The act requires the executive director of the department of labor and employment (executive director), in partnership with the director of the division of unemployment insurance, the office of the governor, and either the new American advisor in the department or the director of the office of new Americans (ONA), if established, to study the feasibility of establishing a contract with a nonprofit, third-party entity to administer a wage replacement program for individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own and who are ineligible for regular unemployment benefits due to their immigration status. The executive director and the new American advisor or director of the ONA are required to submit recommendations to the governor and to the senate business, labor, and technology committee and the house of representatives business affairs and labor committee.$75,000 is appropriated to the department of labor and employment for the wage replacement program study.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Sponsored bills
Under current law, the office of the child protection ombudsman (ombudsman) has a duty to receive complaints made by or on behalf of a child relating to the child protection system in order to investigate and seek resolution of the complaint. The act extends the scope of the ombudsman's duties to self-initiate impartial and independent investigations and ongoing reviews of the safety and well-being of unaccompanied immigrant children who live in a state-licensed residential child care facility (facility) and who are in the custody of the office of refugee resettlement of the federal department of health and human services. The ombudsman may seek resolution of such investigations and ongoing reviews by referring an investigation and ongoing review to the state department of human services (department) or the appropriate agency or entity and making a recommendation for action relating to the investigation and ongoing review of the facility. The ombudsman may request, review, and receive copies of information, records, or documents that the ombudsman deems necessary to conduct a thorough and independent investigation and ongoing review of the facility. The ombudsman shall report the results of the investigation and ongoing review in the ombudsman's annual report.The act requires the facility to notify the ombudsman and the department within 3 days after the arrival of an unaccompanied immigrant child.The act permits the department and the ombudsman to coordinate site visits to investigate and review a facility. The department and the ombudsman may share final reports based on their site visits.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $90,600 is appropriated from the general fund to the judicial department and provides 0.9 FTE for use by the office of the child protection ombudsman to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the state auditor to contract with a public or private entity (contractor) to conduct a performance audit of the statewide system of standards and assessments and the statewide education accountability system. The act specifies the issues that the performance audit must address. By November 15, 2022, and following release by the legislative audit committee, the final report of the performance audit must be submitted to the commissioner of education, the state board of education, and the education committees of the general assembly.The act specifies the authority of the state auditor and the contractor to access nonfinancial records and information held by the department of education or held by public schools, school districts, boards of cooperative services, and the state charter school institute, if the records and information are not available from the department or from other sources.For the 2021-22 fiscal year, the act appropriates $300,000 from the general fund to the legislative department for use by the office of the state auditor and appropriates $52,000 from the general fund to the department of education to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires penal communications service providers (providers) who provide penal communications services (services) to correctional facilities (facilities) to maintain data and records (data) related to the services provided to those facilities. The act requires providers to submit the data and a report on the services provided to the public utilities commission (commission) on a quarterly basis. The commission is required to publish the data and report on its website in a format accessible by the public.The commission shall establish a maximum per-minute rate for in-state debit, prepaid, and collect calls to or from facilities, and shall conduct trial tests to ensure accountability and transparency. Starting on January 1, 2022, rate caps established by the federal communications commission apply to all in-state debit, prepaid, and collect calls to or from a facility.The act requires the commission to conduct trial tests on a statistically valid sample of penal communications services and document the test results to ensure the quality of the calls and the accountability of the service.The act requires providers to include specific language to be displayed prominently on the provider's website concerning the filing of a complaint.Current law exempts providers and the services provided from oversight by the commission. The act grants the commission authority over providers and the services provided.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $259,251 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the public utilities commission. This appropriation is from the telecommunications utility fund. To implement this act, the division may use this appropriation as follows:$232,101 for personal services, which amount is based on an assumption that the division will require an additional 3.0 FTE; and $27,150 for operating expenses.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act expands the existing "Colorado Student Loan Servicers Act", which applies only to persons who service student loans, by adding a new part 2 covering private lenders, creditors, and collection agencies (private education lenders) in connection with those student education loans that are not made, insured, or guaranteed under federal law and that are used for postsecondary education. The act:Requires private education lenders to register with an assistant attorney general; Requires private education lenders to grant a release to cosigners if certain conditions are met, including 12 months of consecutive, on-time payments, and to ensure that cosigners have access to all documentation and records related to the loan they have cosigned; Expands disability discharge requirements so that a borrower or cosigner may be released from repayment obligations if permanently disabled; Prohibits "robo-signing" of documents used in collection lawsuits and requires specific evidence of loan origination and chain of ownership of the debt before a loan creditor or collection agency may commence legal proceedings; Prohibits auto-defaults, in which a loan is declared immediately due and payable upon the death or bankruptcy of a cosigner even when there has been no default in payments; and Provides legal recourse for borrowers who are harmed by predatory acts and practices of a private education lender. A violation of the new part 2 is defined as a deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act".