The bill creates 2 emergency relief grant programs to allow the state to allocate and quickly distribute money to existing licensed and start-up child care providers (providers) in Colorado. The child care sustainability grant program (sustainability program) is created in the department of human services (department). The purpose of the sustainability program is to provide financial support to licensed providers in Colorado, including those that are in danger of closing as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The department shall develop a formula, criteria, and timeline to allocate grants to eligible providers. A grant award from the sustainability program must range from at least $500 to no more than $35,000. A licensed provider's child care capacity is a key criteria in determining the amount of the grant award. The department shall determine grant award amounts for eligible providers as soon as possible, but no later than January 31, 2021, and distribute the money for grant awards no later than February 28, 2021. The emerging and expanding child care grant program (expansion program) is created in the department. The purpose of the expansion program is to expand access and availability of licensed providers throughout Colorado. The intent of the expansion program is to provide financial assistance to new or existing providers. A grant award from the expansion program must range from at least $3,000 to no more than $50,000. A grant award from the expansion program may be used for costs associated with expansion of an existing provider or to assist with the creation of a new child care program. Costs may include staff training, background check fees, cleaning supplies, educational supplies, and capital or facility improvement costs. The department shall begin the grant award process on or before January 31, 2021. The bill makes an appropriation. (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.)
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The bill limits the duration of a state of disaster emergency declared by the governor to 60 days unless the general assembly, by adopting a joint resolution, extends the duration of the state of disaster emergency or authorizes the governor to extend the duration of the state of disaster emergency for a period or subject to conditions specified in the joint resolution.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act requires the state treasurer, on behalf of the state, to execute a lease-purchase agreement in an amount up to $65,500,000 plus reasonable and necessary costs to fund certain capital construction needs for state institutions of higher education that are continuations of previously funded projects as specified by the capital development committee. The capital development committee is required to post the list of specific projects and the cost of each project on its official website no later than August 15, 2020. The capital development committee is also required to specify in this list, in the event of any excess money as a result of the issuance, what any remainder money must be used for. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
A service retiree of any division of the public employees' retirement association (PERA) is allowed to work for a PERA employer for limited periods and to receive a salary without reduction in benefits under certain circumstances. Boards of cooperative services (BOCES) provide special education services to the school districts they serve. Almost all of these school districts are in rural parts of the state and it is difficult for BOCES to find qualified people to serve as special service providers in these areas. BOCES could address this issue by hiring service retirees, but PERA's employment-after-retirement provisions, including the limitation on the number of days in a calendar year that a service retiree may work for a PERA employer without a reduction in benefits, make it difficult to do so. The act modifies the PERA employment-after-retirement provisions for certain retirees hired by a BOCES if: The BOCES hires the service retiree to provide services in 2 or more rural school districts as determined by the department of education based on the geographic size of the school district and the distance of the school district from the nearest large, urbanized area; The BOCES hires the service retiree for the purpose of providing special services to students enrolled by the districts served by the BOCES; and The BOCES determines that there is a critical shortage of special service providers and that the service retiree has specific experience, skills, or qualifications that would benefit the districts that the BOCES serves. A service retiree who is a special service provider and who is hired by a BOCES may receive salary without a reduction in benefits for any length of employment in a calendar year if the service retiree has not worked for any PERA employer during the month of the effective date of retirement. The act requires a BOCES that hires the service retiree to provide full payment of all PERA employer contributions, disbursements, and working retiree contributions. In addition, the BOCES is required to pay an additional amount equal to 2% of the retiree's salary to PERA. A service retiree may not receive salary without reduction in benefits and without limitation in a calendar year for more than 5 consecutive years, and all BOCES combined are prohibited from hiring more than a total of 40 people over 5 years pursuant to the extension in PERA's employment-after-retirement limitations. PERA is required to submit a report to the general assembly regarding specified aspects of the extension of PERA's employment-after-retirement limitations. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For a child or youth who obtains services under the state's medicaid program through the initiation of a dependency and neglect action or juvenile delinquency action resulting in out-of-home placement, the act requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to assign the child or youth to the managed care entity (MCE) in the county in which the action was initiated. The department shall only change the MCE designation if requested by the county with jurisdiction over the action or the child's or youth's legal guardian. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies that the money credited to the capital construction fund pursuant to House Bill 20-1377, concerning a requirement that a portion of the proceeds of the Senate Bill 17-267 lease-purchase agreement that will be executed in state fiscal year 2019-20 be credited to the capital construction fund and appropriated only for controlled maintenance projects, including controlled maintenance projects that are capital renewal projects, must be appropriated in the following priority: $34,098,768 for current year and out year level 1 controlled maintenance projects; $3,779,372 for the capital renewal project at University of Northern Colorado for the Boiler #3 Replacement; $2,819,630 for the capital renewal project at Adams State University for the Plachy Hall HVAC Upgrade and Replacement; and Any remaining money is appropriated to the emergency controlled maintenance account. The act also specifies that in the event there is insufficient money credited to the capital construction fund to fully fund the first 3 appropriations, no partial projects may proceed with partial appropriations. Any partial appropriation must instead be appropriated to the emergency controlled maintenance account. The act takes effect upon passage only if House Bill 20-1377 becomes law and takes effect either upon the effective date of this act or House Bill 20-1377, whichever is later. