The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) review and determine if an exception to step therapy is granted if the prescribing provider submits a prior authorization request with justification and supporting clinical documentation for treatment of a serious or complex medical condition. The act requires the state department to provide a response to a prior authorization request for a step-therapy exception within 24 hours after receipt of the request. If a prior authorization request for a step-therapy exception is incomplete or if additional clinically relevant information is required, the act requires the state department to notify the prescribing provider within 24 hours after the submission of the request. If the state department does not receive a response within 72 hours after the state department's request for additional information, the prior authorization is denied. If the prior authorization request is denied, the act requires the state department to inform the recipient in writing that the recipient has a right to appeal the determination. The act requires the state department to authorize coverage for the prescription drug prescribed by the recipient's prescribing provider if the prior authorization request for a step-therapy exception request is granted. The act requires the state department to make the prior authorization requirements for coverage of prescription drugs and a description of the step-therapy exemption process available on the state department's website. The act appropriates $56,250 to the state department from the general fund. APPROVED by Governor May 1, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The sexual misconduct advisory committee (advisory committee) repeals September 1, 2023. The act implements the department of regulatory agencies' recommendation to continue the advisory committee indefinitely. APPROVED by Governor April 28, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 2 of the act increases the flexibility of the ozone season transit grant program by: Allowing an eligible transit agency that operates in an area in which ozone-causing traffic levels are typically highest during a different period than June 1 to August 31 of a calendar year to identify a different period of the calendar year for its "ozone season" in an application for a grant to offer fare-free service during the identified period; Specifying that if the Colorado energy office (CEO) awards a grant for a year to a transit association or to the regional transportation district in an amount that is less than the applicable maximum amount allowed by law, then the maximum amount of such a grant that the CEO may award for the next year is increased by an amount equal to the amount that could have been but was not awarded for the prior year; Specifying that a grant recipient may use grant money for reasonable marketing expenses incurred to raise awareness of free service and increase ridership and to conduct rider surveys to better measure the impact of the program on ridership and vehicle miles traveled in private motor vehicles; Clarifying that an eligible transit agency may use grant money to expand free services or free routes or increase the frequency of service on routes for which free service is already offered; and Allowing the regional transportation district to use grant money to cover the full costs, rather than up to 80% of the costs, of providing at least 30 days of free transit on all services that it offers. On or before November 30, 2023, section 3 requires the department of transportation to complete a study and study report of the boundaries of the transportation planning regions of the state (TPRs), the membership of the transportation advisory committee and the special interim transit and rail advisory committee, and the consistency and transparency of the transportation planning process across the transportation planning regions. The study must include consideration of specified matters and shall not include any recommendation that, if adopted, would reduce the number of rural TPRs. Before June 1, 2024, the transportation commission, taking into consideration the findings of the study, is required to initiate updates to its rules concerning the statewide transportation planning process and TPRs. On and after September 1, 2023, section 5 requires the governing body of the transportation planning organization for each TPR to include at least one voting representative to represent all transit agencies in the TPR. The representative must be appointed by the transit agency or, if multiple transit agencies provide service in the transportation planning region, by agreement of the transit agencies. Section 4 defines the term "transportation planning organization" as used in section 5. Section 6 increases the maximum rate of sales or use tax, or both, that a regional transportation authority (RTA) may impose, with voter approval, from one percent to 2%. Section 6 also makes permanent the existing power of a RTA to impose, with voter approval, a uniform mill levy of up to 5 mills, which power would otherwise expire at the end of the 2028 property tax year. APPROVED by Governor April 28, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 28, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act modifies the relationship between a physician assistant and a physician or podiatrist by removing the requirement that a physician assistant be supervised by a physician or podiatrist except in certain circumstances. Instead, a physician assistant must enter into a collaborative agreement with a physician or podiatrist or physician group. The physician or podiatrist must be licensed in good standing in Colorado and be actively practicing with a regular and reliable physical presence in the state. The collaborative agreement must include: The physician assistant's name, license number, and primary location of practice; The signature of the physician assistant and the physician or physician group with whom the physician assistant has entered into the collaborative agreement; A description of the physician assistant's process for collaboration; A description of the performance evaluation process, which may be completed by the physician assistant's employer in accordance with a performance evaluation and review process established by the employer; and Any additional requirements specific to the physician assistant's practice required by the physician or physician group entering into the collaborative agreement, including additional levels of oversight, limitations on autonomous judgment, and the designation of a primary contact for collaboration. For a physician assistant with fewer than 5,000 practice hours, or a physician assistant changing practice areas with fewer than 3,000 practice hours in the new practice area, the collaborative agreement is a supervisory agreement that must include required elements and must also: Require that collaboration during the first 160 practice hours be completed in person or through technology, as permitted by the physician or physician group with whom the physician assistant is collaborating; Incorporate elements defining the expected nature of collaboration; and Require a performance evaluation and discussion of the performance evaluation with the physician assistant. For a physician assistant entering into a collaborative agreement with a physician or physician group in the emergency department of a hospital with a level I or level II trauma center, the collaborative agreement remains a supervisory agreement and continues indefinitely. For a physician assistant changing practice areas to practice in an emergency department of a hospital that is not a level I or level II trauma center, the supervising physician or physician group may increase the number of hours for which the collaborative agreement is a supervisory agreement. The act also eliminates the 3-year time limit for physician assistants to satisfy certain financial responsibility requirements from which such physician assistants are exempt under current law. APPROVED by Governor April 26, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
