An existing statute allows a municipality or county to adopt an ordinance or resolution specifying that a person riding a bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter may make a safety stop, rather than a full stop, under certain circumstances when approaching an intersection that is controlled by a stop sign or a traffic control signal as follows: When approaching a stop sign, if it is safe to proceed, the person may, after slowing to a reasonable speed of 15 miles per hour or less, or 10 or 20 miles per hour or less if so specified by a municipality or county for a particular intersection and marked with appropriate signage, and yielding the right-of-way to any traffic or pedestrian in or approaching the intersection, continue through the intersection without stopping; and When approaching an illuminated red traffic control signal, the person must first stop at the intersection and yield to all other traffic and pedestrians and then, when safe to do so, may proceed straight or make a right turn through the intersection or, subject to specified conditions, make a left turn onto a one-way street only. The act amends the statute to make the substantive requirements described above uniform statewide for most persons 15 years of age or older or under 15 years of age and accompanied by an adult who are approaching a controlled intersection and are not operating a motor vehicle; except that the statewide "reasonable speed" is 10 rather than 15 miles per hour or less and the only municipal or county "reasonable speed" variance option is to increase the maximum "reasonable speed" for a particular intersection to 20 miles per hour. Such persons include pedestrians approaching a controlled intersection with a stop sign and operators of low-speed conveyances, as defined in the act, approaching a controlled intersection with a stop sign or a traffic control signal. However, if a county or municipality has placed a traffic sign or a traffic control signal at a controlled intersection and the traffic sign or traffic control signal provides instructions only to one or more specified types of low-speed conveyances, the operator of a low-speed conveyance to which the traffic sign or traffic control signal is directed is required to obey the instructions provided by the traffic sign or traffic control signal. The regulation of persons approaching controlled intersections is declared to be a matter of mixed state and local concern, and the amended statute is thus declared to supersede any conflicting local ordinance or resolution but not to affect the validity of any nonconflicting local ordinance or resolution that regulates the conduct of persons approaching controlled intersections. The act does not create any right for a pedestrian or the operator of a low-speed conveyance to travel on any portion of a roadway where travel is otherwise prohibited by state law or a local ordinance or resolution. The department of transportation, in collaboration with the departments of education and public safety and appropriate nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups, is required to incorporate legal requirements and safe practices for approaching controlled intersections as a pedestrian or while operating a low-speed conveyance into educational materials for persons under the age of 18 and the general public. The division of motor vehicles in the department of revenue is required to include in updates to the "Colorado Driver Handbook" updated information regarding legal requirements and safe practices for approaching controlled intersections that reflect the changes made by the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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With respect to mandatory coverage for fertility diagnosis and treatment and fertility preservation services (fertility services) under health benefit plans, the act requires large employer health benefit plans issued or renewed in this state on or after January 1, 2023, to cover fertility services and requires the division of insurance to implement the coverage requirement. In addition, for individual and small group policies and contracts, the act requires coverage for fertility services under individual and small group policies and contracts issued or renewed in this state 12 months after the federal department of health and human services determines that coverage for fertility services does not require defrayal by the state, and requires the division to implement the fertility services coverage requirement once effective. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes a local government to designate all or a portion of a highway under its jurisdiction for over-snow use only when snow-packed conditions exist on the highway or for a designated continuous seasonal period for which the local government determines that snow-packed conditions are likely to exist on the highway. "Over-snow use" is defined as travel on top of snow by human-powered or animal-powered means or by an off-highway vehicle that is primarily designed or altered for use over snow and runs without tires on a continuous belt track or on one or more skis while in use over snow. A local government may limit an over-snow use designation to human-powered or animal-powered travel, or both, and the act does not prohibit a local authority from entering into a private winter maintenance agreement when wheeled winter access is requested along a highway. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Colorado's statutory homestead exemption exempts a portion of a homestead from seizure to satisfy a debt, contract, or civil obligation. Section 2 increases the amount of the homestead exemption: From $75,000 to $250,000 if the homestead is occupied as a home by an owner of the home or an owner's family; and From $105,000 to $350,000 if the homestead is occupied as a home by an owner who is elderly or disabled, an owner's spouse who is elderly or disabled, or an owner's dependent who is elderly or disabled. Section 3 expands the meaning of "homestead" to expressly include a "dwelling", and section 4 defines a dwelling as conventional housing and personal property that is actually used as a residence, including any vehicle, trailer, vessel, camper coach, mounted equipment, railway car, shipping or cargo container, shed, yurt, or tiny home. Under current law, the proceeds from a homestead exemption or, if a homestead property is sold by the owner, the proceeds from the sale are exempt from execution or attachment for a period of 2 years if the person entitled to the exemption keeps the exempted proceeds separate and apart from other money. Section 5 expands this period to 3 years and extends the exemption to apply to proceeds from insurance covering destruction of homestead property, which proceeds are held for use in restoring or replacing the homestead property. Section 6 increases the maximum amounts of existing exemptions from levy and sale under a writ of attachment or execution for certain types of property and creates new exemptions for: Firearms and hunting and fishing equipment; Economic impact payments; Health savings accounts; and Money placed into a life expectancy set-aside account or similar reserve fund, escrow, or impound account, which money is derived from reverse mortgage proceeds that are designated for specific uses. Section 6 also recreates and decreases an exemption for money in depository accounts. Sections 6, 7, and 8 remove a requirement that a person must deposit child support payments in an account designated for the child and, with regard to child support payments and unemployment benefits, not commingle funds in order to claim an exemption for child support payments or an exemption for unemployment benefits. