Rep. Mandy Lindsay

Colorado law requires a new motor vehicle dealer or a used motor vehicle dealer to maintain a principal place of business and sets minimum standards for the principal place of business. The act clarifies that the following acts are not a violation of this requirement: Delivering a motor vehicle to a customer for a test drive away from the dealer's principal place of business; Delivering documents for a customer to sign away from the dealer's principal place of business; Delivering documents to, or obtaining documents from, a customer away from the dealer's principal place of business; or Delivering a motor vehicle to a customer away from the dealer's principal place of business.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, an affordable housing developer in Colorado can qualify for state property tax exemptions for 15 years and federal income tax credits for 30 years. The act allows affordable housing projects to receive the Colorado state property tax exemptions for an extended period of 15 years to match the period available under federal law. Under current law, the tax credit for environmental remediation of contaminated land (commonly referred to as the Brownfield credit) allows taxpayers to claim income tax credits for voluntary cleanup of contaminated land, known as brownfield, located in Colorado. Taxpayers can claim a transferable credit equivalent to 40% of the first $750,000 spent on remediation and 30% of the next $750,000 spent, for a maximum credit of $525,000 on remediation costs of $1.5 million or more. In addition, a "qualified entity", which is a county, municipality, or private nonprofit entity, is allowed an essentially identical transferable expense amount for expenses incurred in performing approved environmental remediation that can be transferred to a taxpayer as an income tax credit. The Colorado department of public health and environment (CDPHE) is authorized to certify a total of $3 million in both tax credits for each income tax year. The act: Extends the tax credit, which is set to expire on January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2025, for an additional 2 years; Increases the annual total cap on tax credits from $3 million to $5 million for calendar year 2022 and after; Expands the definition of "qualified entity" to include school districts, charter schools, special districts, institutions of higher education, and other quasi-governmental entities; Allows a taxpayer whose credit is tied to remediation of a site in a rural community to claim a credit equivalent to 50% of the first $750,000 spent on remediation and 40% of the next $750,000 spent; Eliminates some restrictions that taxpayers have on the transferability of credits, including a restriction that requires any transfer to occur within the first 2 years of receiving the tax credit and the requirement that the transferee certify that the taxpayer satisfied statutory requirements; and Requires a taxpayer and a transferee of a tax credit or transferable expense amount to jointly file a copy of the transfer agreement with CDPHE, specifies that such filing perfects the transfer, and clarifies that the transferee and the department of revenue can rely upon the certification by CDPHE of the ownership and the amount of the tax credit as being accurate.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the Colorado career advisor training program in the department of education to provide training programs and courses to Colorado career advisors. The department of education, in coordination with the department of higher education, department of labor and employment, Colorado workforce development council, and the Colorado community college system, administers the program. The act appropriates $1 million from the general fund to the department of education. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act enacts the "Colorado 340B Prescription Drug Program Anti-discrimination Act" (act), which prohibits health insurers, PBMs, and other third-party payers (third-party payers) from discriminating against entities participating in the federal 340B drug pricing program (340B covered entity), including a pharmacy that contracts with a 340B covered entity to provide dispensing services to the 340B entity (contract pharmacy). Specifically, the act prohibits a third-party payer from: Refusing to reimburse a 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy for dispensing 340B drugs, imposing additional requirements or restrictions on 340B covered entities or contract pharmacies, or reimbursing a 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy for a 340B drug at a rate lower than the amount paid for the same drug to pharmacies that are not 340B covered entities or contract pharmacies; Assessing a fee, charge back, or other adjustment against a 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy, or restricting a 340B covered entity's or contract pharmacy's access to the third-party payer's pharmacy network, because the 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy participates in the 340B drug pricing program; Requiring a 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy to contract with a specific pharmacy or health coverage plan in order to access the third-party payer's pharmacy network; Imposing a restriction or an additional charge on a patient who obtains a prescription drug from a 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy; Restricting the methods by which a 340B covered entity or contract pharmacy may dispense or deliver 340B drugs; or Requiring a claim for a 340B drug to include a modifier or other method of identifying the claim for a 340B drug. A violation of the act is an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance. The act authorizes the commissioner of insurance to adopt rules to implement the act. The act appropriates $17,109 from the division of insurance cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

With regard to the involuntary discharge of residents from an assisted living residence (residence), the act: Requires a residence to provide written notice to the resident and other specified persons at least 30 days prior to the involuntary discharge, unless the reason for the involuntary discharge is because the resident needs a higher level of care than can be provided in the residence or the resident poses a harm to the resident or to other residents; If the involuntary discharge is due to a resident's nonpayment of monthly services and room and board, the residence may discharge the resident 31 days after the resident received the notice of discharge. Requires the residence to include certain information and documentation with the written notice; and Establishes a process for a resident or other specified persons to challenge an involuntary discharge, including the ability to file a grievance with the residence, a requirement that the residence respond to the grievance, the ability to appeal to the department of public health and environment (department), and