The bill requires an investor-owned electric utility to file with the public utilities commission (commission) for the commission's review a comprehensive billing format that the investor-owned electric utility has developed for its monthly billing of customers. An investor-owned electric utility shall file the comprehensive billing format pursuant to a schedule determined by the commission. The comprehensive billing format must include the following: A line-item representation of all monthly charges and credits applied to the customer and an indication whether the charges have increased from the prior month as a result of increased fuel costs; For months in which tiered rates are applied, a breakdown of the tiered rates and the amount of usage to which each rate was applied for the month; The rate and usage for the current month and each of the previous 12 months, as shown in a bar graph or other visual format; and For customers to which demand rates apply, a listing of the demand charge, aggregated data about the demand during the billing period, and, if the customer is a residential customer, a calculation of the amount that the customer would have been billed had standard residential rates applied. The bill also requires each investor-owned utility to provide its customers, on a biannual basis, with an insert that indicates, as a percentage, each fuel source used in power generation and purchased for the utility. The bill sets forth procedures for the commission's review of a filed comprehensive billing format and provides that once a comprehensive billing format has been approved by the commission, the investor-owned utility need not refile it unless changes have been made to it. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
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Section 2 of the bill prohibits a person from serving on the public utilities commission if he or she: Has, within the immediately preceding 4 years, served as an officer or director of a regulated utility; or Has or acquires any official relation to, or financial interest in, a regulated utility. 'Financial interest' does not include passive ownership of stocks through a mutual fund or similar vehicle. Section 3 encourages the director of the commission to assign employees to temporary training and development sessions with other state agencies, particularly those with which the commission has frequent interaction, to improve the employees' substantive expertise and familiarity with the operations of those agencies. Section 3 also requires the director to keep audio records of the commission's proceedings and make them publicly available online. In addition, section 3 expressly authorizes the executive director of the department of regulatory agencies (of which the commission is a part) to request that the state auditor conduct performance audits of the commission and its staff and operations. Section 5 directs the commission to adopt rules concerning conflicts of interest, incompatible activities, and ex parte communications to govern the conduct of commission members, staff, and administrative law judges. Sections 1 and 4 make conforming amendments. Section 6 appropriates $22,812 to the department of regulatory agencies for legal services.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill requires health insurance carriers that contract with the state to provide group benefit plans to state employees to: Participate in the individual market through the health insurance exchange; Provide plans to 2 counties in a geographic rating area with the highest premiums; and Participate in medicaid, the children's basic health plan, and specific grant programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill, known as the 'Colorado Energy Impact Assistance Act', authorizes any investor-owned electric utility (utility) to apply to the public utilities commission (PUC) for a financing order that will authorize the utility to issue low-cost Colorado energy impact assistance bonds (bonds) to lower the cost to electric utility customers (ratepayers) when the retirement of a power plant occurs. A portion of bond proceeds will provide transition assistance for Colorado workers and communities directly affected by the retirement of the facilities (transition assistance). To repay the bonds at the lowest cost to ratepayers, the PUC is authorized to review and approve a financing order and authorize a special energy impact assistance charge that is separate and apart from the utility's base rates on all ratepayer bills. The establishment and ongoing adjustment of the separate charge will allow bonds to achieve the highest possible credit rating, at least AA/Aa2, from the national independent credit rating agencies and will therefore allow bonds to be issued at the lowest possible interest rate and lowest subsequent cost to ratepayers. Before issuing a financing order, the PUC must hold a public hearing, receive testimony from affected groups, and make specified determinations concerning the necessity, prudence, justness, reasonableness, and quantifiable benefits to utility ratepayers of issuing the financing order. After the public hearing process, if a financing order is approved by the PUC, it must include specific information and instructions for the utility to which it applies relating to the amount of bonds to be issued and the imposition of the energy impact assistance charge and must require the utility to pay a specified percentage of the net present value of the savings to a newly created Colorado energy impact assistance authority (authority) for the payment of transition assistance by the authority and the authority's reasonable and necessary administrative and operating costs. As an alternative to the financing order and bond issuance process, upon the closure of an electric generating facility, a Colorado electric utility may transfer to the authority an amount of up to 15% of the net present value of operational savings created by the closure of the electric generating facility, and such a transfer shall be deemed by the PUC to be a prudent action by the utility. The bill specifies that the authority is governed by a 7-member board of directors appointed by the governor and specifies mandatory and suggested occupational experience for the directors. The authority is authorized to receive bond proceeds from a utility to which a financing order applies and use the bond proceeds to provide transition assistance and pay its reasonable and necessary administrative and operating costs. Transition assistance is defined to include payment of retraining costs, including costs of apprenticeship programs and skilled worker retraining programs, for and financial assistance to