Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet

The act specifies that an autopsy report prepared in connection with the death of a minor is confidential and may be disclosed by the county coroner to another person or entity only in accordance with certain exceptions. The report is not a public record for purposes of the Colorado open records act. Under the act, upon the request of an entity or individual entitled to the report, the coroner or the coroner's designee shall provide a copy of the autopsy report prepared in connection with the death of a minor to: A parent or legal guardian of the deceased; A law enforcement or criminal justice agency that is investigating the death or prosecuting a criminal violation arising out of the death; A requesting party in a civil case; Counsel for the defendant or the respondent for discovery purposes in a criminal case only if discovery has not otherwise been provided and in accordance with any protective order; A state, local, or regional child fatality prevention review team; The Colorado department of public health and environment as necessary for the collection of data in accordance with the Colorado violent death reporting system and the Colorado unintentional drug overdose reporting system; The Colorado child fatality review team; A county department of human or social services; The division of youth services in the Colorado department of human services; A health-care facility where the deceased had received treatment; A community clinic or a treating hospital for inclusion within the medical records of the deceased; An eye bank, organ procurement organization, or tissue bank; A local or regional domestic violence fatality review team; The Colorado department of human services in connection with the investigation of a fatality that has occurred within any facility licensed under the "Child Care Licensing Act"; The office of the child protection ombudsman; A health-care provider that had previously established a patient-provider relationship with the deceased; The Colorado maternal mortality review committee for the purpose of conducting public health death reviews of deceased individuals who are pregnant or within one year postpartum; The Colorado department of public health and environment and county public health agencies for the purpose of data collection related to the department's authority to investigate and control the causes of epidemic and communicable diseases and related board of health rules; The Colorado department of public health and environment's health facility and emergency medical services division for the purpose of health facilities and emergency medical services investigations; or The public if the death occurs while the minor is in the custody or under the supervision of the state or a local government. Upon written request by any individual, the coroner shall not release a copy of the autopsy report and instead shall release the cause, time, place, and manner of the minor's death, and the name, age, gender, and race or ethnicity of the deceased minor. This information must be released within 3 days of the request or 3 days of receiving the information, whichever is later. Under the act, any person may petition a district court to allow the person access to an autopsy report prepared in connection with the death of a minor. The petitioner shall serve process on the coroner and a members of the deceased minor's next of kin pursuant to the Colorado rules of civil procedure. The district court shall hold a hearing including the petitioner, coroner, and a member of the deceased minor's next of kin, if available. The hearing must be conducted under the simplified process in the Colorado rules of civil procedure. The district court shall provide access if: Public disclosure of the report substantially outweighs the harm to the privacy interests of the deceased and members of the family of the deceased; and The information sought by the petitioner is not otherwise publicly available. A coroner is required to provide the name of the deceased minor and the name and address of a member of the deceased minor's next of kin to the district court, which shall disclose that information to the petitioner under a protective order for the purpose of service of process. APPROVED by Governor May 22, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act enacts the "Physician Assistant Licensure Compact" (compact). The compact is designed to enable a physician assistant with a license in a state that has signed the compact (participating state) to more easily become authorized to practice in any other participating state. Participating states and physician assistants must meet specific conditions enumerated in the compact to participate in the compact. The compact allows only the participating state where a physician assistant is licensed to discipline the physician assistant, but allows a participating state where the physician assistant is practicing, but is not licensed, to revoke the physician assistant's authority to practice in that state. The act authorizes the Colorado medical board (board) to promulgate rules and to facilitate Colorado's participation in the compact, including notifying the Compact Commission (commission) established by the compact of any adverse action taken by the board against a physician assistant licensed in Colorado or practicing in Colorado under the compact. The commission includes a delegate from each participating state and has the powers and duties set forth in the act. The compact becomes effective on the date the compact is enacted in the seventh participating state. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Units that combust municipal solid waste (combustion units) that are in existence in the state on or before July 1, 2024, are eligible, pursuant to section 2 of the act, for a state incentive to conduct technological upgrades. Section 2 clarifies that, on and after January 1, 2025, combustion and combustion units do not meet certain environmental standards established by state law or rules. In addition, section 2 prohibits combustion units that target plastic as a feedstock from eligibility for any state incentives not granted or awarded, or that apply to income tax years, before January 1, 2025, with certain exceptions. Sections 3 and 4 clarify that a solid waste-to-energy incineration system includes pyrolysis and gasification processes. Section 5 changes current law to specify that synthetic gas produced by the pyrolysis of waste materials is not an eligible energy resource for the purpose of certain state-level renewable energy standards. Section 6 changes current law to specify that methane derived from the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste is not recovered methane that is a clean heat resource for the purpose of clean heat plans. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For the treatment of cancer or a life-threatening disease or for the treatment of a symptom, complication, or consequence of cancer or a life-threatening disease, the act prohibits a carrier, with respect to a health benefit plan issued on or after January 1, 2025, from: Requiring a provider-administered drug to be dispensed only by specific network pharmacies; If a provider-administered drug is otherwise covered by the carrier for the covered person, limiting or excluding coverage for the drug based on the covered person's choice of participating provider; Requiring a participating provider to bill for or be reimbursed for the delivery and administration of a provider-administered drug under the pharmacy benefit instead of the medical benefit without informed, written consent of the covered person and written attestation by the covered person's participating provider that a delay in the drug's administration will not place the covered person at an increased health risk; or Requiring a covered person to pay additional fees, copayments, or coinsurance based on the covered person's choice of pharmacy. The act also requires the reimbursement rate for covered provider-administered drugs to be at the carrier's in-network negotiated rate for participating providers. The act appropriates $7,333 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance from the division of insurance cash fund to implement the act. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under the "Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act" (CCIOA), every common interest community must be formed by the execution and recording of a declaration. The CCIOA does not state who is required to execute the declaration. The act clarifies that: A declaration that forms a common interest community must be executed by or with the express written authorization of the owner or owners of the real estate that is to be included in the common interest community; and Any amendment to a declaration that adds real estate to a common interest community must be executed by or with the express written authorization of the owner or owners of the real estate to be added. APPROVED by Governor May 15, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals the requirement for a defendant to pay to the Colorado bureau of investigation (bureau) any costs related to sealing the defendant's criminal justice records in the bureau's custody. The act requires the bureau to, on or before June 30, 2026, waive the costs for a person whose records are in the bureau's custody but are not yet sealed. The act reduces a cash fund appropriation made in the general appropriation act for the 2024-25 state fiscal year to the department of public safety (department) for the bureau's biometric identification and records unit by $159,220. The act appropriates $441,529 to the department for the bureau's biometric identification and records unit. APPROVED by Governor May 15, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Independent contractors (contractors) were previously ineligible for the federal public service loan forgiveness program (program), which forgives remaining federal student loan liability for government and nonprofit full-time employees after 10 years of qualifying service, but in 2023 the federal government made contractors who perform work for a government agency eligible for the program if the work cannot be performed by a government employee. Three independent judicial agencies, the office of the alternative defense counsel, the office of the child's representative, and the office of respondent parents' counsel (agencies) primarily use contractors to provide legal representation on behalf of the agencies because providing the same services through state employees would create ethical conflicts. To enable these contractors to qualify for the program if they otherwise meet program requirements, the act: Clarifies that state employees cannot provide the legal services that the independent contractors provide; Allows the agencies to certify that a contractor appears to be eligible for the program; and Because some contractors provide or have provided legal services on behalf of more than one of the agencies, authorizes the agencies to share contractor information to the extent necessary to certify a contractor's eligibility for the program. APPROVED by Governor May 15, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 15, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill requires the division of labor standards and statistics in the department of labor and employment to create and make available to employers suicide prevention education posters and notices. Starting July 1, 2025, employers are required to display the suicide prevention education posters in their workplaces and certain employers are required to include the suicide prevention education notices in documents provided to employees. The office of suicide prevention within the department of public health and environment must create a website to provide information about workplace suicide prevention. The bill requires the suicide prevention education posters to include a quick response (QR) code and a website link to connect to the website.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

No later than July 1, 2025, the bill requires the office of state public defender to implement workload standards for determining when a deputy public defender's workload is excessive pursuant to the federal and state constitutions and the Colorado rules of professional conduct. The bill requires the office of state public defender to consult with employees of the office of state public defender in creating the standards.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires all private insurance companies to provide coverage for the treatment of the chronic disease of obesity and the treatment of pre-diabetes, including coverage for intensive behavioral or lifestyle therapy, bariatric surgery, and FDA-approved anti-obesity medication. No later than January 2025 The bill requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to seek federal authorization to provide treatment for the chronic disease of obesity and the treatment of pre-diabetes. Within existing appropriations and upon receiving federal authorization, the department is required to notify medicaid members in writing about the availability of the treatment. (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.)