Rep. Bri Buentello

The bill requires the department of education (department) to make available on the department's website to all public schools a waiver form that a parent or legal guardian may use to waive for one school year the provisions of the federal "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974" (FERPA), as necessary to allow school personnel to communicate with behavioral health care providers about a student's health records. The waiver form must include an explanation that signing the waiver is optional. The bill requires public schools to include the waiver form in the materials for pupil registration.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the highly effective teacher incentives program (program) to enable school districts, boards of cooperative services that operate public schools, and charter schools (local education providers) to offer salary bonuses to attract highly effective teachers to teach in elementary, middle, or junior high schools that are implementing priority improvement or turnaround plans (low-performing schools). The department of education (department) and the state board of education (state board) will implement the program by distributing grants in 2-year cycles. The amount of a grant is based on the number of highly effective teachers who meet the requirements for receiving salary bonuses and are employed by local education providers in low-performing schools. Each local education provider that applies and meets the requirements for a grant will receive a grant, subject to available appropriations. A local education provider may use the grant only to pay nonbase-building salary bonuses to eligible highly effective teachers. A local education provider that receives a grant and is already paying incentives to highly effective teachers who teach in low-performing schools must pay the bonuses funded by the grant money in addition to the other incentives. A highly effective teacher must meet specified criteria to receive the salary bonus. The amount of the salary bonus depends on whether the teacher was working in a high-performing local education provider and changed employment to work in a low-performing school or is continuing to work in a low-performing school and whether the highly effective teacher works in a low-performing elementary, middle, or junior high school. The bill creates the highly effective teacher incentives fund (fund), which consists of a one-time appropriation of $4 million from the state education fund. The state board will disburse approximately one-half of the money in the fund in the first grant cycle and approximately one-half of the money in a second grant cycle. By December 15, 2025, the department must submit to the education committees of the general assembly a report concerning the implementation and effectiveness of the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Procurement - source selection - disparity study. To ascertain whether disparities exist between the participation of historically underutilized businesses and other businesses in the state procurement system, the department of personnel is required to contract for a disparity study of the Colorado procurement process and to make recommendations to address any discrepancies identified by the study. The final report including the findings and recommendations from the study must be provided to the members of the general assembly and the executive director of the department of personnel (executive director) no later than December 1, 2020. The executive director is required to transmit a copy of the final report to the minority business office, which shall post the report on its official website. In addition, the executive director is required to include the findings and recommendations from the study in its report to the applicable house and senate committees of reference during its hearing pursuant to the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act". Any entity that is subject to the disparity study is required to respond to a request for information in connection with the study as soon as possible after receiving the request. $650,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of personnel for use by the division of accounts and control. Any unexpended and unencumbered money from the appropriation remains available for expenditure by the department of personnel for the purposes of the disparity study in the next fiscal year without further appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Waste tires - increased fee assessed on new tires sold - rebates for waste tires processed - waste tire monofill requirements - appropriation. To encourage resource recovery, recycling, and reuse of waste tires, there is a waste tire fee assessed on each new tire sold in the state. Commencing on January 1, 2020, the act raises the waste tire fee from 55 cents to up to $2.00, as set by the solid and hazardous waste commission by rule, and, on January 1, 2024, reduces it to 55 cents and continues the fee collection through December 31, 2025. The act also recreates the end users fund, into which fund, on and after January 1, 2020, the state treasurer shall distribute a portion of the revenue collected from the waste tire fee for use by the department of public health and environment (department) to provide quarterly rebates to end users for the processing of waste tires into tire-derived products or fuel. The end users fund and the rebate program are repealed on July 1, 2026. The state treasurer is required to distribute the other portion of the fee revenue to the waste tire administration, enforcement, market development, and cleanup fund in an amount sufficient to offset the department's direct and indirect costs in implementing the waste tire program, which costs are capped at 50 cents per each new tire sold. The act prohibits the department from granting a waiver to an owner or operator of a waste tire monofill from requirements to process a certain number of waste tires and not to store waste tires unless the owner or operator has demonstrated an annual net reduction in the number of waste tires at the monofill or has experienced an emergency event at the monofill such as a fire or flood. $3,262,500 is appropriated to the department to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Colorado youth advisory council - review committee - appropriation. The Colorado youth advisory council review committee (review committee) is created to review the work of the Colorado youth advisory council (council) and recommend legislation affecting Colorado youth. The review committee is comprised of the legislative members of the council, 5 nonlegislative council members who are appointed by the council, and one member of the legislative council. The 5 legislative members of the review committee serve as voting members. All other members are nonvoting members. The review committee may meet up to 3 times each interim and recommend up to 3 bills to the legislative council. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $28,790 from the general fund to the legislative department to use as follows: $18,455 for use by legislative council staff; $6,889 for use by the committee on legal services; and $3,446 for use by the general assembly.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

