Rep. Lesley Smith

The act makes changes to requirements for preventive care coverage by health insurers for breast cancer screening, including: Relocating in statute the high-risk breast cancer screening requirements; Defining and specifying criteria for the use of diagnostic breast examinations and supplemental breast examinations; and Clarifying that, in addition to regular breast cancer screening, diagnostic and supplemental breast examinations that are medically necessary and conducted within nationally recognized screening guidelines do not require cost sharing by the patient.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the provider stabilization fund for use by Colorado department of health care policy and financing (department) to distribute provider stabilization payments to safety net providers who provide services to low-income, uninsured individuals on a sliding-fee schedule or at no cost. Provider stabilization payments will be distributed to eligible safety net providers based on the proportion of low-income, uninsured individuals that an individual provider serves in comparison to the total number of low-income, uninsured individuals served by all eligible safety net providers. The state treasurer is directed to make an interest-free loan of interest earnings on the principal in the unclaimed property trust fund (UPTF) and, if the interest earnings are insufficient, from the principal of the UPTF as well, to the provider stabilization fund as follows: $25 million for the 2025-26 state fiscal year; $20 million for the 2026-27 state fiscal year; and $15 million for each of the 2027-28, 2028-29, and 2029-30 state fiscal years. The act specifies that the loan from the UPTF to the provider stabilization fund is an interfund loan that is not classified as revenue, is booked as an interfund receivable or payable, is not state fiscal year spending or state revenues, and does not count against the state fiscal year spending limit or the excess state revenues cap. The department is directed to repay the loan by January 1, 2045, but in any year in which state revenues do not exceed the limit on state fiscal year spending, the department must present to the joint budget committee a proposal to repay all or a portion of the loan at an earlier time, and to the extent possible, the general assembly must prioritize repaying the loan starting in the 2030-31 state fiscal year or sooner if funds are available. The provider stabilization fund also consists of any money the general assembly appropriates, transfers, or credits to the fund and any gifts, grants, or donations the department may receive for the fund. The act directs the department to leverage money in the provider stabilization fund to obtain federal matching money. The act establishes a provider stabilization fund advisory board (advisory board) to assist the department in implementing and administering the provider stabilization fund. The department, with assistance from the advisory board, is required to submit an annual report on the provider stabilization fund to specified committees, the governor, and the medical services board in the department. The advisory board is scheduled for repeal on September 1, 2031, and is subject to a sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies before the repeal. The act appropriates $25,000,000 from the provider stabilization fund to the department to implement the act, allocated as follows: $138,505 for personal services to administer the act, including 2.0 FTE; $15,900 for operating expenses; and $24,845,595 for provider stabilization payments to eligible safety net providers.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the American Indian affairs interim committee (committee). The purpose of the committee is to examine issues and challenges that impact American Indian Tribal Nations. The committee consists of 6 voting members of the general assembly who serve for the duration of the committee unless they resign, are removed, or are no longer in office and 2 nonvoting members, one from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and one from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The act allows the committee to meet up to 6 times and recommend up to 5 bills during each interim, but the committee does not meet or recommend legislation during the 2025 interim. On or before January 15, 2031, the act requires the committee to submit a report to the executive committee of the legislative council summarizing the work of the committee during the preceding 5 years. The committee is repealed, effective June 30, 2031. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Beginning on or before July 1, 2027, the act requires a county department of human or social services (county department) to determine whether a child or youth who is in foster care and who has a deceased parent (child or youth) may be eligible to receive survivor benefits administered by the United States railroad retirement board, social security administration, or veterans benefits administration (federal survivor benefits). The county department must make an initial eligibility determination within 90 days after assuming legal custody of or authority over the child or youth. Under current law, certain federal agencies appoint a representative payee or fiduciary (representative payee) to receive and manage federal benefits on behalf of a child or youth in foster care. If a child or youth may be eligible for federal survivor benefits and the county department is the most appropriate representative payee, the act requires the county department to apply for federal survivor benefits on behalf of the child or youth. If the county department determines that the child or youth may be eligible for federal survivor benefits but that the county department is not the most appropriate representative payee, the county department shall provide information to the prospective representative payee that the county department has identified about how to apply for federal survivor benefits on behalf of the child or youth and how to become the child's or youth's representative payee. Under current law, a county department serving as a representative payee may use federal benefits to offset the cost of providing basic care and services to a child or youth in foster care. The act prohibits this offset practice with respect to federal survivor benefits. Instead, the act directs a county department serving as a representative payee to establish an account for the federal survivor benefits (account). A county department