The act modifies the "Uniform Election Code of 1992" (code), the law regarding initiatives and referendums, the "Fair Campaign Practices Act", and the law regarding public official disclosures. The act modifies the code as follows: Allows any form of identification currently specified in the code to be presented in digital format; Repeals a criterion for determining a voter's residence; Facilitates voter registration for people who live on Indian reservations; Modifies the self-affirmation that is required when an elector registers or preregisters to vote to conform to the elimination by constitutional amendment of the right of an individual who is 17 years old but will turn 18 before a general election to vote in the primary election that precedes the general election; Modifies the meeting dates on which a judicial district central committee holds its organizational meetings; Eliminates the option for all active electors in a county who have not declared an affiliation to specify a party preference and specifies that all such electors will receive a mailing that contains the ballots of all of the major political parties; Conforms provisions regarding presidential electors to federal law; Clarifies who can challenge a candidate's eligibility for office; Modifies notice requirements for candidates for designation for nomination by assembly; Modifies the standards for a petition entity to operate in the state; Creates a process for a candidate to protest when the secretary of state (secretary) has determined that a petition is insufficient; Requires voter service and polling centers (VSPC) and drop boxes to be located on campuses of private institutions of higher education and increases the number of VSPCs and drop boxes on campuses of private and state institutions of higher education; Clarifies the number of in-person voting days at a VSPC on an Indian reservation; Allows drop boxes to be located at places of worship; Allows a VSPC to be located in a multi-use building where alcohol is served so long as the VSPC is in a separate part of the building; Increases the state's reimbursement to counties for the cost of conducting elections beginning in July of 2024; Clarifies the secretary's authority to determine conditions of use for voting systems; Updates provisions regarding the use of voting systems to align with current practice; Clarifies that a clerk and recorder or designated election official (clerk) is required to submit a plan regarding voting to the secretary before every election; Allows counties with fewer than 15,000 active voters to have 2, rather than 3, election judges at each VSPC; Eliminates references to precincts; Clarifies the number of watchers allowed in certain locations for primary, general, and congressional vacancy elections; Modifies who may appoint an election watcher; Specifies the circumstances under which a clerk is required to revoke the certificate of a watcher for the use of a mobile phone in a polling location; Specifies that an election watcher may use a phone to send or receive text messages while watching election activities so long as the watcher is not in view of personally identifiable information; Specifies the conditions under which an elector may take a mobile phone into a VSPC; Clarifies the duty of election judges to inspect voting machines; Requires that a bipartisan team of election judges make a duplicate copy of a ballot that is damaged or defective; Specifies that the secretary is required to retain election setup records as election records; Allows a voting system provider under contract to provide a voting system to a political subdivision in the state to place any changes to election software in escrow with either the secretary or an independent escrow agent; Specifies when a clerk must update the voter registration system after an eligible elector (elector) has cured deficient identification or a missing or deficient signature; Specifies how often a clerk must collect ballots from each drop box; Specifies when a clerk must begin counting ballots in counties with over 10,000 electors; In counties that have issued electronic tablets to or made electronic tablets available to confined eligible electors, directs the clerk and the sheriff to determine and include in the mail ballot election plan the process by which they will facilitate voter registration, ballot delivery, and ballot return using electronic tablets issued to confined eligible electors; Modifies deadlines and the process for testing voting systems in connection with a mandatory recount of votes cast; Modifies recount timelines and payment requirements; Updates requirements regarding lists of presidential electors to conform with federal law; Clarifies how the date of a recall election is determined; Repeals an obsolete provision regarding voting in an incorrect polling location; and Specifies that it is not electioneering for a person to incidentally display apparel that supports political issues on the campus of any institution of higher education, rather than just a state institution of higher education, where a VSPC is located. The act modifies the law regarding initiative and referendum by prohibiting allowing the secretary of state to prohibit a petition entity from circulating ballot petitions if the entity or a principal of the entity has been convicted of certain crimes and by increasing penalties for petition entities that violate state law regarding petition circulation. The act modifies the "Fair Campaign Practices Act" as follows: Clarifies the definition of "independent expenditure committee"; Prohibits a candidate committee from knowingly accepting contributions from certain entities and making contributions to certain entities; Specifies time frames for the termination of candidate committee accounts; Limits the amount of unexpended campaign contributions that may be transferred from one candidate committee to another for a different office sought by the same candidate; Clarifies that an elected official may use unexpended campaign contributions for child care costs; Clarifies when a referred measure is submitted to the voters by the general assembly; Requires the electronic filing of candidate disclosure statements; and States that a candidate may be disqualified if the secretary finds that the candidate willfully filed a false or incomplete disclosure statement. The act modifies the law regarding public official disclosure by specifying that the information included in the public disclosures filed by certain public officials must include information for the previous calendar year under certain circumstances and by requiring the person making the disclosure to include certain information about the sources of compensation the person received. The act prohibits a clerk who is administering an election and the department of state from using an appropriation of state or federal money to pay for advertising expenses that feature a person who is a declared candidate for a federal, state, or local office. The act extends the department of state's spending authority by 2 fiscal years for an appropriation that was originally made for the 2021-22 state fiscal year and available for expenditure through the 2022-23 state fiscal year for the implementation of a law that the general assembly enacted in 2019 to facilitate automatic voter registration. