The act requires the executive director of the department of natural resources or the executive director's designee (executive director) to conduct a study as soon as practicable regarding the challenges for native pollinating insect populations, their associated ecosystems, and their health and resilience in the state. Based on the results of the study, the executive director is required to make recommendations: For the protection of native pollinating insects; and On how to develop education and outreach programming. On or before January 1, 2024, the executive director shall submit to the general assembly and the governor a report summarizing the study and the executive director's recommendations based on the study. The act appropriates $179,642 for state fiscal year 2022-23 from the general fund to the department of natural resources for implementation of the study. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act requires mandatory reserve studies for common interest communities that have major shared components, including common elements or property that the unit owners' association (association) is responsible for maintaining, repairing, or replacing. The act: Specifies the level of reserve study required and the necessary components of the reserve study at each level; Requires a declarant to obtain reserve studies commencing with the development of the common interest community and to provide reserve studies to potential purchasers of units in the common interest community in the seller's disclosures; and Requires the declarant to provide a reserve study at the time the declarant turns the common interest community property over to the association, along with reserve funds recommended by the reserve study. The act defines "emergent life circumstances" and authorizes an association's executive board to obtain additional funding from unit owners to address dangerous conditions if the reserve funds are not sufficient to address the conditions. The act limits the investment of reserve funds in financial instruments that are not insured by a federal agency. The act clarifies that certain reserve study requirements in the act apply to preexisting common interest communities with respect to events and circumstances occurring on or after July 1, 2024. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act adds educators to the list of protected persons whose personal information may be withheld from the internet if the protected person believes dissemination of such information poses an imminent and serious threat to the protected person or the safety of the protected person's immediate family. Under current law, the "Colorado Open Records Act" (CORA) definition of "personnel file" does not include the specific date of an educator's absence from work. The act amends the CORA definition of "personnel file" to include the specific date of an educator's absence from work. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires all public higher education institutions (institutions) in Colorado to provide to Colorado resident students who have been in foster care or, following an adjudication as neglected or dependent, in noncertified kinship care in Colorado at any time on or after reaching the age of 13 (qualifying students), financial assistance for the remaining balance of the student's total cost of attendance in excess of the amount of any private, state, or federal financial assistance received by the student (remaining balance financial assistance). Subject to available appropriations, the act requires the Colorado commission on higher education to provide to an institution money to cover 50 percent of the remaining balance financial assistance provided by the institution to qualifying students. The institutions are required to designate an employee to serve as a liaison to qualifying and prospective qualifying students. The act requires the department of higher education to designate four full-time equivalent employees as foster care student navigators to provide guidance to prospective qualifying students with selecting institutions and programs and to assist students with completing an institution's application for admission, the free application for federal student aid, and, if eligible, the application for a Chafee ETV grant. School district and state charter school institute child welfare education liaisons are required to provide students in out-of-home placement with information and assistance regarding remaining balance financial assistance for qualifying students. The act appropriates $2,610,575 from the general fund to the department of higher education for aid for foster students. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of education (department) to collect and compile data and create reports based on information received from school districts and charter schools (schools) related to chronic absenteeism rates, the number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions, the number of expulsions, the number of students handcuffed or restrained, the number of referrals to law enforcement, and the number of school-related arrests. The department shall to annually update and post such data and reports on its website. The department shall ensure all student-level data is kept confidential and complies with federal reporting requirements. The act requires the department to create and post easily accessible and user-friendly school district profiles relating to school climate, including school climate surveys. The act increases restrictions concerning the use of restraints on students. If a physical restraint is used for more than one minute but less than five minutes, the student's parent must be notified on the day of the restraint. The written notice must include the date, the name of the student, and the number of restraints. If a physical restraint is used for five minutes or more, the school administration shall mail, fax, or email a written report of the incident to the parent or legal guardian of the student not more than five calendar days after the use of the restraint on the student. The written report must be placed in the student's confidential file. A school resource officer or a law enforcement officer acting in the officer's official capacity on school grounds, in a school vehicle, or at a school activity or sanctioned event shall not use handcuffs on any student, unless there is a danger to themselves or others or handcuffs are used during a custodial arrest that requires transport. If a school uses a seclusion room, there must be at least one window for monitoring when the door is closed. If a window is not feasible, monitoring must be possible through a video camera. A student placed in a seclusion room must be continually monitored. The room must be a safe space free of injurious items. The seclusion room must not be a room that is used by school staff for storage, custodial, or office space. The department has enforcement authority over restraint investigation decisions and must follow the procedures outlined for state complaints under the federal "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" and the department's state-level complaint procedures. The act requires the peace officers standards and training (P.O.S.T.) board, with respect to the hiring, training, and evaluation of school resource officers and professionalizing a school-police partnership, to create a model policy for selecting school resource officers. The P.O.S.T. board shall consult with school board members, school resource officers, K-12 advocates, and other relevant stakeholders, including student groups, in the development of the model policy. The department shall post the model policy on its website and distribute the policy to schools for consideration and possible adoption. The model policy may be used by schools and police departments. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $516,451 to the department of education from the general fund for information technology services and the office of dropout prevention and student reengagement. An additional $30,000 is appropriated to the department of law for use by the peace officers training board from the P.O.S.T board cash fund to implement the provisions of the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the primary care and behavioral health statewide integration grant program in the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to provide grants to primary care clinics for implementation of evidence-based clinical integration care models. The act requires the state department, in collaboration with the behavioral health administration and other agencies, to develop a universal contract for behavioral health services. The act requires the state department to undertake efforts to transform the state department's process for clients attempting to receive long-term care in the community to respond to the United States department of justice's letter of findings concerning the investigation of Colorado's use of nursing facilities to serve adults with physical disabilities. The act appropriates to implement the act: $616,968 to the department from the general fund; $986,948 to the department from federal funds; and $31,750,00 to the department from the behavioral and mental health cash fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the recommendations of the behavioral health transformational task force concerning youth and family residential care. Specifically, the act: Provides operational support for psychiatric residential treatment facilities and qualified residential treatment programs for youth; Creates in-home and residential respite care in up to 7 regions of the state for children and families; and Provides funds to build and staff a neuro-psych facility at the Colorado mental health institute at Fort Logan. The act makes the following appropriations to the department of human services from the behavioral and mental health cash fund: $11,628,023 is appropriated for respite and residential programs; $7,500,000 is appropriated for use by the behavioral health administration to expand substance use residential treatment beds for adolescents and for crisis response service systems; and $539,926 is appropriated for use by the behavioral health administration and is for building maintenance costs associated with the youth neuro-psych facility at the Colorado mental health institute at Fort Logan. An additional $35,000,000 is appropriated for capital construction costs related to the construction of a youth neuro-psych facility at the Colorado mental health institute at Fort Logan.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act: Expands the definition of "service provider" in the employment support and job retention services program (program) to include faith-based organizations and churches, community centers, neighborhood organizations, food banks, outreach providers, and local entities that provide employment services to community members; Modifies the eligibility criteria for receiving services and the list of reimbursable services under the program; Appropriates $250,000 annually from the general fund to the employment support and job retention services program cash fund; Extends the program until September 1, 2029; and Modifies the current reporting requirements to require the division of employment and training in the department of labor and employment to report on the efficacy of the program during the department's presentations at the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearings.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the bill makes legislative findings. Section 3 prohibits a cigarette, tobacco product, or nicotine product (product) retailer from selling, offering for sale, advertising for sale, displaying, shipping, delivering, or marketing in the state any flavored product, and section 2 defines flavored product as a product imparting a taste or smell other than the taste or smell of tobacco. Section 3 also prohibits the sale, offer for sale, advertising for sale, displaying, or marketing of a synthetic nicotine product and section 2 defines synthetic nicotine as nicotine derived from a source other than tobacco. A retailer, manufacturer of products, or employee or agent of a retailer or manufacturer of products engages in conduct creating a rebuttable presumption that a product is a flavored product if the person makes a public statement or claim, uses text or images, or takes other action directed toward consumers indicating that the product has a taste or smell other than the taste or smell of tobacco. Section 3 exempts pipe tobacco products, premium cigars, and shisha tobacco from the prohibition, as well as exempting a cigar-tobacco bar located in a licensed gaming establishment.Section 4 imposes the same penalties for selling, offering for sale, advertising for sale, displaying, or marketing in the state any flavored product or synthetic nicotine product that apply to unlawful sales of products to minors.Section 5 amends the definition of product to include products containing synthetic nicotine. and section 2 defines synthetic nicotine as nicotine derived from a source other than tobacco.Section 6 directs the prevention services division in the department of public health and environment (department) to convene a working group to develop, implement, and administer a grant program to award 2-year grants to applicants who are able to provide evidence-informed and individualized wrap-around services in Sections 6 and 7 add to the tobacco education, prevention, and cessation grant program in the department of public health and environment the authority to award grant money to provide resources to communities disproportionately impacted by targeted tobacco and nicotine marketing and sales or by increased or minimally improved tobacco-use and nicotine-use prevalence rates. Section 6 also directs the general assembly to appropriate $10 million from the general fund to the department for the grant program. and by the prevalence of tobacco and nicotine product use. (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.)
