Sen. Rachel Zenzinger

Motor vehicle registration - license plates - women veterans - appropriation. The act creates a license plate to honor women veterans of the United States armed forces. To be issued the plate, an applicant must pay 2 one-time $25 fees. To implement the act, $14,771 is appropriated to the department of revenue from the license plate cash fund and the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Property tax and rent assistance grant - heat assistance grant - expansion - increase. A low-income senior or individual with a disability is currently eligible for 2 types of annual state assistance grants administered by the department of revenue related to his or her property: A grant for their property taxes or rent paid, with the latter being deemed a tax-equivalent payment (property tax and rent assistance grant), and a grant for heat or fuel expenses (heat assistance grant). Together these are commonly known as the "PTC" rebate. The act expands the property tax and rent assistance grant by repealing the requirement that rent must be paid to a landlord that pays property tax. For both types of grants allowed under the PTC rebate program, the act increases the: Maximum grant amounts; Phase-out amounts, which are the income levels at which a person's maximum grant begins to decrease; and Flat grant amounts, which are the minimum grant amounts assuming that the actual expenses exceed them. All of these amounts will also continue to be adjusted for inflation in the future. Obsolete provisions relating to grants claimed for past years are repealed and other provisions relating to grants prior to 2019 are repealed after they become obsolete in the future. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Colorado state university global campus - national guard tuition assistance. The act adds Colorado state university - global campus to the list of designated institutions of higher education for purposes of tuition assistance for members of the National Guard.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Self-contained breathing apparatus - testing and certification - administration by department of public safety - rule-making authority - appropriation. Currently, local fire departments and other users of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) rely on certification under standards promulgated by the United States department of transportation (DOT) or the national institute for occupational safety and health (NIOSH) for quality control of pressure vessels. These certifications are considered valid through the vessel's recommended service life, but that service life is finite. Section 1 of the act declares that, with the emergence of new technology to test the continuing safety of vessels that are at the end of their initial recommended service life, vessels that remain safe can and should be recertified for an additional period rather than discarded, resulting in a saving of tax dollars for local governments. Sections 2 and 3 give the director of the division of fire prevention and control in the department of public safety the authority to inspect SCBA equipment and, if necessary, to write rules governing the inspection and certification of pressure vessels. Any such rules must incorporate or recognize current DOT or NIOSH standards for certification and recertification with regard to any technology that is accepted by those federal agencies. $40,291 is appropriated to the department of public safety for use by the division of fire prevention and control to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Income tax - affordable housing tax credit - increase in aggregate amount of tax credits that may be allocated annually. Currently, under the affordable housing tax credit, during each calendar year of the period beginning in 2015 and ending in 2024 the Colorado housing and finance authority (CHFA) may allocate tax credits in an aggregate amount up to $5 million annually. The act increases the annual aggregate cap to $10 million for the years beginning on January 1, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2024.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Dental program for seniors - review - maximum reimbursement rates. The act adds to the duties of the department of health care policy and financing (department) under the Colorado dental health care program for low-income seniors (program) to review the operation and effectiveness of the program in the next annual report. Qualified grantees under the program and the department shall report recommendations concerning the operations and effectiveness of the program. Under current law, the senior dental advisory committee recommends to the medical services board the maximum reimbursement rate for dental procedures under the Colorado dental health care program for low-income seniors that cannot be less than the reimbursement rate previously adopted by the state board of health for the program. The act changes the maximum reimbursement rate that the committee may recommend to not less than the medicaid fee-for-service rate. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

In 2013, the general assembly created a child tax credit against state income taxes for a resident individual. But the credit, which is a percentage of the federal child tax credit based on the taxpayer's income, is only allowed after the United States congress enacts a version of the "Marketplace Fairness Act". The bill repeals the contingent start of the tax credit and instead allows the credit to be claimed for any income tax year beginning with the 2019 income tax year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

County, municipal, and political subdivision officers' and employees' retirement systems - employer withdrawal from system - current employees who are peace officers. For a local government that has adopted a plan or system of retirement benefits for its elected or appointed officers and for its employees and that maintains an association for the purchase, establishment, or procurement of a retirement plan or system (association), a new mechanism for certain employers to withdraw from its participation in the association is created. The board of county commissioners may, after an association has been provided an opportunity to present information to the board of county commissioners regarding the advantages or disadvantages of withdrawal from the association, initiate the withdrawal of current employees who are peace officers from its participation in and contributions to a defined contribution plan offered by an association for the purpose of joining a retirement plan offered by the fire and police pension association. For such a withdrawal, the approval requirement to withdraw is 55% of all current employees who are peace officers proposed to be withdrawn from participation in a defined contribution plan offered by the association. If the withdrawal from the defined contribution plan offered by an association is approved, a current employee who is a peace officer may elect to remain an active member of the defined contribution plan. A current employee who is peace officer is required to notify the association and the board of county commissioners whether he or she will remain in the defined contribution plan or become part of the defined benefit plan administered by the fire and police pension association. If a current employee who is a peace officer does not provide such notice, the current employee will remain in the defined contribution plan. A peace officer who is hired on or after the effective date of the retirement plan offered by the fire and police pension association will be enrolled in the retirement plan offered by the fire and police pension association. A board of county commissioners may use the new withdrawal provision once every 4 years. A board of county commissioners may also use the existing withdrawal provision to initiate the withdrawal of current employees who are peace officers from its participation in a defined contribution plan. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Sex crimes - unlawful electronic sexual communication - minors. The act creates the crime of unlawful electronic sexual communication. The act prohibits a person from knowingly importuning, inviting, or enticing through communication via a computer network or system, telephone network, or data network or by a text message or instant message a person whom the actor knows or believes to be 15 years of age or older but less than18 years of age and at least 4 years younger than the actor, and the actor committing the offense is one in a position of trust with respect to that person, to: Expose or touch the person's own or another person's intimate parts while communicating with the actor via a computer network or system, telephone network, or data network or by a text message or instant message; or Observe the actor's intimate parts via a computer network or system, telephone network, or data network or by a text message or instant message. A violation of this provision is a class 6 felony. The act prohibits a person from knowingly communicating over a computer or computer network, telephone network, or data network or by a text message or instant message to a person the actor knows or believes to be 15 years of age or older but less than 18 years of age and at least 4 years younger than the actor and, in that communication or in any subsequent communication, describes explicit sexual conduct and, in connection with that description, makes a statement persuading or inviting the person to meet the actor for any purpose, and the actor committing the offense is one in a position of trust with respect to that person. A violation of this provision is a class 6 felony, but it is a class 5 felony if committed with the intent to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual exploitation or sexual contact. The act require a person who commits unlawful electronic sexual communication to undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender, and the defendant is subject to the sex offense against children procedures. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Signals, signs, and markings - inoperable or malfunctioning signals - allowing a driver of a motorcycle to proceed past a malfunctioning traffic control signal. Under current law, when a driver approaches an intersection and faces a traffic control signal that is inoperative or that remains on steady red or steady yellow during several time cycles, the rules controlling entrance to a through street or highway from a stop street or highway apply until a police officer assumes control of traffic or until normal operation is resumed. If a traffic control signal at a place other than an intersection ceases to operate or malfunctions, drivers may proceed through the inoperative or malfunctioning signal only with caution, as if the signal were one of flashing yellow. The act states that when a motorcycle driver approaches an intersection and faces a traffic control signal that does not recognize the presence of the motorcycle, the provisions controlling entrance to a through street or highway from a stop sign or highway apply until a police officer assumes control of traffic or the traffic signal resumes normal operation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More