Rep. Lindsay Gilchrist

The act expands the veterans mental health services program to provide grants to local nonprofit organizations to establish and expand community behavioral health programs that provide behavioral health services to service members, veterans, and family members of service members and veterans. The act reduces the reappropriated funds appropriation made in the long bill to the department of military and veterans affairs for use by the division of veterans affairs for veterans mental health services by $5,000,000; except that the reduction is not made if: The amount of reappropriated funds made in the long bill to the department of military and veterans affairs for use by the division of veterans affairs for veterans mental health is less than $5,000,000; or The long bill does not include an appropriation to the department of military and veterans affairs for use by the division of veterans affairs for veterans mental health.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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 act permits a state-owned psychiatric residential treatment facility to use a secure perimeter fence around the facility. The act clarifies that placement of a juvenile in a state-owned psychiatric residential treatment facility is not considered detention and placement in a state-owned psychiatric residential treatment facility is not considered restraint. The state board of health is required to adopt rules for admission to the facility in compliance with other applicable regulations. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the state board of education to adopt rules that consider a number of factors in determining the amount of money each school participating in the K-5 social and emotional health pilot program will receive in order to carry out the pilot program. (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.)

Beginning July 1, 2025 No later than January 1, 2026 , the bill requires the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF) to seek federal authorization to reimburse acute care hospitals and ambulatory surgery facilities that provide vagus nerve stimulation therapy to members diagnosed with drug-resistant epilepsy at a rate that is equal to 75% 60% of the cost for acquiring the vagus nerve stimulator device, which reimbursement is in addition to and does not supplant the reimbursement for any necessary surgical procedure associated with implanting the device. Beginning January 1, 2029, the bill requires HCPF to increase the reimbursement to a rate that is equal to 75% of the cost for acquiring the vagus nerve simulator device. (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.)

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.)

The act changes the following appropriations made for the 2024-25 state fiscal year: The appropriation from the general fund to the department of health care policy and financing for transfer to the department of early childhood (DEC) for early intervention is decreased by $2,000,000; The appropriation from the general fund to the DEC for early intervention is increased by $2,000,000; and Funds reappropriated to the DEC for early intervention are decreased by $4,000,000.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summarySenate Joint Resolution 25-022 is a commemorative resolution concerning the remembrance of the Holocaust. It declares the General Assembly's commitment to remembering the Holocaust and encourages school districts and universities to promote antibias, bullying prevention, and Holocaust and genocide education programs to prevent antisemitic incidents, particularly those targeting Jewish students.

Maddy summaryHouse Joint Resolution 25-1025 is a commemorative resolution by the Colorado General Assembly. It officially recognizes the week of April 6-12, 2025, as National Crime Victims' Rights Week in Colorado. The resolution aims to honor crime victims and those who serve them, and encourages Colorado citizens to seek justice and show compassion for victims.