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.)
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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.)
The act repeals the existing nursing facility provider fee and intermediate care facility service fee, effective May 1, 2025, and provides that, beginning on May 1, 2025, and for each state fiscal year thereafter, the Colorado healthcare affordability and sustainability enterprise (CHASE) within the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF) will charge and collect a new healthcare affordability and sustainability nursing facility provider fee and a new healthcare affordability and sustainability intermediate care facility fee that function similarly to the repealed fees. The act creates a facility provider fee enterprise support board within CHASE for the purpose of supporting the existing enterprise with the implementation of the healthcare affordability and sustainability nursing facility provider fee and the healthcare affordability and sustainability intermediate care facility fee. In exchange for payment of the healthcare affordability and sustainability nursing facility provider fee, CHASE will provide certain business services to nursing facility providers to sustain or increase reimbursement rates and make supplemental medicaid payments to nursing facility providers. In exchange for payment of the healthcare affordability and sustainability intermediate care facility fee, CHASE will provide certain business services to intermediate care facility providers for individuals with intellectual disabilities for the purposes of maintaining the quality and continuity of services provided by intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Because CHASE is an enterprise for purposes of the Taxpayer's Act of Rights, its revenue does not count against the state fiscal year spending limit. The act also makes conforming amendments and, for clarity, renames the existing healthcare affordability and sustainability fee and healthcare affordability and sustainability fund to be the healthcare affordability and sustainability hospital provider fee and the healthcare affordability and sustainability hospital provider fee cash fund. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, $62,986,221 is appropriated from the healthcare affordability and sustainability nursing facility provider fee cash fund to HCPF and $2,150,281 is appropriated from the healthcare affordability and sustainability intermediate care facility fee cash fund to HCPF. The act also decreases in corresponding amounts appropriations to HCPF from other cash funds and modifies appropriations to HCPF for the 2024-25 state fiscal year. (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.)
The act requires each school district, beginning in the 2025-26 budget year, and each budget year thereafter, to report the total amount of additional mill levy revenue, stated as a dollar amount, that the school district is authorized to collect and that the school district distributes to the institute charter schools within the geographic boundary of the school district. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Beginning with the 2025-26 budget year, and each budget year thereafter, the state charter school institute (institute) shall not distribute a portion of its appropriated mill levy equalization funds to multi-district online schools that are authorized by the institute. Beginning in the 2024-25 budget year, if the institute receives additional mill levy revenue from a school district for an institute charter school within the geographic boundary of the school district, the general assembly shall deduct the additional mill levy revenue from the amount necessary to fully fund mill levy equalization. The act decreases an appropriation from the state education fund to the department of education for use by the institute for mill levy equalization by $1,008,494. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act exempts 2024-25 state fiscal year supplemental appropriations for student financial aid from annual appropriation requirements for student financial assistance. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies that the department of higher education may distribute financial assistance from an allocation authorized for student financial assistance programs to undergraduate students who attend participating private institutions of higher education and who participate in the college opportunity fund program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state treasurer to transfer $4 million from the general fund to the "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" cash fund on July 1, 2025. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)