Rep. Matt Soper

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act continues the defense counsel on first appearance grant program until September 1, 2028, subject to sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies. For the 2023-24 fiscal year, the act appropriates $1,666,652 from the general fund to the department of local affairs for use by the division of local government. APPROVED by Governor May 12, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill requires the division of administration in the department of public health and environment, on and after January 1, 2024, to use quality-assured data to determine the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be discharged daily into state waters without exceeding applicable water quality standards. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2023, but before January 1, 2027, the bill allows a refundable state income tax credit, which is intended to offset the various expenses that licensed teachers often incur throughout an academic year for classroom supplies, professional development costs, supplemental educational materials, field trips, and other items that improve the quality of the educational services that they provide, to a licensed teacher who is employed as a teacher in a public school on a full-time basis for at least one-half of an academic year (eligible teacher) during the income tax year for which the credit is claimed. The amount of the credit is $1,000 for an eligible teacher who is employed for the equivalent of an entire academic year and $500 for a teacher who is employed for one-half of an academic year. Two eligible teachers who file a joint income tax return may each claim the credit. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act creates the streamlined solar permitting and inspection grant program (program) in the Colorado energy office (office), which will grant money to local governments to implement free automated permitting and inspection software for residential solar projects. To fund the program, the act creates the streamlined solar permitting and inspection cash fund (fund), which is annually appropriated to the office, and appropriates $992,709 from the general fund to the fund for fiscal year 2023-24. The act requires the office to administer the program by developing procedures to award money to applicants, establishing a process for applicants to apply for money, requiring applicants to demonstrate expected costs to implement the automated permitting and inspection software, and beginning to approve applicants no later than June 30, 2024. A grantee is encouraged to implement the free automated permitting software within 180 days of receipt of grant money. Grantees are required to report to the office the implementation status of the free automated permitting software one year after being granted the money, and are encouraged to voluntarily report the same information each year thereafter for 4 years. The office is required to report to the house of representatives energy and environment committee, the senate transportation committee, and the joint budget committee the progress of the grant program yearly beginning on January 1, 2025, and continuing until the repeal of the program on July 1, 2034, or until 5 years after the last grant is awarded, whichever comes first. APPROVED by Governor May 11, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill authorizes a public school or a charter school that is permitted by its charter authorizer to offer an individualized learning program or become an individualized learning school. Individualized learning includes a course of instruction or grade-level course work that is: Provided, in whole or in part, independently from a regular classroom setting or schedule; Supervised, monitored, assessed, evaluated, and documented by a teacher employed by an individualized learning school or a public school that offers an individualized learning program; and Documented in the student's written learning plan. The bill requires each charter school application to identify whether the proposed charter school will offer an individualized learning program or become an individualized learning school. The bill authorizes an existing charter school to request to amend the charter contract to allow the charter school to offer an individualized learning program or propose to become an individualized learning school either in connection with the charter-renewal process or pursuant to an agreement with the charter authorizer that the charter school will submit a written plan for becoming an individualized learning school. The bill requires an individualized learning school to operate as part of, or within reasonable proximity to, a public school that serves students enrolled in the individualized learning program. The bill requires an individualized learning school or an individualized learning program to be open for enrollment to any student whose residence is within reasonable distance of the school or program that will permit the student to attend the school in person on a daily basis, if needed. The bill requires each student enrolled in an individualized learning school or individualized learning program to have a written learning plan that is designed to meet the student's individual educational needs. The bill requires direct personal contact between a teacher and each student to take place at least once per school week. The bill requires a teacher to evaluate the educational progress of each student enrolled in an individualized learning school or individualized learning program at least once a month during the student's enrollment. If the teacher determines the student failed to make satisfactory progress or failed to follow the student's written learning plan, the bill requires the teacher to develop an intervention plan for the student. If the student continues to make less-than-satisfactory progress after 3 consecutive months despite an intervention plan, the bill requires the teacher to develop and implement an amended written learning plan that includes a course of study designed to meet the student's needs more appropriately. The bill requires individualized learning to be overseen by a chief academic officer who is appointed by the individualized learning school or public school that offers an individualized learning program. For the 2023-24 and 2024-25 state fiscal years, the bill requires an individualized learning entity to receive public school funding if a student is enrolled in an individualized learning entity that was operating on or before the effective date of this act; was enrolled in a public school the preceding academic school year; was not enrolled in a private school or participating in a nonpublic home-based education program the preceding school year; or is enrolling for the first time as a kindergarten or first-grade student or has recently moved to Colorado and is enrolling for the first time as a Colorado resident in any grade level. Beginning with the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the bill requires an individualized learning school to receive public school funding in the manner and to the degree that applies to any student enrolled in a public school. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) to perform a comprehensive literature review of existing research on the challenges and opportunities of desalination facilities in California or Mexico. The literature review must include a summary of the current status of research on desalination, including quantification of certain costs of and benefits that could be realized from the construction and perpetual operation of one or more water desalination facilities in California or Mexico, or both. On or before July 1, 2025, the CWCB must complete the study and submit a report of the CWCB's findings and recommendations to: The Colorado legislative committees of reference that consider water matters; The governor; and The bureau of reclamation in the federal department of the interior. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the bill appropriates $50,000 from the Colorado water conservation board construction fund to the department of natural resources for use by the CWCB to pay operating expenses. (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.)

