The act requires the department of public health and environment (department) to create a public database of buildings that have been used as illegal drug laboratories involving methamphetamine. The department must remove a building from the database 5 years after the property has been decontaminated. The database must notify the public as to whether the property has been decontaminated. A law enforcement agency and an industrial hygienist are required to notify the department upon discovering an illegal drug laboratory that manufactured methamphetamine on residential property. Colorado law creates a warranty of habitability that authorizes a tenant to void a lease if the property is not habitable. The act adds to the warranty a failure to remediate residential property that has been used as an illegal drug laboratory to make methamphetamine. To implement the act, $74,516 is appropriated to the department from the general fund. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 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.)
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The act creates the school discipline task force (task force) to study and make recommendations regarding school district discipline policies and practices, state and local discipline reporting requirements, and local engagement. The task force consists of 18 members, including the legislative member who is the chair of the Colorado youth advisory council review committee (review committee); the executive director of the department of early childhood or the executive director's designee; the commissioner of education (commissioner) or the commissioner's designee; representatives of statewide education organizations; and former students who attended Colorado public schools and who have lived experience with the school discipline system. The commissioner is required to call the first meeting of the task force. The task force is required to: Define "disproportionate discipline"; Review the department of education's (department) standardization of discipline data; Review the department's plan for creating school district and charter school institute profile reports; Determine whether the department's standardization of discipline data should include reports of alternative disciplinary measures taken prior to a student's suspension or expulsion; Recommend processes and provide resources for public engagement in a local school district board of education's discussions of discipline data; Review existing public engagement processes; Review best practices identified by the department concerning dropout prevention and student re-engagement; Identify alternative approaches to discipline, including but not limited to positive behavioral interventions and supports, bullying intervention and prevention, and behavior intervention plans, and address concerns around workforce and other resource shortages in school districts in relation to school discipline practices and reporting; and Recommend legislative and administrative changes, as necessary, and analyze the costs and time frames required to implement the changes. The task force is required to submit a final report on or before August 1, 2024. The task force is required to present its findings and recommendations to the review committee during the first meeting of the review committee in 2024. Current law encourages school districts to consider certain factors before suspending or expelling a student. The act requires school districts to consider those factors before suspending or expelling a student, which include the age and disciplinary history of the student, whether the student has a disability, the seriousness of the violation, whether the violation threatened the safety of any student or staff member, and whether a lesser intervention would properly address the violation. The act appropriates $164,398 from the general fund to the department to implement the task force. The act also appropriates $1,415 from the general fund to the legislative department for use by the general assembly for legislator per diem and travel reimbursement to participate on the task force. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 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 extends the Colorado food systems advisory council (council) established within Colorado state university until September 1, 2026. The act adds a representative of a food bank as a member of the council. The act changes how 16 members of the council are appointed, requiring that the governor or the governor's designee appoint 5 members and that the speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate appoint 12 members on a rotating basis as new positions or vacancies arise. The act creates new duties for the council, including: Examining best practices to advance or improve food distribution systems and develop new markets for Colorado agricultural producers; and Conducting research and providing support at the request of the governor, members of the general assembly, or any state agency in connection with the council's purpose and duties. The act requires the council to include a summary of the council's activities from the prior year and a summary of the council's planned activities for the upcoming year in council's annual report to specified legislative committees. The council must also accept and consider public comment regarding the annual report. The act repeals the council's authority to engage in any other activity not specified in statute that the council determines is necessary to accomplish the council's purposes. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $151,068 from the general fund to the department of higher education for limited fee-for-service contracts with state institutions, which amount is reappropriated for use by the board of governors of the Colorado state university system for the food systems advisory council. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 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 the urgent incident response fund (fund). Money in the fund is annually appropriated to the division of homeland security and emergency management (division) in the department of public safety (department) to reimburse state agencies and local governments for the costs of responding to urgent incidents that do not rise to the level of disasters or emergencies. The act requires the division to: Publish certain information on its website regarding reimbursements made to state agencies or local governments for the costs of responding to urgent incidents; and Promulgate rules to establish a process for local governments and state agencies to receive reimbursements. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $1,000,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the fund and reappropriated from the fund to the department for use by the division for urgent incident response. The department is responsible for the accounting related to this appropriation. APPROVED by Governor June 1, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the disordered eating prevention program (program) in the department of public health and environment (department) within the prevention services division (division). The division is required to: Create and maintain an external-facing resource that is updated annually and includes key information about disordered eating, including risk factors and prevention factors; Collaborate with the office of suicide prevention and other programs within the division to align work focused on disordered eating, facilitate public outreach, and increase awareness regarding disordered eating prevention and care with a focus on impacted communities, such as youth, older Coloradans, people of color, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals; Partner with the department of education to inform teachers, administrators, school staff, students, and parents on disordered eating preventions; and Coordinate the disordered eating prevention research grant program. The division may: Contract with a third-party to conduct focus groups, interview key individuals, conduct surveys, and establish a collaborative group to discuss key issues regarding disordered eating prevention; Partner with the behavioral health administration; and Identify disordered eating prevention strategies, including dismantling discrimination and bias with regard to weight. The act creates the disordered eating prevention research grant program (grant program) in the division. The purpose of the grant program is to provide financial assistance to eligible applicants to research root causes of disordered eating and examine risk factors for and protective factors against disordered eating in youth, adults, and older Coloradans. The act appropriates $26,679 to the department from the general fund for use by the division for the program. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 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.)
