Rep. Naquetta Ricks

Infusion pharmacies supply medicaid members with parenteral nutrition, which provides patients with essential nutrients through an intravenous infusion. The act requires the state department of health care policy and financing (state department) to create specific professional dispensing fees for the preparation and dispensing of parenteral nutrition (fees) to encourage an adequate level of market participation among infusion pharmacies that serve medicaid members. During the year beginning January 1, 2026, the fees must not exceed 30% of infusion pharmacy administrative costs for the preparation and dispensing of parenteral nutrition. The state department shall seek federal authorization, as necessary, to implement the fees. The act requires the state department to annually report on the adequacy of the infusion pharmacy network that supplies parenteral nutrition to medicaid members. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $54,832 to the state department from the general fund. The state department may use the appropriation for medical and long-term care services for medicaid-eligible individuals. The general assembly anticipates that the state department will receive an equal amount in federal funds to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Effective July 1, 2025, the act repeals the natural disaster grant fund from which awards were granted to local governments for improvements to domestic wastewater treatment works or public drinking water systems that were impacted by a natural disaster. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Section 1 of the act allows a person to access a suppressed court record if that person affirms that they are accessing the record on behalf of the attorney general for the purpose of investigating any violation of state law that the attorney general may enforce. Section 2 clarifies that the attorney general has the power to initiate and bring civil and criminal actions to enforce certain state landlord-tenant laws and that these actions must be initiated and brought within existing appropriations. Sections 4 and 5 grant counties, cities and counties, and municipalities the power to initiate and bring civil actions to enforce certain state landlord-tenant laws. Sections 4 and 5 also create requirements related to a county, city and county, or municipality retaining a private attorney to initiate or bring these civil actions. Section 6 establishes a receivership mechanism that is available as a remedy for violations of applicable laws and regulations by the landlord of multifamily residential property. The attorney general, a county, a city and county, and a municipality may all apply to a district court for the appointment of a receiver to operate a multifamily residential property if there is reasonable cause to believe that the landlord has engaged in a pattern of neglect, as defined in the Act, in connection with the property. The act establishes the process for a district court appointing a receiver, including requiring a hearing and an order of appointment that specifies the duties of a receiver, and the criteria for qualifying as a receiver. No sooner than 90 days after the district court appoints a receiver, the landlord of the relevant property, a lessee of the entire relevant property, the attorney general, or a county, city and county, or municipality may submit an application to the district court to terminate the receivership. As with the appointing of a receiver, section 6 establishes the process by which a district court may terminate a receivership. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act exempts an assisted living residence that has not undergone new construction or major renovations from complying with the facility guideline institute guidelines. The department of health care policy and financing (state department) must establish a process for reviewing and updating the general billing manual on an annual basis and ensure that the general billing manual includes all necessary CPT codes or links to the state department's list of CPT codes. The act allows the Colorado healthcare affordability and sustainability enterprise to receive public funds. Beginning January 1, 2026, for claims that must be reprocessed as a result of updating the provider rates, the act requires a managed care organization to issue payment to a contracted provider within one year after the provider rate is updated. The state department must notify the managed care organizations of changes to the provider rates within 60 days of changing the provider rates. The act requires the state department to include in each new contract with, or renewal of a contract with, a managed care entity (MCE) a provision requiring the MCE to submit to the state department, on an annual basis, the amount the MCE is paid and the MCE's medical loss ratio. The state department is required to publish this information, as well as historical medical loss ratio data for each MCE, and publish on an annual basis audit findings regarding an MCE's most recently completed medical loss ratio audit on the state department's website. The act prohibits the state department from imposing signature requirements on a physician or practitioner certifying a medicaid member's (member) plan of care that involves physical therapy, occupational therapy, or speech therapy. The act requires that for members receiving home- and community-based services, if a service the member receives is discontinued or no longer a covered service, the state department must confirm the timeline for the continuity of treatment with the federal centers for medicare and medicaid during the transition period of the benefit or service being discontinued and must communicate that timeline to the member impacted by the benefit or service being discontinued. