Sen. Kevin Priola

Section 1 of the act clarifies that personal property used in direct connection with the operation of a greenhouse for the sole purpose of growing crops in the greenhouse to obtain a monetary profit from the wholesale of plant-based food for human or livestock consumption is included in the definition of equipment used in a controlled environment agricultural (CEA) facility and is thus exempt pursuant to the exemption for such agricultural equipment, which exemption is permanently extended to all future property tax years in section 2 of the act. APPROVED by Governor September 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE November 28, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements recommendations in the 2023 sunset report by the department of regulatory agencies by: Continuing the division of banking and the banking board (board) for 9 years, until 2033; Amending the board composition by repealing the requirement that 2 members represent state banks with less than $150 million in total assets and instead require 2 members to represent state banks in the fortieth percentile based on total asset size; Extending the authority for the board and the state bank commissioner to share information regarding state bank and trust company compliance with money laundering and other financial crime laws with the United States secretary of the treasury and agencies specified; Clarifying that any change of any executive officer, director, or other person who is responsible for the management, control, or operations of a state bank or trust company must be reported to the board within 60 days after the change; Modernizing the penalty for failing to report a change of any executive officer, director, or other person who is responsible for the management, control ,or operations of a state bank or trust company to the board; Modernizing the board's authority to issue civil money penalties; Clarifying that a trust company may discontinue its trust business if it provides evidence of its release and discharge of all trust-related obligations prior to surrendering its trust charter; Codifying requirements related to the review of fiduciary accounts to ensure that the assets are appropriate for the accounts as described in the trust agreement and requiring the board to adopt a rule to clarify what "appropriate" means in this context; and Making technical amendments to the "Colorado Banking Code" to remove gender-specific language; replace the term "data processing center" with the more modern terms "information technology function" and "third-party service provider", as applicable; repeal requirements that certain reports must be mailed; and repeal the requirement that a charter application be filed in triplicate. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the waste tire management enterprise (enterprise) in the department of public health and environment (department). Under current law, when a consumer buys new tires, the retailer charges the consumer a waste tire fee that is then collected by the department and distributed into 2 separate cash funds: The waste tire administration, enforcement, market development, and cleanup fund; and The end users fund. The act amends the fee collection and distribution system used under current law by establishing 2 different fees that will be collected and deposited into 3 separate funds. The waste tire enterprise fee (enterprise fee) is collected by the enterprise, and the revenues from that fee are deposited into the waste tire management enterprise fund and the end users fund. The waste tire management enterprise fund is used to cover the costs of operating the enterprise. The end users fund is used to fund the end-user rebate program. The enterprise fee amount is set by the enterprise and capped at $2.50 per tire, adjusted for inflation. The department is responsible for collecting the waste tire administration fee (administration fee), and the revenue from that fee is deposited into the waste tire administration fund. The administration fee amount is set by the department and is at minimum $0.50 cents per tire, but must not exceed half of the amount of the enterprise fee. The waste tire administration fund is used by the department for conducting regulatory and administrative functions of the department, such as: Inspecting new motor vehicle tire and new trailer tire retailers; Coordinating with law enforcement, fire departments, and citizens to ensure the enforcement of rules related to the waste tire management; Reimbursing certain departments that may assist the department; Inspecting waste tire collection facilities, waste tire processors, and waste tire monofills; Training and providing grants to various entities involved in waste tire management; and Registering and regulating waste tire haulers, waste tire generators, used tire managers, waste tire collection facilities, waste tire processors, mobile processors, waste tire monofills, and end users. Both the enterprise fee and the administration fee are charged by retailers of new motor vehicles and new trailer tires at the point of sale. The enterprise's primary powers and duties are: Collecting the enterprise fee; Managing the waste tire management enterprise fund and the end users fund; Issuing rebates to end users; Issuing revenue bonds; Developing waste tire recycling, beneficial reuse, and management strategies and contracting with public or private entities for services related to the waste tire recycling, beneficial reuse, and management strategies; Administering the waste tire management grant program; and Preparing and submitting an annual financial report to the general assembly. The enterprise is operated by a board of directors appointed by the executive director of the department. The act extends the end user rebate program that exists under current law until December 31, 2041. The act extends the operation of a waste tire monofill for 10 years, until July 1, 2034. The enterprise administers the waste tire management grant program that is funded by the enterprise fee to provide economic and technical assistance to eligible entities related to the recycling, beneficial reuse, and management of waste tires. Eligible entities may be awarded grants for the purchase of equipment or infrastructure, staffing at waste tire facilities, marketing and communications, policy and research development, and community engagement projects. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $60,208 to the department from the waste tire administration, enforcement, market development, and cleanup fund. The act appropriates $51,208 to the department of law from the money appropriated to the department. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE June 6, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act includes outdoor nature-based preschool programs (outdoor programs) as a type of licensed child care center (center) in the department of early childhood (department) for licensing-related matters. No later than December 31, 2025, the executive director of the department shall promulgate rules for centers operating as outdoor programs. The rules must include, but are not limited to: Land-use agreement requirements for outdoor programs operating on public or private land; Policies for site-specific alternative shelter plans; Policies for site-specific risk mitigation plans; Policies for site-specific emergency and disaster preparedness plans; Policies for site-specific evacuation plans; and Policies and procedures for outdoor programs to opt out of certain department requirements through the site-specific risk mitigation plan. The act requires the department to provide training to licensing staff who oversee outdoor program site inspections and, beginning December 1, 2026, to outdoor program operators and staff. The department shall collaborate with local fire departments on fire prevention and protection requirements for outdoor programs and with the department of public health and environment on sanitary standards for outdoor programs. The act requires the general assembly to appropriate $30,000 from the child care licensing cash fund to the department for the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 fiscal years to implement the outdoor programs. The act appropriates $179,569 to the department for purposes of licensing outdoor programs. The appropriation consists of $149,569 from the general fund and $30,000 from the cash fund. The act appropriates $35,341 to the department of public health and environmentfor environmental health programs related to outdoor program licensure. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act: Exempts veterinarians from complying with specific aspects of the prescription drug use monitoring program (program) that are specific to prescriptions for human patients; Allows the medical director of a medical practice or hospital, including a nurse medical director, to appoint designees to query the program on behalf of a practitioner in the medical practice or hospital setting; Allows the department of health care policy and financing (department) to access the program, consistent with federal data privacy requirements, for purposes of care coordination, utilization review, and federally required reporting relating to recipients of certain benefits; and Updates current language in the laws relating to the program by using more modern terminology. A county or district public health agency may establish a multidisciplinary and multiagency overdose fatality review team (local team). The act prescribes membership requirements, purposes, and duties for local teams, including a duty to report annually to the county or district public health agency served by the local team. The act requires certain entities, upon receiving a written request of the chair of a local team, to provide the local team with information and records regarding a person whose death or near death is being reviewed by the local team. Unless the chair of the local team grants an extension of time, the entity must provide the local team the requested information and records within 10 business days after receipt of the request. A person or entity that receives a records request from a local team may charge the local team a reasonable fee for the service of duplicating any records requested. A person or entity, including a local or state agency, that provides information or records to a local team is not subject to civil or criminal liability or any professional disciplinary action pursuant to state law as a result of providing the information or record. Upon request of a local team, a person who is not a member of a local team may attend and participate in a meeting at which a local team reviews confidential information and considers a plan, an intervention, or other course of conduct based on that review. The act requires each person at a local team meeting to sign a confidentiality form before reviewing information and records received by the local team. Local team meetings in which confidential information is discussed are exempt from the open meetings provisions of the "Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972". A local team shall maintain the confidentiality of information provided to the local team as required by state and federal law, and information and records acquired or created by a local team are not subject to inspection pursuant to the "Colorado Open Records Act". Local team members and a person who presents or provides information to a local team may not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding or disciplinary action regarding the information presented or provided. Law enforcement may not use information from any overdose fatality review for any law enforcement purpose. The department is required to publish guidance for providers concerning reimbursement for all variations of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment interventions. The act requires the existing substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment grant program in the department to require implementation of: A statewide