For a contract between a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) or a health insurance carrier (carrier) and a certificate holder or policyholder, the act requires that the amount charged by the PBM or carrier to the certificate holder or policyholder for a prescription drug be equal to or less than the amount paid by the PBM or carrier to the contracted pharmacy for the drug. For group health benefit plans in effect during the 2025 calendar year and each calendar year thereafter, the act creates transparency requirements for PBMs and carriers regarding prescription drug benefits and grants audit authority to the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) for fully insured plans to ensure compliance with the requirements. The commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules to implement the act. A violation of the requirements of the act is a deceptive trade practice in the business of insurance, with regard to fully insured plans. For contracts between a PBM and the department of health care policy and financing (state department) or one of its affiliated managed care organizations offering a prescription benefit plan that is issued on or after January 1, 2025, the act requires the amount charged by the PBM to the state department or managed care organization for a prescription drug dispensed to an enrollee in the Colorado medical assistance program to be equal to or less than the amount paid by the PBM to a pharmacy for the prescription drug dispensed to the enrollee. The act directs the medical services board to adopt rules to implement and ensure compliance with this requirement. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law requires an operator of a motorboat in the state to be at least 16 years of age but allows an individual who is at least 14 years of age and who has completed a motorboat safety course to operate a motorboat in the state. The act increases this age requirement to require all individuals under 18 years of age to take a boating safety course and to have a certificate of completion from that course in the individual's possession or in an accessible place in order to operate a motorboat. The act provides an exception to the age requirement for the operation of motorboats on bodies of water located on private property. APPROVED by Governor May 4, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Currently, the state and several state enterprises impose fees on retail sales of taxable tangible personal property delivered by motor vehicle to a location in the state. These fees are collectively known as the retail delivery fee (RDF), and a retailer who makes a retail delivery is required to add the RDF to the price of the retail delivery, collect it from the purchaser, and pay the RDF revenue to the department of revenue (department), which distributes the revenue to the appropriate cash funds. The department generally administers the RDF in the same manner as the state sales and use tax. The act modifies this administration by permitting a retailer to pay the RDF on behalf of the purchaser. If the retailer elects to pay the RDF, then the retailer is: Not required to add the RDF to the price of the retail delivery, separately itemize the RDF, or collect the RDF from the purchaser, who is not liable or the amount nor eligible for a refund of an erroneously paid RDF; and Required to remit the RDF on the date that would be required if the RDF had been received from the purchaser on the date of the retail delivery. The department is required to waive any processing costs for a retailer's electronic payment by automated clearing house (ACH) debit of the RDF if the charges would exceed the amount of the RDF revenue being remitted. The act creates an exemption from the RDF for a retail delivery by a qualified business, which is a business that has $500,000 or less of retail sales in the prior year or is new, that applies retroactively to when RDFs were first imposed. A purchaser is not eligible for a refund of any RDF that is collected and remitted to the department by a qualified business prior to the effective date of the act. The act also creates a primary definition for "retail delivery" that is cross-referenced in other RDF provisions, and related to this change, a definition of "retail sale" is repealed where the cross reference makes it unnecessary. APPROVED by Governor May 4, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 4, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)