(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the department of higher education and the department of education to convene a workgroup on diversity in the educator workforce (workgroup).The department of higher education and the department of education shall select the members of the workgroup. The departments may seek recommendations or nominations from interested stakeholders. The workgroup members must be representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of the Colorado student population by ensuring that at least 50% of the workgroup is comprised of persons from historically underrepresented minority groups.The workgroup shall investigate barriers to the preparation, retention, and recruitment of a diverse educator workforce and shall consider strategies to increase diversity in the educator workforce. The act includes specific issues for the workgroup to consider.The workgroup shall submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the education committees of the general assembly no later than September 30, 2022. The workgroup may submit interim findings and recommendations during the 2022 legislative session.Under current law, the department of higher education reports annually concerning educator preparation programs, including enrollment, graduation rates, outcomes of graduates, and performance on assessments administered for licensure. The act requires the department of higher education to include the required information disaggregated by the candidates' or graduates' gender, race, and ethnicity. Further, the information contained in the annual report must be posted on the department of higher education's and the department of education's websites.The act appropriates $20,115 from the general fund and provides 0.3 FTE to the department of education to implement the act and appropriates $7,400 from the general fund to the department of higher education to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act addresses the following items related to landlord and tenant rights in residential rental agreements:After a complaint is filed by a landlord, the clerk of the court or the attorney for the plaintiff shall issue a summons, including information concerning filing an answer and legal aid. A court shall not enter a default writ of restitution before the close of business on the date upon which an appearance is due. Provides additional details regarding the defendant's answer, including that a defendant does not waive any defense related to proper notice by filing an answer; that the court shall set a date for trial no sooner than 7, but not more than 10, days after the answer is filed, unless the defendant agrees to waive this provision and schedule the trial for an earlier date, except that a court may extend beyond 10 days if either party demonstrates good cause for an extension or if the court otherwise finds justification for the extension. In the time after an answer is filed and before a trial occurs, the court shall order that the landlord or tenant provide any relevant documentation that either party requests. A landlord who provides a tenant with proper notice of nonpayment shall accept payment of the tenant's full amount due according to the notice, as well as any rent due under the rental agreement, at any time until a court has ordered a writ of restitution; Eliminates the bond requirement for the warranty of habitability and allows the tenant to assert an alleged breach of the warranty of habitability as an affirmative defense;Establishes allowable court procedures and remedies in cases of an alleged breach of warranty of habitability; Bans unreasonable liquidated damage clauses that assign a cost to a party stemming from a rental violation or an eviction action; Prohibits rental agreements that contain one-way fee-shifting clauses that award attorney fees and court costs only to one party; and The act prohibits a landlord of a mobile home park or a residential premises (landlord) from:Charging a tenant or mobile home owner (tenant) a late fee for late payment of rent unless the rent payment is late by at least 7 calendar days; Charging a tenant a late fee in an amount that exceeds the greater of: $50; or 5% of the amount of the rent obligation that remains past due; Requiring a tenant to pay a late fee unless the late fee is disclosed in the rental agreement; Removing, excluding, or initiating eviction procedures against a tenant solely as a result of the tenant's failure to pay one or more late fees; Terminating a tenancy or other estate at will or a lease in a mobile home park because the tenant fails to pay one or more late fees to the landlord; Imposing a late fee on a tenant for the late payment or nonpayment of any portion of the rent that a rent subsidy provider, rather than the tenant, is responsible for paying; Imposing a late fee more than once for each late payment; Requiring a tenant to pay interest on late fees; Recouping any amount of a late fee from a rent payment made by a tenant; or Charging a tenant a late fee unless the landlord provided the tenant written notice of the late fee within 180 days after the date upon which the rent payment was due. A landlord who commits a violation must pay a $50 penalty to an aggrieved tenant for each violation. Otherwise, a landlord who commits a violation has 7 days to cure the violation, which 7 days begins when the landlord receives notice of the violation. If a landlord fails to timely cure a violation, the tenant may bring a civil action to seek one or more of the following remedies:Compensatory damages for injury or loss suffered; A penalty of at least $150 but not more than $1,000 for each violation, payable to the tenant; Costs, including reasonable attorney fees if the tenant is the prevailing party; and Other equitable relief the court finds appropriate. In an action for possession or collection based upon nonpayment of rent, the tenant may assert, as an affirmative defense the landlord's alleged breach of the warranty of habitability, provided that the landlord had previously received notice of the alleged breach of the warranty of habitability. If a county or district court is satisfied that the defendant is unable to deposit the amount of rent specified into the registry of the court because the defendant is found to be indigent, as described in the act, the defendant shall not be required to deposit any amounts to raise warranty of habitability claims as an affirmative defense and the claim will be perfected.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $15,756 to the judicial department. This appropriation is from the general fund and is based on an assumption that the department will require an additional 0.2 FTE. To implement this act, the department may use this appropriation for trial court programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies measures in several categories to protect personal identifying information (PII) kept by state agencies.Limitations on PII shared by state agencies: A state agency employee is prohibited from disclosing or making accessible PII that is not available to the public for the purpose of investigating for, participating in, cooperating with, or assisting in federal immigration enforcement, except as required by federal or state law or as required to comply with a court-issued subpoena, warrant, or order. The department of revenue is prohibited from sharing motor vehicle records with law enforcement agencies and other government agencies if the information is to be used for the purpose of investigating for or assisting in federal immigration enforcement, except as required by federal or state law or as required to comply with a court-issued subpoena, warrant, or order.Reduction of PII collected by state agencies: Beginning January 1, 2022, a state agency employee is prohibited