Electric scooters - regulation - authorizing use on roadways. Electric scooters, which are lightweight, motorized transportation devices, with handlebars, that obtain a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour when powered by motor, are currently regulated as toy vehicles. Toy vehicles are authorized for use on sidewalks, but not for use on roadways. The act excludes electric scooters from the definition of "toy vehicle" and includes electric scooters in the definition of "vehicle", thus authorizing the use of electric scooters on roadways. The act affords riders of electric scooters the same rights and duties that riders of electrical assisted bicycles have under Colorado law. Section 5 of the act authorizes a local government to regulate the operation of an electric scooter in a manner that is no more restrictive than the manner in which the local government may regulate an electrical assisted bicycle. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Sponsored bills
Dialysis care - hemodialysis clinics and technicians - continuation under sunset law - regulation - supervision by licensed professional nurses. The act implements recommendations in the 2018 sunset review and report by the department of regulatory agencies by continuing the regulation of dialysis clinics and hemodialysis technicians by the department of public health and environment for 7 years, until 2026. The act deletes obsolete language in the law regulating dialysis treatment clinics and hemodialysis technicians and updates references to nurses who are permitted to supervise hemodialysis technicians. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Wage garnishment - disposable earnings - hardship exemption - notice - applicability. Under current law, the amount of an individual's disposable earnings subject to garnishment is either 25% of the individual's disposable weekly earnings or the amount by which an individual's disposable earnings for a week exceed 30 times the state or federal minimum wage, whichever is less. The act changes the amount subject to garnishment to 20% of the individual's disposable weekly earnings 40 times the amount by which an individual's disposable earnings for a week exceed the state or federal minimum wage. Currently, the cost of court-ordered health insurance for a child provided by an individual is deducted from the individual's disposable earnings subject to garnishment. The act also deducts from an individual's disposable earnings subject to garnishment the cost of any health insurance that is provided by the individual's employer and voluntarily withheld from the individual's earnings. The act creates an exemption that would permit individuals to prove that the amount of their pay subject to garnishment should be further reduced or eliminated altogether if the individual can establish that such reductions are necessary to support the individual or the individual's family. The act also requires clearer and more timely notice to an individual whose wages are being garnished and gives the individual more time after receiving the notice before garnishment starts. The act applies to all writs of garnishment issued on or after October 1, 2020, regardless of the date of the judgment that is basis of the writ of garnishment. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Animal cruelty - mental health treatment - order preventing pet ownership. The act allows a court to impose a mental health treatment program or appropriate treatment program as a sentence for animal cruelty. The act requires a court to enter an order prohibiting a person convicted of felony animal cruelty from owning a pet animal for a period of 3 to 5 years and a juvenile adjudicated a delinquent for an animal cruelty crime from owning a pet animal, unless the defendant or juvenile's treatment provider makes a specific recommendation not to impose the ban and the court agrees with the recommendation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Early childhood leadership commission - infant and family child care strategic action plan. The act requires the department of human services (department), in consultation with the early childhood leadership commission (commission) and various stakeholders, to draft a strategic action plan addressing the declining availability of family child care homes and infant child care. The act requires the department to submit the completed strategic action plan to the commission; the state board of human services; the joint budget committee; the health and human services and education committees of the senate, or any successor committees; and the public health care and human services and education committees of the house of representatives, or any successor committees, no later than December 1, 2019. The act anticipates the department will receive $50,688 in federal funds to implement this act for the 2019-20 state fiscal year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Electric vehicle grant fund - administration. The act modifies the statute governing the electric vehicle grant fund (fund) as follows: Allows the fund to be used to administer grants for the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles; Allows the fund to prioritize the grants it will provide based on criteria defined by the Colorado energy office; Allows the fund to be used to fully fund the installation of charging stations and offset station operating costs; and Requires the money in the fund to be continuously appropriated to the Colorado energy office.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