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $469,201 from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE June 6, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE January 1, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act creates a right of first refusal of a local government to match an acceptable offer for the sale of a multifamily residential or mixed-use rental property consisting of 15 or more units in an urban county or 5 or more units in a rural or rural resort county (property). The right to the purchase of the property by the local government is effective on and after August 7, 2023 until August 1, 2028, is subject to the local government's commitment to using the property as long-term affordable housing, and, if the property is mixed-use, applies only to the residential portion of the property. The local government may assign its right of first refusal to a housing authority that is within the local government's jurisdiction, to a regional housing authority, or to the Colorado housing and finance authority subject to the limitation that the assignee make the same commitment to using the property as long-term affordable housing. The act requires notices to be given by the seller to the local government and by the local government to the seller and to residents of the property. Upon receiving notice of intent to sell or of a potential sale of property, the local government has 7 calendar days to preserve its right of first refusal and an additional 30 calendar days to make an offer and must agree to close on the property within 60 calendar days if practicable but within not more than 90 calendar days of the execution of an agreement for the sale and purchase of the qualifying property; except that there are certain circumstances that may allow these periods to be tolled. Prior to the sale of a property, the seller is required to execute and record an affidavit in the real property records of the county in which the property is located certifying that either the rights and property interests of the local government have expired or been released or waived or that the local government or its assignee is the purchaser of the property. The act allows certain sales of property to be exempt from the right of first refusal and the requirements established by the act for the right of first refusal. The act also allows the local government to waive its right of first refusal to purchase a property if the local government elects to disclaim its rights to any proposed transaction or for any duration of time or if there is a third-party buyer interested in purchasing the property with the same commitment to preserving or converting the property for long-term affordable housing that enters into an agreement with the local government concerning the third-party buyer's commitment to long-term affordable housing. If the local government, its assignee, or a third-party buyer who has committed to preserving or converting the property for long-term affordable housing has acquired the property and maintained the property for long-term affordable housing for 50 years, the property may be converted to another use if the following conditions are met: Notice is given to residents prior to the conversion; Any displaced residents are provided with compensation for relocation; and The local government, its assignee, or a third-party buyer who has committed to preserving or converting the property for long-term affordable housing guarantees the development or conversion of an equal or greater amount of units within the boundaries of the local government for long-term affordable housing and offers the units first to any residents displaced by the conversion of the property. The act also provides that the attorney general's office has responsibility to enforce the provisions of the act and that the attorney general's office, the local government, or a mission-driven organization has standing to bring a civil action for violations of the right of first refusal established by the act. If a court finds that a seller or a third-party buyer that has entered into an agreement with the local government for the waiver of the local government's right of first refusal has materially violated the law with respect to the provisions of the right of first refusal, the court must award a statutory penalty of not less than $50,000 or an amount equal to 30% of the purchase or listing price of the property, whichever amount is greater. VETOED by Governor June 6, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a contract to sell residential real estate to contain, and a landlord of residential real estate to provide to prospective tenants, in writing: A warning statement about the dangers of radon and the need for testing; Any knowledge the seller or landlord has of the residential real property's radon concentrations and history, including tests performed, reports written, and mitigation conducted; and The most recent brochure published by the department of public health and environment that provides advice about radon in real estate transactions. If a landlord fails to provide the written disclosures or fails to mitigate an elevated radon level, the tenant may void the lease in accordance with the statutes governing the implied warranty of habitability; except that after January 1, 2026, the tenant may void the lease only if the lease is greater than one year in duration. The real estate commission is required to promulgate rules requiring that these warnings and disclosures are made in real estate transactions that use a broker. Colorado law requires a radon professional to be licensed. The act exempts a tenant from needing a license when the tenant is testing the property leased by the tenant. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 7, 2023, statewide election to allow the state to retain and spend state revenues that would otherwise need to be refunded for exceeding the estimate in the ballot information booklet analysis for proposition EE and to allow the state to maintain the tax rates established in proposition EE that would otherwise need to be decreased. If voters reject the ballot issue, the state will both: Refund $23.65 million to distributors and wholesalers in a reasonable manner determined by the department of revenue; and Reduce by 11.53% the tax rates of the taxes on cigarettes, tobacco products, and nicotine products created or increased by proposition EE. If voters approve the ballot measure: The money set aside for the potential refund related to proposition EE will instead be transferred to the preschool programs cash fund and the general fund; and The new tax on nicotine products and the increased taxes on cigarettes and tobacco products in proposition EE will stay at the rates required by proposition EE. The refund or alternative spending is made or backfilled from revenue in the newly created proposition EE cash fund, which consists of $23.65 million from the preschool programs cash fund and the general fund. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 2, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act changes the date upon which the department of public health and environment must begin providing reimbursements to eligible schools that serve students in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade for costs associated with the testing of drinking water from March 15, 2024, to June 1, 2023. APPROVED by Governor June 1, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to study the feasibility of extending continuous medical coverage for additional children and adults. The state department is required to submit a report detailing its findings and recommendations from the feasibility study to the joint budget committee of the senate and house of representatives, the governor, and to the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee and the senate health and human services committee, or any successor committees, by January 1, 2026, and also make the report publicly available. No later than April 1, 2024, the state department must seek federal authorization to extend continuous eligibility coverage for children under 3 years of age, including children who would be eligible for medical assistance coverage but are not because of their immigration status, and to extend eligibility coverage for 12 months for adults who have been released from a Colorado department of corrections facility, regardless of any change in income during that time. Upon approval of the federal authorization, the state department shall implement continuous eligibility coverage by January 1, 2026. The act appropriates $337,765 from the general fund to the state department for use by the executive director's office (office). From this appropriation the office may use $192,915 for personal services, $20,050 for operating expenses, and $124,800 for general professional services and special projects. The act anticipates that the state department will receive $337,765 in federal funds to implement this act. APPROVED by Governor June 1, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
On and after July 1, 2024, the act prohibits a health-care provider (provider), which is an individual provider or a health facility, or a health system, which is a corporation or organization that owns, contains, or operates 3 or more hospitals, from charging, billing, or collecting a facility fee directly from a patient that is not covered by the patient's insurance for mandatory coverage for preventive health-care services that are provided in an outpatient setting. The act defines "facility fee" as any fee that a hospital or health system charges or bills for outpatient services that is intended to compensate the hospital or health system for its operational expenses and that is separate and distinct from a professional fee charged or billed by a provider for professional medical services. The limitation on charging, billing, or collecting a facility fee does not apply to a critical access hospital, a sole community hospital in a rural or frontier area, a community clinic affiliated with a sole community hospital in a rural or frontier area, or a hospital established by the Denver health and hospital authority. The act: Requires a provider that charges a facility fee to provide notice to a patient that the provider charges the fee and to use a standardized bill that includes itemized charges identifying the facility fee, as well as other information; Requires a health facility that is newly affiliated with or owned by a hospital or health system on or after July 1, 2024, to provide written notice to patients of the health facility during the previous 12 months concerning the change in ownership and that the health facility may now charge a facility fee, and prohibits the collection of a facility fee until at least 30 days after the notice is sent; and Makes it a deceptive trade practice to charge, bill, or collect a facility fee when doing so is prohibited. The act creates a steering committee (steering committee) in the department of health care policy and financing (department) to facilitate the development of a preliminary report by August 1, 2024, and a final report by October 1, 2024, detailing the impact of outpatient facility fees on the Colorado health-care system, including the impact on consumers, employers, and providers. The steering committee consists of 7 members appointed by the governor with relevant expertise in health-care billing and payment policy, including, among others, members representing consumers, payers, and providers. The act lists specific data and information to be collected, identified, evaluated, and analyzed, including: Data from: The all-payer health-claims database; Hospital and health systems; The department, the division of insurance, and commercial payers; and Independent health-care providers that are not affiliated with or owned by a hospital or health system evaluated in the report; The impact of facility fees and payer coverage policies on the Colorado healthcare affordability and sustainability enterprise, the medicaid expansion, uncompensated care, and undercompensated care; The impact of facility fees on access to care, integrated care systems, health equity, and the health-care workforce; and A description of the way in which providers may be paid or reimbursed by payers for outpatient health-care services. To the extent feasible, data must be sourced from 2014 through 2022, as determined by the steering committee and any third-party contractors, and disaggregated, as described in the act. The steering committee shall seek to exhaust existing data sources before making additional requests and shall minimize the number of data requests. To implement the act, for the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act: Increases general fund appropriations to the department in the 2023 long bill by $18,326 for personal services and $337 for operating expenses; Decreases anticipated federal funds received by the department by $18,663; and Appropriates $516,950 from the general fund to the department for general professional services and special projects. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 30, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to seek federal authorization through an amendment to the state medical assistance plan to implement the community first choice option. The act requires the state plan amendment to include personal care services, homemaker services, health maintenance activities, personal emergency response systems and other emergency back-up services, and voluntary training on how to select, manage, and dismiss an attendant. The act authorizes the department to provide permissible services and supports that are linked to an assessed need or goal in an individual's person-centered service plan, including transition costs and expenditures relating to increasing an individual's independence or reducing reliance on human assistance. To be eligible for the community first choice option, an individual must: Be eligible for the state medical assistance program; Be in an eligibility group under the state medical assistance program that includes nursing facility services, or if in an eligibility group that does not include nursing facility services, have an income that is at or below 150% of the federal poverty level; or Receive an annual determination that in the absence of home- and community-based attendant services and supports, the individual would require the level of care furnished in certain care settings. The act makes conforming amendments to remove the services provided through the community first choice option from other long-term care waiver programs. APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE May 25, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2025 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Existing law allows money expended from the "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" (IIJA) cash fund (cash fund) to be used as matching nonfederal money for infrastructure projects pursuant to requirements of the IIJA as well as for grant writing support, project planning support, and administrative needs. The act clarifies that, with respect to the project planning support for which money from the fund is already authorized to be expended, the Governor's office (office) may specifically expend money from the fund for project planning support for federal funding opportunities in connection with the IIJA and related federal funding opportunities including funding opportunities from the "Inflation Reduction Act". The act requires the state treasurer to transfer $84 million from the general fund to the cash fund on July 1, 2023. Additionally, the act changes the annual reporting requirement of the office to a quarterly reporting requirement beginning on July 1, 2023. The act also requires the state treasurer to transfer $5 million from the general fund to the state highway fund on July 1, 2023, for use by the department of transportation to develop comprehensive operational capacity to maximize utilization and implementation of federal infrastructure funding. The board of trustees of the Colorado school of mines (board of trustees) has been authorized to lease real or personal property, or both, to state or federal governmental agencies, among other entities, for terms not to exceed 80 years. The act expands this authorization to allow the board of trustees to lease such property for terms not to exceed 99 years. The act appropriates $84,000,000 for state fiscal year 2023-24 from the "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" cash fund to the office and principal departments of the executive branch of state government. Any portion of the appropriation that is not spent during state fiscal year 2023-24 is further appropriated through state fiscal year 2026-27. APPROVED by Governor May 22, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 22, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
During the 2021 legislative session, the general assembly transferred $10 million from the general fund to the public school capital construction assistance fund (fund) and appropriated this money for air quality improvement grants for schools. Of the money transferred and appropriated for air quality improvement grants, $4,705,220 remains in the fund and has not been distributed. The appropriation for fiscal year 2021-22 has expired. The act specifies that the unspent money transferred and appropriated for air quality improvement grants must not be used for air quality improvement grants and instead must be used for financial assistance as provided in the "Building Excellent Schools Today Act". During the 2022 legislative session, the general assembly scheduled a transfer of $30 million from the marijuana tax cash fund to the fund for June 1, 2023. The act repeals this scheduled transfer before it occurs. For state fiscal year 2023-24, the act requires the public school capital construction assistance board (board) to allocate $49,705,220 from public school capital construction assistance board cash grants to be used for supplemental grants at schools experiencing capital construction project cost overruns as a result of COVID-19 inflationary pressure. The act changes the financial capacity factors for evaluating the match requirement for public school capital construction projects for school districts and boards of cooperative services. The new factors apply to grants awarded on or after September 1, 2023, and funded on or after July 1, 2024. The act transfers $15 million from the state education fund to the fund on June 1, 2023. $10 million in royalties and other payments for depletion or extraction of natural resources on state lands is credited to the fund for the 2022-23 state fiscal year. The act provides for a reduction of $294,780 in cash funds appropriated from the fund to the department of education for board cash grants in the 2023 long bill. APPROVED by Governor May 12, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 12, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)