Sen. Chris Kolker

Maddy summaryHJR 25-1005 is a ceremonial resolution encouraging Colorado communities to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20, 2025 - the 41st anniversary of the state holiday. It does not create new laws or alter existing policies but urges cities, schools, counties, and local governments to hold commemorative events. The resolution honors Dr. King’s legacy, noting Colorado’s early adoption of the holiday in 1985 and its ongoing observance through events like the annual Marade. This is a non-binding call for community engagement, not a substantive legislative change.

Section 2 of the act reinstates a refundable income tax credit (credit) that was available for the income tax year commencing on January 1, 2022, so that the credit is available for the income tax year commencing on January 1, 2024, and is available in a different amount to joint-filers. The credit is for a qualifying senior, which means a resident individual who: Is 65 years of age or older at the end of 2024; Has federal adjusted gross income (AGI) that is less than or equal to $75,000 if filing a single return, or less than or equal to $125,000 if filing a joint return; and Has not claimed the senior property tax exemption for the 2024 property tax year. The amount of the credit is: $800 for a qualifying senior filing a single return with federal AGI that is $25,000 or less. For every $500 of federal AGI above $25,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $8. $800 for 2 taxpayers filing a joint return with federal AGI that is $25,000 or less. For every $500 of federal AGI above $25,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $4. $400 for each taxpayer, in the case of 2 taxpayers who share the same primary residence and who may legally file a joint return but actually file separate returns, if both taxpayers claim the credit. For every $500 of federal AGI above $25,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $4. Notwithstanding the income-based reductions in the allowable credit amount, a taxpayer who also qualifies for a property tax and rent assistance grant or heat assistance grant during calendar year 2024 is eligible to receive the full credit amount. Section 1 of the act requires the property tax administrator to provide reports from counties related to taxpayers who are eligible for and actually claim the senior property tax exemption. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act clarifies what constitutes an abbreviated school day and describes the effects of placing children with disabilities on abbreviated school day schedules (abbreviated schedule). The act requires the department of education (department) to create and implement a policy that explains the: Definition of an abbreviated school day, including how the definition applies to attendance and school discipline; Circumstances in which abbreviated schedules are permissible and impermissible; Roles of the teams who determine whether to assign children with disabilities to abbreviated schedules; Extent to which children with disabilities may participate in field trips, school functions, and extracurricular activities; Documentation and maintenance of records relating to children with disabilities' abbreviated schedules; Review of abbreviated schedules on a regular basis by the teams who determine whether to assign children with disabilities to abbreviated schedules; Information that parents, legal guardians, or custodians of children with disabilities (parents) must receive regarding whether parents may consent to, revoke consent to, or oppose abbreviated schedules; and Procedural safeguard information distributed to parents prior to meetings in which abbreviated schedules are discussed. Each administrative unit shall adopt the department's policy and create a plan to support children with disabilities who are assigned an abbreviated schedule. The plan must include the outcomes for placing children with disabilities on an abbreviated schedule and a description of the stages for gradual reintroduction to return children with disabilities to full-time school day schedules. The department shall provide annual training and ongoing technical assistance to administrative units. On or before July 1, 2026, and each July 1 thereafter, a school district, a district charter school, an institute charter school, or a board of cooperative services shall submit a report to the department summarizing: The number of children with disabilities who were placed on abbreviated schedules during the preceding school year; The number of days and the percentage of the school year that each child with disabilities was placed on an abbreviated schedule; The student demographic information for each child with disabilities placed on an abbreviated school day schedule, including race, gender, English language learner status, and whether the child has a disability pursuant to federal law, to the extent possible while maintaining student privacy; and The student demographic data collected, disaggregated by race, gender, English language learner status, and disability status pursuant to federal law, to the extent possible while maintaining student privacy. The act requires the department to post the reports to the department's website on an annual basis. Beginning in January 2027, and in January every year thereafter, the department shall include as part of its presentation during its "SMART Act" hearing information concerning abbreviated schedules. By the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, the department shall standardize the reporting method that schools of a school district, district charter schools, school districts, institute charter schools, and the state charter school institute use to collect and report data concerning: Instructional hours; School calendars; and The number of hours students spend on instructional time during the school year. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, and each school year thereafter, the department shall collect from schools of a school district, district charter schools, school districts, institute charter schools, and the state charter school institute, at a minimum, the following data: Days of instruction for elementary and secondary schools; Instructional hours for elementary and secondary schools; Estimated non-instructional hours, school closures, snow days, and time spent on lunch and passing between classes; and The number of days and percentage of the school year students were placed on abbreviated schedules. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $250,108 is appropriated to the department from the general fund to implement this act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or before July 1, 2026, the act requires the department of education to: Create, deliver, and make publicly available a training program, in plain and easy-to-understand language, regarding individualized education program laws and procedures, including parent and student rights; and Deliver the training program in person and make the training program and related information publicly available online. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $75,288 from the general fund to the department to implement the act. 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.)

