The act requires new and amended state statutes that enumerate or define local government entities or agencies that are eligible for state grant or benefit programs to also designate tribal nations with jurisdiction in Colorado as eligible recipients if legal and appropriate. The legislative council staff is required to submit a report to the legislative council by December 1, 2022, identifying state grant programs in statute and whether those programs include tribal governments as eligible recipients. The office of the Colorado commission on Indian affairs is required, in consultation with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, to submit a report to the legislative council by March 1, 2023, identifying opportunities for tribal governments to be included in the operations or programs of the state as a partner, assessing whether the Colorado commission on Indian affairs can facilitate or provide those opportunities, and recommending other ways for the state to facilitate or provide those opportunities. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act creates the Colorado rotary license plate. To qualify for the license plate, a person must be a member in good standing of a rotary district of Colorado. In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees of $25 for the issuance of the plate. The fees are credited to the highway users tax fund and the licensing services cash fund, respectively. To implement the act, $18,184 is appropriated to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles, and, of this amount, $2,129 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services to the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Colorado land-based tribe behavioral health services grant program (grant program) to provide funding to one or more Colorado land-based tribes to support capital expenditure for the renovation or building of a behavioral health facility to provide behavioral and mental health services. The grant program repeals on July 1, 2027. The act appropriates $5 million from the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the department of human services for use by the behavioral health administration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the federal Indian boarding school research program (research program) in the state historical society, known as history Colorado, to research and make recommendations to promote Coloradans' understanding of the physical and emotional abuse and deaths that occurred at federal Indian boarding schools in Colorado, including the victimization of families of youth forced to attend the boarding schools and the intergenerational impacts of the abuse. In addition to consultation with the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe described in the act, history Colorado shall consult with the Colorado commission of Indian affairs (commission) and may consult with any other federally recognized Indian tribe. As part of the research program, the act requires history Colorado to research events, abuse, and deaths that occurred at the federal Indian boarding school at Fort Lewis, which was known as the Fort Lewis Indian school. History Colorado may enter into an agreement with a third party to conduct parts of the research. History Colorado is required to provide the commission, Southern Ute Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe with periodic updates about its research and is required to deliver a final report to the commission, Southern Ute Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe by June 30, 2023. The act requires history Colorado, after delivering its final report, to facilitate consultation with the commission, the Southern Ute Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe to develop recommendations necessary to better understand the abuse and victimization that occurred at, and is related to, federal Indian boarding schools and to support healing in tribal communities. History Colorado must make the recommendations publicly available. The department of human services (department) owns and operates a regional center on the property that was formerly the Teller institute federal Indian boarding school. The act requires the department to vacate the property and sell all or a portion of the property, or transfer all or a portion of the property, to a state institution of higher education, a local government, a state agency, or a federally recognized tribe in Colorado. The department is not permitted to sell or transfer the property until after the identification and mapping of any graves of students buried at the federal Indian boarding school that was located on the property and until after the department develops a plan, in consultation with tribal governments, to acknowledge the abuse and victimization of students and families related to the operation of the school. The act appropriates $618,611 from the general fund to the department of higher education for use by history Colorado for the research program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Senate Bill 21-260, concerning the sustainability of the transportation system in Colorado: Created phased-in road usage fees on gasoline and diesel that increase from 2 cents per gallon for state fiscal year (FY) 2022-23, when they are first imposed, to 8 cents per gallon for FYs 2028-29 through 2031-32, and thereafter continue to increase to account for inflation; and Temporarily reduced the amount of the road safety surcharge, which is imposed annually when a motor vehicle is registered by $11.10 for registration periods beginning in 2022 and $5.55 for registration periods beginning in 2023. The act delays the initial imposition of the road usage fees from July 1, 2022, to April 1, 2023, and increases the amount of the reduction in the road safety surcharge for registration periods beginning in 2023 from $5.55 to $11.10. The act also requires transfers to be made on July 1, 2022, to hold the department of transportation, counties, and municipalities harmless from the reductions in road usage fee and road safety surcharge revenue as follows: $47.1 million from the general fund to the state highway fund; and $31.4 million from the general fund to the highway users tax fund. For implementation of the act, $5,850 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act permits a retailer with total taxable sales in the amount of $100,000 or less for any filing period to retain 5.3% of the sales tax reported as compensation for the retailer's expenses incurred in collecting and remitting the tax (vendor fee) for sales made in 2023, rather than retaining a 4% vendor fee, which is what current law allows. The act also clarifies that the calculation of the amount that is credited to the housing development grant fund is only based on the changes to the vendor fee from House Bill 19-1245, and not on any subsequent modifications, including the changes made in the act. The act allows the executive director of the department of revenue to deduct processing costs from the electronic payment of taxes and fees in lieu of imposing a convenience fee. