Rep. Jennifer Bacon

Each school district, board of cooperative services that operates a school, district charter school, and institute charter school (local education provider) is required to establish written policies for the acquisition, retention, display, and use of library resources and for the reconsideration of a library resource (policies). A local education provider is required to comply with specified standards in establishing the policies and is required to establish the policies by September 1, 2025. If a local education provider has already established policies that comply with the requirements of the act, the local education provider is not required to establish new policies. A public school library may remove a library resource from its permanent collection only if the library resource has been reviewed in accordance with an established policy for the reconsideration of library resources that complies with the standards established in the act. These requirements do not apply to routine collection maintenance and deaccession in accordance with a public school library's established collection development and maintenance policy. Before a local education provider reconsiders a library resource, the local education provider is required to make its policies available to the public. After reviewing a library resource that is the subject of a request for reconsideration and making a final determination regarding the library resource, the local education provider is required to make the determination available to the public. A written request for reconsideration of a library resource in a public school library is an open record under the "Colorado Open Records Act". A public school library staff member is not subject to termination, demotion, discipline, or retaliation for refusing to remove a library resource before it has been reviewed in accordance with the local education provider's policy for the reconsideration of library resources or for making decisions that the public school library staff member believes, in good faith, are in accordance with the policies of the local education provider. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill makes the penalty classification for criminal attempt to first degree murder under circumstances evidencing an attitude of universal malice manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life generally: A class 3 felony if serious bodily injury results to any person; A class 4 felony if bodily injury results to any person; and A class 5 felony if no injury results to any person. Under existing law, a person commits the crime of assault in the first degree if, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, the person knowingly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes serious bodily injury to any person. The bill repeals this offense. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act suspends legislative interim committee activities during the 2025 legislative interim (interim). Specifically, the act: Prohibits the legislative council of the general assembly from prioritizing any requests for interim committees, including task forces, for the 2025 interim; For an interim committee that meets during 2025 interim, limits the number of bills the committee can request to be drafted to 5 and can recommend for introduction to 3; Prohibits meetings, field trips, and legislative recommendations and reports by, and suspends for one year certain reports required to be submitted to, existing interim committees, including the legislative emergency preparedness, response, and recovery committee; legislative oversight committee for Colorado jail standards; statewide health care review committee; Colorado health insurance exchange oversight committee; opioid and other substance use disorders study committee; pension review commission and pension review subcommittee; legislative oversight committee concerning tax policy; and sales and use tax simplification task force; and Prohibits members serving on statutorily created interim committees from receiving per diem and travel expenses for attending interim committee meetings during the 2025 interim except for attendance at a meeting of the wildfire matters review committee, the water resources and agriculture review committee, and the transportation legislation review committee. The act removes the authority of the Colorado youth advisory council review committee to recommend legislation through the interim committee process. The act reduces appropriations made in the legislative department's budget bill by $272,355. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the department of corrections (department) to search all information available to the department to determine whether an offender held at a correctional facility is subject to an outstanding warrant or if the offender has a pending case in a Colorado court. The department is required to conduct the search when the department conducts the initial comprehensive evaluation of the offender's sentence and 3 to 8 months prior to the offender's community correction eligibility date. The act requires the department to establish guidelines and policies that address requests for additional searches as may be needed by the public defender liaison to the department. If the department determines that an offender is subject to a warrant or has a pending case in a Colorado court, the department shall notify the offender, the public defender liaison to the department, and the court that issued the warrant or in which the case is pending, as applicable. The general assembly encourages a court to ensure the offender appears before the court, is assigned counsel if the defendant is eligible for court-appointed counsel, allows the offender to resolve the warrant in a timely manner, and facilitates virtual appearance for the offender. The act does not prohibit the department from searching for outstanding warrants at any other time. The act requires the office of state public defender to designate an email address for the public defender liaisons to the department of corrections to receive notifications from the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For school districts and the state charter school institute (institute), the act requires the department of education (department) to develop a streamlined format for a performance, improvement, priority improvement, or turnaround plan (plan) that consolidates various