Sen. Janice Marchman

Beginning January 1, 2025, the act classifies a county coroner and deputy coroner elected, reelected, or appointed on or after January 1, 2021, by a local government division employer as a state trooper for the purpose of determining the county coroner's or deputy coroner's public employees' retirement association service retirement eligibility and benefits. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For purposes of the school-based health center grant program (grant program), the act expands the definition of a school-based health center and the purposes of the grant program to authorize grants for evidence-informed, school-linked health-care services. Services may include primary health-care, behavioral health-care, oral health-care, and preventive health-care services for students and youth (school-linked health-care services). School-linked health-care services may be delivered through telehealth, mobile services, and referrals for health-care services at a clinic near school grounds. Subject to available appropriations, the act authorizes grant money to be directed to evidence-informed, school-linked health-care services models to expand access to school-based health care, unless the prevention services division in the department of public health and environment determines that adequate proposals have not been submitted for the grant cycle. The act also requires the department of health care policy and financing to create a service-location identifier for claims for services provided at school-based health centers or through school-linked health-care services. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law identifies bullying behaviors that are subject to school district and charter school discipline policies and reporting requirements. The act adds a pattern of bullying based on a student's weight, height, or body size to the prohibited bullying behaviors. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act allows a claimant for workers' compensation benefits to refuse an offer of modified employment if the employment requires the claimant to drive to or from work and the treating physician has restricted the claimant from driving. The act adds the loss of an ear to the list of other body parts for which an injured worker can receive whole person permanent impairment benefits. The act increases the current limitations on the amount of money a claimant may claim based on the claimant's impairment rating as follows: For an impairment rating of 19% or less, from $75,000 to $185,000; and For an impairment rating greater than 19%, from $150,000 to $300,000. The act requires a workers' compensation insurer to pay benefits to a claimant by direct deposit upon request by the claimant. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act enacts the "Social Work Licensure Compact" (compact). The compact is designed to: Eliminate the necessity for social workers to obtain licenses from multiple states by providing for the mutual recognition of licenses from other states that have signed the compact (member states); Facilitate the exchange of licensure and disciplinary information among member states; Authorize member states to hold a regulated social worker accountable for abiding by a member state's laws, regulations, and applicable professional standards in the member state in which the client is located at the time care is rendered; and Allow for the use of telehealth to facilitate increased access to regulated social work services. The act authorizes the state board of social work examiners (board) to promulgate rules and to facilitate Colorado's participation in the compact, including notifying the social work licensure compact commission (commission) established by the compact of any adverse action taken by the board against a Colorado regulated social worker. The commission includes a delegate from each member state and has the powers and duties set forth in the act. The compact becomes effective on the date the compact is enacted in the seventh member state. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $78,750 from the division of professions and occupations cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of professions and occupations to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the rural housing and development asbestos and lead paint abatement pilot grant program (pilot grant program) in the department of public health and environment (department) to award grants, beginning July 1, 2025, to local governments in rural areas to offset costs associated with the abatement of asbestos and lead paint in housing, commercial buildings, and other development projects. To be eligible for a grant, a local government must submit an application to the department. The application must: For renovation or demolition sites, include an inspection report consistent with rules detailing asbestos-containing materials in excess of trigger levels; For renovation of lead-based paint abatement sites, include a description of eligibility that shows that the facility meets the statutory definition; For both asbestos and lead-based paint abatement, renovation, or demolition, include documentation demonstrating that the applicant has acquired any necessary permits and regulatory approval from the air pollution control division; and Include an assessment of needs of the local government's rural communities. The act creates the rural housing and development asbestos and lead paint abatement fund (fund) in the state treasury. The fund consists of money generated from penalties and fines collected in association with violations of laws concerning hazardous materials in an amount up to $200,000 for the 2025-26 state fiscal year and up to $200,000 for the 2026-27 state fiscal year. The department may expend money in the fund to award grants. The pilot grant program and the fund are repealed, effective July 1, 2027. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (department) contained in the department's 2023 sunset review of the state board of licensure for architects, professional engineers, and professional land surveyors (board). The act: Continues the regulation of architects, professional engineers, and professional land surveyors for 9 years, until September 1, 2033; Includes in the grounds for discipline of licensees a failure to respond to the allegations of a complaint within the length of time specified by the board; Updates statutory references to the names of examinations for professional engineers and professional land surveyors; Repeals the requirement that board members be citizens of the United States and residents of Colorado; Repeals the requirement that applicants supply a business address on a license application; Grants the board rule-making authority to establish continuing education requirements; Removes the ability of an individual to obtain a license as an architect, professional engineer, or professional land surveyor or a qualification as a land surveyor-intern through the occupational credential portability program; Requires an applicant for licensure by endorsement as an architect to hold a license in good standing from another jurisdiction with qualification requirements that are substantially equivalent to the qualification requirements in this state; and Makes a technical amendment to replace gendered pronouns with gender-neutral terms. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the Colorado agriculture license plate. In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay an additional one-time fee in the amount of $25, which money is credited to the highway users tax fund. To implement the act, $15,775 is appropriated to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund and $17,431 is appropriated from the license plate cash fund to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the judicial department to collect, compile, and publish online, on a monthly basis, aggregate residential eviction data for all forcible entry and detainer actions filed in each county in the immediately preceding month. The judicial department shall make individual case level residential eviction data available upon request from a qualified entity. The act requires the complaint for an eviction action to be filed using a standard form that is available through the judicial department's website and include the street address and the zip code; except that a court must accept a complaint that does not use the standardized form if the complaint meets the requirements of this section. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $136,122 from the general fund to the judicial department for use by courts administration. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 31, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act modifies the college kickstarter account program (program). The act expands who may open an account and be an account sponsor on or after January 1, 2025, to include, in addition to a parent or parents of an eligible child, any other individual who provides the birth certificate number or order of adoption for an eligible child in accordance with the requirements of the program to open an account. Further, the act clarifies that on or after January 1, 2025, the amount of kickstarter funding that can be claimed is the base amount as adjusted for inflation in the year claimed plus, if the kickstarter funding is claimed in a year after the child's birth year, interest that has accrued on the base amount from the birth year to the claim year. The act also expands the membership of the program advisory board, requires the advisory board to meet at least on a quarterly basis each year, and modifies reporting requirements for the program. The act expands the period during which an account sponsor may claim kickstarter funding from 5 to 8 years from the date of the eligible child's birth or adoption and clarifies that an account is an "individual college savings account", which is any collegeinvest account. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE May 31, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)