adolescent substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral practice that includes training and technical assistance for appropriate professionals in Colorado schools, with the purpose of identifying students who would benefit from screening, brief intervention, and potential referral to resources, including treatment; and A statewide substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral practice that includes training and technical assistance for pediatricians and professionals in pediatric settings, with the purpose of identifying adolescent patients who would benefit from screening, brief intervention, and potential referral to resources, including treatment. Current law authorizes the center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies (center) to conduct a statewide perinatal substance use data linkage project (data linkage project) that uses ongoing collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health actions to improve outcomes for families impacted by substance use during pregnancy. The act: Requires the center to conduct the data linkage project; Requires the data linkage project to utilize data from additional state and federal programs; and Expands the data linkage project to examine the education of pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates: $75,000 from the general fund to the executive director of the department for general professional services and special projects; this appropriation is based on the assumption that the department will receive $75,000 in federal funds for these services; and $250,000 from the general fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado commission on higher education and higher education special purpose programs. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 6, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act excludes injuries involving the possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia from a physician's mandatory reporting requirements. The act also adds an exemption to the prohibition on possessing drug paraphernalia for possession of drug paraphernalia that a person received from an approved syringe exchange program or a program carried out by a harm reduction organization while the person was participating in the program. With respect to opioid antagonists, the act: Clarifies that the civil and criminal immunity that protects a person who acts in good faith to furnish or administer an opioid antagonist also protects a person who distributes the opioid antagonist; Specifies that the mere presence of an opioid antagonist is insufficient to establish probable cause to perform a warrantless search or seizure; and Updates the term "opiate antagonist" to "opioid antagonist" in current law. The act specifies that money appropriated to the department of public health and environment to purchase non-laboratory synthetic opioid detection tests may also be used to purchase other drug testing equipment. The act authorizes an organization operating a clean syringe exchange program to: Purchase and distribute other supplies and tools intended to reduce health risks associated with the use of drugs, including smoking materials; and Provide drug testing services through the program. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 6, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a transportation network company (TNC) operating in the state to provide various disclosures to the TNC's drivers regarding payments that a consumer makes to the TNC and the amount that the TNC then pays to a driver. On or before May 1, 2025, a TNC is required to develop a driver deactivation and suspension policy describing the TNC's procedures for deactivating or suspending a driver from the TNC's digital platform and describing procedures for reconsideration of a TNC's decision to deactivate a driver. The TNC is required to disclose to drivers its driver deactivation and suspension policy, and, on and after June 1, 2025, the TNC is required to comply with certain deactivation and suspension requirements regarding its policy, including a prohibition against deactivating or suspending a driver unless the deactivation or suspension is consistent with the TNC's policy. The TNC is prohibited from including specified requirements in a contract between the TNC and a driver, including that a dispute related to deactivation reconsideration be adjudicated out of state or that the driver pay the TNC's costs or attorney fees related to the dispute. The act also requires a TNC to provide specified disclosures to its drivers and to consumers regarding payments that the consumer makes to the DNC and the amount that the DNC then pays to the driver. Beginning October 1, 2025, and every 3 years thereafter, the division of labor standards and statistics (division) in the department of labor and employment is required to certify a driver support organization (organization) to represent and support drivers through deactivation and suspension procedures. The division reviews the certified organization's budget, which budget must not exceed 7 cents per transportation task based on the previous year's total transportation tasks for all TNCs operating in the state. After the first certification period, the division may authorize an increased budget, not to exceed an increase above the rate of inflation for the previous 3-year certification period, to cover the certified organization's costs. Upon approval of the certified organization's budget, the division is required to direct each TNC to remit a quarterly share of the budget to the certified organization. Drivers may make voluntary, per-trip deductions on their earnings to help finance the certified organization. On a semiannual basis commencing August 1, 2026, a TNC is required to disclose to the division information regarding transportation tasks completed and any deactivations of drivers during the previous reporting period. The division may impose fines against a TNC for violations of the act occurring on and after June 1, 2025. A person aggrieved by a TNC's violation of the act may file a civil suit against the TNC seeking damages or injunctive relief. The director of the division may adopt rules to implement the act. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $164,741 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of labor and employment for use by the division to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates a voluntary recovery-friendly workplace program (program) in the center for health, work, and environment at the Colorado school of public health. The program recognizes and assists employers that implement recovery-friendly policies to help employees in recovery from substance use disorders. The program repeals September 1, 2028. The act creates a grant program in the department of education for schools that: Educate and support students in recovery from substance use or co-occurring disorders, including self-harm and disordered eating; Intend that all students enrolled are working in an active and abstinence-focused program of recovery as determined by the student and the school; and Provide support for families learning how to live with, and provide support for, their teens who are entering into the recovery lifestyle. For purposes of public school financing, the act allows a school district to include in its annual pupil count a student who has transferred to a recovery high school before the pupil count date. The act allows a recovery community organization that receives a grant through the recovery support services grant program to use the money to provide guidance to individuals on the many pathways for recovery. Current law establishes the requirements a facility must meet before operating as a recovery residence. The act requires the behavioral health administration in the department of human services to send a cease-and-desist letter to a recovery residence operating unlawfully. The act declares recovery residences, sober living facilities, and sober homes as residential use of land for zoning purposes. The act requires the liquor enforcement division in the department of revenue to adopt rules related to the location of alcohol beverages displays. Before adopting rules, the division must convene a stakeholder group consisting of recovery providers, individuals representing recovery residences, and individuals representing specified retailers licensed to sell alcohol beverages. To implement the act: $144,321 is appropriated for the 2024-25 state fiscal year from the general fund to the department of education; $303,752 is appropriated for the 2024-25 state fiscal year from the general fund to the department of higher education; $37,980 is appropriated for the 2024-25 state fiscal year from the liquor enforcement division and state licensing authority cash fund to the department of revenue. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act imposes the following duties on each large hub airport (airport), as defined by federal law, in Colorado for accessibility-related functions at the airports: To establish an advisory committee for the cross-disabled community; To consult with the disabled community and confer with the advisory committee during the construction of walkways and other facilities at the airport; To incorporate wayfinding technology to assist individuals who are blind or visually impaired to navigate the airport; To create, maintain, and update an electronic dashboard to report and track basic access shortcomings and violations throughout the travel process; To develop and provide ongoing, comprehensive training programs for airport staff on disability cultural competency, including the presence of, use of, and best practices related to mobility devices, medical equipment, adaptive sports equipment, wayfinding, and access to the airport's accessibility features and amenities; To install and maintain restrooms for individuals with disabilities that include companion care changing tables, including at least one accessible public restroom in every terminal; and To use elevators to transport power wheelchairs from the tarmac to the jetway and give priority usage of an elevator to power wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Each airport shall monitor the completion and ongoing upkeep of compliance with the duties and functions according to the timelines established in the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act changes the child restraint system requirements in existing law as follows: Increases the age at which children are required to use a child restraint system from under 8 years of age to under 9 years of age; Increases the age, from under one year of age to under 2 years of age, and the weight, from under 20 pounds to under 40 pounds, of children who must be restrained in a rear-facing child restraint system in a rear seat of the vehicle; Requires that children who are under 2 years of age but over 40 pounds in weight be restrained in a rear-facing or forward-facing restraint system; Increases the age, from one year of age or older to 2 years of age or older but less than 4 years of age, of children who must be restrained in a rear-facing or forward-facing child restraint system, depending on the child's weight, in a rear seat of the vehicle, if a rear seat is available; Adds a requirement that children who are at least 4 years of age but under 9 years of age and who weigh at least 40 pounds use a child restraint system or booster seat, which must be situated in a rear seat of the vehicle, if a rear seat is available; and Increases the age at which children must be restrained in a safety belt or child restraint system from under 16 years of age to under 18 years of age. The act requires the division of highway safety to use existing national highway traffic safety administration occupant protection grant funds to implement a program for public information and education concerning updates to child restraint system requirements, the use of child restraint systems, and Colorado law regarding child restraint system. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)