The act amends provisions related to the operation of the regional transportation district (district), including:Amending a cap on the amount of all vehicular service the district can allow to be provided by third parties under competitive contracts to be measured by platform time or its equivalent; Expanding the types of entities the district can contract with to include nonprofit organizations and local government; Repealing farebox recovery ratio requirements and requiring the district to include in its annual financial reports information on annual operating costs, ridership numbers, and operating costs divided by ridership as a measure of the cost efficiency of its services; Repealing a limitation on developments that would reduce parking at a facility or result in a competitive disadvantage to private businesses near the facility; and Repealing limitations on the district's authority to charge fees and manage parking at district parking facilities.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act removes the restriction on compensation for a president or vice-president of a school district board of education (board) and allows for the compensation of members of a board. The act also clarifies that any increase to compensation cannot occur during an officer's or member's term in office. The act also requires that a board set compensation rates for officers and members by written resolution in a public meeting. The act also allows members of a board to be reimbursed for necessary expenses in amounts approved by a majority vote of the board in a public meeting.The act also requires that any compensation provided to officers or members of a board is not higher than $150 per day for not more than 5 days per week. The act also provides that board members may only receive compensation for days when official board duties are performed. The act also allows a board to adjust compensation for inflation after January 1, 2022.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law provides for the establishment of a single entry point system that consists of single entry point agencies throughout the state for the purpose of enabling persons 18 years of age or older in need of long-term care to access appropriate long-term care services.The act requires the state board of the department of health care policy and financing (department) to adopt rules providing for the establishment of a redesigned case management system (system), no later than July 1, 2024, that consists of case management agencies throughout the state for the purpose of enabling individuals in need of long-term care to access appropriate long-term services and supports. No later than December 31, 2021, the department shall work with stakeholders to develop a timeline for the implementation of the system. No later than December 31, 2022, the department shall issue a competitive solicitation in order to select case management agencies for the system.The act makes conforming amendments to replace the terms "community-centered board" and "single entry point agency" with "case management agency".(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act:Makes current laws concerning governance and transparency for cooperative electric associations (associations) applicable to nonprofit generation and transmission cooperative electric associations that provide wholesale electric service directly to Colorado cooperative electric associations that are its members; Eliminates an exemption to those requirements for associations with fewer than 25,000 members; Allows an association to authorize, in its bylaws, its members and directors to participate in meetings electronically; Allows an association to authorize, in its bylaws, members to vote in an election through a secure and verifiable electronic voting system; Clarifies that members voting or participating in a meeting electronically are considered present in person for the purpose of establishing quorum; Defines joint memberships and clarifies how joint memberships can vote; Amends the deadlines and requirements for notice of an election; Requires an association to adopt written policies concerning the compensation of board members and disclosures of conflicts of interest for board members; Requires board members to fulfill their duty of loyalty to the cooperative association at all times; except that, if a director serves on the board of both a generation and transmission association and a distribution association, the director owes fiduciary duties to both associations and shall not be required to give priority to the duties the director owes to one association over the duties the director owes to the other association; and Requires associations to post on their websites information about their rates and net metering requirements and to make financial audits available to members on request.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill establishes requirements for health benefit plans related to health-care services provided by physician assistants and reimbursement for such services. The bill also modifies the relationship between a physician assistant and a physician by removing the supervision requirement and replacing it with a requirement that a physician assistant collaborate with a physician. Formal collaboration with a physician is required only for a physician assistant with fewer than 5,760 hours of practice experience or who is beginning practice in a new specialty. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act moves the COVID-19 relief program for minority-owned businesses from the minority business office to the Colorado office of economic development and expands the scope of the program to allow relief payments, grants, loans, and technical assistance and consulting support to small businesses disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Additionally, the act extends the deadlines for allocating and distributing relief payments under the small business relief program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the time in which debtors experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 emergency may have extraordinary debt collection actions suspended. Existing law required a judgment creditor (creditor) to provide a notice to a judgment debtor (debtor) before instituting an extraordinary debt collection action, which includes an action in the nature of a garnishment, attachment, levy, or execution to collect or enforce a judgment. The debtor may suspend the collection action by notifying the creditor that the debtor is experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. The obligation to provide notice and the suspension of the collection action were effective through February 1, 2021. The act extends the effective period for the notice and the suspension to June 1, 2021. If a collection action has already been suspended by the debtor, the suspension is now effective through June 1, 2021.In addition, under existing law, up to $4,000 cumulative in a depository account or accounts in a debtor's name is exempt from levy and sale under a writ of attachment or execution through February 1, 2021. The act extends that date to June 1, 2021.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill provides funding as follows to support entities impacted by capacity restrictions imposed to address the COVID-19 pandemic: $37 million for direct relief payments to small businesses located in a county that is subject to, and in compliance with, severe capacity restrictions pursuant to a public health order, with payments allocated to the counties for distribution to eligible small businesses, which businesses include restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and fitness and recreational sports centers; $7.5 million for direct relief payments to eligible arts, culture, and entertainment artists, crew members, and organizations, with payments allocated by the creative industries division in the Colorado office of economic development; $6,775,000 $6,780,000 to the department of public health and environment to enable the department to contract with county or district boards of health to provide state funding in lieu of those local government agencies charging annual licensing fees to certain retail food establishments; $1.8 million $1,891,775 to the department of revenue to offset the department's waiver of certain liquor license fees; and $4 million for use by the minority business office in the Colorado office of economic development to provide direct relief payments, grants and loans, and technical assistance and consulting support to minority-owned businesses. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The act implements recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report on the regulation of mental health professionals as follows: Continues the regulation of mental health professionals for 9 years, until September 1, 2029; Clarifies that mental health professionals may possess, furnish, and administer opiate antagonists; Exempts students who are enrolled in a school program and are practicing as part of a school practicum or clinical program; Grants title protection to additional persons practicing in the mental health field; Makes the conviction of a crime that is related to mental health practice a violation of the mental health practice acts; Authorizes the appropriate mental health board to suspend a mental health professional's license, certification, or registration for the failure to comply with a board-ordered mental or physical examination; and Repeals the requirement that members of the mental health boards must be United States citizens. In addition to implementing the sunset recommendations, the act: Allows the staff of a mental health board to approve applications for licensure, certification, and registration without ratification from the respective board unless the board deems ratification necessary; Clarifies that licensees, certificate holders, and registrants are not required to form a professional service corporation; Exempts persons performing auricular acudetox from licensing, certification, and registration requirements; Creates the mental health disciplinary record work group for the purpose of making legislative and rulemaking recommendations concerning records that impact the initial licensure, certification, registration, and ongoing practice of mental health professionals; Clarifies when a mental health professional may disclose a client's confidential communications; Clarifies that it is not a prohibited activity for a mental health professional to offer or accept payment for services provided in connection with a referral as long as the payment is not for the referral itself; Prohibits a contract entered into by a mental health professional for marketing, office space, administrative support, or any other overhead expense from providing remuneration for referrals of clients or patients or otherwise creating financial benefit or incentive to the mental health professional; Allows supervision of an applicant for a social worker license to be done virtually and by a person other than a licensed social worker; Creates a registration process for clinical social work candidates; States that, for licensed social workers or licensed clinical social workers, course work is the only professional competency activity that can fulfill all the continuing competency requirements; Requires applicants for psychology licensure to complete a name-based criminal history record check upon initial application; Requires applicants for a professional counselor license to complete 2,000 hours of practice in counseling, including at least 1,500 hours of face-to-face direct client contact under clinical supervision; Changes the name of "registered psychotherapists" to "unlicensed psychotherapists", allows current psychotherapists to continue to practice as unlicensed psychotherapists, and prohibits the registration of any new psychotherapists with the board of unlicensed psychotherapists; Repeals the provision allowing a licensed mental health professional or a licensure candidate to register with the database of unlicensed psychologists; and Changes the titles of certified addiction counselors to "certified addiction technicians" and "certified addiction specialists" and changes the scope of practice and educational requirements for the certificate holders.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)