Current law requires mandatory reporters to include certain information when reporting child abuse or neglect to the mandatory reporter's county department, local law enforcement, or through the statewide child abuse reporting hotline system (hotline system). The act requires a mandatory reporter to report any evidence of known domestic violence or intimate partner violence in the child's home, including any evidence of previous cases of known domestic violence or intimate partner violence in the child's home. The act requires the state department of human services (state department) to develop and implement a consistent screening process for a county department to follow, when possible, in responding to a report or inquiry to the hotline system. The screening process must include questions about domestic violence or intimate partner violence. The state department is required to develop and implement a disclosure procedure that notifies callers to the hotline system that calls are recorded. The act requires the state department to review the screening process used by county departments and hotline system operators to: Determine race; ethnicity; disability status; LGBTQ identity, if applicable; and English proficiency in a screening report and recommend a process for improving the accuracy of determining the demographic information, which must include opportunities to update the TRAILS statewide case management system; Understand the types of questions asked during the screening process to determine demographic information and recommend questions that reflect best practices and cultural competency; and Understand the sequence of questions asked during a screening process to determine demographic information and recommend a sequence of questions that better reflects best practices. The state department shall recommend and implement a screening process procedure to determine demographic information that reflects best practices and cultural competencies. No later than January 15, 2025, the office of the child protection ombudsman (ombudsman) shall select a third-party evaluator to conduct an audit on the Colorado family risk assessment (risk assessment) and the Colorado family safety assessment (safety assessment). In conducting an audit of the risk assessment, the third-party evaluator shall: Identify tools and resources to ensure the risk assessment is carried out consistently; Identify gaps and solutions to enable caseworkers to complete the risk assessment in real time while in the field; Examine the impacts of geography when using the risk assessment; Examine the impacts of race and ethnicity when using the risk assessment and how they affect communities that are over-represented in the child welfare system; Evaluate and recommend best practices for sharing the risk assessment with families, legal professionals, and the judicial branch; Evaluate and recommend best practices for training on the risk assessment; and Examine the risk assessment for domestic violence or intimate partner violence and recommend best practices. In conducting an audit of the safety assessment, the third-party evaluator shall: Examine the same issues set forth for the risk assessment; Study the inter-rater reliability of the safety assessment; and Study the required documentation for the planning and removal of a child from the child's primary caregiver. The third-party evaluator shall create a report summarizing the results of the audit. On or before March 1, 2026, the ombudsman is required to submit the audit report to the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee and the senate health and human services committee, or their successor committees, 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. The act appropriates $109,392 from the general fund to the judicial department for use by the ombudsman to implement this act. APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 28, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act enacts the "Interstate Compact on Placement of Children" (compact). The purpose of the compact is to: Provide a process through which children subject to this compact are placed in safe and suitable homes in a timely manner; Facilitate ongoing supervision of a placement, the delivery of services, and communication between the states; Provide operating procedures that will ensure that children are placed in safe and suitable homes in a timely manner; Provide for promulgation and enforcement of administrative rules implementing the compact and regulating the covered activities of the member states; Provide for uniform data collection and information sharing between member states; Promote coordination between the compact, the interstate compact for juveniles, the interstate compact on adoption and medical assistance, and other compacts affecting the placement of children and provision of services to children otherwise subject to this compact; Provide for a state's continuing legal jurisdiction and responsibility for placement and care of a child that it would have had if the placement were intrastate; and Provide for the promulgation of guidelines, in collaboration with Indian tribes, for interstate cases involving Indian children as is or may be permitted by federal law. After the act takes effect, and subject to available appropriations, the executive director of the department of human services (executive director) shall convene a working group to review the proposal for enactment of the revised interstate compact on placement of children, and conclude one year later unless amended. The working group shall review and make recommendations, according to a time frame determined by the working group, to Colorado's commissioner to the compact on the following issues: Evaluating the current compact process for children and families; Determining the status of Colorado's implementation of the national electronic interstate compact enterprise requirements and what effect the implementation of these requirements may have on Colorado; Improving the use of cross-border agreements; Identifying any barriers to placing children in residential treatment facilities out of state and options for addressing barriers within existing law; Identifying and prioritizing any alternative efforts being made to address interstate placement issues at the national level; and Identifying language and processes to improve interstate placements. The compact takes effect after the executive director provides notice to the revisor of statutes that the thirty-fifth state has enacted the compact. APPROVED by Governor May 24, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill creates a special license plate to honor first responders who have a permanent occupational disability (first responder). A first responder may obtain a special license plate without paying taxes or fees for the plate or the vehicle. For additional vehicles, a first responder must pay the standard motor vehicle fees plus 2 one-time fees of $25. One fee is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other fee is credited to the licensing services cash fund. An individual may obtain the license plate with the identifying figure that allows the use of reserved parking for people with disabilities.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires that prior to adding a person found responsible for child abuse or neglect (person) to the automated child welfare system (system), a county department of human or social services must provide, within 14 days, a written notice to the person of the opportunity for a hearing to appeal the finding. The written notice must include, among other things: Information about the factual history of the case and detailed information about the appeals process; Information about how the person may obtain, at no cost to the person, a complete copy of the record that will be added to the system, subject to redactions required by law; Information about how the person may request a complete copy of the law enforcement record, if any, of the alleged incident of child abuse or neglect; Information about the office of the child protection ombudsman; and Information about the office of the respondent parents' counsel. When a hearing is requested, the bill requires an administrative law judge to contact the parties to schedule the hearing, which must take place no later than 120 days after the date the person requests a hearing. The bill describes the rights accorded to the person. