Rep. Gretchen Rydin

Under current law, the maximum amount of liability of the petroleum storage tank fund for an individual occurrence of a leak, spill, or release of a petroleum product from an underground storage tank (occurrence) is $2,000,000. The act allows an owner or operator of an underground or aboveground storage tank (owner or operator) to exceed this amount of liability with the permission of the director of the division of oil and public safety (director) and the petroleum storage tank committee (committee). If the director and the committee grant such permission, the director and committee shall establish a new maximum amount of liability per occurrence for the owner or operator.     Under current law, all class I, II, and III liquid fuel products must comply with the most current applicable standards of ASTM International. The act allows the director to adopt a rule or issue policy guidance that provides exceptions to specific requirements established in an ASTM standard.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act declares emergency medical services as an essential service in the state and an integral part of the state's health-care infrastructure.      The act also declares that emergency medical service providers, whether responding on duty or as a volunteer and regardless of location, provide essential services when providing emergency ambulance services and nonemergency ambulance services.      The act also updates certain definitions related to emergency medical services, including the addition of a definition of 'out-of-hospital services', which term is defined to mean the furnishing of necessary health-care goods and services outside of a hospital setting but does not include prehospital setting transports.     The act clarifies that an off-duty emergency medical service provider is not obligated to respond to the scene of a medical emergency or provide emergency medical services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires coaches of youth athletic activities to complete a biennial mental health education course. The required mental health education course must address a coach's impact on the mental health of a youth athlete, a wellness framework for youth athletes, mental health disorders, trauma, substance abuse, and suicide prevention. The act requires a coach of a youth athlete, or other designated personnel, to advise the parent or guardian of the youth athlete to seek a medical evaluation from a licensed health-care provider for appropriate medical and behavioral health guidance if the youth athlete is removed from play for a suspected concussion.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes new educational requirements for individuals seeking to become licensed school counselors in Colorado. To qualify for an initial school counselor license, applicants must now hold a master's degree or higher specifically in school counseling from an accredited institution, with the program requiring at least 48 graduate semester credit hours. The legislation aims to ensure that school counselors entering the profession have comprehensive graduate-level preparation in counseling practices, student development, and strategies to support students facing behavioral and academic challenges. This change directly affects current and future school counselor candidates in Colorado who must meet these updated academic standards to obtain their professional license.

