Sen. Jeff Bridges

The act creates the summer electronic benefits transfer for children program (summer EBT) in the department of human services (state department). The purpose of summer EBT is to provide food benefits to students in low-income households for the summer months when students are not in school pursuant to federal law. The state department is designated as the lead agency to administer summer EBT in Colorado, in cooperation with the federal government. The state department may enter into an agreement with the secretary of the United States department of agriculture food and nutrition service to accept federal program benefits for summer EBT and disburse those benefits to qualified households. To administer summer EBT, the state department shall: Establish eligibility criteria and distribute benefits consistent with federal law; Develop procedures to pursue claims for benefit recovery; Develop an outreach plan and conduct outreach to community-based organizations and households; Develop and provide resources, training, and technical assistance to local community-based organizations, specifically to local community-based organizations in rural areas, to conduct outreach and provide support and information to parents, legal guardians, and emancipated students seeking to access program benefits; Develop and provide resources and technical assistance, including providing contact information for local community-based organizations, to local education providers and school food authorities, specifically local education providers and school food authorities in rural areas; and Promulgate rules to manage household and administrative errors and any other rules necessary to comply with federal law. The act designates the department of education as the partner agency for the administration of summer EBT. To administer summer EBT, the department of education shall: Develop an outreach plan and conduct outreach to local education providers and school food authorities participating in the national school lunch program (lunch program) or national school breakfast program (breakfast program); and Provide technical assistance to school food authorities, specifically school food authorities located in rural areas. The state department and the department of education shall jointly: Develop protocols for the sharing of relevant data necessary for the administration of summer EBT and outreach to households with students who are eligible for summer EBT; Streamline data collection; and Develop and provide an opt-out process for parents, legal guardians, and emancipated students, to the extent allowable by federal law. The act requires school food authorities that participate in the lunch program or breakfast program to provide the department of education with the minimum student-level data necessary to gather and maintain the eligibility information required by federal law. The department of education shall share the data with the state department to administer summer EBT. As required by federal or state law, all data must be treated as protected personally identifiable information. The act appropriates $3,140,412 to the department of human services for use by the office of economic security and $169,870 to the department of education for school district operations to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor November 28, 2023 EFFECTIVE November 28, 2023(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act adds that the false reporting of a mass shooting or active shooter in a public or private place or vehicle that transports people or property that causes the occupants of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation to be evacuated or to be issued a shelter-in-place order; causing any disruptions or impacts to regular activities; or resulting in the initiation of a standard response protocol is a class 6 felony. The act specifies that false reporting of an emergency is a class 1 misdemeanor if the threat causes the occupants of a building, place of assembly, or facility to be issued a shelter-in-place order, the threat causes any disruptions or impacts to regular activities, or the threat results in the initiation of a standard response protocol in response to the false report. The act adds to the "Victim Rights Act" that a crime includes the false reporting of an emergency that is bias motivated. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 7, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the department of health care policy and financing to analyze how directed payment authority can be used as part of a comprehensive plan to facilitate an adequate network of services for children and youth by requiring each managed care entity to pay no less than state department-established fee schedule rates for services needed to promote clinical stabilization. The act creates the high-acuity treatment and services cash fund (cash fund). The act authorizes the department of human services (CDHS) to retain any unspent money appropriated in fiscal year 2022-23 and 2023-24 from the general fund for counties during the initial allocations for the administration of child welfare services, core services, or child welfare staffing. On June 30, 2023, and June 30, 2024, the act requires the state treasurer to transfer any money retained to the cash fund. The act requires CDHS to expend money from the cash fund to provide additional resources to licensed providers to help remove barriers that providers face in serving children and youth whose behavioral or mental health needs require services and treatment that exceed capacity of the established daily rates. The cash fund repeals July 1, 2025. No later than July 1, 2023, the act requires CDHS to form a working group to make recommendations