Sen. Byron Pelton

The act clarifies that the health benefits coverage for the prevention of, screening for, and treatment of behavioral, mental health, and substance use disorders must be no less extensive than the coverage provided for any physical illness. The act requires that every health benefit plan provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of covered behavioral, mental health, and substance use disorder benefits, consistent with specified criteria. The act also specifies criteria to be used for conducting utilization review, service intensity, and the level of care for covered persons. In addition, the act prohibits: A health benefit plan from limiting coverage for chronic behavioral, mental health, or substance use disorders to short-term symptom reduction; and A health insurance carrier from reversing or altering a determination of medical necessity except in the case of fraud. The act requires carriers that provide benefits for mental health conditions or substance use disorders to offer meaningful benefits for mental health conditions and substance use disorders. The act describes how to determine whether the benefits provided are meaningful benefits. The commissioner of insurance is authorized to adopt rules to: Establish carrier utilization review compliance; Specify data testing requirements for plan design and application of parity compliance; Set standard definition for coverage requirements; Establish timelines for carriers to provide comparative analysis information to the division of insurance; and Establish time periods for visits with a provider for treatment of a behavioral, mental health, or substance use disorder after an initial visit with a provider.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summaryThis is a ceremonial resolution designating March 17, 2025, as "Colorado FFA Day." It recognizes the Future Farmers of America (FFA) organization's role in supporting agricultural education and youth development in Colorado. The resolution directly affects Colorado FFA members, educators, and supporters by formally honoring their contributions through this annual recognition. It does not create new laws or policy changes, as it is a symbolic gesture celebrating the organization's work.

Subject to specific requirements, the act allows a notice to or from a party or other document required by law in an insurance transaction that is related to a provision of a health insurance contract or that is to serve as evidence of health insurance coverage to be delivered, stored, and presented by electronic means if the electronic means meet the requirements of the "Uniform Electronic Transactions Act". The delivery of a notice or document by electronic means is considered the equivalent to and has the same effect as any other delivery method required by law. The act requires health insurance carriers to deliver paper communications to any individuals that may elect to receive paper communications upon request. An insurance producer is not subject to civil liability for any harm or injury that occurs because of a party's election to receive any notice or document by electronic means or by a carrier's failure to deliver or a party's failure to receive a notice or document by electronic means. A carrier may mail, deliver, or, if the carrier obtains separate, specific consent, post on the carrier's website a health coverage plan and an endorsement that does not contain personal identifying information. If the carrier elects to post a health coverage plan and an endorsement on the carrier's website in lieu of mailing or delivering the health coverage plan and endorsement, the carrier shall comply with certain conditions. The commissioner of insurance may adopt rules to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Maddy summaryThis joint resolution declares February 28, 2025, as Rare Disease Day in Colorado to raise awareness about rare diseases. It directly affects Colorado residents living with rare diseases - over 500,000 people - and their families, recognizing the challenges they face, including high medical costs and limited treatments. The resolution makes no new policy changes but symbolically honors those impacted by urging the state to "show our stripes" in solidarity. It references national statistics (e.g., 1 in 10 Americans affected) and the "zebra" awareness symbol for rare conditions, without creating any legal obligations or funding.

