The bill requires the department of health care policy and financing, with assistance from the department of human services' office of behavioral health, to prepare a written report for committees of the general assembly relating to residential and inpatient substance use disorder treatment options under the medicaid program, the cost of treatment, and the potential impact on other state and county programs and services if residential and inpatient substance use disorder treatment options were effective. The departments' report shall also include recommendations relating to the implementation of residential and inpatient substance use disorder treatment, better coordination of substance use disorder services among state agencies, and necessary changes to state law to implement treatment. The bill authorizes the department of health care policy and financing to access the prescription drug use monitoring program data to identify clients who may be at-risk of opioid overdose or who may benefit from increased care coordination. The bill makes an appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
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The bill sets the statewide base per pupil funding amount for the 2017-18 budget year at $6,546.20, which is an inflationary increase of 2.8%, and establishes the minimum amount of total program funding for the 2017-18 budget year. The bill requires that the sum of the total program funding for all schools for the 2017-18 budget year is not less than $6,634,600,182. The bill authorizes the state board to approve supplemental assistance from the contingency reserve fund for a district that experiences an unusual financial burden that results from implementing a new program or school or expanding a program in the district that results in a 20% or greater increase in the district's pupil enrollment from the pupil enrollment used to calculate the district's total program funding for the applicable budget year. The district must reimburse the contingency reserve fund at the time funding is adjusted for actual pupil enrollment for the applicable budget year. The bill changes the terminology used in the school finance act to describe the reduction in the state's share of total program funding from the phrase 'negative factor' to 'budget adjustment'. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill establishes the center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies at the university of Colorado health sciences center. The bill makes an appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill requires the state treasurer to deposit $1 million of the proceeds from the tax on insurance policy premiums in the local firefighter safety and disease prevention fund for each of the 3 fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2017. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill creates the innovative teacher preparation program (program) in the department of education (department). In implementing the program, the department will create a system to collect data concerning teacher preparation programs and create multiple pilot programs to support and investigate innovative approaches to teacher preparation and teacher induction, identify effective strategies, and share best practices among local education providers, alternative teacher programs, and institutions of higher education. The commissioner of education will convene a volunteer advisory committee that includes representatives from institutions of higher education, alternative teacher programs, and local education providers to assist the department in implementing the program. The department will share the data it collects and best practices it identifies through the program with local education providers, alternative teacher programs, and institutions of higher education. Beginning in January 2018, the department will prepare an annual report concerning implementation of the program, including reporting on the effectiveness of the pilot programs. The department must submit the report to the state board of education, the Colorado commission on higher education, the executive director of the department of higher education, the governor's office, and the education committees of the general assembly. The program will be funded by gifts, grants, and donations as well as any money the general assembly may appropriate to the program, which may include an appropriation from the state education fund. A local education provider, alternative teacher program, or institution of higher education may also make in-kind contributions for the operation of the pilot programs. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
For purposes of calculating a taxpayer's Colorado taxable income, current state law begins from a base of the taxpayer's federal taxable income and provides for various modifications to that base, including subtractions from federal taxable income (state income tax deductions) in amounts equal to the full amounts of both contributions made by a taxpayer to the qualified state tuition program established by collegeinvest and distributions of investment earnings taken from the plan. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2018, section 2 of the bill modifies these state income tax deductions by making the percentages of the amounts of contributions or distributions allowed to be subtracted from a taxpayer's taxable income dependent upon the amount of the taxpayer's federal adjusted gross income as follows: 200% of the amounts of contributions or distributions for a taxpayer whose federal adjusted gross income is less than $100,000; 100% of the amounts of contributions or distributions for a taxpayer whose federal adjusted gross income is $100,000 or more but less than $200,000; 50% of the amounts of contributions or distributions for a taxpayer whose federal adjusted gross income is $200,000 or more but less than $500,000; and 25% of the amounts of contributions or distributions for a taxpayer whose federal adjusted gross income is $500,000 or more. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2018, section 3 allows refundable state income tax credits for teaching or student teaching in rural schools as follows: A teacher who has graduated from an educator preparation program approved by the Colorado commission on higher education may claim a credit, in a specified amount that increases each year, for each of the first 5 years that the teacher teaches in one or more rural schools; and A student teacher who is a student in an educator preparation program approved by the Colorado commission on higher education and has worked as a student teacher in one or more rural schools for at least a specified number of days during an academic year may claim a one-time credit up to a specified maximum amount against tuition and fees paid for the educator preparation program. To ensure that the credits are allowed only to qualified rural teachers and student teachers who are eligible for the credits, the department of education must coordinate with and annually submit a list of such teachers and student teachers to the department of revenue. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill: Allows a pharmacist to dispense a schedule II opioid in a lesser amount than the prescribed amount if certain circumstances are met; Limits the time that the remaining portions of a partially filled prescription for a schedule II opioid drug may be filled; and Directs a pharmacist partially filling a prescription for a schedule II opioid to retain the original prescription at the pharmacy, report the partial fill to the prescription drug monitoring program, and notify the prescribing health care provider that the prescription was partially filled.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill allows an employer to participate in a voluntary firefighter cancer benefits program, as a multiple employer health trust to provide benefits to firefighters by paying contributions into the established trust. The bill requires the trust to provide benefits to each firefighter based on the cancer diagnosis and award level. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill establishes the Colorado secure savings plan (plan), which is a retirement savings plan for private-sector employees in the form of an automatic enrollment payroll deduction individual retirement account. Employers with a specified number of employees in the state are required to participate in the plan, but any employer may choose to participate in the plan. The Colorado secure savings plan board of trustees (board) is created and consists of the state controller, the director of the governor's office of state planning and budgeting, and 7 additional trustees with certain experience who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. The trustees on the board have a fiduciary duty to the plan's enrollees and beneficiaries and are required to: Establish investment options that offer employees returns on contributions without incurring debt or liabilities to the state; Establish the process for allocating investment earnings and losses to individual plan accounts on a pro rata basis; Make and enter into contracts and hire staff as necessary for the administration of the plan; Conduct a periodic review of the performance of any investment vendors; Cause money in the Colorado secure savings plan fund (fund) to be invested with the intent to achieve cost savings through efficiencies and economies of scale; Establish the process for an enrollee to contribute a portion of his or her wages to the plan for automatic deposit and establish the process by which the participating employer forwards those contributions to the plan; Establish the process for enrollment in the plan including the process by which an employee can opt not to participate in the plan; Accept gifts, grants, and donations from specified entities and pursue options for bank loans or a line of credit to cover the start-up costs of the plan; Procure, as needed, insurance against loss in connection with the property, assets, or activities of the plan; Allocate administrative fees to individual retirement accounts in the plan on a pro rata basis; Set minimum and maximum contribution levels; Facilitate education and outreach to employers and employees; Ensure that the plan complies with all applicable state and federal laws; Deposit all gifts, grants, donations, fees, and earnings from investment of moneys in the fund into the fund and pay the administrative costs and expenses for the creation, management, and operation of the plan from moneys in the fund; Determine any nominal and reasonable assistance that may be provided to businesses to offset the initial costs of enrolling employees in the plan and complying with audits and plan implementation; Prepare or cause to be prepared certain annual audits and annual reports regarding the plan; Develop a process to ensure that employers are in compliance with the requirements of the plan and develop a penalty structure for employers who fail, without reasonable cause, to enroll employees in the plan; Conduct or cause to be conducted a financial feasibility study to ensure that the plan will be self-sustaining; and Conduct an analysis of relevant consumer protections available under federal law and make recommendations to the general assembly regarding additional necessary consumer protections that should be included in legislation implementing the plan. The bill specifies the process by which the board is required to engage an investment manager to invest the assets of the plan and specifies the investment options that the board is required to create. The bill creates the fund as a trust outside of the state treasury, specifies that the fund will include the individual retirement accounts of enrollees in the plan, and allows the board to use a certain percentage of money in the fund for the administrative expenses of the plan. The money in the fund is not property of the state and cannot be commingled with state money. The board must design and disseminate employer and employee information packets regarding the plan and the options for employee participation in the plan to all employers that participate in the plan. If, based on the required financial feasibility study, the board determines that the plan will be self-sustaining and would promote greater retirement savings for private-sector employees, the board must recommend to the general assembly that the plan be implemented. The board may not implement the plan unless the general assembly, acting by bill, directs the board to implement the plan. The bill dictates the timing for the board to implement the plan, if directed to do so by the general assembly, and a time frame for employers to establish a system by which enrollees in the plan can remit payroll deduction contributions to the plan. Employers must automatically enroll employees in the plan unless an employee has opted out of participation in the plan. Enrollees may select an investment option and contribution level or use the default investment option and contribution amount established by the board. The bill specifies that the state and employers do not have any duty or liability to any party for the payments of any retirement savings benefits accrued by any individual through the plan. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)