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The total compensation philosophy for employees in the state personnel system is modified to specify that it is the policy of the state to provide innovative total compensation that meets or exceeds total compensation provided by public or private sector employers to officers and employees in the state personnel system to ensure the recruitment, motivation, and retention of a qualified and competent workforce. References to "prevailing" total compensation and "prevailing practices" in connection with state employee benefits are eliminated. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, sexual assault can be committed by means of sexual intrusion or penetration when the actor causes submission of the victim by means sufficient to cause submission against the victim's will. The act changes that element to when the actor causes sexual intrusion or sexual penetration knowing the victim does not consent. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill 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. Instead: A physician assistant who has completed fewer than 3,000 hours of post-graduate clinical practice experience or who is beginning practice in a new specialty must enter into a collaborative plan with a physician; and A physician assistant who has completed fewer than 3,000 hours of post-graduate clinical practice must enter into a collaborative plan with a podiatrist before practicing podiatry. A physician assistant who has completed 3,000 or more practice hours or, for a physician assistant practicing a new specialty, has completed 2,000 practice hours in the new specialty and at least 3,000 total practice hours, is no longer required to maintain a collaborative plan and is instead required to consult with and refer to appropriate members of the physician assistant's health-care team based on a patient's condition; the physician assistant's education, experience, and competencies; and the standard of care. The bill specifies the requirements of the collaborative plan. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act permits an attorney to access a suppressed court record related to an eviction proceeding, with permission of a party included in the record, for the purpose of: Providing legal advice to, or evaluating whether to enter an appearance on behalf of, the party included in the record; or Evaluating whether the matter is suitable for mediation or in preparation for a mediation between the parties included in the court record.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For income tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, but before January 1, 2030, the bill creates an income tax credit (tax credit) for any employer that: Creates a clean commuting plan to implement strategies to increase the use of alternative transportation options and reduce the number of measurable vehicle miles driven by its employees in single-occupancy vehicles when commuting to and from their work site (clean commuting plan) for the purpose of reducing automobile-related air pollution, traffic congestion, and transportation costs, particularly for essential workers and workers earning under $40,000 per year; Conducts an employer commuter survey to determine how its employees commute to and from their work site; and Offers 2 or more alternative transportation options to some or all of its employees in furtherance of the employer's clean commuting plan. The amount of the tax credit is 50% of the amount spent by the employer to provide alternative transportation options to some or all of its employees. In addition, the bill requires the executive director of the department of transportation (director), in coordination with the Colorado energy office and metropolitan planning organizations, to create an annual commuter survey for employers to use to determine how their employees commute to and from their work site. The director and the Colorado energy office are required to determine the content of the commuter survey and the form and manner in which the commuter survey will be completed and returned to the department of transportation. Beginning in specified calendar years, in an effort to reduce the number of employees who commute to and from their work site in a single-occupancy vehicle, employers with over 100 employees are required to: Annually conduct a commuter survey of its employees and submit the completed commuter surveys to the department of transportation by April 30 of the year in which the survey was conducted; Offer its employees qualified transportation fringe benefits allowed pursuant to federal law; Offer its employees commuter choice information in electronic or hard copy format and update the information every 6 months; and Offer a cash allowance in lieu of a parking space under certain circumstances. The bill requires that any private sector employer that wishes to claim the tax credit participate in the employer commuter survey and submit the results of the survey to the department by April 30 of the year in which the survey is conducted, even if the employer's participation in the commuter survey is not otherwise required. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, and for each state fiscal year thereafter through the 2029-30 state fiscal year, of the money allocated to the transportation commission for state multimodal projects from the multimodal transportation and mitigation options fund, the transportation commission is required to allocate $250,000 to each of the transportation management associations and transportation management organizations operating in a nonattainment area for the purposes of assisting employers in creating a clean commuting plan and complying with the requirements of the bill. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)