High-cost special education trust fund - trust fund grants. The act creates the high-cost special education trust fund (trust fund) to be used for high-cost special education trust fund grants (trust fund grants) to public school special education administrative units that have made significant expenditures in providing special education services to a child with a disability. The trust fund consists of $2.5 million transferred from the marijuana tax cash fund to the trust fund on July 1, 2019. The general assembly is encouraged to prioritize the transfer or appropriation of money to the trust fund in future fiscal years. The department of education may expend interest and income from the trust fund for trust fund grants awarded by the Colorado special education fiscal advisory committee (committee). The act specifies the eligibility criteria for a trust fund grant and criteria that the committee shall consider in determining the trust fund grant recipients and the amount of the trust fund grants. The act requires an annual report to the education committees of the general assembly concerning trust fund grants awarded during the fiscal year, and repeals the trust fund on July 1, 2027. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

History and civil government - history, culture, social contributions, and civil government in education commission - appropriation. The act mandates funding instruction in public schools of history and civil government of the United States and Colorado, including but not limited to the history, culture, and social contributions of American Indians, Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals within these minority groups; the intersectionality of significant social and cultural features within these communities; and the contributions and persecution of religious minorities. Current law requires school districts to convene community forums to discuss the content standards in history and civil government at least once every 10 years. The act requires the forums to be held at least every 6 years. The history, culture, social contributions, and civil government in education commission is established to make recommendations to the state board of education when the state board performs its scheduled 6-year review of education standards so that those standards and programs accurately reflect the history, culture, social contributions, and civil government of the United States and Colorado, including the contributions and influence of American Indians, Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals within these minority groups; the intersectionality of significant social and cultural features within these communities; and the contributions and persecution of religious minorities. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act makes an appropriation of $37,495 from the state education fund to the department of education for content specialists. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Substance abuse prevention - pharmacy enhanced dispensing fee - health care providers with prescriptive authority - required training - receipt of benefits for prescriptions prohibited - access to prescription drug monitoring program - appropriation to address opioid and other substance use disorder priorities - office of behavioral health grant programs created - center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies program created - perinatal substance use date linkage project created - report - appropriations. The act: Allows a pharmacy that dispenses an opioid to receive an enhanced dispensing fee if the pharmacy provides counseling concerning the risk of opioids to the patient; Prohibits a physician, physician assistant, or an advanced practice nurse from accepting any direct or indirect benefits for prescribing a specific medication; Requires the state board of pharmacy to promulgate rules that require a prescription for an opioid for outpatient use to bear a warning label; Allows medical examiners and coroners access to the prescription drug monitoring program under specified circumstances; Authorizes the department of human services to conduct research that relates to the definition of "abuse" concerning the incidence of prenatal substance exposure and related newborn and family health and human services outcomes as the result of a mother's lawful and unlawful intake of controlled substances; Requires specified state departments to report to the health committees of the general assembly by December 31, 2019, the amount of federal funds that each is receiving or is eligible to receive for use in testing for hepatitis and HIV and the number of individuals currently and anticipated to be tested. The departments are also required to share eligibility standards for treatment with primary care providers. Creates the Charlie Hughes and Nathan Gauna opioid prevention grant program to improve young lives in the office of behavioral health in the department of human services (office) for the purpose preventing opioid use among the state's youth population. Requires the center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies (center) to develop and implement a program to increase public awareness about the safe use, storage, and disposal of opioids, and about the availability of antagonist drugs. The general assembly is required to annually appropriate until the 2023-24 fiscal year $750,000 to the center from the marijuana tax cash fund to implement the program. Allows the center, in partnership with an institution of higher education and the state substance abuse trend and response task force to conduct a statewide perinatal substance use data linkage project; Requires the center to hire additional staff to assist local communities in applying for grants; Creates the maternal and child health pilot program in the office to provide grants to obstetric and gynecological health care clinics and to treatment facilities that provide substance use disorder or medication-assisted treatment; and Requires podiatrists, dentists, advanced practice nurses, optometrists, and veterinarians to complete substance use disorder training as part of continuing education required to renew the provider's license if the health care provider has prescriptive authority. $1,192, 367 is appropriated to the department of human services, $1,100,000 is appropriated to the department of higher education, and $2 million is appropriated department of public health and environment, all from the marijuana tax cash fund, to implement the act. Specified provisions of the act are contingent upon House Bill 19-1172 becoming law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Regulation of public livestock markets - continuation under sunset law - licensure. The automatic termination date of the regulation of public livestock markets is extended until 2034 pursuant to sunset law. Section 3 repeals a requirement that an applicant for a license prove financial stability, business integrity, and fiduciary responsibility and to provide a statement of assets and liability. Section 4 repeals a requirement that a licensed livestock market meet several size and premises standards. Section 4 replaces this with a requirement that a premises have adequate facilities necessary to operate a public livestock market. Sections 5 and 6 repeal provisions that imply that the state board of stock inspection commissioners regulate the sanitation of public livestock markets. Section 7 clarifies that the veterinarian who inspects livestock at a public livestock market is not employed by the department of agriculture and that livestock is inspected, not examined, for clinical signs of injury or disease. Section 7 also requires the veterinarian to be accredited. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More