On and after July 1, 2022, the bill requires the high-performance transportation enterprise (HPTE) to impose an express lane access fee (access fee) in a specified amount annually at the time of registration of any eligible plug-in electric motor vehicle that weighs 19,500 pounds or less, that is certified as being qualified for the federal plug-in electric drive motor vehicle tax credit or can be recharged from an external source of electricity and that stores electricity in a rechargeable battery that propels or contributes to the propulsion of the vehicle's drive wheels if the owner of the vehicle chooses to pay the access fee in exchange for the right to operate the vehicle on express lanes without regard to the number of persons in the vehicle for free on any express lane that is a high occupancy vehicle lane and for a reduced toll on any express lane that is a toll lane or a high occupancy toll lane. HPTE is not authorized to impose the access fee upon the registration of a vehicle registered for a registration period beginning on or after July 1, 2020, but before July 1, 2022, but, upon the registration of a vehicle for such a registration period, the owner of an eligible plug-in electric motor vehicle may choose to apply for the right to operate the vehicle for free on any express lane that is a high occupancy vehicle lane without regard to the number of persons in the vehicle and for a reduced toll on any express lane that is a toll lane or a high occupancy toll lane. A plug-in electric motor vehicle is an "eligible plug-in electric motor vehicle" if it is being registered for its 1st, 2nd, or 3rd registration period under the ownership of the same owner and if making the vehicle eligible would not cause the total number of eligible vehicles to exceed a specified cap that increases annually for 5 years until reaching a permanent maximum amount. "Express lane" is defined to include any high occupancy vehicle lane, toll lane, or high occupancy toll lane that HPTE, a private partner of HPTE, or HPTE in conjunction with a private partner of HPTE or the department of transportation (CDOT) operates and maintains or that HPTE designates as an express lane, which currently includes: Operating express lanes on Interstate Highway 25 between downtown Denver and 120th Avenue, on Interstate Highway 70 between Idaho Springs and Empire, and on U.S. Highway 36 between Denver and Boulder; and Planned express lanes on: (1) Interstate Highway 25 between 120th Avenue and State Highway E-470, Johnstown and Fort Collins, and Monument and Castle Rock; (2) Interstate Highway 70 between Interstate Highway 25 and Chambers Road; and (3) State Highway C-470 between Interstate Highway 25 and Wadsworth Boulevard. Each county clerk and recorder, acting as an authorized agent of the department of revenue, is required to collect the access fee, and access fee revenue is credited to the statewide transportation enterprise special revenue fund for use by HPTE. The owner of an eligible plug-in electric motor vehicle may choose not to pay the access fee, but must pay the fee to be authorized to operate the vehicle for free on any express lane that is a high occupancy vehicle lane and for a reduced toll on any express lane that is a toll lane or a high occupancy toll lane, without regard to the number of persons in the vehicle. If the free or reduced toll use of express lanes by eligible plug-in electric motor vehicles is determined to cause a decrease in the level of service for other bona fide users of the express lanes so that CDOT or HPTE is violating or will violate within the next 3 months contractual level of service guarantees or will be unable to satisfy debt service coverage requirements, then CDOT may restrict or eliminate free and reduced toll use of the express lanes by eligible plug-in electric motor vehicles for as long as the violation or inability is expected to continue. CDOT is required to report annually during its "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing regarding the actual and projected free and reduced toll use of express lanes by eligible plug-in electric vehicles and any actions that it has taken or expects to take to restrict, limit, or restore such use. The existing authorization for a limited number of inherently low-emission vehicles or hybrid vehicles to use express lanes without regard to the number of persons in the vehicle and without paying a toll expires for each participating vehicle on the date of the first registration of the vehicle for a registration period that begins on or after July 1, 2022. The department of revenue and CDOT are required to coordinate to establish electronic processes that: Automatically notify HPTE and, if deemed necessary by HPTE, any private partner of HPTE that operates an express lane, when the owner of a plug-in electric motor vehicle pays the access fee so that HPTE, directly or through its private partners, can successfully administer and enforce the conditions of access for eligible plug-in electric motor vehicles to express lanes; and Automatically notify each authorized agent when the access fee can or cannot be collected in accordance with the limitation on the number of eligible plug-in electric motor vehicles. CDOT is authorized to promulgate administrative rules to ensure proper implementation, administration, and enforcement of the conditions of access for eligible plug-in electric motor vehicles to express lanes. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Intrastate air carriers - reports to aeronautics division. The act removes the requirement that air carriers providing intrastate air service within Colorado file semiannual reports with the aeronautics division regarding the on-time performance and the number of passengers denied boarding on intrastate flights by the air carrier.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Capital construction - controlled maintenance - state architect - flexibility in administering payment of certain projects. The act grants the state architect, through the executive director of the department of personnel, flexibility in administering the payment of certain controlled maintenance projects from the proceeds of the lease-purchase agreements executed as required by Senate Bill 17-267, concerning the sustainability of rural Colorado.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
The bill exempts a person's earnings from garnishment if the person's family income does not exceed 400% of current federal poverty guidelines and the judgment is for medical debt. A writ of continuing garnishment must include notice that a person's earnings may be exempt if those criteria are met, notice of the judgment debtor's right to object and have a hearing on that objection, and a statement that, to the best of the judgment creditor's knowledge, the judgment debtor's earnings are not exempt. The bill takes effect on January 1, 2020, and applies to judgments entered on or after that date. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More