Health care - required head trauma guidelines for organized school athletic activities - physical therapists may authorize youth athletes' return to play. Current law states that if a youth athlete is removed from play because a coach suspects the youth athlete has sustained a concussion in a game, competition, or practice, the coach or other designated personnel shall not permit the youth athlete to return to play or participate in any supervised team activities involving physical exertion until the youth athlete is evaluated by a health care provider and receives written clearance to return to play from the health care provider. The act adds licensed physical therapists with training in pediatric neurology or concussion evaluation and management to the definition of "health care provider" for this purpose.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
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The bill specifies that for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2020, a senior is deemed to be a 10-year owner-occupier of a primary residence that the senior has owned and occupied for less than 10 years and therefore qualifies for the senior property tax exemption for the residence if: The senior would have qualified for the senior property tax exemption for the senior's former primary residence but for the fact that medical necessity required the senior to stop occupying the former primary residence; The senior has not previously received the exemption for a former primary residence on the basis of medical necessity; and The senior has not owned and occupied another primary residence since the senior first stopped occupying his or her former primary residence due to medical necessity. "Medical necessity" is defined as a medical condition of a senior that a physician licensed to practice medicine in Colorado has certified, on a form developed by the state property tax administrator, as having required the senior to stop occupying the senior's prior primary residence. When applying for such an exemption, a senior must provide to the assessor the form establishing proof of medical necessity. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Professions and occupations - organizational recodification of laws. Title 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes relates primarily to the regulation of professions and occupations. In 2016, the general assembly enacted Senate Bill 16-163, which authorized a multi-year project to recodify title 12. In 2017 and 2018, the General Assembly enacted numerous bills to relocate from title 12 to other titles in the Colorado Revised Statutes all laws that do not relate to the regulation of professions and occupations. After the passage of those relocation bills, title 12 generally contains only laws administered by the department of regulatory agencies (DORA) that regulate a profession or occupation. Section 1 of the act recodifies title 12, as contemplated by Senate Bill 16-163, by: Reorganizing and renumbering articles and parts within the title, all of which are administered by the division of real estate, the division of conservation, or the division of professions and occupations (DPO) within DORA; Relocating into title 12 statutes in part 1 of article 34 of title 24 of the Colorado Revised Statutes relating to the creation, powers, and duties of DPO in administering the laws regulating professions and occupations (practice acts); Creating common provisions that are generally applicable to all practice acts administered by DPO, except as otherwise specified, and modifying the various practice acts to eliminate redundancies with the common provisions; and Eliminating provisions in title 12 that are archaic or obsolete. Article 1 of the recodified title 12 contains provisions that apply to the entire title. Article 10 includes the laws governing real estate, including the division of real estate within DORA, while article 15 includes laws governing conservation easements, including the division of conservation within DORA. The remainder of the title relates to professions and occupations regulated by DPO within DORA. Article 20 includes laws relocated from title 24 relating to the creation of DPO and DPO's powers and duties and consolidated common provisions derived from the practice acts that relate to procedures, immunity, disciplinary and enforcement authority, and judicial review of final orders of DPO and the regulatory boards within DPO. Article 30 includes common provisions governing health care professions and occupations regulated by DPO, including the "Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act of 2010", health care work force data collection requirements, and opioid prescribing limitations. Articles 100 to 315 contain the practice acts governing individual professions and occupations regulated by DPO. The comparative tables detailing how the act reorganized and renumbered specific provisions in title 12 is located at . Section 2 of the act relocates a law that prohibits the mandatory donation of services from title 12 to the "Administrative Organization Act of 1968" in title 24. Section 3 repeals relocated provisions from titles 24 and 25. To give agencies time to make necessary adjustments to their rules and forms, section 265 delays the effective date of the act until October 1, 2019. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Revised uniform unclaimed property act. The act replaces the current provisions relating to the disposition of unclaimed property with the "Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act" (RUUPA), as adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2016, but including a number of Colorado-specific amendments. The RUUPA responds to current transactions and practices, in particular electronic records, and seeks to promote uniformity among state laws regarding the disposition of unclaimed property. The RUUPA is subdivided into 15 parts, which are summarized as follows: Part 1 establishes general provisions, including definitions for terms used in the RUUPA and authority for the administrator, who is the state treasurer, to make rules related to the RUUPA; Part 2 establishes standards to determine if property is abandoned. Under the RUUPA, property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by its apparent owner after a specified period of time known as the dormancy period. Some of the dormancy periods in the RUUPA are shorter than current law. This part also includes a number of sections that are included in current law to exempt property from the RUUPA. Part 3 establishes priority rules for determining when the state may take custody of property that is presumed abandoned; Part 4 requires a holder of property presumed to be abandoned to provide a report to the administrator and to retain certain records; Part 5 establishes the notice that the administrator must provide to the apparent owner; Part 6 establishes how the administrator takes custody of property after it has been abandoned; Part 7 permits the administrator to sell property at a public sale after notice; Part 8 relates to the administration of property and keeps the requirement that the proceeds