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, a well that is exempt from the state engineer's administration and is used for domestic purposes is afforded a rebuttable presumption that the use of the well will not cause material injury to others' vested water rights or to any other existing well. If the land on which the exempt well is located is later divided into multiple parcels, the well loses that presumption. The act maintains the presumption of noninjury to vested water rights or other wells when the land on which the well is located is later divided and use of the well continues to meet certain requirements. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects: Continuation of the satellite monitoring system operation and maintenance, $380,000 (section 1 of the act); Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2); Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $350,000 (section 3); Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $150,000 (section 4); Acquisition of LIDAR data, $200,000 (section 5); Continuation of the Arkansas river decision support system, $500,000 (section 6); Continuation of the Colorado decision support system operation and maintenance, $500,000 (section 7); Continuation of the water forecasting partnership project, $350,000 (section 8); Creation of the Colorado water loss control initiative, $1,000,000 (section 9); Continuation of the watershed restoration program, $4,000,000 (section 10); and Continuation of the alternative agricultural transfer methods grant program, $750,000 (section 11). The state treasurer will make the following transfers from the CWCB construction fund: Up to $2,000,000 on July 1, 2020, to the litigation fund (section 12); and $1,000,000 on July 1, 2020, to the fish and wildlife resources fund (section 13). Section 14 appropriates $7,500,000 to the CWCB to continue implementation of the state water plan from the CWCB construction fund to be used as follows: Up to $3,000,000 to facilitate the development of additional storage, artificial recharge into aquifers, and dredging existing reservoirs; Up to $1,000,000 for grant funding to implement long-term strategies for conservation, land use, and drought planning; Up to $500,000 for grants for water education, outreach, and innovation efforts; Up to $1,500,000 for agricultural projects; and Up to $1,500,000 for environmental and recreational projects. The CWCB is authorized to make loans from the severance tax perpetual base fund or the CWCB construction fund: In an amount up to $23,230,000 to the Pueblo conservancy district to bring levees up to federal emergency management agency standards (section 15); In an amount up to $17,250,800 to the Tunnel Water Company to rehabilitate the Laramie-Poudre tunnel (section 16); and In an amount up to $90,000,000 to the southeastern Colorado water conservancy district to provide nonfederal cost-sharing funding for the Frying Pan-Arkansas project. $10,000,000 is also transferred from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the CWCB construction fund and then appropriated from the CWCB construction fund for the 2020-21 state fiscal year to the CWCB to grant money to the southeastern Colorado water conservancy district for the Frying Pan-Arkansas project (section 17). Current law prohibits the CWCB from recommending treated water distribution systems to the general assembly, and section 18 removes the prohibition. Section 19 extends the CWCB's water efficiency grant program to June 30, 2030. Section 20 reduces the $1,700,000 appropriation made to the CWCB in the 2019-20 state fiscal year for stakeholder outreach and technical analysis regarding the development of a water resources demand management program to $833,258, which amount is available to the CWCB through the 2020-21 state fiscal year. Current law authorizes an annual, continuous appropriation of $150,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the Colorado water conservation board for the ongoing operations of a water education foundation, which is currently known as Water Education Colorado. Section 21 repeals the continuous appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report on the licensing functions of the commissioner of agriculture (commissioner) regarding the "Commodity Handler Act" and the "Farm Products Act", with modifications, by: Continuing the commissioner's licensing functions for 5 years, until 2025; Combining the "Commodity Handler Act" and the "Farm Products Act"; Exempting from licensure small-volume commodity handlers who buy less than $250,000 worth of commodities and farm products per year and do not buy commodities for commercial feeding of livestock; Requiring the commissioner to adopt rules by December 31, 2020, regarding financial assurance requirements, including a schedule for filing a bond with the commissioner, record keeping requirements, initial and renewal license requirements, credit sale contract requirements, standard warehouse operation requirements, and animal feeding operations capacity and requiring the department of agriculture to convene a stakeholders' group to work on drafting the rules; With regard to an action to demand payment on a surety bond or letter of credit based on the misconduct of a commodity handler or dealer, extending the date for filing the action, and thus the period of liability for which the surety or issuer of the letter of credit is required to pay a claim, from up to 180 days after the later of the date of the transaction or the date of the loss to up to 548 days (approximately 18 months) after the later of the date of the transaction or the date of the loss; Requiring the department of agriculture, on or before November 1, 2021, to submit a report to the committees of the general assembly with jurisdiction over agricultural issues summarizing the department's progress toward implementing the act; Increasing the bond amount that farm products dealers must file from between $2,000 and $200,000 to between $200,000 and $1 million; and For the definition of "small-volume dealer", repealing the limitation on the amount of farm products or commodities, based on price, that a dealer can purchase in a single transaction to qualify as a small-volume dealer.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill clarifies that a surplus military vehicle may be used or adapted as an implement of husbandry, which allows the vehicle to be used on the roads in the same manner as a tractor. The bill also authorizes a surplus military vehicle to be used as an authorized emergency vehicle, which need not be registered as a motor vehicle. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)