The bill requires hospitals, other than critical access hospitals, that are exempt from state or local taxes to report information about the tax benefits they receive and the community benefits they provide. The bill creates a hospital community benefits advisory council within the department of health care policy and financing to accept and analyze hospital reports. The executive director of the department is required to adopt rules, in consultation with the advisory council, specifying when hospitals are to submit the reports, the form and manner of reporting the required data, the categories of community benefits they provide and the services that constitute a community benefit, and related matters. Upon analyzing hospital data, the advisory council is to: Make recommendations to the executive director regarding any modifications needed to the hospital reporting requirements as specified in rules; and Provide annual reports to specified legislative committees regarding the hospital data and any legislative recommendations. The advisory council and hospital reporting requirements are subject to sunset review in 2021, with repeal of the advisory council and hospital reporting requirements scheduled for September 1, 2022. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
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Current law prohibits a health care provider who receives reimbursement through the state's medical assistance program (medicaid) from making referrals for medical services to an entity owned or controlled by the provider or an immediate family member of the provider. The bill extends this prohibition to include all health care providers, not only those who receive reimbursement through medicaid. Sections 2 and 3 of the bill make the prohibited referrals a deceptive trade practice under the 'Colorado Consumer Protection Act', entitling any person harmed by the violator's conduct to damages, including treble damages in a case involving bad-faith conduct. In addition to these private remedies, the Colorado attorney general is authorized to seek injunctions and civil penalties, require reimbursement of charges collected, and refer violators for investigation of insurance fraud. Section 4 allows insurers to withhold payment of questionable charges pending investigation pursuant to the prompt payment statute.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More
Under existing law, each local education provider must administer the state assessments in math and English language arts to ninth-grade students and must administer a state-selected assessment to tenth-grade students. The bill repeals the requirement to administer the state assessment to ninth-grade students. Instead, local education providers must administer a state-selected ninth-grade assessment that is aligned with the ninth-grade content standards and the assessment administered to tenth-grade students. The department of education must ensure that, under the testing schedule, ninth-grade students take the state-selected assessment in the spring semester. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Under current law, the department of education (department) must provide technical assistance and support to school districts, the state charter school institute (institute), and public schools that are operating under an improvement plan, priority improvement plan, or turnaround plan. The bill specifies that the technical assistance may include consultation concerning strategies that address the quality and availability of early childhood education opportunities. Each school district and public school must conduct a needs assessment when preparing its performance plan. The bill specifically requires an early childhood learning needs assessment, in addition to the general needs assessment, for school districts that include a public school that is operating under a priority improvement or turnaround plan and enrolls students in kindergarten through grade three and for public schools that serve children in kindergarten through third grade. Current law specifies several actions that a public school may take if it is low performing and after it has been low performing for 5 years. The bill expands the list of actions for a public school that services children in kindergarten through third grade to include investing in research-based strategies to address any deficiencies identified in the early childhood learning needs assessment if those deficiencies are a direct cause of the public school's low performance and the public school has not previously implemented the strategies with success. A public school may implement these strategies only in combination with at least one of the other research-based strategies identified in law. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill requires health insurers that issue individual and group sickness and accident policies, contracts, or plans that are required under current law to provide contraception coverage to reimburse participating providers or in-network dispensing entities for: Dispensing prescription contraceptives in a 3-month supply for the first dispensing to the insured person and for a 12-month supply for subsequent dispensings of the same prescription contraceptive to the insured person; or Dispensing to the insured person a prescribed vaginal contraceptive ring intended to last for 3 months. 'Prescription contraceptive' is defined as a medically acceptable oral drug or contraceptive patch that is used to prevent pregnancy, that requires a prescription, and that is covered under the terms of the policy, contract, or plan issued by a health insurer subject to regulation by the state. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Under existing law, when a school district submits an innovation plan for a school or multiple schools of the school district, the state board of education (state board) must approve the plan and designate the school district as a district of innovation unless the plan is likely to decrease academic achievement or is not fiscally feasible. Once the plan is approved, the state board must grant any statutory waivers requested in the plan. The bill changes the standard for approving an innovation plan. The state board must approve an innovation plan if it finds that the plan is likely to enhance educational opportunity and quality within the school district, which is similar to the standard for approving statutory waivers under other circumstances, and the plan is fiscally feasible. Later, if the district of innovation seeks additional statutory waivers under the innovation plan, the state board must grant the waivers if it finds that the waivers are likely to enhance educational opportunity and quality within the school district and are fiscally feasible. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill amends the statutes relating to the early childhood leadership commission (commission) in the department of human services (department) as follows: Makes changes to the legislative declaration, mission, and duties of the commission to include consideration of families of pregnant women and children; Repeals the early childhood leadership commission fund. Changes the title of the person appointed to assist the department in fulfilling the duties of the commission from 'executive director' to 'director'; Removes the requirement that the director be compensated from money credited to the early childhood leadership commission fund, and instead requires that the director be compensated with federal funds or gift, grants, or donations, and not with money from the general fund; Permits the commission to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, and donations for the expenses of the commission; and Extends the repeal date and sunset review of the commission prior to its repeal from 2018 to 2023.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Beginning in the 2019-20 budget year, the bill requires school districts that collect revenue from mill levies in addition to the total program mill levy and that authorize an innovation school or a charter school to: adopt a plan for distributing the revenue to the schools of the school district for the benefit of the students enrolled in the school district; or distribute 95% of the per pupil amount of the revenue to the innovation schools and charter schools of the school district (per pupil distribution). The bill specifies the requirements for the plan and requirements that apply if the school district makes a per pupil distribution. In adopting a plan or making a per pupil distribution, the school district may distribute a portion of the revenue specifically for specified underserved populations. If a school district is distributing a portion of the mill levy revenue to the charter schools or innovation schools of the school district during the 2016-17 budget year, it must maintain the same distribution amount for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 budget years. By July 1, 2018, each school district that chooses to adopt a plan must post the plan on the school district's website. If the school district chooses to distribute 95% of the per pupil amount, the school district must post a notice of such intent by July 1, 2018, and, starting July 1, 2019, must post the amount received in revenue, the amount distributed for underserved populations, and the amount distributed to each charter school and each innovation school. Commencing July 1, 2018, the charter school institute and each school district, board of cooperative services, and charter school must post on its website a link to certain federal tax forms and schedules filed by the institute, school district, board of cooperative services, or charter school. Commencing July 1, 2017, each school district and each charter school must post a list of the waivers of state statute that it has received and, for each nonautomatic waiver, the plan for meeting the intent of the statute. The department of education, the state charter school institute, and a statewide association of charter schools must create a standardized description of each of the statutes for which the state board of education grants an automatic waiver and the rationale for granting the automatic waiver. Starting July 1, 2018, each charter school must post the description and rationale for each of the automatic waivers it is invoking. The bill creates the mill levy equalization fund, consisting of such money as the general assembly may appropriate to it, to provide additional funding for institute charter schools. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
For the 3 income tax years prior to January 1, 2017, a residential individual who has a federal adjusted gross income of $25,000 or less may claim a refundable state income tax credit for child care expenses. The tax credit is equal to 25% of eligible child care expenses that the individual incurred during the taxable year, up to a maximum amount of $500 for a single dependent or $1,000 for 2 or more dependents. The bill extends the tax credit for 3 more income tax years. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Under existing law, one of the performance indicators for determining the level of performance of a public high school, a school district, the state charter school institute (institute), or the state is the degree to which high school graduates demonstrate postsecondary and workforce readiness. The performance indicator is currently measured by the high school's graduation and dropout rates; the percentage of high school graduates who receive a diploma with a postsecondary and workforce readiness endorsement; students' scores on the state assessments administered in grades 9 through 11, including the achievement college entrance exam; and the percentages of students who graduate and matriculate in the next school year into a postsecondary education option. The bill adds as an additional measure for determining attainment of the postsecondary and workforce indicator the percentage of students enrolled in high school who demonstrate college and career readiness, based on the demonstration options available to the students enrolled in each public high school, at a level that indicates that the student is prepared to enroll in postsecondary general education core courses in reading, writing, and math without needing remediation. The bill defines the demonstration options as those adopted by the state board of education in adopting the high school graduation guidelines. The state board must set achievement standards for each demonstration option that indicate the minimum achievement level required for high school graduation and a higher achievement level that indicates that the student is prepared to enroll in postsecondary general education core courses in reading, writing, and math without needing remediation. The bill requires each school district and the institute to report to the department of education the graduation requirements that the school district, each charter high school of the school district, and each institute charter high school adopts, including the options available to high school students for demonstrating college and career readiness. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)