Sen. Rob Woodward

Currently, under the federal educator expense deduction, an eligible educator can claim a deduction, not to exceed $250, for the purchase of school supplies and certain professional development courses. The bill creates a state income tax credit for an eligible educator for the purchase of school supplies that qualify for the deduction that exceeds $250 but are less than $750. The amount of the credit that exceeds the educator's income taxes is refunded to the educator.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires the staff of the legislative council to prepare business fiscal impact notes (notes) on legislative bills in each regular session of the general assembly. The speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate are authorized to request 2 notes each, or more at the discretion of the director of research of the legislative council. The bill requires the staff of the legislative council to meet with the member of leadership requesting the note and with the sponsor of the legislative bill to discuss whether a note can practically be completed for that legislative bill. If not, the member of leadership may request a note on a different legislative bill. A business fiscal impact note is defined as a note that uses available data to analyze the potential direct economic effects of a legislative bill on Colorado businesses, including costs related to compliance, impacts on hiring or job losses, savings or cost reductions, and other fiscal impacts. The bill requires the director of research of the legislative council to develop the procedures for requesting, completing, and updating the notes and to memorialize the procedures in a letter to the executive committee of the legislative council. The staff of the legislative council must designate a 5-day period during which Colorado businesses can submit comments on the impacts of a legislative bill selected for the preparation of the note, or a shorter time if the bill is selected during the last 30 days of session. The staff must summarize and compile the comments as part of the note. Finally, the legislative bill requires each state department, agency, or institution to cooperate with and provide information for a note of a legislative bill in the manner requested by the staff of the legislative council. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill establishes a physician-patient relationship between a child born alive after or during an abortion and the physician who performed or attempted to perform the abortion. The bill requires the physician to exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious physician would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age and requires that the child born alive be immediately transferred to a hospital. The bill creates a civil penalty of $100,000 for a violation enforceable by the attorney general, makes a violation a class 3 felony, and makes a conviction unprofessional conduct for licensing purposes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Behavioral health entities - single license - advisory committee timelines - appropriation. Currently, certain entities that provide behavioral health services must hold various licenses issued by the department of public health and environment (CDPHE) or the department of human services (DHS). The act combines the various licenses into a single license as a behavioral health entity (BHE) and authorizes the state board of health to promulgate rules for the new license. To accomplish the transition, the act establishes a behavioral health entity implementation and advisory committee consisting of executive directors of certain state departments, or the director's designee, and representatives from various stakeholder groups. The act requires a BHE that was previously licensed by CDPHE to obtain a BHE license by July 1, 2022. It requires a BHE that was previously licensed or approved by DHS to obtain a BHE license by July 1, 2024. The act makes conforming amendments, some of which have later effective dates. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $51,472 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment to implement the new license. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Public meetings - notice - online posting. Current law requires local governments to post notices of public meetings required by the state open meetings law in physical locations. The act allows a local government to post the notices on the local government's website. The notices are accessible to the public at no charge. The notices shall be searchable, if feasible, by type of meeting, date and time of meeting, and agenda contents. A local government that posts notices of public meetings on its website may continue to post the notices in a physical location, but is not required to do so.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Electricians - local inspection fees - limitations. The act repeals the prohibition against local governments and state institutions of higher education charging more than 15% more than the state charges to perform an inspection of electrical work, and instead subjects the inspection fee to a $120 cap that is adjusted annually for inflation with a potential additional 8% tiered charge based on the size or valuation of the inspected improvement. Specified provisions of the act are contingent upon House Bill 19-1172 becoming law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

On December 18, 2018, the department of revenue adopted various emergency rules related to sales tax collection, including a new destination sourcing rule that requires retailers to collect sales tax based on where the tangible personal property or service will be delivered instead of based on the taxing jurisdiction in which the retailer is located. The bill specifies that the new destination sourcing rule does not apply to any retailer with physical presence that has generated less than $100,000 in gross revenue from the sale of tangible personal property or services outside of the taxing jurisdiction where the retailer is located. For those particular retailers with physical presence, the sale is sourced to the retailer's location, regardless of whether the tangible personal property or service is delivered outside of the taxing jurisdiction in which the retailer is located. The bill also adds the same exception to the statutory retailer's use tax collection requirement. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

Currently, as part of the public school performance report, each public school provides the department of education (education) internet links to descriptions of certain courses and programs the public school offers to its students. The bill adds basic life skills education to this list of courses and programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

Current law allows nonresident pupils from other school districts within the state to enroll in a school district without requiring the nonresident pupils to pay tuition but gives the school district the authority to deny enrollment to nonresident pupils after the pupil enrollment count day. The bill requires a school district to allow enrollment of nonresident pupils after the pupil enrollment count day if the student has been subjected to a school safety incident. Current law allows contributions to a qualified state tuition program, also known as a 529 account, so long as the distributions are used for qualified higher education expenses, with some exceptions, but not for elementary and secondary tuition expenses. The federal "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act", which became law in December 2017, added distributions for tuition expenses in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school as qualified distributions, thereby allowing, on the federal level, income tax-free distributions for certain elementary and secondary education expenses in addition to already authorized income tax-free distributions for higher education expenses. The bill makes similar, but limited, changes to Colorado law to allow a deduction for contributions to qualified state tuition programs for tuition expenses for a student who has been subjected to a school safety incident in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school. The bill designates such expenses for a student who has been subjected to a school safety incident as qualified distributions, which ensures that a taxpayer does not encounter tax recapture of any claimed deductions when such contributions are distributed for tuition expenses for a student who has been subjected to a school safety incident in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

Under current law, education offered by a bona fide trade, business, professional, or fraternal organization that primarily benefits the organization's membership or mission is exempted from regulation by the private occupational school division in the department of higher education. The bill clarifies that the exemption covers educational services approved by the bona fide organization that are offered either by the organization or by an instructor approved by the organization. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More