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Under current law, it is illegal for a person to possess a firearm if the person was convicted of or adjudicated for certain felonies. The bill adds felonies for drug manufacture, dispensation, sale, and distribution; drug possession with intent to manufacture, dispense, sell, and distribute; and first and second degree motor vehicle theft, to the list of convictions that prohibit a person from possessing a firearm.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Sections 1 and 2 of the bill create a high-emitter vehicle program for owners of motor vehicles that are not in compliance with emission standards and that have been issued a certification of emissions waiver (qualified vehicle). If the owner of a qualified vehicle resides in a nonattainment area for ozone and has unsuccessfully attempted to have the motor vehicle repaired to cure the noncompliance, the owner is eligible for a voucher of $850. The vouchers may be redeemed at qualified repair facilities that will bring the vehicle into compliance. The high-emitter vehicle program is funded by using up to 20% of the money in the AIR account in the highway users tax fund. The high-emitter vehicle program is administered by the nonattainment area air pollution mitigation enterprise, in coordination with the department of revenue, contractors that provide inspection services, and the clean screen authority. The high-emitter vehicle program repeals when Colorado meets federal ozone national ambient air quality standards (attainment). Section 3 requires the air quality control commission (commission) to create, in coordination with the lead agency for air quality planing for the Denver metropolitan area, a garden rebate program to increase the use of small electric motors used for outdoor power equipment. The program must: Provide a point-of-purchase rebate of the lesser of $150 or one-third of the price for each piece of outdoor power equipment purchased by the end user in a nonattainment area for ozone; Establish a registration system for qualified retailers; and Require the division to publicize the garden rebate program. The division of administration in the department of public health and environment (division) administers the garden rebate program, and the commission sets standards for qualified retailers to register for the program. If the garden rebate program exceeds its appropriation, the division may pause the program. The garden rebate program repeals January 1, 2030. Section 4 repeals the current tax credit for buying lawn and garden equipment with an electric motor. In current law, the clean fleet enterprise (enterprise) incentivizes and supports the use of electric motor vehicles for certain fleet uses, including transportation network companies. Sections 5 and 6 : Expand the program to include light-duty trucks; Authorize the clean fleet enterprise to provide grants of up to 80% of a local government's cost of acquiring motor vehicles that emit low levels of nitrogen oxides for the local government to use in its motor vehicle fleet; and Require the enterprise to prioritize making grants to local governments. The grant program authorization and prioritization repeal December 31, 2029. Section 7 requires the division to regularly perform, in the nonattainment area for ozone, photochemical modeling studies and data analysis designed to determine ambient air ozone levels and the effectiveness of policies for lowering ambient air ozone levels. The division is required to publish the results to the division's website and report the results to the commission and at its "SMART Act" hearing. Section 7 is repealed when Colorado achieves attainment.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill defines an electronic extension of a physical driver's license, minor driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card issued by the department of revenue that is approved by the department as an "electronic identification credential". Under existing law, a driver must be in immediate possession of the driver's driver's license or instruction permit while driving. The bill allows a driver who is not in possession of the person's physical driver's license or permit to possess and present a digital an electronic identification credential that is an extension of a license or permit instead. Under existing law, it is a class A traffic infraction for a driver who is in possession of a driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card to refuse to provide that identification, upon request, to a peace officer who reasonably suspects the driver has violated a traffic law. The bill requires a person who has in the person's possession a digital driver's license or identification card (digital identification) an electronic identification credential to provide the digital identification electronic identification credential , upon request, to a peace officer who reasonably suspects the driver has violated a traffic law. The bill makes it a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense to refuse to provide a driver's license, instruction permit, identification card, or digital identification to a peace officer. The bill removes the specified penalty and surcharge for the traffic infraction. The bill permits a driver who does not have the person's driver's or minor driver's license in the person's immediate possession to present to a requesting peace officer a digital driver's license or identification card as a form of personal identification. The bill requires a person who operates a motor vehicle who does not have the person's driver's or minor driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card, or an electronic identification credential that is an extension of the same (identification), or who has identification in the person's possession but refuses to present it to a peace officer, to provide personally identifying information to the peace officer upon request. Failure to provide identifying information to a peace officer by a driver is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense, and a peace officer shall not arrest a person for committing the offense. The bill takes effect March 31, 2025. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
To protect public health and the environment, a metropolitan sewage disposal district (district) is required to ensure that wastewater generated by local businesses is properly treated pursuant to the industrial pretreatment program (program) approved by the environmental protection agency. This requires district inspectors to inspect certain properties to investigate actual, suspected, or potential violations of the program. Under current law, the boundaries of a district may exist within multiple municipal and county lines, which makes it challenging for the district to obtain administrative inspection warrants when property owners deny district inspectors entry to a property. The act allows authorized inspectors of a district to enter and inspect, in a reasonable time and manner, any property for the purpose of investigating any violations of the program. If an inspection is denied, the act authorizes a district to obtain a warrant from the district court or county court upon a proper showing of the need for entry and inspection. APPROVED by Governor April 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill prohibits a court, without the consent of the district attorney, from releasing a person on any unsecured personal recognizance bond if the person is accused of committing a crime of violence and the court finds probable cause to believe that the person has committed the offense, and: The person has a record of conviction for a crime of violence within the prior 2 years; or There are at least 2 pending criminal charges against the person that allege that the person committed a crime of violence and the court finds probable cause to believe that the person has committed the prior alleged offenses (repeat violent offender). Existing law requires any monetary condition of pretrial release to be reasonable. The bill states that a reasonable monetary condition for a repeat violent offender is at least $7,500. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)