The act requires a health insurance carrier that provides prescription drug benefits to require that:The utilization review requirements, including prior authorization and step therapy, for a non-opioid drug prescribed and approved by the federal food and drug administration (FDA) for the treatment or management of chronic or acute pain (non-opioid pain management drug) are no more restrictive than the least restrictive utilization review requirements for opioid drugs prescribed for the treatment or management of chronic or acute pain; andThe cost-sharing, copayment, or deductible for a non-opioid pain management drug is not greater than the cost-sharing, copayment, or deductible for an opioid drug prescribed for the treatment or management of chronic or acute pain. The act requires each individual and small group health benefit plan issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, and each large employer health benefit plan issued or renewed on and after January 1, 2028, to ensure there is at least one non-opioid pain management drug available as a clinically appropriate alternative for an opioid pain management drug. If the division of insurance determines that coverage for a non-opioid pain management drug offered by individual and small group health benefit plans requires state defrayal of the cost of coverage, the requirement to make a non-opioid pain management drug available is inoperative. The state employee health benefit plan is excluded from the requirements of the act. The act appropriates $15,415 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Sponsored bills
For purposes of the 'Victim Rights Act', the act prohibits a defendant or alleged offender in the underlying case from being the 'lawful representative' of a victim or the victim's designee if the victim is a child or an at-risk adult. The act creates new rights for a victim under the 'Victim Rights Act', including the right to:Be notified by the district attorney if the district attorney receives a notice that a crime laboratory employee engaged in a wrongful action that includes a crime against the victim and a notice that an evidentiary hearing on post-conviction petition for relief is held;Request to be referred to by an abbreviation, pseudonym, initials, or another preferred name during hearings; andBe heard at a restitution assessment hearing.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
To improve the clarity and certainty of the statutes, the bill amends, repeals, and reconstructs various statutory provisions of law that are obsolete, imperfect, or inoperative. The specific reasons for each amendment or repeal are set forth in the appendix to the bill. The amendments made by the bill are not intended to change the meaning or intent of the statutes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act addresses security measures for the legislative department and judicial department of state government, for the governor, and for certain elected officials and candidates for elected office. Sections 1 through 4 and sections 6 and 7 of the act create the position of the administrator of legislative safety for the general assembly, address the authority of the Colorado state patrol (state patrol) in the state capitol buildings complex (capitol complex), and change the current position of chief security officer to the sergeant at arms. Specifically, section 1 authorizes the executive committee of the legislative council (executive committee) to, subject to available appropriations, appoint an administrator of legislative safety to serve as the primary point of contact for members of the general assembly on all matters relating to their personal safety and security and to coordinate, in collaboration with the Colorado state patrol, security and protection for members of the general assembly, employees of the general assembly, and other individuals specified by the executive committee (covered individuals). The administrator of legislative safety performs their duties under the direction and supervision of the executive committee and, with approval of the executive committee, may appoint additional personnel as necessary to perform the functions assigned to the administrator of legislative safety. In fulfilling their duties, the administrator of legislative safety shall coordinate with the Colorado state patrol and may coordinate with local law enforcement agencies and with the sergeants at arms of each house of the general assembly. Sections 2 and 3 change the title of the chief security officer, which each house of the general assembly is authorized to appoint, to the sergeants at arms. Section 2 specifies that each house that appoints sergeants at arms may consult with the administrator of legislative safety in connection with the supervision of the sergeants at arms. Section 4 specifies that the administrator of legislative safety is a peace officer whose authority includes enforcing all laws of the state and who may be certified by the P.O.S.T. board. Section 5 specifies that the Colorado state patrol's jurisdiction includes law enforcement services for the governor's mansion. Existing law requires the state patrol to provide protection for members of the general assembly when they are present in the capitol complex and, under certain circumstances, when they attend functions held elsewhere in the state. Section 6 includes other covered individuals under the state patrol's protection when they are present in the capitol complex. In addition, section 6 clarifies that the state patrol's jurisdiction includes law enforcement services for the capitol complex and requires the state patrol to coordinate its law enforcement efforts in the capitol complex with the administrator of legislative safety. Existing law grants the city and county of Denver jurisdiction to enforce the laws of the state for the security