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The Tony Grampsas youth services grant program (grant program) provides grants to community-based programs to reduce incidents of youth crime and violence. The youth mentoring program, the student dropout prevention and intervention program, and the student before-and-after school project (collectively, the "programs") were created within the grant program. The act repeals the individual programs and instead lists the programs as allowable uses for grant money under the grant program. The act transfers certain responsibilities from the Tony Grampsas youth services board (board) to the department of human services (department). The act repeals local public-to-private funding match requirements. The act requires each entity that receives a grant to annually report certain information to the department; except that an entity that has an operating budget of less than $1.5 million, or that receives a grant in the amount of not more than $25,000, is not required to report on the outcomes achieved by the services provided and the methods used to track the outcomes. The act decreases the appropriation from the marijuana tax cash fund to the youth mentoring services cash fund by $500,000 and reappropriates the money to the grant program by $500,000. The act decreases the appropriation from the youth mentoring services cash fund to the grant program by $504,120. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the recommendation of the department of regulatory agencies in its 2024 sunset review and report on the rural alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment program by continuing the program until September 1, 2030. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (department) in its sunset review and report on the HOA information and resource center (center). The center was scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2025. The act: Continues the center until September 1, 2030; Clarifies that the director of the division of real estate in the department is the appointing authority for the HOA information officer who is the head of the center; and Makes a technical change to refer to the HOA information officer by title, rather than by "he or she", to reflect gender-neutral language in statute.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals a definition of drug abuse from, and adds a definition of substance use disorder to, the state laws regulating electronic monitoring of prescription drugs. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For design-build transportation contracts administered by the department of transportation (department) "best value" means the overall maximum value of a proposal to the department after considering all of the evaluation factors described in the specifications for the transportation project or the request for proposals. The act requires that those evaluation factors include: Project schedule; Innovative solutions; Improved quality; Sustainability; Environmental impact; Initial cost; Long-term life-cycle cost of the transportation project; Resilience; Increased scope; and Aesthetics.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes the director (director) of the division of professions and occupations in the department of regulatory agencies (division) to license dietitians and nutritionists if they meet the requirements specified by the act and the rules adopted by the director pursuant to the act. On and after September 1, 2026, an individual is prohibited from engaging in or offering to provide medical nutrition therapy unless the individual is licensed by the director. The act creates the dietetics and nutrition advisory committee in the division, which is responsible for advising the director in the regulation of medical nutrition therapy and the implementation of the act. An individual who desires to practice as a dietitian must file with the director: An application for a license; Proof of completion of educational requirements and supervised practice experience; and Proof of compliance with examination requirements or proof of holding a valid, current registration with the Commission on Dietetic Registration. An individual who desires to practice as a nutritionist must file with the director: An application for a license; Proof of completion of educational requirements and supervised practice experience; and Proof of compliance with examination requirements. Until September 1, 2028, the director may waive the examination requirement and may grant a nutritionist license to an applicant who meets specified criteria. The director may deny or refuse to renew a license, suspend or revoke a license, or impose probationary conditions on a license. The director may also issue warnings to or seek injunctive relief against a licensee or applicant for licensure who has engaged in specified grounds for discipline or unprofessional conduct. The director may issue a provisional license to practice as a dietitian or a nutritionist upon the filing of an application with the appropriate fees, submission of evidence of successful completion of the educational and supervised practice requirements, and submission of evidence that the individual has applied to take the required licensing examination. The act exempts specified individuals from the licensing requirements established by the act. An individual who practices or offers or attempts to practice as a dietitian or nutritionist without being licensed pursuant to the act and who is not exempted from licensure commits a class 2 misdemeanor. The director shall adopt rules as necessary to implement the act. The act is scheduled for repeal on September 1, 2035. Before the repeal, the functions of the director in regulating dietitians and nutritionists are scheduled for review in accordance with the sunset law. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $100,584 from the division of professions and occupations cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies to implement the act. VETOED by Governor 5/23/2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)