Under current law, certain evidence of a victim's prior or subsequent sexual conduct is presumed irrelevant and inadmissible in a civil proceeding, but there is an exception for evidence of the victim's prior or subsequent sexual conduct with the defendant. The act eliminates this exception. The act prohibits the admission of evidence of the victim's manner of dress, hairstyle, mode or manner of speech, or lifestyle as evidence of the victim's consent, credibility, or the existence or extent of damages or harm. The party moving to admit evidence presumed irrelevant is required to raise the issue at a pretrial conference and make a prima facie showing that the evidence is relevant for an admissible reason and that discovery is likely to rebut the presumption of inadmissibility. The court is required to allow the nonmoving party to object. If the court allows discovery, the court must issue a protective order that limits the scope of discovery to relevant issues and protect against unwarranted, irrelevant, or overly broad discovery into the alleged victim's sexual conduct or history. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill prohibits a court, without the consent of the district attorney, from releasing a person on any unsecured personal recognizance bond if the person is accused of committing a crime of violence, the court finds probable cause to believe that the person has committed the offense, and either: The person has a record of conviction for a crime of violence within the prior 2 years; or There are at least 2 pending criminal charges against the person that allege that the person committed a crime of violence and the court finds probable cause to believe that the person has committed the prior alleged offenses (repeat violent offender). Existing law requires any monetary condition of pretrial release to be reasonable. The bill states that a reasonable monetary condition of pretrial release for a repeat violent offender is at least $7,500. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires the marijuana enforcement division, the natural medicine division, and the department of public health and environment (department), when regulating marijuana and marijuana products and hemp and hemp products and psilocybin, psilocin, and possibly dimethyltryptamine, ibogaine, and mescaline (natural medicine), to prioritize the public health over private interests in exercising regulatory authority and develop measures designed to prevent these agencies or an agent or employee of these agencies from becoming unduly influenced by licensees or registrants. Current law requires the marijuana enforcement division to adopt rules governing labeling of regulated marijuana and regulated marijuana products. The bill requires the labeling of regulated marijuana and regulated marijuana products to include the amount of total THC per package and a solid color strip on the face of the packaging that indicates THC potency of marijuana or a marijuana product by showing the corresponding color as follows: If the THC potency is less than 5%, the color strip is blue; If the THC potency is at least 5% but less than 15%, the color strip is yellow; If the THC potency is at least 15% but less than 50%, the color strip is orange; or If the THC potency is at least 50%, the color strip is red. A marijuana store must post, at all times and at every point of sale, a sign that explains the meaning of the color strips. Inhaled marijuana is required to have the following labeling: The amount of THC per serving; The amount of THC per package; The number of servings per package; and Directions for consumption of a serving. Current law authorizes the marijuana enforcement division to seek the assistance of the department when adopting certain rules. The bill requires the marijuana enforcement division to seek this assistance. Current law limits the standard serving size of edible marijuana products to 10 milligrams. The bill adds inhaled marijuana and requires that its serving size is limited to 10 milligrams and the package weight to 500 milligrams. The bill forbids a retail marijuana store, a retail marijuana transporter, a marijuana hospitality business, a retail marijuana accelerator store, and a retail marijuana hospitality and sales business from selling, distributing, permitting the sale of, or offering to sell or distribute the following to an individual who is 25 years of age or younger: Retail marijuana that has a THC potency that is higher than 10%; or Inhaled retail marijuana that contains an added flavor ingredient. The natural medicine division is required to adopt rules that include: Requirements that labeling of natural medicine or a natural medicine product includes a universal symbol indicating the package contains natural medicine; and Requirements and standards for collecting and reporting data about adverse medical or behavioral reactions to natural medicine or natural medicine products. A natural medicine license holder is prohibited from manufacturing, distributing, or transferring natural medicine or a natural medicine product that: Is a candy product, gummy, chocolate, or other confection; Contains a concentrated form of a natural medicine or natural medicine product; Is consumed by or administered by a means other than oral ingestion; or Contains an added flavor or sweetener. Current law creates a social equity program that gives loans, grants, and technical assistance to disadvantaged persons by helping an approved applicant to obtain a marijuana license and start a marijuana business. The funding comes from the marijuana tax cash fund. The bill expands this program to include a person who wants to start any type of business. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Section 1 of the bill repeals provisions in the Colorado open meetings law that specifically apply to the general assembly that were enacted in 2024 by Senate Bill 24-157. Section 2 requires that the database created and maintained by the peace officer standards and training board that includes specified information related to peace officer conduct and discipline be sortable in addition to being searchable and that it be available upon request to any member of the public with only personal information of peace officers redacted at no cost to the requester. Sections 3, 4, and 5 make the following changes to the Colorado open records act (CORA): Specifies the manner in which service of requests for public records must be made; Requires that a requester of public records submit with the request an affidavit of service, which creates a rebuttable presumption of the date that service is made; Clarifies that any rules made by a custodian for the inspection of public records cannot increase any costs charged to a requester and cannot expand the date and time for inspection of