The act moves the broadband deployment board (board) from the department of regulatory agencies (department) to the office of information technology (office) and, on September 1, 2021, reduces the membership of the board from 16 to 11 members.The board is required to develop a request for proposal process through which the board will solicit bids for proposed projects that serve critically unserved areas of the state identified by the office. The board is required to reserve up to 60% of the money from the high cost support mechanism that is allocated for broadband deployment to award grants to proposed projects solicited through the request for proposal process. "Critically unserved" is defined in the act to mean a household or area that lacks access to at least one provider of nonsatellite broadband service delivered at measurable speeds of at least 10 megabits per second downstream and one megabit per second upstream or at measurable speeds of at least one-half of the minimum measurable speeds that qualify as broadband under the federal communications commission's definition, rounded up, whichever is faster.The act also:Requires an applicant or appellant to submit either written certification from a local entity indicating that the area to be served by the applicant's project is an unserved area or a statistically representative number of speed tests performed on an incumbent provider's network and conducted in accordance with industry-standard speed-test protocols; Gives additional consideration to proposed projects that would give discounted service for low-income households; Contractually requires an applicant receiving a grant award to: Report annually on the number of homes and businesses served by the grant-supported broadband network, the number of homes and businesses expected to be served in the following year, and the speeds, rates, and services offered to customers through the grant-supported broadband network; and Provide third-party performance-testing certification, after the grant money has been fully expended, that the project meets the original design of, and provides the measurable speeds, rates, and services set forth in, the application. Requires an applicant or appellant to submit to the office, in a form and manner determined by the office, certain granular mapping data, which data is not a public record under the "Colorado Open Records Act"; and Uses the request for proposal process, or a substantially similar process, for the disbursement of any federal money the board receives for broadband deployment projects and programs so long as using the request for proposal process complies with federal requirements for use of the money. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act transfers $202,504 of the appropriation made in the annual general appropriation act from the department of regulator agencies to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act removes the following administrative fees, costs, and surcharges in juvenile delinquency cases that a juvenile or a juvenile's parent or legal guardian must pay:Cost of care, other than costs required pursuant to the federal "Social Security Act", for a juvenile sentenced to a placement out of the home or granted probation as a result of an adjudication, deferral of adjudication, or direct filing in or transfer to district court; Costs of prosecution and the amount of the cost of care imposed upon a juvenile who is adjudicated a juvenile delinquent; Fees for applying for court-appointed counsel and costs of the representation when a juvenile's parent, guardian, or legal custodian is determined not to be indigent; Costs and surcharges levied on criminal actions and traffic offenses paid into the court district's crime victim compensation fund and the victims and witnesses assistance and law enforcement fund; Surcharges paid into the sex offender surcharge fund by juveniles adjudicated, or who receive a deferred adjudication, for commission of a sex offense; Cost of the juvenile's medical care in the youthful offender system provided to the minor based on the minor's consent; Cost of collecting and testing biological samples from juveniles sentenced to the youthful offender system; Time payment and late penalty fees assessed when a juvenile does not pay fines, fees, costs, surcharges, or other monetary assessments in criminal cases; The restorative justice surcharge; Costs and surcharges related to impaired driving; and The fee assessed on persons required to perform community or useful public service. A court is prohibited from including fees related to participating in restorative justice practices in a court order.Any outstanding balance of the fees, costs, and surcharges repealed in the act are unenforceable and not collectable. Within 6 months after the effective date of the act, the court is required to vacate the portion of a court order that imposes the costs.The act makes transfers from the marijuana tax cash fund to the restorative justice surcharge fund, the crime victim compensation fund, and the victims assistance and law enforcement fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires that when a physician applies to be credentialed as a participating physician in a health insurance carrier's (carrier's) provider network, the carrier must conclude the process of credentialing the applicant within 60 calendar days after the carrier receives the applicant's completed application. A carrier must provide each applicant written or electronic notice of the outcome of the applicant's credentialing within 10 calendar days after the conclusion of the credentialing process.Within 7 calendar days after a carrier receives an application, the carrier must provide the applicant a receipt. If a carrier receives an application but fails to provide the applicant a receipt within 7 calendar days, the carrier shall consider the applicant a participating physician, effective no later than 53 calendar days following the carrier's receipt of the application.A carrier may not deny a claim for a medically necessary covered service provided to a covered person if the service:Is a covered benefit under the covered person's health coverage plan; and Is provided by a participating physician who is in the provider network for the carrier's health coverage plan and has concluded the carrier's credentialing process. A carrier may not require a participating physician to submit an application or participate in a contracting process in order to be recredentialed.With certain exceptions, a carrier must allow a participating physician to remain credentialed and include the participating physician in the carrier's provider network unless the carrier discovers information indicating that the participating physician no longer satisfies the carrier's guidelines for participation.The commissioner of insurance is required to enforce the new requirements. A carrier that fails to comply with the act or with any rules adopted pursuant to the act is subject to such civil penalties as the commissioner may order.To implement the act, for the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $52,505 to the department of regulatory