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill creates the Colorado safe student protection program (program) to provide grants to school districts and charter schools to support student safety, including equipment and training to ensure safe student transportation on school buses, and to facilitate the development of a secure website, online application, and mobile application that provide parental notifications about student safety and age-appropriate health and safety information at no cost to parents (secure digital notification and information tools). The department of education (department) operates the grant program and selects a program facilitator to support schools awarded a program grant. The department allocates a portion of the program money to the program facilitator. Subject to available appropriations, program grants are 3-year grants that cover the 2022-23 through 2024-25 school years. The department annually distributes grant money. A grant recipient may use a grant award to: Provide parents with the secure digital notification and information tools; Increase the safety of students and the security of school buses by equipping school buses with hardware and software that monitor driver behavior and enable the buses to communicate directly with first responders; and Fund relevant school bus safety training, including federal transportation security awareness training. The program facilitator may be a public benefit corporation or a nonprofit organization that operates with a charitable purpose and must have at least 7 years of experience in student safety, including student transportation safety. The department allocates fifty percent of program money to the program facilitator. The program facilitator must use program money to: Support program grant recipients; Develop the secure digital notification and information tools; Recruit school bus drivers and conduct or facilitate federal transportation security awareness training; Develop and make publicly available school bus transportation safety information and age-appropriate student safety educational materials; Conduct a statewide awareness campaign to reduce instances of drivers illegally failing to stop for a school bus; and Seek additional sources of funding on behalf of the program. The program is a 3-year program that repeals in 2025. The bill makes an appropriation. The bill appropriates $3.5 million to the department for the program. (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.)
The bill creates the math achievement accelerator grant program (grant program) in the department of education (department). A school district, board of cooperative services that operates a school that serves kindergarten or any of grades one through 8, or a charter school that serves kindergarten or any of grades one through 8 may apply to the department to participate in the grant program. The department, with the assistance of a grant review committee convened by the commissioner of education, shall review the grant applications and recommend to the state board of education (state board) grant recipients and the grant amounts. The state board shall select the applicants that will receive 3-year grants to implement research-based, school-based plans to improve student achievement in mathematics in the elementary and middle school grades. The bill specifies the required contents of the application and the criteria the department and the state board shall apply in recommending and selecting grant recipients. Distribution of grant money in the second and third years of a grant is conditioned on the department finding that the grant recipient is meeting specified requirements. The department shall pay grants out of the math achievement accelerator grant fund created in the bill. The bill directs the department to contract with an independent evaluator to annually evaluate the school-based plans implemented using the grant money, their effectiveness in improving student achievement in mathematics, and the overall implementation of the grant program. The department shall submit the evaluation reports prepared by the independent evaluator to the state board and the education committees of the general assembly. The bill makes an appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill removes language limiting the naturopathic formulary to nonprescription classes of medicines, including only biological substances such as vitamins, minerals, nutritive substances, extracts, and their products and residues. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act creates the Feeding Colorado fund (fund) in the state treasury. A voluntary contribution designation line for the fund will appear on the state individual income tax return form (form) for the 5 income tax years following the year that the executive director of the department of revenue (department) certifies to the revisor of statutes that there is space available on the form and that the fund is next in the queue. Once the fund is placed on the form, the department is directed to determine annually the total amount contributed to the fund and report that amount to the state treasurer and the general assembly. The state treasurer is required to credit that amount to the fund, and the general assembly appropriates from the fund to the department the costs of administering money designated for the fund. After that amount is deducted, the money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year is transferred to Feeding Colorado. Following the statutory 2-year grace period for new tax check-offs, the fund is required to achieve the minimum contribution amount of $50,000 per year to remain on the form. The fund is repealed on the sixth income tax year following the year in which the director files the certification, unless it is continued by the general assembly before then. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)