for courts that are in a geographic location that lacks broadband internet service. Accessibility of meetings of public bodies. Each public body is required to ensure that the following accessibility requirements are implemented: Within 6 months of the effective date of the bill, 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 persons with disabilities; A public body is required to post on its website, within specified periods, any documents that will be distributed during a meeting; Within 6 months of the effective date of the bill, for any meeting of a public body during which public testimony will be heard, the public body is required to allow any person 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; 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; A public body is required to provide any auxiliary aids or services requested in time for the meeting for which they were requested without an explanation of the need for the auxiliary aids and services. A public body is required to postpone a meeting if it is unable to provide the requested auxiliary aids or services in time for the meeting and is required to document the reason for the additional time required. State capitol building accessibility requirements. Within 4 years of the effective date of the bill, the legislative department, acting through the executive committee of the legislative council, is required to ensure that an audio and way-finding program that allows a person who is blind or visually impaired to independently navigate the state capitol building is implemented and available to any person who works in or visits the capitol building. The failure of any political party or public body to comply with the applicable requirements of the bill constitutes discrimination on the basis of disability. Any person 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.)
The bill modifies the accessible housing standards and specifications exception process for housing for which building plans are submitted to a governmental unit on or after July 1, 2023. A governmental unit may only grant exceptions to any particular accessible housing standard or specification when the governmental unit determines that the standard or specification is technically infeasible and would create an undue hardship. The determination must be in writing and must articulate the relevant undue hardship. Similarly, the bill requires that the alteration of walls or defining boundaries in housing that was under construction prior to July 1, 2023, must comply with certain minimum alteration requirements, unless there is a determination of undue hardship by the relevant governmental unit. However, even if a governmental unit makes a determination of undue hardship, the alterations must still comply with the minimum alteration requirements to the maximum extent feasible. The bill establishes that failure to comply with certain standards for accessible housing constitutes discrimination on the basis of a disability jointly and severally by the owner of the relevant property and any construction professionals who participate in the noncompliant construction or alteration of the relevant property. The bill creates a civil action for an individual with a disability subject to a failure or the attorney general. The bill requires that certain new construction projects and alterations provide a certain number of type B dwelling units or type B multistory dwelling units, and in some cases at least one type A dwelling unit or type A multistory dwelling unit, based on the number of dwelling units in the construction project or alteration. The bill prohibits a landlord from refusing a request by an individual with a disability to make modifications, at the individual's own expense, necessary to afford the individual the full enjoyment of the property. The bill requires newly constructed housing to have: At least one building entrance on an accessible route, unless doing so would be an undue hardship; Fire alarms that are accessible to individuals with a disability, so long as the dwelling unit does not require individuals to purchase their own fire alarms; and Emergency exits that are accessible to individuals with a disability. The bill also states that a failure to ensure the following qualifies as discrimination against an individual with a disability: That all mailboxes assigned to dwelling units are fully accessible to any individual with a disability who lives in those dwelling units; and That all signage in dwelling units, including directories and elevator buttons, is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Lastly, the bill authorizes a court to extend: The answer date in an eviction proceeding if the defendant files a written request with the court for a reasonable accommodation pursuant to prohibited unfair housing practices; and The hearing date for a hearing required during a foreclosure proceeding if the borrower files a written request with the court for a reasonable accommodation pursuant to prohibited unfair housing practices.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)