agencies from the division of insurance cash fund. Of this amount, $21,268 is reappropriated to the department of law for legal services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a statutory cause of action for a victim of sexual misconduct that occurred when the victim was a minor. The victim may bring a civil claim against the actor who committed the sexual misconduct and against an organization that operates or manages a youth-related activity or program (youth program) if the organization knew or should have known of a risk of sexual misconduct against minors and the sexual misconduct occurred while the victim was participating in a youth program managed by the organization. The act waives sovereign immunity for the claim so a victim may bring a claim against a public employee or public entity that operates a youth program, including an educational entity operating an educational program or a district preschool program.The cause of action is available to a victim of sexual misconduct that occurred on or after January 1, 1960. A person who was the victim of sexual misconduct that occurred between January 1, 1960, and January 1, 2022, must commence an action before January 1, 2025. There is no limitation on the time to bring a claim for sexual misconduct that occurs on or after January 1, 2022. A person may not, prior to an incident of sexual misconduct, waive the right to bring a civil action; any purported pre-incident waiver is void as against public policy.A court or jury shall not allocate any damages awarded in the civil action in any proportion against the victim of the sexual misconduct. Any pre-judgment interest on the claim does not begin to accrue until the claim is filed.The maximum amount that may be recovered for a claim against a public employee or public entity is the limitation on damages set forth in the "Colorado Governmental Immunity Act". For all other claims, the maximum amount recoverable is $500,000; except that if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant failed to take remedial action against a person that the defendant knew or should have known posed a risk of sexual misconduct against a minor and the court finds that the application of the limitation would be unfair, the court may increase the award to up a maximum of $1,000,000.The act appropriates $1,198,355 from the general fund to the department of personnel for risk management and reappropriates $1,137,838 of that appropriation and provides 5.9 FTE to the department of law to provide legal services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
To improve the clarity and certainty of the statutes, the act amends, repeals, and reconstructs various statutory provisions of law that are obsolete, imperfect, or inoperative. The specific reasons for each amendment or repeal are set forth in the appendix to the act. The amendments made by the act are not intended to change the meaning or intent of the statutes, as amended.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies that for harassment that is bias-motivated or a bias-motivated crime, the bias motivation only needs to be part of the defendant's motivation in committing the crime.The act makes the crime of harassment when the harassment is bias-motivated a victim rights act crime, which provides a victim certain statutory rights.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements 988 as the 3-digit number for crisis response services in Colorado by creating the 988 crisis hotline enterprise (enterprise) in the department of human services (department) to fund the 988 crisis hotline and provide crisis outreach, stabilization, and acute care to individuals calling the 988 crisis hotline.Effective January 1, 2022, the enterprise shall impose a 988 surcharge (surcharge) on service users in an amount to be established annually by the enterprise, in collaboration with the public utilities commission (commission) but not to exceed 30 cents per month. The act requires each service supplier to collect the surcharge from its service users and remit the collected surcharges to the commission on a monthly basis. The state treasurer shall credit the surcharge collections to the 988 surcharge cash fund (fund).Effective January 1, 2022, the enterprise shall impose a prepaid wireless 988 charge on each retail transaction in an amount to be established annually by the enterprise, in collaboration with the commission but not to exceed 30 cents per each retail transaction. The act requires each seller to collect the prepaid wireless 988 charge from the consumer on each retail transaction occurring in the state and remit the collected charges to the department of revenue. The state treasurer shall credit the prepaid wireless 988 charge to the fund.On or before July 1, 2022, the enterprise shall fund a nonprofit organization to operate the 988 crisis hotline and provide intervention services and crisis care coordination to individuals calling the 988 crisis hotline.Beginning January 1, 2023, and each January 1 thereafter, the department shall submit information about the usage of the 988 crisis hotline center to the federal substance abuse and mental health services administration and information about the expenditures of the fund to the federal communications commission, and the department shall annually report progress on the implementation of the 988 crisis hotline to the general assembly.The act appropriates $5,687,692 to the department of human services for use by the office of behavioral health, $74,566 to the department of revenue, and $1,966 to the department of personnel to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the support pollinators license plate for vehicles. A person qualifies for issuance of the plate if the person makes a donation to a designated nonprofit organization that supports pollinators. The organization must meet specified criteria, including having existed for at least 5 years, and use the donation for pollination programs and education.In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees for the issuance of the plate. One of these fees is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other fee is credited to the licensing services cash fund.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $22,544 to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes, subject to limitations, a county clerk and recorder to permit the parties to a proposed marriage or civil union to satisfy the requirement to appear before the county clerk and recorder by interactive audiovisual communication technology or online functionality for the purpose of satisfying certain requirements for a marriage license or civil union license.A county clerk and recorder who permits the parties to a proposed marriage or civil union to satisfy certain requirements without appearing in person and staff members who carry out duties on behalf of the county clerk and recorder shall complete training developed by the human trafficking council concerning human trafficking in Colorado.The act repeals the option of using these procedures effective December 31, 2023.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)