of people and property in the capitol complex. Section 7 clarifies that this authority is in addition to the jurisdiction of the state patrol to enforce the laws of the state in the capitol complex. Sections 8 through 10 address various other security concerns for certain elected officials. All candidate committees, political committees, small donor committees, and political parties are required to register with the secretary of state (secretary) or municipal clerk, as applicable, before accepting or making any campaign contributions. Registration requires the submission of a statement listing, among other items, a street address for the principal place of operations of the committee or party. Section 8 specifies that the address may be a street or mailing address. The secretary is required to make all candidate disclosure statements filed with the secretary available to the public on the secretary's website. Section 9 requires the secretary to redact the candidate's address and other personal information before making a disclosure statement available on the secretary's website and allows the secretary to modify the disclosure form to eliminate the inclusion of personal information. Existing law requires specified elected and appointed state officials to file a financial disclosure statement with the secretary that includes, among other items, the legal description of any interest in real property with a market value that exceeds $5,000. Section 10 eliminates the requirement to include a legal description of the property and replaces it with a requirement to identify the city and county in which the property is located. Section 10 also requires the secretary to redact the address and other personal information of elected officials before posting the disclosure statement on the secretary's website and allows the secretary to modify the disclosure form to eliminate the inclusion of personal information. Section 11 requires a sheriff who provides security for a court to use the recommended standards developed by the judicial security task force created in the act to implement security measures for court facilities. The county sheriff shall, to the extent practicable, maintain one secure, single-point access to a court facility and use magnetometers when the court is in session. The county sheriff shall also verify that an individual who enters a courthouse with a firearm is not prohibited from carrying a firearm in a courthouse pursuant to existing law and maintain a log including specified information regarding each individual who enters a courthouse with a firearm; except that this verification and logging requirement does not apply to peace officers employed in the courthouse by the county sheriff. Sections 12 through 14 modify the assessment and collection of the court security surcharge, and sections 15 and 16 address other judicial security concerns. Under existing law, courts assess and collect a $5 court security surcharge on certain court filing fees ($5 surcharge). The money from the $5 surcharge is deposited in the court security cash fund, which is distributed to counties through grants made by the court security cash fund commission for the counties to use for purposes related to the security of facilities containing a state court or probation office. Section 12 ends the assessment and collection of the $5 surcharge on June 30, 2027, and transfers the balance of the court security cash fund on August 31, 2027, to the court security authority (authority), which is created in the act. Section 13 repeals the $5 surcharge, the court security cash fund, and court security cash fund commission on September 1, 2027. Section 14 creates the court security authority as a special purpose authority. Beginning on July 1, 2027, the authority imposes a $10 court security surcharge ($10 surcharge) on the same court filings on which the $5 surcharge was assessed and collected. The courts assess and collect the $10 surcharge and transmit the surcharge money to the authority and the authority is required to use the money from the surcharge to provide grants to counties for the same purposes for which grants from the $5 surcharge were made. The authority may also use money from the $10 surcharge to provide grants to the state court administrator's office for system-wide security needs. The act creates the court security authority board, which initially consists of the same members that comprised the court security cash fund commission and requires the board to award the grants based on specified criteria. Section 15 creates a judicial security task force in the judicial department to develop recommended standards for security at courthouses and other court and probation facilities. Existing law specifies that an individual commits retaliation against a judge if the individual makes a credible threat or commits an act of harassment, or an act of harm or injury upon a person or property as retaliation or retribution against a judge. Section 16 includes judicial employees in this law. Existing law allows specified individuals, defined as 'protected persons', to request that state or local government officials remove their personal information from records that are available on the internet. Under existing law, it is unlawful to post a protected person's personal information on the internet in certain circumstances. In addition to other modifications to this law, section 17 adds judicial employees, staff of the general assembly, and elected officials to the definition of 'protected person'. Section 17 also establishes civil remedies for a protected person recoverable from a person who is not a state or local government official and who has published the protected person's personal information if the person does not remove the personal information upon request. Section 18 prohibits a person from making the personal