from inquiring into, or requesting information or documents to ascertain, a person's immigration status for the purpose of identifying if the person has complied with federal immigration laws except as required by state or federal law or as necessary to perform state agency duties, or to verify a person's eligibility for a government-funded program for housing or economic development if verification is a condition of the government funding.In addition, beginning January 1, 2022, a state agency shall not collect data regarding a person's place of birth, immigration or citizenship status, or information from passports, permanent resident cards, alien registration cards, or employment authorization documents, except as required by state or federal law or as necessary to perform state agency duties, or to verify a person's eligibility for a government-funded program for housing or economic development if verification is a condition of the government funding.Access to state agency records: Beginning January 1, 2022, to be granted access to PII through a database or automated network maintained by a state agency that is not otherwise available to the public, a third party must have, within the past year, certified under penalty of perjury that the third party will not use or disclose PII obtained for the purpose of investigating for, participating in, cooperating with, or assisting in federal immigration enforcement, unless required by federal or state law or to comply with a court-issued subpoena, warrant, or order that is not related to prosecution for a violation of specified provisions of federal immigration law. The attorney general's office is required to create a model certification form and provide it to state agencies.Record keeping and reporting: The act specifies what a request for records includes and does not include for purposes of the act. Beginning January 1, 2022, if a third party requests a record from a state agency and the record contains PII, the state agency is required to retain a written record of the request that contains specified information (written record). Beginning January 1, 2022, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, the state agency is required to provide the information contained in the written record to the governor's office of legal counsel and to attest that no request was granted for any purpose prohibited by the act. On March 1, 2022, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, the governor's office is required to provide a report to the joint budget committee of the general assembly containing quarterly and year-to-date summaries of the information provided by state agencies in the written record.For a request made by a third party through the Colorado driver's license, record, identification, and vehicle enterprise solution, if the department of revenue is unable to gather the information for the written record because doing so would require technology or programming changes outside the department's control, the department is required to continue to allow access to the information if access is required by state or federal law or is a condition of receiving federal or state funding. The department of revenue is required to submit quarterly reports including the identity of the third party, the reason for the inability to collect the written record, and an attestation that the department of revenue and third party have met the other applicable requirements of the act.Data privacy breaches: Any state agency employee who intentionally violates the provisions of the act is subject to an injunction and is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation.The act includes an identification document issued to an individual who is not lawfully present in the United States in the list of records that the department of revenue shall not allow a person to inspect pursuant to the "Colorado Open Records Act". In addition, the act specifies that the provisions of the act are included in the laws that the department of revenue is required to follow when releasing records for public inspection.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows the division of housing within the department of local affairs to use the housing development grant fund for rental assistance, tenancy support service programs, and awarding grants and loans for the rental, acquisition, or renovation of underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties to provide noncongregate sheltering or affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness. The act expands those who are eligible to benefit from the rental assistance and tenancy support programs to include individuals experiencing homelessness.The act transfers $30 million from the affordable housing and home ownership cash fund to the housing development grant fund for the funding of rental assistance and tenancy support programs related to the rental, acquisition, or renovation of underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties, and the awarding of grants and loans for the rental, acquisition, or renovation of underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties. The act also transfers $15 million from the general fund to the affordable housing and home ownership cash fund.Additionally, the act requires the department of local affairs, during its annual report to the assigned committee of reference, to report on the rental and tenancy support service programs provided by the division of housing related to the rental, acquisition, or renovation of underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties and the grants and loans awarded by the division for the rental, acquisition, or renovation of underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties.Finally, the act further expands the permissible use of the housing development grant fund to allow the awarding of grants to nonprofit organizations for the issuance of direct assistance to individuals who are currently experiencing financial need and are not eligible for certain other types of assistance. The act transfers $15 million from the general fund to the housing development grant fund for this purpose and requires the state treasurer to transfer all unexpended and unencumbered money that is transferred to the fund for this purpose to the general fund on June 30, 2022.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act states that, upon passage of the act, verification of lawful presence in the United States is not required for any purpose that lawful presence is not required by law, ordinance, or rule to receive benefits pursuant to a federal stimulus law or rule.Effective July 1, 2022, the act repeals current laws that require a person to demonstrate the person's lawful presence in the United States to be eligible for certain public benefits and states that lawful presence is not a requirement of eligibility for state or local public benefits, as defined by 8 U.S.C. sec. 1621.The act amends certain statutory provisions to clarify acceptable documents to demonstrate eligibility.Current law prohibits a state agency or political subdivision from entering into or renewing a public contract with a contractor who knowingly employs or contracts persons who are undocumented. The act repeals that requirement and associated statutory provisions.The act appropriates:$178,627 to the department of human services to implement the act. $47,768 is from the general fund and $130,859 is from the federal child care development funds; and $83,881 from the general fund to the department of revenue for use by the taxation business group to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)