Under Colorado law, a special event permit allows the service of alcohol beverages during special events. The act authorizes a special event permit to be issued to a chamber of commerce. Certain types of business are excluded from participating in the special event. The holder of a retail establishment permit may participate in the special event if the permit holder is not serving complimentary alcohol beverages sold at the same date and time as the special event. The act also requires the executive director of the department of revenue (department) to promulgate rules to authorize age-restricted tobacco festivals by means of a permit issued by the department. Standards are set for the rules. The executive director of the department may establish by rule an application fee for the tobacco festival permit. The application fee must be set at an amount that offsets the direct and indirect cost of implementing and enforcing the tobacco festival permit rules. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act establishes a process by which local governments and investor-owned utility companies with more than 250,000 customers may coordinate on utility relocation work that is necessitated by a road improvement project. A road improvement project does not include a project in a roadway under the control of the Colorado department of transportation (CDOT) unless the construction is performed by or under the direction of the local government pursuant to an agreement with CDOT. Under the process established by the act, a local government is required to notify any affected utility company of the details of a road improvement project before beginning the project and in the event of a change in the scope of the proposed project. These details include the proposed design, funding details, the specifics of the utility conflict, and the estimated timeline for the road improvement project and utility relocation. If local governments and utility companies so choose, they may coordinate on road improvement projects necessitating the removal, relocation, or alteration of utility lines in a local government's right-of-way and commit to a schedule for utility relocation by means of a clearance letter. The required components for a clearance letter include the scope of the utility relocation, schedule and coordination requirements for the utility relocation, accountability for traffic management and the discovery of hazardous materials, a dispute resolution mechanism, and requirements for prompt performance, staking, and project approval. A clearance letter must also provide that the utility company pay for actual damages associated with its delay in the performance of the utility relocation, except those caused by a force majeure, the discovery of hazardous materials, or a change in the scope or schedule of the road improvement project. The act also outlines the timeline and process for a local government to accept or reject a completed utility relocation. The utility relocation coordination process outlined by the act does not prevent a local government from pursuing alterative arrangements for road improvement projects, in which case the local government and utility company need not follow the process requirements outlined in the act. The act does not cover a local government that has granted a franchise to a utility company and does not alter the terms of any franchise or license granted pursuant to statute or the state constitution. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the teacher mentor grant program (grant program) provides funding to partnerships between local education providers and educator preparation programs to provide training and stipends for experienced teachers who mentor teacher candidates in clinical practice. The act expands the grant program to include mentorship of novice teachers who have fewer than 3 years of teaching experience. The act requires the general assembly to appropriate $100,000 dollars to the department of higher education for the grant program for the 2024-25 state fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter. Any appropriation remaining at the end of the 2024-25 state fiscal year or subsequent fiscal year may be used for the grant program in subsequent fiscal years. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado commission on higher education for growing great teachers - teacher mentor grants. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 20 of article X of the state constitution (TABOR) defines "fiscal year spending" as not including "collections for another government". Although TABOR does not define "collections for another government", the TABOR implementing statutes do. The definition of "collections for another government" in the implementing statutes specifically limits such collections to revenue collected by the state for the benefit of another government that is collected pursuant to the authority of the other government. The act clarifies the definition of "collections for another government" set forth in the TABOR implementing statutes for purposes of the TABOR limitation on state fiscal year spending. For state fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2023, "collections for another government" means any revenue that is collected by the state for the benefit and use of a government other than the state, passed through to that government for the benefit of and use by that government, and collected pursuant to: The authority of the government for whose benefit the state collects the revenue; The authority of the state and apportioned to another government in connection with that government forgoing the imposition of certain taxes and collecting the corresponding tax revenue; or A constitutional requirement that the state collect the revenue for the benefit of another government. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