information of specified elected officials and an elected official's immediate family publicly available on the internet if the person knows or reasonably should know that doing so will pose an imminent and serious threat to the elected official or the elected official's immediate family. Section 18 also allows an elected official to file a request with a state or local government official to redact the elected official's personal information from records that the state or local government official makes available on the internet. Certain specified parties may access, in certain circumstances, a record that includes information otherwise subject to redaction pursuant to this requirement. Sections 19 through 25 repeal, from each applicable court filing fee, the $5 surcharge that is transmitted to the court security cash fund and implement, for each applicable court filing fee, the $10 surcharge that is transmitted to the authority.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the 'Colorado Artist Company Act', which authorizes a person in the state to create a limited liability company with a stated artistic mission (artist company), which artist company is subject to state law applicable to limited liability companies except where specified in the act. An artist company must state its artistic mission in its articles of organization or operating agreement and be formed and owned by one or more individuals that create works of authorship or artistic expression comprising written, oral, visual, graphic, literary, musical, audiovisual, digital, or performing art in any medium (artists). Artists must own not less than 51% of all voting securities of the artist company at all times (required ownership percentage). A limited liability company that meets the required ownership percentage may elect to become an artist company by amending its articles of organization or its operating agreement to state its artistic mission and by complying with certain other requirements. A person may form an artist company by filing with the Colorado secretary of state articles of organization. The articles of organization may specify certain ownership, governance, artistic work distribution, tax treatment, and dissolution structures. An artist company may accept capital in any form and its members and managers have certain duties specified in the artist company's articles of organization or operating agreement along with the duties imposed by state law applicable to limited liability companies. Members of an artist company may assign or exclusively license intellectual property to an artist company as an in-kind capital contribution. An artist company's articles of organization or operating agreement may require artist-members to assign or exclusively license to the artist company artistic work created during membership that relates to the artistic mission of the artist company. An artist company's articles of organization or operating agreement may provide for certain procedures and terms regarding the admission and departure of members. An artist company may elect at formation, or at the time of election to become an artist company, to be a public benefit artist company (public benefit artist company) by stating in its articles of organization or operating agreement, if any, that it is a public benefit artist company and setting forth in its articles of organization or operating agreement, if any, one or more specific public benefits to be promoted by the artist company. The members and managers of a public benefit artist company are subject to certain additional duties. A public benefit artist company must provide its members and donors with an annual statement specifying certain information as to the public benefits and artistic mission of the public benefit artist company. Upon the dissolution of an artist company or public benefit artist company, artistic work assigned or licensed by artist-members to the artist company or created by artist-members of the artist company reverts to the artist-member, except as specified in the articles of organization or operating agreement and subject to certain security interests, licenses, and obligations. After giving effect to artistic work reversionary rights, the assets of the artist company must be distributed in accordance with the articles of organization or operating agreement or, if not specified in the articles of organization or operating agreement, pro rata to members based on ownership percentages. $93,878 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state. To implement this act, the department of state may use the appropriation as follows:$5,478 for use by the business and licensing division for personal services; and$88,400 for use by the information technology division for personal services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act defines 'first responder' to include:A peace officer;A firefighter;A volunteer firefighter;An emergency medical service provider; orA mental health professional who responds in a professional capacity to a justifiable medical emergency. Existing law requires the emergency medical and trauma services advisory council (council) to review and approve new rules and modifications to rules prior to the adoption of such rules or modifications by the state board of health. The act requires the council to make recommendations for, instead of approve, rules and modifications to rules concerning emergency medical and trauma services prior to the adoption of such rules or modifications by the state board of health. Beginning January 1, 2027, the act requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to reimburse the following entities under the 'Colorado Medical Assistance Act':An ambulance service for ground transportation by an ambulance or other vehicle to a hospital or other destination as deemed appropriate by the ambulance service's medical director;An ambulance service for treatment on the scene of a medical emergency, which treatment does not result in ground transportation; andA qualified provider, an ambulance service, or an agency for evaluation by telemedicine of a person being treated by an ambulance service or an agency for the purpose of preventing the need to transport the person to a hospital.