the ability to request an administrative hearing, and establishes time frames for the grievance process. In addition, the act: Requires the state board of health (board) to promulgate rules establishing residence administrator standards that require all administrators, on and after January 1, 2024, to have at least one year of experience supervising the delivery of personal care services, or have equivalent experience or education, regardless of the date the administrator was hired, and establishing a fine for the residence if the residence's administrator or interim administrator fails to meet the standards. The act also authorizes the department to refuse to renew a license for a facility without a qualified administrator. Requires the residence owner or residence to obtain a check of the Colorado adult protective services data system for any employee providing direct care to residents; Requires the residence to comply with provisions concerning involuntary discharge of residents; and Establishes a range of fines for violations, including violations that result in harm or injury to residents. The department shall make recommendations to the state board concerning the range of fines after consulting with the statutory advisory committee relating to assisted living residences. The act removes the $2,000 annual cap on the amount of fines that may be imposed by the department as an intermediate restriction or condition on a residence licensee, replaces it with a fine not to exceed $10,000 per violation, and allows the department to impose a fine in excess of the $10,000 cap for an egregious violation that results in death or serious injury to a resident. The act also requires the department to impose a fine, in an amount determined by the department to deter further violations, for any violation resulting in actual harm or injury to a resident. The act also allows, but does not require, the department to suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a residence license if a resident is subject to mistreatment that causes injury to the resident, the residence's owner or administrator either directly caused the mistreatment or the mistreatment resulted from the administrator's failure to adequately train or supervise employees, and other measures to correct the violation have not been or are not expected to be effective. The act appropriates $74,508 from the general fund to the department to implement the act, and of that amount, $47,680 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services for the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act expands the grant program administered by the Colorado bureau of investigation (CBI) that assists counties in implementing recovery programs for persons who wander (grant program). A recovery program for persons who wander (recovery program), currently known as a lifesaver program, is a program under which a participant has a device that may be used to assist in attempting to electronically locate the participant. The act expands the grant program to apply to recovery programs established or maintained by counties and municipalities (local governments) or local government designees. The act also removes a limit on the amount of any single grant and a nonbinding intent statement regarding the maximum amount of money that the general assembly should spend on the grant program. Further, the act allows the executive director of the department of public safety to award grants to assist in maintaining and implementing recovery programs. The act also requires the CBI to establish a website that lists those local governments and local government designees that have a recovery program, describes how to contact those local governments and local government designees, lists resources for caretakers of persons with medical conditions that cause wandering, provides procedures to follow when a participant of a recovery program is determined to be missing, describes how the technology used by the various local governments and local government designees for recovery programs works, and provides any other information the CBI may conclude is necessary to better explain and publicize recovery programs. $100,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the recovery program for persons who wander cash fund for use by the CBI for operating expenses related to the Colorado crime information center and related personal services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes money from the tobacco master settlement agreement allocated to the state dental loan repayment program to also be used for oral health programs administered by the department of public health and environment (department). The act renames the "state dental loan repayment fund" as the "state dental loan repayment and oral health programs fund" (fund) and modernizes language relating to the fund. The act requires the department to report annually for 6 years to the joint budget committee concerning the amount of money allocated to the state dental loan repayment program and the number of qualified professionals applying for and receiving loan repayment. The report must also include information concerning the proportion and use of money from the fund for oral health programs. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act establishes a revolving loan and grant program to provide assistance and financing to mobile home owners seeking to organize and purchase their mobile home parks. The division of housing (division) in the department of local affairs (department) is required to contract with at least 2, and not more than 3, loan program administrators, unless the division determines that there is only one qualified applicant during an open and competitive selection process, in which case the division may contract with a single administrator. The administrators are required to use money provided by the loan program to make loans to mobile home owners seeking to purchase their mobile home parks. The division is required to establish a grant program to provide grants to nonprofit organizations that provide technical and other assistance to eligible home owners seeking to organize to purchase their mobile home parks. The division is also required to establish a grant program to provide grants to eligible home owners to support programs to ensure the long term affordability of a resident-owned park, including by stabilizing lot rents and limiting rent increases. The mobile home park resident empowerment loan and grant program fund (fund) is created. The state treasurer is required to transfer $35 million of money from the affordable housing and home ownership cash fund that originates from the general fund to the fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to implement the loan and grant program; except that $384,019 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services for the department and $29,571 is reappropriated to the department of law to provide legal services to the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)