The act prohibits a person who possesses a record or report (record) of child abuse or neglect from releasing identifying data or information contained in the record to a person who is not authorized to receive the information or data.     The act clarifies what constitutes identifying data in a record. The act adds an assigned designee of a person named in a record who is acting on the person's behalf as a person who may have access to child abuse or neglect records if the assigned designee presents a valid release of information signed by an authorized person.     The act allows a person named in a record as an alleged abused or neglected child who is in possession of a record in which they are named or, with the person's consent, the person's attorney or guardian ad litem, to disclose and make use of the record, including for the purpose of litigation or to obtain treatment or services. Except as expressly authorized in law, a criminal defendant may only access a record after an in camera review by the court in which the court finds that access to the record is necessary for the resolution of an issue.     The act requires each county department of human or social services to establish and submit to the state department of human services a process current and former clients may use to obtain access to their case records.     The act repeals the penalties associated with a person who improperly releases or willfully permits or encourages the release of data or information contained in the records to a person not permitted to access the information and makes it a petty offense for the department of education or a school district, charter school, or nonpublic school to release data or information contained in a record to a person not permitted to access the information.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act establishes information disclosure requirements for a licensed facility that offers on-site and residential services for individuals with dementia and dementia-related conditions, including Alzheimer's disease ('dementia care facility' or 'facility').     The act requires the department of public health and environment (department), in consultation with the state long-term care ombudsman or the ombudsman's designee, to create a dementia care services information form (form) by July 1, 2027. The form must include certain specified fields for the disclosure of information regarding a dementia care facility's dementia care services, including the facility's:Dementia training requirements for staff that are in addition to statutory training requirements;Guidelines for using restraints;Security features and procedures for addressing the needs of residents with dementia; andCriteria and processes to determine placement, transfer, or discharge of residents living with dementia.     The department may review and update the form to ensure that it facilitates the disclosure of the required information. After creating or updating the form, the department must provide the form to every dementia care facility in the state.     A dementia care facility must complete the form with responsive, accurate, and complete information regarding the facility's dementia care services. Beginning October 1, 2027, every dementia care facility shall:Provide its completed form to every individual who contacts the facility seeking dementia care services;Review and update the form when the facility's information changes to ensure the information on the form is current, complete, and correct;Publish the facility's current completed form on the facility's website; andMaintain on the facility's premises and have available for inspection a copy of the facility's current completed form, and produce the form upon request by the department during a survey or inspection of the facility.     The act requires the department to issue a citation to a facility that fails to maintain on its premises and have available for inspection its completed form or that fails to produce the form upon request by the department during a survey or inspection.     The department may adopt rules, as necessary, to implement the act's requirements concerning the form; except that the rules adopted by the department must not exceed applicable national standards. The department may use money from the assisted living residence improvement cash fund for the purposes of creating the form and adopting related rules.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act defines 3-dimensional printing to mean additive and subtractive manufacturing. The act prohibits knowingly manufacturing or producing a potentially functioning firearm, unfinished frame or receiver, large-capacity magazine, or rapid-fire device (firearm or firearm component) by 3-dimensional printing. The prohibition does not apply to a federally licensed firearm manufacturer, an instructor or student of an accredited gunsmithing program, or an institution that operates an accredited gunsmithing program. Unlawful 3-dimensional printing of a firearm or firearm component is a class 1 misdemeanor; except that a second or subsequent offense is a class 5 felony.     The prohibitions in the act only apply to potentially functional firearms and firearm components.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The water quality control division (division) administers a program to test for and remediate water quality issues for mobile home parks (program). The program tests for water quality issues that pose a risk to not only health or safety but also the welfare of park residents. The act authorizes the division to require remediation of welfare-related water quality violations.     One of the requirements of the program is for the park owner to certify that the park owner has made certain water-quality-related notices to park residents. The act authorizes the division to issue an order requiring the park owner to comply with the park resident notice certification requirement.     Under the program, the park owner is prohibited from imposing the cost of compliance with certain remediation-related requirements on park residents. The act authorizes a park owner who is also a park resident to bear this cost.     The program authorizes the division to issue orders requiring the park owner to perform additional water testing, perform temporary measures necessary to address acute health risks, make additional reports to the division, create a remediation plan, implement a remediation plan, or respond to the division in connection with a remediation plan. The act clarifies that a park owner may ask for a hearing only regarding the orders that concern remediation plans.     The act also clarifies that:The division has authority to enforce the requirements of the program; andThe division has authority to issue cease-and-desist orders to address violations related to the program, regardless of whether the issues are related to water quality violations.     The act also provides that:An additional monthly penalty of up to $5,000 for a continuing violation may be imposed for the first 30 days of noncompliance; andA park owner is not entitled to an administrative hearing to contest an imposed civil penalty but may seek judicial review.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summaryThis bill proposes that Colorado lawmakers consider adding guaranteed lifetime income options to the state public employees' retirement defined contribution plan and voluntary savings plans. The measure aims to ensure public employees have access to a reliable income stream in retirement, similar to what is already available in the state's traditional defined benefit plan. By allowing workers to choose options that provide lifetime payouts, the bill seeks to improve retirement security and financial confidence for over 226,000 active public employees. The resolution encourages the General Assembly to study how these new options could help workers retire with dignity while maintaining the portability of their savings.

Under current law, a pet store in Colorado is permitted to sell or offer for sale dogs or cats if the pet store abides by certain requirements. The act removes the existing permission so that, beginning January 1, 2028, a pet store is no longer permitted to sell, lease, offer to sell or lease, barter, auction, or otherwise transfer ownership of a dog or cat. Nothing prohibits a pet store from providing space for the display of dogs or cats available for adoption if the pet store does not collect a fee from the display and if certain requirements are met.     The act defines 'broker' as a person that, for profit, sells, leases, offers to sell or lease, barters, auctions, or otherwise transfers ownership of, in person or online, a pet animal bred by another person. A broker does not include a person that transfers no more than 3 single pet animals per each calendar year if the person transfers each single pet animal no more than once. The act states that a broker is not permitted to sell, lease, offer to sell or lease, barter, auction, or otherwise transfer ownership of a dog or cat. The act clarifies that the following are still permitted:The sale, transfer, or adoption of an animal, including a law enforcement animal, to a governmental agency;The sale, transfer, or adoption of a guide, signal, or service dog;The sale, transfer, or adoption of a dog or cat by an animal shelter or pet animal rescue;The sale, transfer, or adoption of a dog bred or trained for lawful hunting to or by an individual who possesses a current hunting license;The sale or transfer of a dog or cat by the original breeder of the dog or cat; andThe sale, transfer, or adoption of a dog or cat by a health-related research facility.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)