Sen. Steve Fenberg

Wildfire Matters Review Committee. The bill requires the division of housing within the department of local affairs (division) to create a working group to identify emerging, promising, and best practices related to homeless outreach for the purpose of reducing wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface. The bill also establishes the reducing wildfire risk through homeless outreach grant program within the division. Grant recipients can use grant money to conduct outreach among individuals experiencing homelessness to reduce wildfire risk consistent with the emerging, promising, and best practices the working group identifies. The grant program prioritizes applications that take a collaborative approach and are founded in local knowledge and expertise. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the "Get on Your Feet Student Loan Repayment Assistance Program" to provide no more than 24 monthly payments on a qualified loan on behalf of a qualified recipient. A qualified recipient is required to satisfy eligibility and program participation requirements. The department of higher education is required to administer the program pursuant to guidelines promulgated by the commission on higher education. A person who received a program award but did not satisfy all eligibility and program participation requirements may be required to fully or partially reimburse the state. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill enacts the "Consumer and Employee Dispute Resolution Fairness Act" (act). For certain consumer and employment arbitrations, the act: Prohibits the waiver of standards for and challenges for evident partiality prior to a claim being filed and requires any waiver of such provisions after the claim is filed to be in writing; Provides that the right of a party to challenge an arbitrator based on evident partiality is waived if not raised within a reasonable time of learning of the information leading to the challenge but that such right is not waived if caused by the opposing party; Authorizes the nonobjecting party to seek provisional remedies from court if a party objects to an arbitrator and the parties are not able to agree on an arbitrator; Establishes ethical standards for arbitrators; and Requires specified public disclosures by arbitration services providers to the parties but includes protections for certain confidential information. The bill also requires an individual arbitrator for certain consumer and employment arbitrations to make additional disclosures of information that might affect the arbitrator's impartiality. The bill specifies how attorney fees and other reasonable expenses are to be awarded if a court vacates an award because of an arbitrator's evident partiality or failure to make required disclosures. and clarifies when appeals of orders may be made in consumer and employee arbitrations. The bill also provides that for a standard form contract involving a consumer or an employee: Specified terms are unenforceable as against public policy; and Including an unenforceable term constitutes a deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act"; and How certain cost-shifting provisions are to be interpreted. (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.)

Energy Legislation Review Interim Study Committee. The bill requires that all diesel fuel sold or offered for sale in nonattainment areas in Colorado between June 1 and September 15 of each year, commencing June 1, 2021, be blended with and contain at least 5% biodiesel, which includes renewable diesel , and that all diesel fuel sold or offered for sale in Colorado between June 1 and September 15 of each year, commencing June 1, 2023, be blended with and contain at least 10% biodiesel. The blending requirement does not apply to diesel fuel used in locomotives or off-road mining equipment. The air quality control commission, in consultation with the director of the division of oil and public safety in the department of labor and employment shall promulgate rules regarding the blending standard, including rules to establish a waiver process and to require labeling on a bill of lading of biodiesel-blended fuel to reflect the percentage of biodiesel included in the blended fuel when the blend is equal to or above 5% biodiesel. The division may use money in the petroleum storage tank fund to implement the bill. (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.)

Current state law prohibits local governments from substantively regulating the use and application of pesticides. The bill authorizes local governments to regulate pesticide use and application. In connection with this authorization, the bill: Declares pesticide regulation a matter of both statewide and local concern; Repeals provisions that prohibit local regulation of pesticide use and application and explicitly authorizes a county to enact this type of regulation; Permits local governments to regulate pesticide use and application except in connection with the cultivation of marijuana and the production of agricultural products; Clarifies that a local government must meet the requirements of state and federal law; and Gives state courts exclusive jurisdiction to review local pesticide laws.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act enacts the "Colorado Building Families Act", which requires health benefit plans issued or renewed in Colorado on or after January 1, 2022, to cover diagnosis of infertility, treatment for infertility, and fertility preservation services. The coverage for fertility medications must not impose any limits that are not applicable to coverage under the plan for other prescription medications, and the plan cannot impose deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, benefit maximums, waiting periods, or other limitations that are not applicable to other medical services covered under the plan. A religious employer may request an exclusion from the infertility coverage in a health benefit plan offered by the religious employer if the coverage conflicts with the religious organization's bona fide religious beliefs and practices. The act directs the division of insurance to make a determination as to whether the coverage required by the act is in addition to essential health benefits required by the federal "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (Affordable Care Act) and would be subject to defrayal by the state pursuant to the Affordable Care Act. The division is to seek confirmation of its determination from the federal department of health and human services, and the coverage applies and is to be implemented by the division in health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2022, if the division receives confirmation that the coverage is not an additional benefit or if the federal department fails to respond in a timely manner. The act appropriates $3,337 from the division of insurance cash fund to the division of insurance in the department of regulatory agencies for personal services to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)