about developing an incentive funding pool pilot program to incentivize residential treatment providers to accept and treat children and youth who have high-acuity behavioral health needs to appropriate treatment and placement. The act requires the behavioral health administration (BHA) to consult with a working group to help develop the performance monitoring system framework that addresses the minimum performance standards for treatment of children and youth, which must include measures of accountability for children and youth who are boarding or in extended stay . Beginning September 1, 2023, and each quarter thereafter until October 1, 2024, the act requires each hospital to report information to the BHA on the total number of children and youth patients who were boarding or had extended stay in the previous quarter; if known, how many children and youth who were boarding or had extended stay and were in county custody at the time; and, for patients who were discharged during the quarter, where the patients were discharged to. Beginning September 1, 2023, and each quarter thereafter until October 1, 2024, the act requires CDHS to report information to the BHA on the total number of children and youth in the custody of, or who had involvement with, a county department of human or social services who spent time at least overnight in a hotel or a county department office as a stopgap setting. No later than September 1, 2023, and each quarter thereafter until October 1, 2024, the act requires the BHA to report aggregated and de-identified information submitted to the BHA to the working group. The act requires CDHS to develop a capacity plan for whenever a residential treatment facility for children and youth closes or has a substantial change in operation. The act appropriates $5,900,000 from the cash fund to CDHS for use by the division of child welfare for high-acuity treatment services. Any money remaining from the appropriation prior to July 1, 2024, is further appropriated to CDHS for fiscal year 2024-25. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

As part of an effort to simplify the sales and use tax system, the department of revenue (department) created the electronic sales and use tax simplification system (SUTS), which is a one-stop portal designed to facilitate the collection and remittance of sales and use tax. As soon as possible, but no later than January 1, 2025, the act requires the department to modify SUTS: To populate a local account number on all returns and summary reports, if the retailer filing the return has a number and provides the number in SUTS; By developing a simplified user interface for filing returns as an alternative to the current spreadsheet method; To provide retailers with a bulk testing option for address files; and To include additional use taxes, additional information about deductions, filtering options, and certain tabs. With the exception of charges for payments by credit cards, the act prohibits the department from imposing a convenience fee or any other type of charge for a payment through SUTS and from passing those charges on to local taxing jurisdictions. The act also requires the department to: Create a campaign to promote SUTS for the purpose of increasing the awareness, participation, and compliance by retailers and local taxing jurisdictions; and Solicit and consider feedback from interested stakeholders about enhancements to SUTS that lead to greater local taxing jurisdiction participation and greater compliance by retailers. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 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 automobile theft prevention board (board) awards grants to eligible entities for programs for theft prevention, enforcement, prosecution, or offender rehabilitation. The act specifies that the board may also award grants for programs to support victims of automobile theft and technology enhancement. Money in the auto theft prevention cash fund (fund) is annually appropriated to the department of public safety (department) to implement the automobile theft prevention grant program. The fund consists of gifts, grants, and donations and any money credited to the fund from the collection of fees paid by certain automobile insurers to support the automobile theft prevention authority. The act specifies that the fund also consists of any money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. The act requires the state treasurer to transfer $5 million from the general fund to the fund on July 1, 2023, to be used for the following purposes: Implementing a statewide program to increase awareness of automobile theft; Implementing programs to support victims of automobile theft; Additional overtime for law enforcement agencies; Implementing a dedicated automobile theft prosecution program; Enhancing and upgrading the automobile theft tracking and reporting system; or Any other direct or indirect costs associated with the implementation of the automobile theft prevention grant program. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 2, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The middle-income housing authority (authority) has the power to make and enter into contracts or agreements with public or private entities to facilitate public-private partnerships. The act clarifies this power of the authority to enter into public-private partnerships by specifying that: The affordable rental housing component of a public-private partnership is exempt from state and local taxation, and the authority must provide initial and ongoing notice to the local assessor of the exemption; A public-private partnership may include an agreement concerning commercial property in connection with an affordable rental housing project; A public-private partnership may provide for the transfer of the interest in an affordable rental housing project to an entity other than the authority; The authority may issue bonds to finance the affordable rental housing component in a public-private partnership; and Bonds issued by the authority may be payable from the revenue and assets of the affordable rental housing component of a public-private partnership or solely from the revenue or assets of the authority as current law requires. Additionally, the act expands the board of directors of the authority from 14 to 16 by adding 2 nonvoting members. The senate majority leader and the house majority leader will each appoint a member of the general assembly from their respective chambers to serve as the 2 new nonvoting members; except that, if the senate majority leader and the house majority leader are from the same political party, the house minority leader will appoint the member to the board of directors from the house. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $3,774 is appropriated from the general fund to the legislative department for use by the general assembly to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 2, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The justice reinvestment crime prevention initiative (initiative) is administered by the division of local government (division) in the department of local affairs (department) to expand small business lending and provide grants aimed at reducing crime and promoting community development. The initiative consists of the targeted crime reduction grant program, which provides funding to eligible entities for programs, projects, or direct services aimed at reducing crime and promoting community development in certain target communities, and a statewide business and entrepreneurship training and grant program for justice-system-involved persons. The targeted crime reduction grant program cash fund (fund) was continuously appropriated to the department for the purposes of these 2 grant programs. The act specifies that for state fiscal year 2023-24 and subsequent fiscal years, the department may expend money from the fund subject to annual appropriation and that the department may use any remaining appropriated money during the year following the year for which the general assembly appropriated the money. The act specifies that the statewide business and entrepreneurship training and grant program for justice-system-involved persons will be repealed on September 1, 2024. The department may expend money from the justice reinvestment initiative expansion account (account) in the fund for the purposes of expanding the targeted crime reduction grant program to Grand Junction and Trinidad and to implement the grant program for justice-system-involved persons. The law required the state treasurer to transfer any money remaining in the account to the general fund on July 1, 2023 and specified that the account will repeal on September 1, 2023. The act changes the repeal date of the account to September 1, 2024, and requires the state treasurer to transfer any money remaining in the account to the fund on July 1, 2024. The act specifies that the department may expend the transferred money for the targeted crime reduction grant program and the grant program for justice-system-involved persons. The act clarifies that the initiative is repealed, effective September 1, 2027, and that the department of regulatory agencies will review the initiative for repeal, continuation, or reestablishment before the initiative is repealed. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $3,000,000 is appropriated from reappropriated funds in the fund to the department of local affairs to fund crime prevention initiative grants. APPROVED by Governor June 1, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act changes the date upon which the department of public health and environment must begin providing reimbursements to eligible schools that serve students in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade for costs associated with the testing of drinking water from March 15, 2024, to June 1, 2023. APPROVED by Governor June 1, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a carrier that offers a health benefit plan (carrier) or a pharmacy benefit management firm that administers or manages contraception coverage under a health benefit plan (PBM) to provide coverage for, and reimburse a prescribing provider or in-network dispensing entity for, the single dispensing or furnishing of contraception intended to last the covered person for a duration of 12 months, as permitted by the covered person's prescription, dispensed or furnished at one time, unless requested otherwise by the covered person. A carrier or PBM is subject to certain requirements, as applicable, including: Allowing coverage of continuous use of contraception, as determined by the prescribing provider; A prohibition against implementing utilization management practices that prevent the dispensing of a 12-months' duration of contraception; Allowing for alternate prescribed contraception, if medically necessary; and Providing coverage for over-the-counter contraception without a prescription and without prior authorization, step therapy, utilization management, or cost sharing. The act requires carriers to report annually to the division of insurance in the department of regulatory agencies concerning contraception coverage and requires PBM's to provide information to carriers for purposes of this reporting. The act authorizes the commissioner of insurance to promulgate rules regarding the coverage. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 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.)