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the availability of the conservation easement tax credit from income tax year 2031 through income tax year 2036. The act also prohibits the division of conservation from issuing any additional credit certificates or amending previously issued credit certificates as a result of the additional authority granted by the act for a donation made prior to the effective date of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Beginning July 1, 2026, act requires the county treasurer to provide notice of delinquent property taxes on a mobile home written in English and Spanish, and to include a statement explaining how and where a mobile home owner may obtain language translation or interpretation services. The county treasurer is required to provide the multilingual notice by mail and by personal service to the mobile home owner at the mobile home. The act modifies the process for collection of delinquent property taxes on a mobile home by allowing a county treasurer, at their discretion, to sell a tax lien on a mobile home, strike off a tax lien to the county, or determine the taxes to be uncollectible and recommend cancellation to the board of county commissioners. A tax lien must be sold in accordance with the provisions for tax lien sales on real property. The act extends the redemption period for mobile home owners whose property is subject to a tax lien to any time within 3 years from the date of the tax lien sale, or at any time before the execution of a certificate of ownership to the mobile home. Like a real property owner, an individual who both owns a mobile home and is a person with a legal disability at the time a certificate of ownership to the mobile home is issued is also allowed an extended redemption period of up to 9 years from the issuance of a certificate of ownership to their mobile home. If the mobile home owner has not exercised the right of redemption at least 3 years from the date of the tax lien sale, the purchaser or lawful holder of the certificate of purchase may apply for public auction of a certificate of option for treasurer's certificate of ownership to the mobile home, using the same procedures used for issuance of a treasurer's deed to real property. Any surplus resulting from the public auction that is deemed overbid proceeds must be disbursed to the persons entitled to receive them by law. The act specifies that if a mobile home that is subject to a tax lien or stricken off to the county is located on real property that is not owned by the mobile home owner, then the underlying landowner has a right of first refusal to pay the delinquent taxes owed on the mobile home and all other fees, costs, and expenses incurred by the county treasurer in connection with the tax lien sale process and obtain a certificate of purchase for a tax lien on the mobile home; except that an owner of a mobile home park does not have a right of first refusal unless the owner is an association of mobile home owners. If an underlying landowner exercises this right, no tax lien will be sold or stricken off to the county. When a tax lien is stricken off to the county under certain circumstances, the act allows the most recent mobile home owner to redeem the mobile home after 1 year but no later than 3 years from the date of strike off by paying the amount of delinquent taxes plus interest, fees, and costs. If a mobile home is not redeemed, and after notice to the last-known owner and any lienholder of record, the treasurer or county assessor may declare the mobile home abandoned, remove the mobile home from the county tax roll, and authorize the removal and disposal of the mobile home; except that, if an occupant of a mobile home establishes proof of ownership, the most recent mobile home owner has only a 1 year redemption period, after which the treasurer may issue the occupant a certificate of ownership for the mobile home.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the repeal date of the open educational resources grant program and the Colorado open educational resources council (council) to November 1, 2031. The act increases representation from public institutions of higher education on the council from 12 to 15 members. The act extends the requirement for the department of higher education (department) to prepare and submit an annual report regarding open educational resources to December 31, 2031. The act appropriates $275,000 to the department for use by the Colorado commission on higher education and higher education special purpose programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
If the executive director of the department of health care policy and financing (state department) receives gifts, grants, and donations for the purpose of providing support for the development and funding of an enhanced reimbursement model for nursing facilities that serve residents with behavioral health needs, the state department is required to use the gifts, grants, and donations for that purpose. Receiving gifts, grants, and donations for this purpose does not commit the state to an expenditure of general fund money, and the general assembly shall not reduce any appropriation made to the state department for the same purpose. If requested by the joint budget committee, the state department is required to report the state department's use of the gift, grants, and donations received.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)