Starting July 1, 2024, the act authorizes individuals who have a midwife certification from the American Midwifery Certification Board, pay the required fee, and submit to a criminal history record check to obtain a license from the state board of nursing (board) to practice as a certified midwife in the state. A certified midwife licensed by the board may apply for and obtain provisional and full prescriptive authority upon satisfying the requirements specified in the act. Certified midwives are subject to regulation by the board to the same extent that the board regulates the practice of nursing, including grounds for discipline and disciplinary actions. Effective July 1, 2024, the act adds a member to the state board of nursing who is a certified midwife or an advanced practice registered nurse who is a certified nurse midwife. The act appropriates $15,393 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment for use by the health facilities and emergency medical services division for administration and operations necessitated by the act. APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE May 25, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024 NOTE: Section 69 of the act states that the act takes effect upon passage; except that, section 12-255-105, Colorado Revised Statues, as amended in section 3 of the act, takes effect July 1, 2024. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, a unit owners' association (association) of a common interest community may not prohibit the use of xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes to provide ground covering to property for which a unit owner is responsible. There is, however, an exception authorizing an association to adopt and enforce design or aesthetic guidelines or rules that apply to nonvegetative turf grass and drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes or to regulate the type, number, and placement of drought-tolerant plantings and hardscapes that may be installed on a unit owner's property, on a limited common element, or on other property for which the unit owner is responsible. The act states that an association's guidelines or rules must: Not prohibit the use of nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard of a unit owner's property; Not unreasonably require the use of hardscape on more than 20% of the landscaping area of a unit owner's property; Allow a unit owner an option that consists of at least 80% drought-tolerant plantings; and Not prohibit vegetable gardens in the front, back, or side yard of a unit owner's property. The act requires an association to develop at least 3 garden designs that are preapproved by the association for installation in front yards within the common interest community. To receive preapproval, a garden design must adhere to the principles of water-wise landscaping or be part of a water conservation program operated by a local water provider. A unit owner who is affected by an association's violation of the act's requirements may, after providing the association notice of and a 45-day period to cure the violation, bring a civil action to restrain further violation and to recover up to $500 or actual damages, whichever is greater. The act's provisions apply only to a unit that is a single-family detached home and do not apply to: A unit that is a single-family attached home that shares one or more walls with another unit; or A condominium. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 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 the general assembly to annually appropriate $1.5 million from the general fund to the department of human services for continued employment support and job retention services and to continue to support work-based learning opportunities for Colorado employment first participants.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act allows a physician, a physician assistant, an advanced practice registered nurse, or any other person who is authorized by law to administer a vaccine (practitioner) to ask an individual who seeks to receive a publicly funded vaccine to present proof of health insurance or other form of identification, but a practitioner is prohibited from conditioning the receipt of the vaccine on the individual's presentation of the documentation or ability to pay an administration fee. The act requires practitioners to post a notice and provide to individuals seeking a publicly funded vaccine a disclosure statement indicating that the publicly funded vaccine will be provided regardless of the individual's presentation of the requested documentation or ability to pay an administration fee. The act allows an independent pharmacy to condition receipt of a publicly funded vaccine on an individual's ability to pay for the administration of the vaccine but limits the amount an independent pharmacy may charge. The act prohibits a practitioner from charging an individual for the cost of a vaccine that is paid for by the federal, the state, or a local government but permits a practitioner to charge and seek payment from an insurer or the vaccine recipient or, if applicable, from a federal or state source, for the cost of administering the vaccine. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 10, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act: Amends the practice of a pharmacy technician to include performing point-of-care testing and patient care technical tasks as specifically trained for and delegated by a supervising pharmacist; Requires the majority of pharmacy technicians to be fully certified by the state board of pharmacy when 3 or more pharmacy technicians are on duty; and Changes the supervision ratio for pharmacists to include supervising up to 8, rather than only 6, pharmacy technicians when the pharmacy, other than a pharmacy located in a hospital, is a central fill pharmacy that is not a public-facing pharmacy and is acting as an agent of an originating pharmacy to fill or refill a prescription. The act authorizes reimbursement under the medical assistance program for dispensing or administering vaccines to children under 19 years of age. To be eligible to receive reimbursement, the pharmacy or pharmacist must be enrolled in good standing with the federal centers for disease control and prevention vaccines for children program administered by the department of public health and environment (department). Until the department determines a framework for participation by pharmacies or pharmacists, the department is not required to enroll pharmacies receiving reimbursement for the administration of vaccines through the medical assistance program as vaccines for children providers. APPROVED by Governor May 4, 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.)