Sen. Faith Winter

The bill contains a legislative declaration about the circumstances facing special immigrants and refugees and the benefit of access to education. The bill grants eligibility for in-state tuition status to refugees and special immigrants admitted to the United States pursuant to federal law who have settled in Colorado. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

Legislative Audit Committee. Under existing law, public administrators are required to maintain a $25,000 bond and file certain information and reports with the administrator's appointing court. Public administrators may appoint deputy public administrators. The bill increases the amount of bond public administrators are required to maintain to $100,000 and clarifies the following: That deputy public administrators are subject to the same statutory requirements as public administrators, including the bond requirement; The information about costs and fees that must be included in small estate statement of account filings by public administrators; and The form of annual reports that must be filed by public administrators and deputy public administrators.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

The bill declares that consumers of electricity have a right to install, interconnect, and use energy storage systems on their property, and that this will enhance the reliability and efficiency of the electric grid, save money, and reduce the need for additional electric generation facilities. The bill directs the Colorado public utilities commission to adopt rules governing the installation, interconnection, and use of customer-sited energy storage systems. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

Currently, several statutes require a person to donate to a nonprofit organization to qualify for a special license plate. The fee is sometimes set in statute, and sometimes the fee is limited by statute. The bill authorizes the organization to increase by $10 the minimum donation for the issuance of the plate. Beginning July 1, 2019, this amount may be adjusted annually for inflation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

Currently, each county clerk and recorder collects a surcharge of one dollar for each document received for recording or filing in his or her office. The surcharge is in addition to any other fees permitted by statute. Section 2 of the bill allows counties to impose an increased surcharge in the amount of $5 for documents received for recording or filing on or after January 1, 2019. In a county that has elected to collect the increased surcharge of $5, out of each $5 collected, the bill requires the clerk to retain one dollar to be used to defray the costs of an electronic or core filing system in accordance with existing law. The bill requires the clerk to transmit the other $4 collected to the state treasurer, who is to credit the same to the statewide attainable housing investment fund (fund). Section 3 creates the fund in the Colorado housing and finance authority (authority). The bill specifies the source of money to be deposited into the fund and that the authority is to administer the fund. The bill directs that, of the money transmitted to the fund by the state treasurer, on an annual basis, not less than 25% of such amount must be expended for the purpose of supporting new or existing programs that provide financial assistance to persons in households with an income of up to 80% of the area median income for the purpose of allowing such persons to finance, purchase, or rehabilitate single family residential homes as well as to provide financial assistance to any nonprofit entity and political subdivision that makes loans to persons in such households to enable such persons to finance, purchase, or rehabilitate single family residential homes. Section 3 also requires the authority to submit a report, no later than June 1 of each year, specifying the use of the fund during the prior calendar year to the governor and to the senate and house finance committees. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More

Sunset Process - Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee. The bill implements many of the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies, as contained in the department's sunset review of motor vehicle and powersports vehicle sellers, as follows: Continues the regulation of motor vehicle and powersports vehicle sales until September 1, 2027; Codifies the auto industry division in statute under the department of revenue and changes the authority to enforce the regulation of the licensing of vehicle sellers from the executive director of the department of revenue to the director of the division; Requires a licensing application when a business acquires a new owner; Subjects the license of a dealer to discipline when the owner is acting as a salesperson and violates the law governing salespersons; Requires a fingerprint-based criminal history record check for all licensees; and Requires people who have had licenses revoked to wait one year before applying for a new license. To implement the bill, $12,568 is appropriated from the auto dealers license fund to the department of revenue, and $162,983 is appropriated from the Colorado bureau of investigation unit fund to the department of public safety. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Current law permits a licensed retail liquor store to sell nonalcohol products, subject to a 20% limit on gross sales revenue from the sale of nonalcohol products. The bill excludes revenues from the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, nicotine products; lottery products; ice, soft drinks, and mixers; and nonfood items related to the consumption of alcohol beverages from the calculation of the cap on a retail liquor store's gross revenues from the sale of nonalcohol products. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill declares that the regulation of automated driving systems is a matter of statewide concern, and, therefore, local authorities are prohibited from setting different standards for these systems than for human drivers. The use of automated driving systems is authorized if the system is capable of conforming to every state and federal law applying to driving. If not, a person testing a system is required to obtain approval from the Colorado state patrol and the Colorado department of transportation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

To promote demand-side management programs for electricity, the public utilities commission (commission) was authorized in 2007 to establish the following electricity goals for investor-owned electric utilities to achieve by 2018: A demonstrated reduction of peak demand by at least 5% of the retail peak demand level in 2006; and Demonstrated energy savings of at least 5% compared to the energy sales in 2006. The bill extends the programs to 2028 and requires the commission to set goals of at least 5% peak demand reduction and 5% energy savings by 2028 for demand-side management programs implemented during 2019 through 2028 when compared to 2018 numbers. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)