Sen. Byron Pelton

With certain exceptions, the act prohibits a public agency from: Requiring any person to provide the public agency with data that may identify a member of a nonprofit entity (member-specific data) or compelling the disclosure of member-specific data; Disclosing member-specific data to any person; or Requesting or requiring a current or prospective contractor or a current or prospective grantee of a grant program administered by the public agency to provide a list of nonprofit entities to which the current or prospective contractor or grantee has provided financial or nonfinancial support. A nonprofit entity or any of its members affected adversely by a public agency's violation of the act's provisions may initiate a civil action against the public agency in district court for injunctive relief, damages, or such other relief as is appropriate. Notwithstanding existing laws concerning governmental immunity, a court may award damages against a public agency that violates the act's provisions as follows: Not less than $2,500 for each reckless violation; and Not less than $7,500 for each intentional violation. A court may also award the costs of litigation to a complainant that prevails in such an action. The act prohibits a custodian of public records (custodian) from requiring a nonprofit entity to produce member-specific data that is contained in public records if such records are not subject to inspection and copying pursuant to the "Colorado Open Records Act". A custodian must deny any request to inspect, copy, or reproduce any member-specific data in the possession of a public agency and provided to the public agency by a nonprofit entity. A custodian must not require a nonprofit entity to produce records and information relating to the identification of individual employees of nonprofit entities with whom the public entity contracts for services or of individual employees of subcontractors of such nonprofit entities. APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act enacts the "Interstate Compact on Placement of Children" (compact). The purpose of the compact is to: Provide a process through which children subject to this compact are placed in safe and suitable homes in a timely manner; Facilitate ongoing supervision of a placement, the delivery of services, and communication between the states; Provide operating procedures that will ensure that children are placed in safe and suitable homes in a timely manner; Provide for promulgation and enforcement of administrative rules implementing the compact and regulating the covered activities of the member states; Provide for uniform data collection and information sharing between member states; Promote coordination between the compact, the interstate compact for juveniles, the interstate compact on adoption and medical assistance, and other compacts affecting the placement of children and provision of services to children otherwise subject to this compact; Provide for a state's continuing legal jurisdiction and responsibility for placement and care of a child that it would have had if the placement were intrastate; and Provide for the promulgation of guidelines, in collaboration with Indian tribes, for interstate cases involving Indian children as is or may be permitted by federal law. After the act takes effect, and subject to available appropriations, the executive director of the department of human services (executive director) shall convene a working group to review the proposal for enactment of the revised interstate compact on placement of children, and conclude one year later unless amended. The working group shall review and make recommendations, according to a time frame determined by the working group, to Colorado's commissioner to the compact on the following issues: Evaluating the current compact process for children and families; Determining the status of Colorado's implementation of the national electronic interstate compact enterprise requirements and what effect the implementation of these requirements may have on Colorado; Improving the use of cross-border agreements; Identifying any barriers to placing children in residential treatment facilities out of state and options for addressing barriers within existing law; Identifying and prioritizing any alternative efforts being made to address interstate placement issues at the national level; and Identifying language and processes to improve interstate placements. The compact takes effect after the executive director provides notice to the revisor of statutes that the thirty-fifth state has enacted the compact. APPROVED by Governor May 24, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the department of education to develop and offer a free, optional professional development program (program) to enhance pedagogy around research-based Colorado academic standards in science. The program must include opportunities for in-person and virtual instruction on interventions for students who are below grade level or struggling in science, children with disabilities, gifted students, and students who are English language learners. The program must create incentives for teacher participation by offering ongoing professional development credit toward licensure renewal. The program prioritizes professional development for eligible science teachers employed at local education providers in rural school districts and small rural school districts. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $3 million to the department of education from the state education fund for science teacher professional development. APPROVED by Governor May 23, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

To facilitate the addition of an extra week between the secretary of state's deadline to certify ballot order and content pursuant to law and election officials' deadline to transmit ballots pursuant to the federal "Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act", the act submits a constitutional amendment to the voters of the state at the 2024 general election that will, if approved: Change the date by which initiative petitions must be filed with the secretary of state from at least 3 months before the general election at which they are to be voted on to at least 3 months and one week before that election; Change the date by which referendum petitions must be filed with the secretary of state from not more than 90 days after the final adjournment of the session of the general assembly that enacted the act on which the referendum is demanded to not more than 83 days after the final adjournment of that session; Change the date by which the nonpartisan research staff of the general assembly shall publish the text and title of every measure from at least 15 days prior to the final date of voter registration for the election to 45 days before the election; and Change the period during which a justice of the supreme court or a judge of any other court must file with the secretary of state a declaration of intent to run for another term from not more than 6 months or less than 3 months prior to the general election before the expiration of the judge's term to not more than 6 months and one week or less than 3 months and one week before that general election.(Note: This summary applies to this concurrent resolution as adopted.)