The act modifies the fees collected by county clerk and recorders to be a flat $40 fee instead of a fee per page, unless otherwise specified. No fee is allowed for the filing or recording of a certificate of death, a verification of death document, or a certified copy thereof, which are public records if recorded into the real estate records of a county clerk and recorder. The act also extends filing surcharge fees collected by county clerk and recorders by 3 years to 2029. The act modifies existing practice regarding the redaction of the first 5 digits of an individual's social security number on a public document recorded with a county clerk and recorder. Previously, redaction occurred upon request of the individual or the individual's representative. The act changes this practice so that redaction is automatic unless the individual or individual's representative requests that the social security number remain unredacted. The act also delays the repeal and sunset review of the electronic recording technology board (board) by 3 years to 2029, so that the board's sunset review will take place 13 years after the board's creation in 2016. The deadlines for the board's annual and final reports are modified accordingly. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $10,444 is appropriated to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund, of which $1,188 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals the following infrequently used tax expenditures: The catastrophic health insurance income tax deduction (sections 2 and 3 of the act); The non-resident disaster relief worker income tax subtraction (sections 4, 5, and 6); The medical savings account income tax deduction (sections 7, 8, 9, and 10); The childcare facility investment income tax credit (section 11); The school to career expenses income tax credit (section 12); The Colorado works program employer income tax credit (section 13); The income tax credit for purchase of uniquely valuable motor vehicle registration numbers (section 14); The low-emitting vehicles and commercial vehicles used in interstate commerce sales and use tax exemptions (sections 15, 16, 17, and 18); The biotechnology sales and use tax refund (sections 19 and 20); The rural broadband equipment sales and use tax refund (section 21); The first time home buyer savings account income tax deduction (sections 22, 23, 24, and 25); The aircraft gasoline and special fuel tax exemption (section 26); and The cigarette and tobacco bad debt tax credit for cigarette and tobacco wholesalers, distributors, and retailers that write off bad cigarette and tobacco tax debts (sections 27 and 28). The act also modifies several tax expenditures as follows: Section 29 of the act eliminates the requirement that the executive director of the department of revenue present the tax profile and expenditure report to the finance committees of the house of representatives and the senate; Section 30 clarifies that the purpose of the college tuition program income tax deduction is to create additional incentives for saving for college tuition not already created by other state or federal law and allows the wildfire mitigation deduction for tax years commencing before January 1, 2025, rather than for tax years commencing before January 1, 2026; Section 31 increases the maximum amount of a health-care preceptor income tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000, allows for a maximum of 3 credits per income tax year, and increases the maximum aggregate amount of the credit awarded to any one taxpayer from $1,000 to $6,000 for any income tax year; Section 32 changes the maximum amount a taxpayer may claim for the wildfire hazard mitigation income tax credit to $1,000 per income tax year for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2025, but prior to January 1, 2028. Section 33 requires a local government and a nonprofit to file an informational tax return as prescribed by the executive director of the department of revenue (informational tax return) rather than a corporate tax return when claiming an alternative transportation options income tax credit; Section 34 requires a local government and a nonprofit to file an informational tax return when claiming a conservation easement income tax credit; Section 35 requires a local government and a nonprofit to file an informational tax return when claiming an income tax credit for environmental remediation of contaminated land; On and after January 1, 2025, sections 36 and 37 exempt from sales and use tax the sale, storage, usage, or consumption of a modular home or any closed panel system utilized in construction of a factory-built residential structure; Section 38 states that the purpose of the renewable energy source sales and use tax exemption is to create additional incentives for developing renewable energy projects not already created by other state or federal law; Section 39 repeals detailed required reporting for enterprise zone tax credits; Section 40 extends the employer alternative transportation for employees tax credit until January 1, 2027; and Section 41 makes the income tax credit for employer expenditures for alternative transportation options for employees available through the 2026 income tax year, rather then through 2024 income tax year. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the employee ownership office (office), which was originally created administratively by the governor in 2020 as a statutory entity within the office of economic development (OED). The act also creates a refundable income tax credit for income tax years 2025 to 2029 for up to 50% of specified costs incurred by new employee-owned businesses, not to exceed $50,000. New employee-owned businesses are defined as businesses that have been employee-owned for 7 or fewer years. The tax credit is administered by the office, which may allocate up to $1.5 million in tax credits per year. The office is required to include information on the effectiveness of the tax credit in OED's annual report to the general assembly. The act also creates the employee ownership cash fund, which is to be used by the office for the administration of the tax credit and consists of fees collected from applications for the tax credit. The tax credit and cash fund are repealed on January 1, 2035. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $145,847 is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the governor for use for the employee ownership office. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act relocates the "Colorado Loans for Increasing Main Street Business Economic Recovery Act" and renames it the "Colorado Loans for Increasing Main Street Business Economic Resiliency Act" (CLIMBER Act). The administration of the CLIMBER Act small business recovery and resiliency loan program (loan program) is moved and the powers, duties, and functions associated with the administration of the CLIMBER Act are transferred from the department of the treasury to the office of economic development (office). Along with this relocation, the act makes the following changes to the CLIMBER Act: Removes the requirement for the loan program that at least 90% of the money in any prior tranche be invested in small business loans before the office can provide another tranche to a loan program or to the Colorado credit reserve; Allows the office to accept and expend gifts, grants, donations, and federal funds to support the CLIMBER Act and credits this money to the existing small business recovery and resiliency fund; and Removes the future repeal of the CLIMBER Act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE September 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act prohibits a person from knowingly carrying a firearm, both openly and concealed, in the following government buildings, including their adjacent parking areas: State legislative buildings, including buildings at which the offices of elected members are located; A building of a local government's governing body, including buildings at which the offices of elected members or the chief executive officer of a local government are located (local government buildings); and A courthouse or other building used for court proceedings. Unlawful carrying of a firearm in a government building is a class 1 misdemeanor. The act includes exceptions for law enforcement officers, members of the United States armed forces or Colorado National Guard, security personnel, persons carrying as part of the lawful and common practices of a legal proceeding, and persons who hold a permit to carry a concealed handgun (concealed carry permit) who are carrying a concealed handgun in an adjacent parking area. The act permits a local government to enact a law permitting carrying at a local government building included in the act. Members of the general assembly are exempt from the prohibition on carrying in a state legislative building until January 5, 2025. The act prohibits a person from knowingly carrying a firearm, both openly and concealed, on the property of a child care center, other than a family child care home, that is licensed by the department of early childhood or is exempt from licensing pursuant to state law, and that operates with stated educational purposes (licensed child care center); public or private elementary, middle, junior high, high, or vocational school; or any public or private college, university, or seminary (higher education institution), with exceptions. A violation is a class 1 misdemeanor. The act maintains exceptions in existing law for carrying a firearm on the property of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school and adds exceptions for concealed carry permit holders carrying in the parking area of a licensed child care center or higher education institution; security personnel at a licensed child care center or higher education institution; and for a licensed child care center that is on the same property as another building or improvement, carrying a firearm in an area that is not designated as a licensed child care center. Existing law prohibits openly carrying a firearm within any polling location or central count facility, or within 100 feet of a ballot drop box or any building in which a polling location or central count facility is located, while an election or any related ongoing election administration activity is in progress. The act prohibits carrying a firearm in any manner at those locations. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)