of property sold be deposited in the existing unclaimed property trust fund and the unclaimed property tourism promotion trust fund; Part 9 addresses claims to recover property from the administrator and includes existing provisions to allow offsets against the claim for child support; judicial restitution, fines, fees, or surcharges; and delinquent taxes and claims of the state; Part 10 permits the administrator to request a report from a person and to examine records to determine compliance with the RUUPA; Part 11 provides a holder with the right to appeal the administrator's determination concerning the holder's liability to deliver property or payment to the state; Part 12 establishes penalties for a holder that fails to comply with the RUUPA; Part 13 governs agreements between an apparent owner and a person commonly known as a "finder" who locates and recovers abandoned property on behalf of the owner; Part 14 addresses the confidentiality and security of information related to the abandoned property; and Part 15 includes miscellaneous provisions relating to the uniformity of construction, electronic signatures, a local government opt-out, and transitional interpretation. The act also includes the "Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act", which establishes the duty of an insurer to compare names of insured with the death master file and to verify a match found on the list. Benefits that are not able to be paid to designated beneficiaries or owners whom cannot be found are transferred to the administrator in accordance with the RUUPA. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Child welfare caseworkers - prohibition on posting caseworkers' personal information on the internet if threat to caseworker - removing caseworkers' personal information in government records if threat to caseworker. The act defines caseworker (caseworker) to include a state or county employee and county attorney who is engaged in investigating or taking legal action regarding allegations of child abuse or neglect. The act makes it unlawful for a person to knowingly make available on the internet personal information of a caseworker or a caseworker's family if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the safety of the caseworker or the caseworker's family and the person disseminating the information knew or should have known of the imminent and serious threat. Violation of the provision is a class 1 misdemeanor. A state or local government official (official) shall remove the personal information of the caseworker or the caseworker's immediate family contained in records that the official makes available on the internet if the caseworker submits a request with an affidavit asserting under penalty of perjury that the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the caseworker or the caseworker's immediate family. The official is also required to deny a request for inspection under the "Colorado Open Records Act" for personal information contained in those same records. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
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Uniform civil remedies for unauthorized disclosure of intimate images act. The act creates the "Uniform Civil Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act". An individual whose body is shown in whole or in part in an intimate image and who has suffered harm from a person's intentional disclosure or threatened disclosure of that intimate image without the depicted individual's consent has a cause of action against that person if the person knew: The depicted individual did not consent to the disclosure; The intimate image was private; and The depicted individual was identifiable. The act provides an exception to the civil action if the disclosure is made in good faith under various circumstances or if the person disclosing the image is a parent or guardian and has not disclosed the image for purposes of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, humiliation, degradation, or monetary or commercial gain. A successful plaintiff may recover: The greater of: Economic and noneconomic damages proximately caused by the defendant's disclosures or threatened disclosures, including damages for emotional distress whether or not accompanied by other damages; or Statutory damages not to exceed $10,000 against each defendant found liable for all disclosures or threatened disclosures by the defendant; An amount equal to the gain made by the defendant from disclosure of the intimate image if applicable; Punitive damages; Reasonable attorney fees and costs; and Additional relief, including injunctive relief. The civil action has a 6-year statute of limitation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Child welfare allocations committee - membership composition. The act increases the number of voting members on the child welfare allocations committee (committee) who are appointed by county commissioners from 8 to 10. The act decreases the number of voting members on the committee who are appointed by the department of human services from 5 to 3. The act requires the 2 additional county commissioner appointed voting members to come from the 2 counties with the greatest percentage of the state's child welfare caseload, with one appointee coming from each county. The act creates 2 nonvoting member positions on the committee who are appointed by the department of human services. The 2 nonvoting members must have knowledge and experience in the following areas, including but not limited to: Federal funding related to child welfare; The federal "Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018"; Interests of individuals with a disability; or Interests of individuals experiencing poverty.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Current law prohibits cruelty to certain animals, including a certified police working horse. However, there is no certification process for police working horses. The bill clarifies this by removing the term "certified" from the definition of police working horse and revises the definition accordingly. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) Read More
District court judges - increases - outreach position - reports - appropriation. The act increases by one the number of district court judges in the first, eighth, tenth, thirteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and twenty-first judicial districts; by 2 in the fourth and nineteenth judicial districts; and by 4 in the second judicial district. The act creates a new position in the judicial department for outreach and education of judicial positions. The position provides reports to the chief justice and the judiciary committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, concerning the background, professional history, and qualifications of judicial officers. The act also requires the state court administrator to annually report to specified committees of the general assembly specified case management statistics. The act appropriates $7,417,731 to the judicial department to implement the increased number of judges and the new position. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More