Rep. Andy Boesenecker

The act prevents a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) from prohibiting a rural independent pharmacy from using a private courier or a delivery service to deliver a prescription drug to a patient. A PBM is required to reimburse a rural independent pharmacy for a prescription drug in an amount not less than the national average drug acquisition cost for the dispensed prescription drug ingredients, plus pay a dispensing fee. When a PBM conducts an audit of a rural independent pharmacy and the audit results in a recoupment of more than $1,000 or a penalty of more than $1,000, the PBM must: Electronically notify the rural independent pharmacy of the rural independent pharmacy's rights to appeal at least 30 days before the recoupment of funds; If the rural independent pharmacy does not respond to the electronic notification within 30 days after the electronic notification, again electronically notify the rural independent pharmacy of the rural independent pharmacy's rights to appeal at least 30 days before the recoupment of funds; and If the rural independent pharmacy does not respond to the second electronic notification within 30 days after the second electronic notification, serve process on the rural independent pharmacy notifying of the rural independent pharmacy's rights to appeal at least 30 days before the recoupment of funds. The act allows a rural independent pharmacy to operate without being under the direct charge of a pharmacist if the initial interpretation and final evaluation of the prescription is done by a state-licensed pharmacist in person or remotely. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or after July 1, 2025, the act requires a person, before commencing a project to install or substantially repair a contiguous fence of at least a specified certain size in the Sangre de Cristo land grant lands (covered fencing project), to submit an application for the covered fencing project to the local government with jurisdiction over the covered fencing project (application) if the local government has opted into the act's requirements. No later than 14 days after the local government's receipt of an application, the local government must publish notice of the application on the local government's website. No later than 60 days after the local government's receipt of an application, the local government must either approve or reject the application based on certain criteria; except that, despite the criteria, a local government may approve an application if it determines that the benefits of the covered fencing project outweigh the harms. If the local government finds that a covered fencing project presents no significant environmental impacts, then the local government shall not require a person commencing the covered fencing project to submit an application or pay a fee. The act does not apply to a covered fencing project that is necessary for a public utility or department of transportation project, an energy sector public works project, the safety or security of a public school or prison, or fences provided by the division of parks and wildlife. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The Tony Grampsas youth services grant program (grant program) provides grants to community-based programs to reduce incidents of youth crime and violence. The youth mentoring program, the student dropout prevention and intervention program, and the student before-and-after school project (collectively, the "programs") were created within the grant program. The act repeals the individual programs and instead lists the programs as allowable uses for grant money under the grant program. The act transfers certain responsibilities from the Tony Grampsas youth services board (board) to the department of human services (department). The act repeals local public-to-private funding match requirements. The act requires each entity that receives a grant to annually report certain information to the department; except that an entity that has an operating budget of less than $1.5 million, or that receives a grant in the amount of not more than $25,000, is not required to report on the outcomes achieved by the services provided and the methods used to track the outcomes. The act decreases the appropriation from the marijuana tax cash fund to the youth mentoring services cash fund by $500,000 and reappropriates the money to the grant program by $500,000. The act decreases the appropriation from the youth mentoring services cash fund to the grant program by $504,120. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act extends the achieving a better life experience state income tax deduction (ABLE deduction) until December 31, 2030. The act specifies that the purposes of the ABLE deduction are to provide support to individuals with disabilities and their families and to provide an incentive for individuals with disabilities and their families to set aside money in an account to cover future disability-related expenses. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For alternative education campuses (AECs), the act: Directs the department of education (department), when administering state education grants, to allocate priority points to AECs; Authorizes AECs to include certain high-risk students in the AEC's pupil count who are 21 years of age or younger during the budget year; Requires the department to prepare and post an annual report on enrollment trends, student demographics, and student mobility in AECs; and Exempts an AEC from losing its designation due to a fluctuation in enrollment for one school year. The act appropriates $9,613 from the general fund to the department for accountability and improvement planning. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the "Protection of Individuals from Restraint and Seclusion Act" contains parameters concerning exceptions for the use of restraint and seclusion for various agencies, including for public schools. The act removes public schools from the "Protection of Individuals from Restraint and Seclusion Act" and creates the "Protection of Students from Restraint and Seclusion Act" that is specific to local education providers. The act: Prohibits any form of restraint, as defined in the act, (restraint) and seclusion, except as provided; Establishes guidelines for acceptable use of restraint and seclusion; Requires a local education provider that uses restraint or seclusion to train its employees and agents; Requires a local education provider to document instances of restraint or seclusion and notify the student's family of certain instances of restraint or seclusion; No later than July 1, 2025, requires each local education provider to establish an annual review process for their use of restraint and seclusion; and Annually, beginning June 30, 2026, requires each local education provider to submit a report to the department of education summarizing their use of restraint and seclusion. The state board of education shall adopt rules for the implementation of the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The statewide welcome, reception, and integration grant program provides grants to community-based organizations that provide culturally and linguistically appropriate navigation of services to migrants who have arrived in the United States within the past year and do not qualify for federal support services or refugee resettlement assistance benefits. The act removes the requirement that a migrant must have arrived in the United States within the past year and instead requires community-based organizations to prioritize assisting migrants who have arrived in the United States within the past 3 years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the recommendation of the department of regulatory agencies in its 2024 sunset review and report on the rural alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment program by continuing the program until September 1, 2030. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (department) in its sunset review and report on the HOA information and resource center (center). The center was scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2025. The act: Continues the center until September 1, 2030; Clarifies that the director of the division of real estate in the department is the appointing authority for the HOA information officer who is the head of the center; and Makes a technical change to refer to the HOA information officer by title, rather than by "he or she", to reflect gender-neutral language in statute.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act permits the state, a county, a city and county, a school district, or a municipality to, with approval from a school district's board of education, install and utilize automated vehicle identification systems (system) on the school district's school buses to detect a driver of a vehicle that overtakes a stopped school bus with actuated visual signal lights in violation of current law. A school district that installs and utilizes a system for this purpose must enter into a memorandum of understanding with one or more law enforcement agencies. If a system detects a violation, the state, a county, a city and county, or a municipality may impose a civil penalty of up to $300. The act creates a rebuttable presumption that when an image produced by a system includes an electronic indicator signifying that a school bus's visual signal lights are actuated, the visual signal lights are presumed to be actuated and operational and the school bus is presumed to be stopped to receive or discharge school children. The act mandates that the fines collected through the use of the system must not be used as the basis for the compensation to the system manufacturer or vendor and that the compensation must not be based exclusively upon the number of citations issued or revenue generated by the system.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)