Rep. Lori Saine

The bill repeals the laws relating to extreme risk protection orders. Under current law, a person can be held on an involuntary 72-hour mental health hold if the person appears to be an imminent danger to others or to himself or herself. The bill changes the standard from imminent danger to extreme risk and defines extreme risk as a credible and exigent threat of danger to themselves or others through actionable threats of violence or death as result of a current mental health state. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Current law allows the director of the oil and gas conservation commission to delay the final determination regarding an oil and gas permit application pursuant to specified objective criteria. The bill repeals this authority and specifies that if a local government that has so-called "House Bill 1041 authority" approves an oil and gas application, the commission or director shall approve the application for a permit to drill.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Under current law, 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value of the owner-occupied primary residence of a qualifying senior or a qualifying disabled veteran is exempt from property taxation. The bill increases the $200,000 to $435,000 for the 2020 property tax year to account for the increase in the average actual value of residential real property, excluding new residential construction when initially constructed, in the state from January 1, 2002, when the exemption for qualifying seniors first took effect, through December 31, 2019. Thereafter, the bill annually increases or decreases the amount of actual value of which 50% is exempt by a percentage equal to the percentage change in the average actual value of residential real property, excluding new construction when initially constructed, in the state, as determined by the state property tax administrator.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill prohibits terminating the life of an unborn child and makes a violation a class 1 felony. The following are exceptions to the prohibition: A licensed physician performs a medical procedure designed or intended to prevent the death of a pregnant mother, if the physician makes reasonable medical efforts under the circumstances to preserve both the life of the mother and the life of her unborn child in a manner consistent with conventional medical practice; and A licensed physician provides medical treatment, including chemotherapy or removal of an ectopic pregnancy, to the mother that results in the accidental or unintentional injury to or death of the unborn child. The pregnant mother upon whom termination of the life of an unborn child is performed or attempted is not subject to a criminal penalty. The sale and use of contraception is not prohibited by the bill. A conviction related to the prohibition of the termination of the life of an unborn child constitutes unprofessional conduct for purposes of physician licensing. The bill states that any act, law, treaty, order, or regulation of the United States government that denies or prohibits protection of a human person's inalienable right to life is null, void, and unenforceable in this state and that the courts of the United States have no jurisdiction to interfere with Colorado's interest in protecting human life at conception when human life begins. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill amends the "Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act" (Act) by: Removing language exempting from the Act a person who boards no more than 3 pet animals at one time; Exempting from the Act any pet animal rescue that qualifies as tax exempt under section 501 (c)(3) of the federal "Internal Revenue Code of 1986"; Decreasing the maximum licensing fee amount that the commissioner of agriculture may charge a pet animal facility and establishing independent contractor pet groomer licensing fees in statute; and Removing language that prohibits a person from importing or causing to be imported any pet animal for the purpose of sale, resale, trade, or barter by a pet animal facility operator unless the person is licensed.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill specifies that asphalt shingles may be transported and stored in railroad cars pending delivery for recycling and pending recycling at a recycling facility and stored outside pending delivery for recycling and may be stored outside of a recycling facility pending recycling. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill prohibits an employer, including a licensed health facility, from taking adverse action against an employee or an applicant for employment based on the employee's or applicant's immunization status. The bill allows an aggrieved person to file a civil action for injunctive, affirmative, and equitable relief. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the highly effective teacher incentives program (program) to enable school districts, boards of cooperative services that operate public schools, and charter schools (local education providers) to offer salary bonuses to attract highly effective teachers to teach in elementary, middle, or junior high schools that are implementing priority improvement or turnaround plans (low-performing schools). The department of education (department) and the state board of education (state board) will implement the program by distributing grants in 2-year cycles. The amount of a grant is based on the number of highly effective teachers who meet the requirements for receiving salary bonuses and are employed by local education providers in low-performing schools. Each local education provider that applies and meets the requirements for a grant will receive a grant, subject to available appropriations. A local education provider may use the grant only to pay nonbase-building salary bonuses to eligible highly effective teachers. A local education provider that receives a grant and is already paying incentives to highly effective teachers who teach in low-performing schools must pay the bonuses funded by the grant money in addition to the other incentives. A highly effective teacher must meet specified criteria to receive the salary bonus. The amount of the salary bonus depends on whether the teacher was working in a high-performing local education provider and changed employment to work in a low-performing school or is continuing to work in a low-performing school and whether the highly effective teacher works in a low-performing elementary, middle, or junior high school. The bill creates the highly effective teacher incentives fund (fund), which consists of a one-time appropriation of $4 million from the state education fund. The state board will disburse approximately one-half of the money in the fund in the first grant cycle and approximately one-half of the money in a second grant cycle. By December 15, 2025, the department must submit to the education committees of the general assembly a report concerning the implementation and effectiveness of the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)