directly displaced Colorado facility workers, compensation to Colorado local governments for lost property tax revenue directly resulting from the retirement of a facility, and similar payments, job retraining, assistance, and compensation for directly displaced Colorado workers and local governments in areas that produce fuel used in the retired facility directly resulting from the elimination of the need for fuel at the facility. When determining how best to provide transition assistance to a local community, the authority must, in conjunction with each board of county commissioners, municipal governing body, and school district that includes all or a portion of the impacted community, establish and take into consideration the advice of a local advisory committee. The authority is subject to open meeting and open records requirements and is required to submit a report to specified committees of the general assembly that sets forth a complete and detailed financial and operating statement of the authority for any fiscal year for which the authority has provided transition assistance. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill creates a process whereby an owner of a storage water right may obtain a decree that authorizes releases from storage to a downstream point of diversion or delivery for decreed beneficial uses to be dedicated to, and used by, the Colorado water conservation board in the intervening stream reach to preserve or improve the natural environment to a reasonable degree if specified conditions are satisfied. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill creates the Pueblo chile special license plate. In addition to the standard motor vehicle fees, the plate requires 2 one-time fees of $25. One of the fees is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other to the licensing services cash fund. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Capital Development Committee. In the case of appropriations for capital construction, not including information technology projects, the bill requires the general assembly to include an annual depreciation-lease equivalent payment line item payable from the cash fund that is the funding source for the capital construction appropriation in the operating section of the annual general appropriation act for each state agency. The bill also clarifies that one appropriation may be for the acquisition, repair, improvement, replacement, renovation, or construction of more than one capital asset. The bill clarifies that 'cash fund' does not include the money allocated to the division of parks and wildlife from lottery proceeds as specified in section 3 of article XXVII of the state constitution. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill prohibits a state or political subdivision from: Providing the race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, or religious affiliation of a Colorado resident to the federal government without determining it is for a legal and constitutional purpose; Aiding or assisting the federal government in creating, maintaining, or updating a registry for the purpose of identifying Colorado residents based on race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, or religious affiliation; Aiding or assisting the federal government or a federal agency in marking or otherwise placing a physical or electronic identifier on a person based on his or her race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, or religious affiliation; and Aiding or assisting, including using state or local lands or resources, the federal government in interning, arresting, or detaining a person based on his or her race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, or religious affiliation.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Under current law, a person born in Colorado who seeks a new birth certificate from the registrar of vital statistics (state registrar) to reflect a change in gender designation must obtain a court order indicating that the sex of the person has been changed by surgical procedure and ordering that the gender designation on the birth certificate be amended, and the person must obtain a court order with a legal name change. The bill repeals that provision and creates new requirements for the issuance of birth certificates in cases of changes to gender designation. Under the bill, known as the '2017 Birth Certificate Modernization Act', the state registrar shall issue a new birth certificate with a different gender designation to a person who was born in this state when the state registrar receives: A written request from the person or the person's legal representative requesting a new birth certificate with a gender designation that differs from the gender designated on the person's original birth certificate; and A statement from a medical or mental health care provider licensed in good standing stating that the person has undergone treatment appropriate for that person for the purpose of gender transition or stating that the person has an intersex condition, and that in the provider's professional opinion the person's gender designation should be changed accordingly. The bill requires that the state registrar issue a new birth certificate rather than an amended birth certificate. The bill allows a person who has previously obtained an amended birth certificate under previous versions of the law to apply to receive a new birth certificate. A person is not required to obtain a court order for a legal name change in order to obtain a new birth certificate with a change in gender designation. The bill creates a process for a person to update the person's name on a birth certificate at other times than the issuance of the new birth certificate. The state registrar is prohibited from requesting additional medical information but is authorized to contact the medical or mental health provider to verify the provider's statement. The courts in this state are given jurisdiction to issue a decree to amend a birth certificate to reflect a change in gender designation for certain persons if the law in another state or foreign jurisdiction requires a court decree in order to amend a birth certificate to reflect a change in gender designation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
For the purposes of the schedules of controlled substances, the bill exempts from the definition of 'anabolic steroid' human chorionic gonadotropin licensed for animal use only if it is expressly intended for administration through implants or injection into cattle or other nonhuman species and has been approved by the secretary of health and human services for such administration. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)