Sen. Kevin Priola

The bill specifies that the governing body of a municipality, which includes a city, town, and city and county, may authorize the operation of an overdose prevention center within the municipality's boundaries for the purpose of saving the lives of persons at risk of preventable overdoses. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

To protect public health and the environment, a metropolitan sewage disposal district (district) is required to ensure that wastewater generated by local businesses is properly treated pursuant to the industrial pretreatment program (program) approved by the environmental protection agency. This requires district inspectors to inspect certain properties to investigate actual, suspected, or potential violations of the program. Under current law, the boundaries of a district may exist within multiple municipal and county lines, which makes it challenging for the district to obtain administrative inspection warrants when property owners deny district inspectors entry to a property. The act allows authorized inspectors of a district to enter and inspect, in a reasonable time and manner, any property for the purpose of investigating any violations of the program. If an inspection is denied, the act authorizes a district to obtain a warrant from the district court or county court upon a proper showing of the need for entry and inspection. APPROVED by Governor April 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

In 2021, the general assembly enacted Senate Bill 21-190, concerning additional protection of data relating to personal privacy, which established the "Colorado Privacy Act" (privacy act) as part of the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act". The privacy act protects the privacy of individuals' personal data by establishing certain requirements for entities that process personal data. The privacy act also describes certain rights that consumers may exercise regarding the processing of their personal data. The privacy act includes additional protections for sensitive data. For the purposes of the privacy act, the act expands the definition of "sensitive data" to include biological data, which is data generated by the technological processing, measurement, or analysis of an individual's biological, genetic, biochemical, physiological, or neural properties, compositions, or activities or of an individual's body or bodily functions, which data is used or intended to be used, singly or in combination with other personal data, for identification purposes. Biological data includes neural data, which is information that is generated by the measurement of the activity of an individual's central or peripheral nervous systems and that can be processed by or with the assistance of a device. APPROVED by Governor April 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or before December 1, 2026, the bill requires a board of county commissioners or the governing body of a municipality to adopt a building code, or amend an existing building code, to allow up to 5 stories of a multifamily residential building to be served by a single exit. To satisfy this requirement, a local government shall incorporate by reference and adopt or adapt and adopt language from a portion of an existing building code that allows a single exit to serve no more than 5 stories of a group r-2 occupancy in the same building. If a local government so requests, the department of local affairs shall provide technical assistance to the local government in satisfying this requirement. The bill also clarifies that the adoption or amendment of a building code to satisfy the requirements of the bill does not qualify as adopting or enforcing a building code for the purpose of determining whether a board of county commissioners or the governing body of a municipality is required to adopt an energy code. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Current law authorizes a livestock owner (owner) to be compensated when a game animal or a gray wolf kills livestock, a livestock guard, or a herding animal. To receive compensation for native carnivore depredation under current law, the bill requires the owner to: Employ nonlethal coexistence strategies; and Appropriately dispose of a livestock carcass in a manner that makes the livestock carcass inedible for native carnivores. If an owner fails to appropriately dispose of a livestock carcass in violation of the bill and this failure results in depredation, the division of parks and wildlife (division) may not issue a permit to kill the native carnivore. For the purposes of receiving compensation under current law, the bill also changes the definition of a working animal from "livestock guard or herding animal" to "livestock guardian dog", and the effect of this change is to stop compensation for herding animals and guard animals that are not dogs. In addition, the livestock guardian dog must be trained and working when depredated. When native carnivores establish a presence in an area, the parks and wildlife commission must create a conflict prevention plan, which must include appropriate nonlethal measures. The bill sets standards for the plan. Then, the division must coordinate with and educate owners within the area to implement proactive nonlethal coexistence strategies. The division will hire native-carnivore coexistence officers to implement the bill. The division must keep records of the claims and their disposition and issue a report to the relevant legislative committees. The division and the department of agriculture must coordinate and cooperate with each other to implement the bill. The division may seek and expend gifts, grants, and donations for native-carnivore nonlethal coexistence. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

On or before July 1, 2027, section 2 of the bill requires the energy and carbon management commission (commission) to adopt rules (permitting rules) to cease issuing new oil and gas permits (permits) before January 1, 2030, which rules must include certain reductions in the total number of oil and gas wells covered by new permits issued in 2028 and 2029. Section 2 also requires the commission to include as a condition in any permit issued after July 1, 2024, that certain operations must commence on or before December 31, 2032, as to each oil and gas well included in the permit. If the commission determines that mitigation of adverse environmental impacts is necessary as a result of oil and gas operations, current law requires the commission to issue an order requiring a responsible party to perform the mitigation. If the responsible party refuses to perform the mitigation or is identified after the state provides funds for the mitigation, the commission must sue the responsible party to recover the costs of the mitigation. Section 3 changes current law by: Expanding mitigation to include mitigation of adverse environmental impacts as a result of any activity regulated by the commission; Adding a prior owner or operator to the definition of "responsible party"; and Allowing a current or prior owner or operator to be held jointly and severally liable for the costs of any mitigation. Section 4 requires the office of future of work to present recommendations as a result of the adoption of the permitting rules to the general assembly in January 2028.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Currently, in a county with a population of 70,000 or more, the board of county commissioners (board) may consist of 3 commissioners from 3 districts, with one commissioner elected from each district by voters of the whole county. Alternatively, the board may consist of 5 commissioners, the county may be divided into 3 or 5 districts, and the commissioners may be elected pursuant to one of 10 alternative methods. The bill eliminates this discretionary system and instead requires that all counties with a population of 70,000 or more have 5 commissioners, with at least 3 commissioners elected only by voters resident in the district from which each commissioner runs for election. The bill allows the counties to choose between 2 election alternatives: 3 commissioners resident in 3 districts elected by voters resident in those districts and 2 commissioners elected at large; or 5 commissioners resident in 5 districts elected only by voters resident in those districts. The bill makes conforming amendments to statutory provisions concerning commissioner districts and election petition statutes. The bill does not affect counties that have adopted home rule. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires an animal shelter or a pet animal rescue to notify each animal shelter and pet animal rescue in the state before euthanizing a pet animal so that another animal shelter or pet animal rescue may take possession of the animal if it wants the pet animal. This requirement does not apply to: A pet animal that is irremediably suffering; A dog adjudicated to be dangerous; A dog ordered to be euthanized by a court; or A dog with a history of repeated unprovoked biting prior to the current impound, as documented by an agency charged with enforcing state or local animal laws.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act moves the regional health connector program (program) from the university of Colorado school of medicine to the prevention services division (division) in the department of public health and environment (department). The act requires the division to administer the program and requires the department to contract with a third-party entity to coordinate and oversee the program. The contracted entity is required to distribute money to each locally based host organization, which hires and supports a regional health connector to engage in program activities. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $1.5 million to the department of higher education for use by the regents of the university of Colorado for allocation to the school of medicine and $71,903 to the department for use by the division for the program. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act annually appropriates $1.5 million to the division for the program. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires that, to receive an associate degree through the Colorado re-engaged initiative, a student must not have received 15 or more credit hours from a community college or occupational education institution before transferring to the initiative. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)