Section 1 of the bill creates, beginning on January 1, 2025, and continuing indefinitely, a state sales and use tax exemption for baby and toddler products. A "baby and toddler product" is defined to include a baby crib, playpen, or play yard; a baby stroller; a baby safety gate, cabinet lock or latch, or electrical socket cover; a baby monitor; a bicycle child carrier seat, or trailer, including an adaptor or accessory; a baby exerciser, jumper, bouncer seat, or swing; a breast pump, bottle sterilizer, bottle, or nipple, pacifier, or teething ring; baby wipes; a changing table or pad; and baby and toddler clothing. Section 1 also creates a time-limited state sales and use tax exemption, or sales and use tax holiday, for back-to-school items. The tax holiday applies for 14 days beginning on January 1, 2025, and for an additional 14 days beginning on July 24, 2025. A "back-to-school item" is defined to mean an article of clothing, a bag, a school supply, a learning aid, or a personal computer or personal computer-related accessory that is purchased primarily for use by an individual who is a minor. The exemption for each item is limited by cost as follows: $100 for an article of clothing or a bag; $50 for a school supply; $30 for a learning aid; and $1,500 for a personal computer or a personal computer-related accessory. Section 2 permits a town, city, or county to create sales and use tax exemptions that are identical to the state exemptions.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2033, the bill creates a new refundable state income tax credit for a qualified licensed veterinarian and a registered veterinary technician (veterinary professional) working full-time in an underserved area or under-resourced area (underserved area) and for a buyer of a veterinary practice in an underserved area. The department of agriculture (department) is required to certify tax credits for eligible veterinary professionals and buyers of a veterinary practice in an underserved area in an amount not to exceed, in aggregate, $2 million in any tax year. No later than July 1, 2025, the department is required to promulgate rules for issuing a tax credit certificate to an eligible veterinary professional working full-time in an underserved area and for a buyer of a veterinary practice in an underserved area using the recommendations of an advisory board (board) that consists of 3 licensed veterinarians, 3 registered veterinary technicians, 3 agricultural animal producers, and 3 representatives from animal welfare nonprofits chosen by the commissioner of agriculture. The department must promulgate rules that include criteria for the determination of which geographic areas of the state fall within the definition of an underserved or under-resourced area. The department must also promulgate rules that determine a mechanism to determine the tax credit amount the department is able to certify to an eligible veterinary professional working full-time in an underserved area that is no less than $5,000 and no more than $30,000 and to a buyer of a veterinary practice in an underserved or under-resourced area that is no less than $10,000 and no more than $200,000. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Under current law, a board of county commissioners is authorized to license an owner or owner's agent who rents or advertises the owner's lodging unit for a short-term stay and to fix the fees, terms, and manner for issuing and revoking such licenses. The bill creates an exception to provides that this authority for the owner or owner's agent of, and with respect to, shall not prohibit or effectively prohibit the short-term rental of any structure located on a parcel in an unincorporated area of a county that does not receive water, heat, electricity, or sanitary sewer services from a public entity and so long as the structure is used primarily for recreational purposes. (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.)

Current law allows an entity that wants to access public rights-of-way (rights-of-way) for the deployment of broadband to enter into a public-private initiative agreement with the department of transportation (department) for the entity's access to the rights-of-way. The bill creates an alternative method for entities that want to access rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband, whereby the department may issue a permit and impose a permit fee for access to rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband. The bill specifies that an entity that wants to access rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband may pursue either the permit application and fee process created in the bill or the existing public-private initiative agreement process. In issuing permits that grant access to rights-of-way, the bill: Requires the department to allow competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory access to broadband providers seeking to use rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband; Requires the department to determine the form and manner of the permit application process and to approve or deny a permit application within 30 days; Specifies that the term of any permit issued pursuant to the bill is 30 years and that the department cannot assert ownership of broadband infrastructure except for when a permit recipient abandons the broadband infrastructure; Prohibits the department from requiring the permit recipient to lay additional fiber for use by the department or any third party; Prohibits the department from requiring the permit recipient to provide any in-kind goods or services as a condition of granting access to rights-of way; and Requires the department to produce an anticipated annual budget for the costs associated with the permit application process and an anticipated annual forecast of the revenue that the department will generate from the permit fees. The department may impose a one-time permit processing fee in connection with an application to gain access to rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband (permit processing fee) so long as the fee does not exceed the department's actual costs in connection with granting or administering the permits. The department is prohibited from imposing any other fee or charge for access to rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband. The department is also prohibited from including any charge in the permit processing fee to receive compensation for the fair market value of rights-of-way or access to rights-of-way; except that if the attorney general certifies in writing to the transportation commission that excluding fair market value in the permit processing fee violates federal law and that the violation will result in the loss of federal money apportioned to the state, the department is required to include fair market value in the permit processing fee. In such case, the department is required to set the rate of fair market value at a level that does not exceed the lowest rate of fair market value established by any other state for access to that state's rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Colorado law uses a defined phrase of "hemp product". The act changes terms in the marijuana statutes to conform to the current defined phrase. APPROVED by Governor May 1, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee. The bill authorizes a raw milk producer (producer) that registers with the department of public health and environment (department) to engage in direct-to-consumer sales of raw milk in the state if the producer complies with certain labeling, storage, handling, and transportation requirements. The direct-to-consumer sales may take place at the location where the raw milk is produced, at the consumer's residence, or at a farmers' market or roadside market. The bill authorizes the department of agriculture to: Adopt rules related to the storage, handling, and transportation of raw milk intended for sale directly to consumers; Inspect producers' raw milk and operations; Enforce against a violation in court or by imposition of a civil penalty.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)