state, federal, and grant reporting requirements and allows a school district or the institute to attach a locally developed action portion of the plan that addresses action steps, resources, and any other plan components identified in state board of education (state board) rule. For schools of a school district or district charter schools (district public schools) or institute charter schools, the act requires the department to develop a streamlined format for a plan that consolidates various state, federal, and grant reporting requirements and allows a local school board for the district public school, or the institute if the public school is an institute charter school, to attach a locally developed action portion of the plan that addresses action steps, resources, and any other plan components identified in state board rule. The department shall maintain a centralized system for plan submissions so the department can conduct a statewide analysis in order to determine how to best distribute state resources and supports. On or before August 31, 2025, and regularly thereafter, the department must collect user feedback to assess the extent to which the streamlined format for plans is used, whether it is helpful, and how to use this feedback to improve the centralized system. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under existing law, a person charged with a criminal offense is subject to a criminal protection order, which remains in effect until final disposition of the criminal action. The act: Prescribes what must be included in the standardized form for a criminal protection order; Limits a criminal protection order to orders for the protection of a witness to, or victim of, the acts charged and prohibits a court from including in a criminal protection order an order to enforce a mandated condition of bond or a condition of bond that assists in obtaining the appearance of the defendant in court or ensuring community safety; Requires a court to inform a defendant that a violation of a criminal protection order may constitute a misdemeanor offense of violation of a protection order and that conduct that violates the criminal protection order may constitute a felony offense of intimidating a witness or victim or retaliation against a witness or victim; Only allows a criminal protection order to prohibit possession or consumption of alcohol or controlled substances without a valid prescription when available information supports a sufficient nexus between that restriction and the safety of the alleged victim or witness; except that, in a case involving domestic violence or crimes listed in the "Victim Rights Act", the court may enter an order prohibiting possession or consumption of alcohol or controlled substances without a valid prescription if the court deems it appropriate for the safety of an alleged victim or witness; and Requires a court to review a criminal protection order at the time of sentencing or other resolution of the criminal case. Under existing law, a sentence for violating a protection order runs consecutively with any sentence imposed for the crime that gave rise to the protection order. The act limits this consecutive sentence provision to crimes involving domestic violence or crimes listed in the "Victim Rights Act". The act grants a peace officer discretion to arrest, seek a warrant to arrest, or issue a summons to a restrained person for violating, or attempting to violate, a protection order by possessing or consuming alcohol or controlled substances; violating a term included in the protection order to protect the protected person from imminent danger to life or health in cases that do not involve domestic violence or crimes listed in the "Victim Rights Act"; or failing to timely file a signed affidavit or written statement with the court as required by law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the Colorado broadband office provides technical assistance to grant applicants related to grants to deploy broadband services. The act expands the technical assistance to grant applicants to include assistance related to grants to deploy wireless service. The act requires an emergency alert sent by the state or a county, municipality, or alerting authority to be sent in a predominant minority language if the county has at least 2,000 citizens who are 18 years of age or older and who speak the predominant minority language and speak English less than very well, as defined by the United States bureau of the census American community survey or comparable census data. The state, counties, municipalities, and alerting authorities are encouraged to use available technology to issue emergency alerts in as many languages as possible in the same method as an English alert. Each alerting authority that is required to send emergency alerts in a predominant minority language is encouraged to conduct community outreach to inform people with limited English proficiency of the availability of language interpretation and translation options for emergency alerts. Alerts must comply with the act by July 1, 2027. The act allows the 911 services enterprise to distribute grants to local alerting authorities to implement language and accessibility services for emergency alerts. The act imposes the 911 prepaid wireless charge and 988 surcharge to prepaid wireless telecommunication services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill designates Colorado American Indian Recognition Day as an observed, but not a legal, state holiday. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Provides for the payment of expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the state of Colorado, and of its agencies and institutions, for and during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, except as otherwise noted. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Currently, the "Special District Act" (act) grants metropolitan districts and water and sanitation districts the power to have and exercise the powers of eminent domain and dominant eminent domain, but does not define these powers. The bill specifies that the powers of eminent domain and dominant eminent domain granted to metropolitan districts and water and sanitation districts in the act do not authorize the exercise of the power of dominant eminent domain to acquire state-owned property or the property of a home rule city, town, city and county, or county.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)