With regard to the involuntary discharge of residents from an assisted living residence (residence), the act: Requires a residence to provide written notice to the resident and other specified persons at least 30 days prior to the involuntary discharge, unless the reason for the involuntary discharge is because the resident needs a higher level of care than can be provided in the residence or the resident poses a harm to the resident or to other residents; If the involuntary discharge is due to a resident's nonpayment of monthly services and room and board, the residence may discharge the resident 31 days after the resident received the notice of discharge. Requires the residence to include certain information and documentation with the written notice; and Establishes a process for a resident or other specified persons to challenge an involuntary discharge, including the ability to file a grievance with the residence, a requirement that the residence respond to the grievance, the ability to appeal to the department of public health and environment (department), and the ability to request an administrative hearing, and establishes time frames for the grievance process. In addition, the act: Requires the state board of health (board) to promulgate rules establishing residence administrator standards that require all administrators, on and after January 1, 2024, to have at least one year of experience supervising the delivery of personal care services, or have equivalent experience or education, regardless of the date the administrator was hired, and establishing a fine for the residence if the residence's administrator or interim administrator fails to meet the standards. The act also authorizes the department to refuse to renew a license for a facility without a qualified administrator. Requires the residence owner or residence to obtain a check of the Colorado adult protective services data system for any employee providing direct care to residents; Requires the residence to comply with provisions concerning involuntary discharge of residents; and Establishes a range of fines for violations, including violations that result in harm or injury to residents. The department shall make recommendations to the state board concerning the range of fines after consulting with the statutory advisory committee relating to assisted living residences. The act removes the $2,000 annual cap on the amount of fines that may be imposed by the department as an intermediate restriction or condition on a residence licensee, replaces it with a fine not to exceed $10,000 per violation, and allows the department to impose a fine in excess of the $10,000 cap for an egregious violation that results in death or serious injury to a resident. The act also requires the department to impose a fine, in an amount determined by the department to deter further violations, for any violation resulting in actual harm or injury to a resident. The act also allows, but does not require, the department to suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a residence license if a resident is subject to mistreatment that causes injury to the resident, the residence's owner or administrator either directly caused the mistreatment or the mistreatment resulted from the administrator's failure to adequately train or supervise employees, and other measures to correct the violation have not been or are not expected to be effective. The act appropriates $74,508 from the general fund to the department to implement the act, and of that amount, $47,680 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services for the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act creates the Colorado wildlife safe passages fund (fund) within the state treasury and transfers $5,000,000 from the general fund to the fund. Money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department of transportation (department) to provide funding for projects that provide safe road crossings for connectivity of wildlife and reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, for the full range of wildlife crossing project needs, and for matching requirements for federal grant programs relating to wildlife crossing projects. The department must consult with the division of parks and wildlife and the Colorado wildlife and transportation alliance regarding the disbursement of money from the fund and must annually report on the disbursement of such money. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act expands the grant program administered by the Colorado bureau of investigation (CBI) that assists counties in implementing recovery programs for persons who wander (grant program). A recovery program for persons who wander (recovery program), currently known as a lifesaver program, is a program under which a participant has a device that may be used to assist in attempting to electronically locate the participant. The act expands the grant program to apply to recovery programs established or maintained by counties and municipalities (local governments) or local government designees. The act also removes a limit on the amount of any single grant and a nonbinding intent statement regarding the maximum amount of money that the general assembly should spend on the grant program. Further, the act allows the executive director of the department of public safety to award grants to assist in maintaining and implementing recovery programs. The act also requires the CBI to establish a website that lists those local governments and local government designees that have a recovery program, describes how to contact those local governments and local government designees, lists resources for caretakers of persons with medical conditions that cause wandering, provides procedures to follow when a participant of a recovery program is determined to be missing, describes how the technology used by the various local governments and local government designees for recovery programs works, and provides any other information the CBI may conclude is necessary to better explain and publicize recovery programs. $100,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the recovery program for persons who wander cash fund for use by the CBI for operating expenses related to the Colorado crime information center and related personal services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the regulation of conveyances and conveyance mechanics, contractors, and inspectors by the director of the division of oil and public safety within the department of labor and employment for 9 years, until September 1, 2031. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill creates the Colorado multidisciplinary geriatric provider pipeline program (program) in the university of Colorado Anschutz medical campus. The program coordinates and expands geriatric training opportunities for clinical graduate students enrolled in participating institutions of higher education who study in the health-care fields of medicine, medicine with a focus on training to be a physician assistant, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, psychology, and social work. The bill creates the geriatric training executive advisory committee (committee) to ensure that the training for the program is consistent and collaborative across the health-care fields of study. The committee is required to: Set the program's standards for training and delivery of medical care to the most frail and medically complex, costly, and compromised older Coloradans; Collaborate with participating institutions of higher education across Colorado to select clinical graduate students who have an interest in geriatric care to participate in the program; Analyze data collected by the program; Build relationships, collaborate, and create a multidisciplinary team that provides opportunities for clinicians to work together in teams to better understand the roles of each discipline and better place clinical graduate students for experiential training opportunities; and Coordinate with graduates of the program for opportunities to become trainers to future clinical graduate students once practicing in the graduate's field of study.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act creates the educator pay raise fund (fund), which consists of money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. The creation of the fund is conditioned on passage of a ballot measure by November 2027 that increases state tax revenue and requires the revenue to be deposited into the fund. The department of education (department) must distribute any money appropriated from the fund to assist school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative services in increasing teacher salaries and the hourly wage paid to other employees.The act creates the educator pay raise fund task force (task force) to recommend a process by which the department will disburse money from the fund to school districts and charter schools. The act specifies considerations that the process must address, including requiring that a school district or charter school must at least maintain the level of funding it provides for educator salaries and wages from revenue other than money received from the fund. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives must appoint the task force members who represent specific constituencies listed in the act. The task force must submit its recommendations to the education committees of the general assembly by January 15, 2022.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the department of education (department) administers the teaching and learning conditions survey (survey) every 2 years to assess teaching and learning conditions as predictors of student achievement, retention of teachers, and the relationship between teaching and learning conditions and school administration. The department administers the survey to all preschool, elementary, and secondary teachers in Colorado public schools. Under current law, an education support professional (ESP) is not permitted to take the survey. The act authorizes an ESP who provides direct instruction, supports licensed staff in an educational capacity, or supports instruction and the learning environment to take the survey.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $53,500 is appropriated to the department from the general fund to implement this act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act modifies the Colorado health service corps program administered by the primary care office (office) in the department of public health and environment, which program includes a loan repayment program, to allow geriatric advanced practice providers, defined as advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants with geriatric training or experience, to participate in the loan repayment program on the condition of committing to provide geriatric care to older adults in health professional shortage areas for a specified period.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $400,000 from the general fund to the Colorado health service corps fund for use by the office to help repay loans for geriatric advanced practice providers.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the diaper distribution program (program) in the department of human services (department) to provide diapering essentials to eligible individuals. The department shall solicit interest and cost distribution proposals from diaper distribution centers to administer the program for not more than twelve months after which the department shall commence a selection process that complies with the state procurement code. Diapering essentials must be made available to all parents, guardians, or family members of a child who wears diapers and resides in Colorado.The act allows the department to contract with a third party vendor to solicit, vet, award, and monitor food pantry assistance grants.The act appropriates $2,000,000 from the general fund to the department of human services for use by the office of self sufficiency to implement the diaper distribution program and $5,000,000 from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the department of human services for use by the office of self sufficiency for the food pantry assistance grant program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a statutory cause of action for a victim of sexual misconduct that occurred when the victim was a minor. The victim may bring a civil claim against the actor who committed the sexual misconduct and against an organization that operates or manages a youth-related activity or program (youth program) if the organization knew or should have known of a risk of sexual misconduct against minors and the sexual misconduct occurred while the victim was participating in a youth program managed by the organization. The act waives sovereign immunity for the claim so a victim may bring a claim against a public employee or public entity that operates a youth program, including an educational entity operating an educational program or a district preschool program.The cause of action is available to a victim of sexual misconduct that occurred on or after January 1, 1960. A person who was the victim of sexual misconduct that occurred between January 1, 1960, and January 1, 2022, must commence an action before January 1, 2025. There is no limitation on the time to bring a claim for sexual misconduct that occurs on or after January 1, 2022. A person may not, prior to an incident of sexual misconduct, waive the right to bring a civil action; any purported pre-incident waiver is void as against public policy.A court or jury shall not allocate any damages awarded in the civil action in any proportion against the victim of the sexual misconduct. Any pre-judgment interest on the claim does not begin to accrue until the claim is filed.The maximum amount that may be recovered for a claim against a public employee or public entity is the limitation on damages set forth in the "Colorado Governmental Immunity Act". For all other claims, the maximum amount recoverable is $500,000; except that if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant failed to take remedial action against a person that the defendant knew or should have known posed a risk of sexual misconduct against a minor and the court finds that the application of the limitation would be unfair, the court may increase the award to up a maximum of $1,000,000.The act appropriates $1,198,355 from the general fund to the department of personnel for risk management and reappropriates $1,137,838 of that appropriation and provides 5.9 FTE to the department of law to provide legal services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)