public records; Removes the requirement that a requester must request that the custodian notify the requester that requested public records are in active use, in storage, or otherwise not readily available; Clarifies that computation of time for response periods is in accordance with the generally applicable law for computation of time and does not include the day that service is made; Permits computation of time for a request that was mailed to begin on the third day after the date of mailing; Changes the reasonable time to respond to a request for public records from 3 working days to 5 days; For a custodian to not be required to produce a digital public record in a searchable or sortable format, requires documentary evidence that producing the record in that format would violate the terms of a copyright or licensing agreement or documentary evidence, including an opinion from legal counsel, that producing the record in that format would result in the release of a third party's proprietary information; Although a custodian is allowed to deny inspection of a personnel file, allows inspection of any writings that reflect or discuss the exercise of official government functions by any public employee subject to certain permissible redactions; Allows for the first 5 hours of time expended in connection with the research and retrieval of public records to be free of charge to the requester; Caps the amount of the hourly fee that can be imposed for research and retrieval of public records to $25; Allows a $50 fee to be imposed for attorney review which is limited to review of requested public records for attorney-client privileged communication; and Invalidates any fee imposed by a custodian if the custodian does not provide information in writing to the requester concerning an estimate of time to be expended and fees to be charged in connection with responding to the request. Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9 make the following changes to the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA): Adds to the definition of "official record" any incident report or other record of an interaction between any on-duty peace officer and any member of the public; Modifies the provisions on the response period to state that a custodian shall respond to a request for criminal justice records 3 days after the day the request is received unless extenuating circumstances apply, in which case the 3-day response period may be extended for a period not to exceed 10 days. The extenuating circumstances set forth in CORA are the extenuating circumstances applicable for requests under the CCJRA. Requires that records in a completed internal investigation be available for public inspection within 21 days of a request being submitted and whether or not the investigation involved a member of the public; Removes the court's discretion and the requirement that the court find that improper denial of records is arbitrary or capricious to award court costs and attorney fees; and Applies the same parameters as those established under CORA for search and retrieval and attorney fees.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Sections 1 and 2 of the bill prohibit a state agency from imposing a personal qualification requirement in order to engage in a profession or occupation unless the agency can show that the requirement is demonstrably necessary and narrowly tailored to address a specific, legitimate public health, safety, or welfare objective. On or before July 1, 2026, every agency must review occupational regulations and determine whether the regulation should be repealed or amended. Any person may file a petition with an agency requesting that an occupational regulation be repealed or amended. Regardless of whether a petition is filed with an agency, any person may file a civil suit requesting that the court enjoin the adoption or enforcement of an occupational regulation. When an agency files a notice of proposed rule-making with the secretary of state, if the proposed rule-making includes a proposed occupational regulation, the agency must also submit a statement to the secretary of state describing how the proposed occupational regulation complies with the bill's requirements. Section 3 repeals the industrial and manufacturing operations clean air grant program, the cannabis resource optimization cash fund, the community access to electric bicycles grant program, and the electrifying school buses grant program, which were enacted in 2022 by Senate Bill 22-193. Section 4 repeals the energy code board and its associated model codes, an energy code training grant program, the building electrification for public buildings grant program, the high-efficiency electric heating and appliances grant program, and the clean air building investments fund, which were enacted in 2022 by House Bill 22-1362. Section 5 repeals the air quality enterprise, which was enacted in 2020 by Senate Bill 20-204. Section 6 repeals the environmental response surcharge, the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances cash fund, the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances grant program, the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances take-back program, and certain civil penalties for violations of certain air quality control regulations, which were enacted in 2020 by Senate Bill 20-218. Section 7 repeals certain requirements, including requirements regarding fenceline monitoring and community-based monitoring of air toxics, for covered facilities, which requirements were enacted in 2021 by House Bill 21-1189. Sections 8 through 20 make necessary conforming amendments. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Sections 1 through 3 of the bill include nuclear energy in the definitions of "clean energy" and "clean energy resource". Sections 4 and 5 repeal the Colorado circular communities enterprise and user fees created in House Bill 24-1449, enacted in 2024, to replace the front range waste diversion enterprise and user fees created in Senate Bill 19-192, enacted in 2019. Section 6 repeals the 10-cent paper carryout bag fee created in House Bill 21-1162, enacted in 2021. Section 7 repeals the confinement standards for egg-laying hens whose eggs are sold in Colorado, which standards were created in House Bill 20-1343, enacted in 2020. Section 8 repeals the authorization for counties and municipalities to collect special sales taxes on nicotine products, which authorization was created in House Bill 19-1033, enacted in 2019. Section 9 repeals the energy assistance system benefit charge created in House Bill 21-1105, enacted in 2021. Section 10 repeals the retail delivery fee created in Senate Bill 21-260, enacted in 2021. Sections 11 through 45 make conforming amendments. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)