Section 1 of the bill requires that, beginning in 2023, each insurance company issued a certificate of authority to transact insurance business to prepare and file an annual report with the insurance commissioner providing a climate-risk assessment for the insurance company's investment portfolio from the previous 12 months. The commissioner of insurance is required to post the reports on the division of insurance's website. Section 1 defines "climate-risk assessment" as a determination of the economic and business risks that climate change poses to an investment that reports more than $100 million on its annual schedule T filing with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) participate in and complete the NAIC's "Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey" or successor survey or reporting mechanism.Section 2 requires the board of trustees of the public employees' retirement association (PERA board ) to prepare a similar include as part of its annual investment stewardship report, and post it which report is posted on the PERA board's website , a description of climate-related investment risks, impacts, and strategies .Section 3 adds wastewater thermal energy equipment to the definition of "pollution control equipment", which equipment may be certified by the division of administration (division) in the department of public health and environment (CDPHE). Similarly, section 13 adds wastewater thermal energy to the definition of "clean heat resource", which resources a gas distribution utility includes in its clean heat plan filed with the public utilities commission.Section 3 4 updates the statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals to add a 40% 65% reduction goal for 2028 2035 compared to 2005 GHG pollution levels and a 75% reduction goal for 2040 compared to 2005 GHG pollution levels.Section 4 defines a small off-road engine as a gasoline-powered engine of 50 horsepower or less used to fuel small off-road equipment like lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Section 4 phases out the use of small off-road engines by prohibiting their sale in nonattainment areas of the state on or after January 1, 2030, and by providing financial incentives to promote the replacement of small off-road engines with electric-powered, small off-road equipment before 2030.Section 11 establishes a state income tax credit in an amount equal to 30% of the purchase price for new, electric-powered, small off-road equipment for purchases made in income tax years 2023 through 2029. Section 5 requires the air quality control commission (AQCC), on or before August 1, 2023, to adopt rules to reduce GHG emissions, at a minimum, from sources in the industrial and manufacturing sector that reported GHG emissions greater than 25,000 metric tons from 2020 pursuant to the AQCC rule commonly known as "regulation number 22".Section 6 7 gives the oil and gas conservation commission (COGCC) authority over class VI injection wells used for sequestration of GHG including through the issuance and enforcement of permits if the governor and COGCC have determined that the state has sufficient resources to ensure the safe and effective regulation of the sequestration of GHG gases in accordance with a study that the COGCC conducts . If the governor and COGCC determine there are sufficient resources, the COGCC may seek primacy under the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act" and, once granted, may issue and enforce permits for class VI injection wells. The COGCC shall require, as part of its regulation of class VI injection wells, that operators of the wells provide adequate financial assurance, which financial assurance must be maintained until the COGCC approves the closure of a class VI injection well site.Section 7 8 requires the commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner's designee, in consultation with the Colorado energy office , and the air quality control commission the AQCC, and an institution of higher education with expertise in climate change mitigation, adaptation benefits, and other environmental benefits related to agricultural research , to conduct a study examining carbon reduction and sequestration opportunities in the agricultural sector and in land management in the state, including the potential development of certified carbon offset programs or credit instruments. On or before December 15, 2022 October 1, 2024 , the commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner's designee is required to submit a report summarizing the study, including any legislative recommendations, to the general assembly. The commissioner of agriculture may adopt rules incorporating recommendations and any recommended carbon offsets may be incorporated into the AQCC's rules. In support of the use of agrivoltaics, which is the colocation integration of solar energy generation facilities on a parcel of land with agricultural activities, section 8 9 authorizes the Colorado agriculture value-added development board (board) to provide financing, including grants or loans, for agricultural research on the use of agrivoltaics. Section 9 directs the state treasurer to transfer $1,800,000 per year through 2027 from the general fund to the agriculture value-added cash fund for implementation of agrivoltaics research. For a research project for which the board awards money to study the use of agrivoltaics, sections 5 and 8 6 and 9 require the director of the division of parks and wildlife to consult on the research project regarding the wildlife impacts of agrivoltaic use.Section 9 10 authorizes the board to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, and donations, including donations of in-kind resources such as solar panels, for use in agricultural research projects. Section 9 10 also updates the statutory definition of "agrivoltaics" to list additional agricultural activities on the parcel of land on with which solar panel generation facilities may be colocated integrated , including animal husbandry, cover cropping for soil health, and carbon sequestration.Section 10 11 amends the statutory definition of "solar energy facility" used in determining the valuation of public utilities for property tax purposes to include agrivoltaics.Section 12 establishes a state income tax credit in an amount equal to 30% of the purchase price for new, electric-powered, small off-road equipment, which is defined as a lawn mower, leaf blower, or trimmer, for purchases made in income tax years 2023 through 2029. The tax credit may be claimed by a seller of electric-powered, small off-road equipment that demonstrates that it provided the purchaser a 30% discount from the purchase price of the electric-powered, small off-road equipment.Section 14 appropriates for state fiscal year 2022-23: $81,429 from the oil and gas conservation and environmental response fund to the department of natural resources for use by the COGCC for the underground injection program; $145,789 from the general fund to CDPHE for use by the division for regulation of stationary sources; and $2,098,784 from the general fund to the department of agriculture for conservation services. (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.)