Beginning in 2024, the act requires the department of higher education (department) to submit, as a part of its annual "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing, data related to postsecondary outcomes for students with a disability. The department shall gather the data in collaboration with institutions of higher education (institutions). The act creates the postsecondary services advisory committee (committee) in the department for the purpose of making recommendations to institutions and the general assembly concerning necessary services and best practices to improve successful outcomes for students with disabilities at institutions. The committee is required to complete and submit a report to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate by June 15, 2023, and June 14, 2024. The committee is repealed on June 30, 2024. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Sponsored bills
The act forbids anyone selling or renting a dwelling from discriminating against an individual based on their veteran or military status. The act forbids anyone from refusing to negotiate for housing with an individual on the basis of their veteran or military status or otherwise denying or withholding housing on the basis of an individual's veteran or military status. For purposes of the act, an individual who was dishonorably discharged from military service does not have veteran or military status. The act allows inquiries regarding an individual's veteran or military status to the extent necessary to determine if the individual is eligible for a benefit offered to veterans or members of the military. The act also permits the advertisement of veteran or military housing or any other veteran or military housing benefit. The act permits adherence to federal regulations governing veterans affairs benefits. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the educator pay raise fund (fund), which consists of money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. The creation of the fund is conditioned on passage of a ballot measure by November 2027 that increases state tax revenue and requires the revenue to be deposited into the fund. The department of education (department) must distribute any money appropriated from the fund to assist school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative services in increasing teacher salaries and the hourly wage paid to other employees.The act creates the educator pay raise fund task force (task force) to recommend a process by which the department will disburse money from the fund to school districts and charter schools. The act specifies considerations that the process must address, including requiring that a school district or charter school must at least maintain the level of funding it provides for educator salaries and wages from revenue other than money received from the fund. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives must appoint the task force members who represent specific constituencies listed in the act. The task force must submit its recommendations to the education committees of the general assembly by January 15, 2022.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies that:The license plates of a motor vehicle that is Class C personal property for purposes of the laws governing the levying of specific ownership tax and registration of vehicles expire upon the transfer of the owner's title or interest in the motor vehicle; except that the license plates do not expire if the motor vehicle has personalized number plates or plates with a valuable registration number that has been reserved for use under the "Laura Hershey Disability Support Act" (LHDSA); If either the expired license plates are personalized license plates or the owner wishes to continue to use the same combination of letters or numbers on the owner's expired license plates that were not originally issued as personalized license plates, the owner retains the priority right to use the combination of letters or numbers displayed on the expired license plates to the extent provided for in current law and may, after surrendering the expired license plates to the department of revenue (department), apply for personalized license plates that use the combination in the manner specified in current law when registering another motor vehicle; and The department shall approve any application for personalized license plates received from an individual who wishes to retain the same combination of letters or numbers displayed on the individual's expired license plates and who has surrendered the expired plates to the department unless the department determines that the combination is misleading or duplicates another registration number or that, due to evolving social mores, the combination, despite having previously been issued, carries connotations offensive to good taste or decency. Class C personal property includes passenger cars, noncommercial light trucks, and motorcycles. The act does not apply to the transfer or assignment of an owner's interest in Class C personal property that is a horseless carriage.The act also authorizes the department to issue license plates in the previously retired style that had white letters and numbers on a background of green mountains and a white sky to individuals who request such plates and requires the department to charge additional fees consisting of the existing personal license plate fee plus a fee of $25 for such plates. The $25 fee must be credited to the disability support fund for the purposes of the LHDSA.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $598,290 is appropriated to the division of motor vehicles in the department and $256,970 of the appropriation is reappropriated to the division of correctional industries in the department of corrections to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act adds language to strengthen current Colorado law related to protections against discrimination on the basis of disability for persons with disabilities, specifically as those laws relate to accessibility to government information technology. The added provisions include:Prohibiting a person with a disability from being excluded from participating in or being denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities of a public entity or a state agency; Clarifying that such prohibition includes the failure of a public entity or state agency to develop an accessibility plan and fully comply, on or before July 1, 2024, with accessibility guidelines established by the office of information technology (office); Any Colorado agency with the authority to promulgate rules shall not promulgate a rule that provides less protection than that provided by the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990". Definitions related to disabilities are added to the statutory sections for the office. The chief information officer in the office is directed to maintain accessibility standards for individuals with disabilities (accessibility standards) for information technology systems employed by state agencies that provide access to information stored electronically and are designed to present information for interactive communications, in formats intended for visual and nonvisual use.The chief information officer in the office is directed to promote and monitor the accessibility standards in the state's information technology infrastructure. The act directs each state agency to comply with the accessibility standards established by the office. The accessibility standards must be established using the most recent web content accessibility guidelines promulgated and published by the world wide web consortium web accessibility initiative or the international accessibility guidelines working group.The act directs each state agency, on or before July 1, 2022, to submit its written accessibility plan to the office. The office shall then work collaboratively with the state agency to review sections related to accessibility standards and to establish implementation methodology. On or before July 1, 2024, each state agency shall fully implement the sections of the state agency's plan related to accessibility standards. The act states that any state agency that is not in full compliance by July 1, 2024, is in violation of the state's laws concerning discrimination against individuals with a disability and is subject to the remedies set forth in statute.Liability for noncompliance as to content lies with the public entity or state agency that manages the content, whereas noncompliance of the platform hosting the content lies with the public entity or state agency that manages the platform.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $312,922 to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology. This appropriation is from the general fund and is based on an assumption that the office will require an additional 0.9 FTE. To implement this act, the office may use this appropriation for enterprise solutions.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)