On or before April 1, 2024, and on or before April 1 of each year thereafter, an entity with an obligation to provide retail or wholesale electricity services in the state (load-serving entity) must file with the entity responsible for approving the resource plans or rates of the load-serving entity (regulatory oversight entity) an annual report detailing the adequacy of its electric resources (resource adequacy annual report). On or before April 30, 2024, and on or before April 30 of each year thereafter, each regulatory oversight entity must submit any resource adequacy annual reports to the Colorado energy office (office). On or before July 1, 2024, and on or before July 1 of each year thereafter, the office must aggregate the resource adequacy annual reports received from the regulatory oversight entities into a statewide resource adequacy aggregate annual report. If a load-serving entity participates in an active organized wholesale market, which is a regional transmission organization or an independent system operator established for the purpose of coordinating and managing the dispatch and transmission of electricity on a multistate or regional basis, or, if the load-serving entity is participating in a voluntary regional resource adequacy reporting program, the load-serving entity's obligation to provide a resource adequacy annual report terminates on the date that the load-serving entity begins participating in an organized wholesale market or in the year following the submission of a compliance report required by the program. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $14,737 from the general fund to the office of the governor for use by the office for program administration. APPROVED by Governor April 25, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes it a deceptive trade practice for a person to make or disseminate to the public any advertisement that indicates that the person provides abortions, emergency contraceptives, or referrals for abortions or emergency contraceptives when the person knows or reasonably should have known that the person does not provide those specific services. A health-care provider engages in unprofessional conduct or is subject to discipline in this state if the health-care provider provides, prescribes, administers, or attempts medication abortion reversal in this state, unless the Colorado medical board, the state board of pharmacy, and the state board of nursing, in consultation with each other, each have in effect rules finding that it is a generally accepted standard of practice to engage in medication abortion reversal. The specified boards shall promulgate applicable rules no later than October 1, 2023, in consultation with each other, concerning whether engaging in medication abortion reversal is a generally accepted standard of practice. APPROVED by Governor April 14, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 14, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, every health-care provider is required to report specified information about an individual known to the provider to have a diagnosis of or a positive test for a sexually transmitted infection to the department of public health and environment or a local public health agency. The act exempts from this reporting requirement a mental health professional who is not engaged in testing a patient for, diagnosing a patient with, or treating a patient with a sexually transmitted infection. APPROVED by Governor April 10, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill requires a school district to implement additional procedural safeguards for an expulsion hearing (hearing). A school district is required to provide all records that the school district intends to use as supporting evidence in a hearing to the student or the student's parent, guardian, or legal custodian at least 5 business days prior to the hearing. If a school district intends to present written statements or oral testimony from witnesses during the hearing, the student and the student's parent, guardian, or legal custodian must be notified at least 5 business days prior to the hearing of the contents of the written statement or oral testimony provided to the school district. The student and the student's parent, guardian, or legal custodian have the right to cross-examine adverse witnesses who provide a written statement or oral testimony to the school district. During the hearing, the school district has the burden of presenting clear and convincing evidence to demonstrate that the student violated state law and the school district's policy, and that excluding the student from the learning environment through expulsion or denial of admission is necessary. Following the hearing, the executive officer or designee acting as a hearing officer is required to report findings of fact, findings regarding mitigating factors, and recommendations. Current law permits a student to be suspended, expelled, or denied admission for behavior on or off school property that is detrimental to the welfare or safety of other students or school personnel. The bill requires a school district or enrolling school district to demonstrate that a student's behavior off school grounds poses an imminent threat to other students or school personnel by establishing a direct and substantial nexus between the student's alleged conduct committed off school grounds and the risk of physical harm to other students or school personnel. Behavior that occurs off school grounds that results in delinquency or criminal charges and is unrelated to a school-sponsored event is not automatic grounds for suspension, expulsion, or denial of admission. For a hearing concerning a student whose alleged conduct occurred off school grounds, the executive officer or designee acting as a hearing officer is required to report findings of fact that establish a direct and substantial nexus between the student's behavior and the risk of physical harm to other students and school personnel. Current law allows a school district board of education (board) to delegate its power to its executive officer or to a designee who serves as a hearing officer to expel or deny admission to a student. The bill requires the individual who serves as the board's hearing officer to agree to recusal if a conflict of interest occurs that interferes with the individual's duty to act as an impartial hearing officer. An executive officer, a designee, or any individual acting as a hearing officer is also required to participate in an annual training on state and federal school discipline laws. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act eliminates the requirement that an individual's weekly paid family and medical leave benefit be calculated based on the average weekly wage earned only from the job or jobs from which the individual is taking paid family and medical leave. APPROVED by Governor March 23, 2023 EFFECTIVE March 23, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a driver to yield the right-of-way to a driver of a truck, bus, emergency vehicle, or recreational vehicle that generally has a total length of more than 35 feet or a total width of more than 10 feet (large vehicle) when entering, exiting, or driving in the circulatory lanes in a roundabout. The act also requires that when 2 drivers of large vehicles enter, exit, or drive in the circulatory lanes in a roundabout at the same time, the driver on the right must yield the right-of-way to the driver on the left. A person who fails to yield commits a class A traffic infraction and is subject to a fine of $70 and an $11 surcharge. APPROVED by Governor March 23, 2023 EFFECTIVE October 1, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)