serving as a representative payee must save money in the account for the needs of the individual child or youth. Once the child or youth leaves foster care, the county department is required to release funds in the account to the child or youth. The act sets forth various accounting and notice requirements related to federal survivor benefits and requires the department of human services (department), in consultation with interested stakeholders, to adopt rules providing guidance for county departments. The guidance extends to procedures for identifying a representative payee, county department responsibilities when federal survivor benefits are denied or when a child or youth leaves foster care, and policies governing the establishment and maintenance of an account for federal survivor benefit funds. The department must provide technical assistance to a county department about how to conserve federal survivor benefit funds in the best interests of an individual child or youth. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act modifies the process for filling vacancies in an unexpired term in the office of county commissioner for county commissioners affiliated with a major political party in counties that are not home rule counties and that have at least 50,000 active voters as of the last general election (vacancy). If a vacancy occurs on or after July 31 of an even-numbered year that the seat was not scheduled to be on the ballot at the general election but before July 31 of an odd-numbered year, the vacancy must be filled by vacancy committee selection until the next regularly scheduled odd-year November election following the vacancy, rather than until the next general election as is the case for vacancies that occur at other times, when the vacancy must be filled by vacancy election (vacancy election). An individual elected at a vacancy election serves until the next general election. A vacancy election is conducted as part of a coordinated odd-year November election. A major political party may opt out of the vacancy election process if at least 75% of the total voting membership of a political party's state central committee votes to do so by October 1 of the even year preceding a vacancy election. For a vacancy election to be held in November 2025, the vote must occur no later than June 30, 2025. If the state certifies any ballot content for the odd-year November election, the state is required to reimburse a county for 45% of its costs incurred in conducting the coordinated election that includes the vacancy election. Watchers, canvass boards, and election judges for the vacancy election are selected according to current processes in statute. Only registered electors of the county of the vacating commissioner who, as of 22 days before the vacancy election, are either registered with the same major political party as the vacating commissioner or are unaffiliated with a political party are eligible to vote in a vacancy election. A candidate is eligible to be placed on the ballot for a vacancy election if the candidate: Files a nominating statement signed by at least 30% of the vacancy committee members with the county clerk and recorder and the candidate's major political party by the seventieth day before the vacancy election; or Submits to the county clerk and recorder, no later than 30 days after their petition format has been approved or 85 days prior to the vacancy election, a notarized candidate's statement of intent and a petition signed by at least 200 electors who have been affiliated with the same major political party as the candidate for 22 days before signing the petition and are eligible to vote in the district for which the candidate is to be elected. A candidate may seek to be placed on the ballot through one, but not both, methods, and candidate placement on the ballot is drawn by lot. A candidate must be registered with the vacating commissioner's major political party by the first business day in January of the calendar year in which the vacancy election occurs and must be a resident of the same district as the vacating commissioner. A candidate in a vacancy election is subject to the campaign finance contribution, expenditure, and reporting requirements of the "Fair Campaign Practices Act". For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, $314,920 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for use by the information technology division for personal services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act: Requires that a seller of an electrical assisted bicycle must make certain disclosures to the purchaser regarding the characteristics of the electrical assisted bicycle; Requires that, on or after January 1, 2027, a manufacturer or distributor of a new electrical assisted bicycle must label each electrical assisted bicycle with the highest class or each of the classes in which the electrical assisted bicycle is capable of operation; Prohibits a person from selling or offering to sell a vehicle that is not an electrical assisted bicycle if the vehicle is falsely labeled as an electrical assisted bicycle. A violation is a deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act". Prohibits a person from advertising, offering for sale, or selling a vehicle that is not an electrical assisted bicycle by using certain words associated with electrical assisted bicycles without providing a disclosure that the vehicle is not in fact an electrical assisted bicycle. A violation is a deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act". Requires that a lithium-ion battery or a second-use lithium-ion battery (battery) that is part of or intended for use in an electrical assisted bicycle must be certified by an accredited testing laboratory for compliance with certain battery standards and that the certification or name of the accredited testing laboratory must be included on the packaging or documentation for the battery or on the battery itself; and Clarifies that a multiple mode electrical assisted bicycle must meet all the requirements applicable to each respective class of electrical assisted bicycle for which the multiple mode electrical assisted bicycle provides for operation. Currently, "electrical assisted bicycle" is defined as having to conform to one of 3 classes based on the highest achievable speed and type of motor of the electrical assisted bicycle. The act amends the existing definition of "electrical assisted bicycle" to clarify that the following vehicles are not an electrical assisted bicycle: A vehicle that is modified so that it no longer meets the requirements for any electrical assisted bicycle class; or A vehicle that is designed, manufactured, or intended by the manufacturer or seller to be easily configured so as not to meet all the requirements of an electrical assisted bicycle class. The act also defines "multiple mode electrical assisted bicycle" to account for electrical assisted bicycles that are capable of switching between different classes. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Embodied carbon is the carbon associated with greenhouse gas emissions arising from the production, construction, use, and end-of-life of products or systems used in the construction of buildings, roads, and other infrastructure. Section 1 of the act adds embodied carbon improvements to the list of new energy improvements that are eligible for property-assessed clean energy financing provided by the Colorado new energy improvement district. An embodied carbon improvement is one or more installations or modifications to real property using eligible materials that result in the reduction of the installation's or modification's embodied carbon emissions. Section 2 modifies the industrial clean energy tax credit so that embodied carbon investments are greenhouse gas emissions reduction improvements that, if certified, are eligible for the credit for a portion of the capital costs incurred in placing them in service. An embodied carbon investment is one that results in a 15% or greater reduction in cradle-to-gate embodied emissions of eligible materials when compared to the eligible materials' cradle-to-gate baseline. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act makes updates to the streamlined solar permitting and inspection grant program (grant program). The grant program provides funding for the adoption and implementation of automated permitting and inspection software. The act clarifies that funding from the grant program may be used by a recipient for eligible expenses for up to 3 years after the grantee implements the automated permitting and inspection software. The act also permits the Colorado energy office (office) to spend up to 9% of the money remaining in the grant program's cash fund as of September 1, 2025, for paying the direct and indirect costs of the office in administering the grant program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act amends statutory provisions relating to unused medication in facilities, including correctional facilities, nursing care facilities, assisted living residences, hospice, and other facilities, to change the defined term "medication" to "medicine" and specifies the types of unused medicines that may be redispensed to patients or donated to another entity that has legal authority to possess the medicine. The act creates the Colorado drug donation program (donation program). The donation program allows a person legally authorized to possess medicine, including an individual donor who is a member of the public and other donors, including a pharmacy, a long-term care facility, a surgical center, a prescriber or other health-care professional or facility, a wholesaler, a distributor, a third-party logistics provider, and others (donor), to donate certain unused medicine (donated medicine), as specified in the act. The act prohibits the donation of prescription drugs that are subject to risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS), unless all of the required guidelines are followed, or REMS drugs that were initially dispensed by a pharmacy pursuant to a restricted distribution channel. A donor or an individual donor may donate unused medicine to a donation recipient that is authorized to possess medicine and that has a credential in good standing in the state in which the donation recipient is located. A donation recipient includes a hospital, pharmacy, clinic, health-care provider, or prescriber office, and may include a wholesaler, distributor, third-party logistics provider, reverse distributor, or repackager if the entity is a nonprofit entity or is directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or could be controlled by a nonprofit entity. The act requires the donation recipient to keep a record of the donated medicine, separate the donated medicine from regular stock, and have donated medicine inspected by a licensed pharmacist. The donation recipient may transfer the donated medicine to another donation recipient or entity, repackage the donated medicine, or, if the donation recipient is a prescription drug outlet or other outlet, replace medicine of the same drug name and strength. The act requires donated medicine to first be dispensed to an eligible patient who is an individual who is indigent, uninsured, or underinsured. Donated medicine must not be resold; except that a donation recipient may charge a handling or dispensing fee for the donated medicine. When acting in good faith, the participants in the donation program are not subject to civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action. The act also shields drug manufacturers from liability for donated medicine that is subject to REMS under federal law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF) to seek and accept gifts from private or public sources for the primary care fund. The act authorizes a federally qualified health center (FQHC) to establish a separate subsidiary company for the purpose of providing fee-for-service services outside of the FQHC's standard cost report if the subsidiary is providing fee-for-service services that have historically been provided and reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis and if HCPF determines that the subsidiary's reimbursements would be budget neutral. Upon receiving any necessary federal authorization, HCPF is required to reimburse a subsidiary of an FQHC on a fee-for-service basis for services that are eligible for fee-for-service reimbursement. A subsidiary that receives reimbursement is authorized to pass through money received from the reimbursement directly to the FQHC operating as the subsidiary's parent corporation. Services reimbursed to an FQHC's subsidiary are excluded from the FQHC's cost report. The act requires HCPF to exclude all costs associated with a subsidiary company from the calculation of a FQHC's reimbursement rates and requires a FQHC that establishes a separate subsidiary company to include the costs associated with the subsidiary in its cost report that is necessary to calculate reimbursement rates. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)