By March 31, 2026, the act requires the department of revenue (department) to create a process for a vehicle owner to request to receive and for the department to provide electronic communications and notifications, instead of written notifications, concerning vehicle transactions, including electronic notifications regarding driver's licenses and hearings related to the suspension of a driver's license, vehicle registration renewals, other hearings, and issuance of license plates. The department is not permitted, however, to provide electronic notifications for the revocation of a vehicle registration or license plate. The act also requires the department to adopt rules to create procedures for a vehicle owner to request the electronic notification. The act makes it mandatory, instead of optional, that the department establish a system to allow the electronic transmission of registration, lien, and titling information for motor vehicles, off-highway vehicles, or special mobile machinery by March 31, 2026. The act also requires that the system support the ability to generate a title and registration for new leased vehicles and support the ability to generate a title for a lessee who purchases the lessee's leased vehicle without affecting the lessee's existing registration. On or before January 1, 2027, the system must support the ability to generate a new registration for a vehicle to a new lessee without modifying the title. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $645,368 is appropriated from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund to the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state auditor to engage, by October 1, 2024, a third party to conduct an evaluation of the department of corrections' (department) budget practices. The third party is required to provide an update to the joint budget committee and the legislative audit committee by March 1, 2025 and to release a final report to the department, joint budget committee, and legislative audit committee by June 30, 2025. The evaluation must review the department's personnel-related costs, contract staff spending, operational costs driven by caseload, user fees levied, and the cash funds associated with the department. For state fiscal year 2024-25, the act appropriates $400,000 from the general fund to the legislative department for use by the office of the state auditor to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, employers pay an annual support surcharge to fund unemployment administration and to support the solvency of the unemployment insurance trust fund. This surcharge is deposited into several different funds. The act adjusts the deposits as follows: 35% (decreased from 59.46%) to the employment support fund; 19% (increased from 18.92%) to the benefit recovery fund; 32% (increased from 21.62%) to the employment and training technology fund; and 14% to the workforce development fund in the workforce development enterprise (enterprise), which is created in the act. Each of these funds has a limit on the maximum amount of money that can be held in the fund. The act requires the maximum amount to be adjusted for inflation based on the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood consumer price index. The act adjusts these initial caps as follows: Decreases the cap for the employment support fund from $32,000,000 to $7,000,000; Decreases the cap for the employment and training technology fund from $31,000,000 to $13,200,000; and Establishes the cap for the workforce development fund at $6,800,000. The $15,000,000 cap for the benefit recovery fund remains the same. The enterprise is created within the division of employment and training in the department of labor and employment (division) for the business purpose of ensuring Coloradans' access to workforce development services and to Colorado's workforce development centers. The act appropriates $14,003,304 to the department of labor and employment from the workforce development fund for use by the division for workforce center program costs related to the enterprise. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 15, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals and reenacts the statutory article creating the office of administrative services for independent agencies (office) to restructure the office and make administrative changes to ensure enhanced office efficiency and success. The act requires the office to enter into a memorandum or understanding with the judicial department establishing requirements related to establishing fiscal rules and ongoing access to, or use of, judicial department systems, contracts, or resources for the included agencies. The act requires the memorandum of understanding to include information regarding any additional costs that may be incurred by the judicial department in providing services to the included agencies and requires the office to pay for any additional costs. The act requires the office to submit a single, consolidated budget request on behalf of the included agencies that includes any necessary budget request amendments provided by the included agencies. The act requires the office to be governed by an advisory board that is responsible for hiring and removing the office director and securing a biannual review of the functions and performance of the office and the office director. For fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26, the act requires the office director to establish a workload capacity and staff resource plan for the office and prepare necessary budget requests to fund the workload capacity and staff resource plan. The act requires the office director to work in partnership with the judicial department to guide and support the transition of services provided to the included agencies by the judicial department until the transition to the office is completed. On or before June 30, 2025, the act requires the office director to enter into memorandums of understanding with each included agency to establish a timeline for the provision of services and expectations for discrete support services. The act requires the office director to notify the revisor of statutes in the office of legislative legal services in writing once the transition of services is complete. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 31, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act relocates the just transition office (office) from the division of employment and training in the department of labor and employment to the office of the executive director of the department of labor and employment. The act changes the deadline for the office to expend money in the just transition cash fund (fund) from state fiscal year 2023-24 to state fiscal year 2029-30. The act modifies the types of programs that the office supports using money from the fund. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 31, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the division of animal welfare (division) within the department of agriculture. The division is created to promote domestic animal welfare, including providing education and outreach, creating voluntary programs, and awarding grants. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)