The act: Repeals an income tax deduction for money earned on Colorado investment deposits issued by a qualified financial institution because the definition of "Colorado investment deposits" relies on the "Colorado Investment Deposit Act", which was repealed in 2004, so it is unlikely that there have been any new certificates of deposit issued since 2004; and there are also no known eligible certificates of deposit that still exist and thus there would be no allowable amount of interest earnings to subtract. Repeals 2 income tax deductions meant to correct for the difference between the standard deduction amounts for federal income tax filings that used to be called the "marriage penalty" approximately 15 years ago. The "marriage penalty" was addressed by Congress in 2003, so the deductions are no longer necessary. Repeals an income tax credit for estate taxes paid on the transfer of agricultural land. The Colorado estate tax is effectively zero because it is based on a federal credit in the provisions of the federal estate tax. The federal provision for the credit is not allowed for estates of decedents who passed away after December 31, 2004. Because the federal credit has not been extended, there is no state estate tax, and thus the income tax credit is not useable. Addresses some circular cross references within the statutory section. Corrects an issue in statute that erroneously requires nonresident beneficiaries to prepay income tax twice, once through estimated payments and again through tax withheld by the fiduciary.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Sponsored bills
The act: Addresses an inconsistency in statute regarding section 39-21-113 (4), which prohibits the disclosure by the executive director of the department of revenue and his or her agents, clerks, and employees of information obtained during the course of investigations conducted by the department or disclosed in any document, report, or return filed in connection with the collection and payment of tax; various provisions of the section allow for exceptions to the prohibition, but not all of them are listed together and therefore the bill updates the section to reflect all the exceptions to the prohibition; Adds some missed mandatory electronic filing and payment requirements that didn't make it into the correct section of House Bill 19-1256, concerning electronic filing of certain taxes, which broadly authorized the department of revenue to promulgate rules requiring mandatory electronic filing and payment; and Fixes a conflict with regard to the tax threshold above which a taxpayer must remit estimated payments between 2 statutes that jointly impose payment requirements for severance tax on corporations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies that a registered prescription drug outlet and an other outlet may make a casual sale of a drug in the manufacturer's sealed container to another registered outlet and to a practitioner authorized to prescribe the drug. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act amends the statutes that regulate the types and amounts of investments a domestic insurer may make, including investments in bonds and other evidences of indebtedness. Section 1 of the act clarifies the types of indebtedness that may be invested in and allows the domestic insurer to invest in the debts of an issuer that is in default in the payment of interest on the debt. Preexisting law allows a domestic insurer to invest in first-priority mortgage loans in the United States and Canada. In connection with this, section 2: Authorizes investment in lower-priority loans if the holder of the lower-priority loan holds the first-priority loan; Repeals the requirement that the mortgaged land have a building, be used for agriculture or pasture, or be income-producing; Expands the requirement that improvements to the land have fire insurance to a requirement that these improvement have casualty insurance; and Authorizes domestic insurers to acquire mortgage loans for land located in other foreign jurisdictions that have a sovereign debt rating of "1" from the securities valuation office of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners if these assets do not exceed 10% of the domestic insurer's investments. Preexisting law allows a domestic insurer to invest in real estate for income. In connection with this, section 3 broadens the current definition of "real estate", which covers fee simple ownership and leasehold estates, to include all interests in property, including mineral estates. Preexisting law allows a domestic insurer to invest in preferred or common stock in businesses within the United States and Canada. In connection with this, section 4: Broadens current law to allow investment in equity interests of businesses other than preferred or common stock, but limits the aggregate value of all equity interests that may be admitted assets to 10% of the company's admitted assets; Repeals the requirement that the business not be in arrears as to dividends for the last 3 years; Repeals the requirement that any sinking fund for preferred stock must be current; Repeals the requirement that a corporation had net earnings available for dividends on its outstanding common stock in each of the 3 fiscal years immediately preceding the date of acquisition; Repeals the requirement that common stock must be registered on a national securities exchange or regularly traded on a national or regional basis; Exempts mutual funds, open-end index funds, or exchange-traded index funds from a prohibition on investing, in one company, more than 2% of the insurer's assets in common stock or 5% of these assets in any stock; Limits the amount of equity that is not listed on a nationally registered securities exchange or securities market to 5% of the domestic insurer's assets; and Authorizes a domestic insurer to invest in equity interests in businesses created in other foreign jurisdictions that have a sovereign debt rating of "1" from the securities valuation office of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners if these assets do not exceed 3% of the domestic insurer's investments. Preexisting law allows a domestic insurer to invest in money market mutual funds. Section 9 requires the funds to comply with certain federal regulations and requires government-backed funds to meet certain standards of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates an online transparency task force. Interested legislators and the following individuals, or their designees, may participate in the task force: The head of each principal department; The state's chief information officer; and The executive director of the statewide internet portal authority, who is chair of the task force. The purpose of the task force is to recommend: Ways to enhance citizens' online access to rules and the rule-making process and to increase the transparency of the rule-making process; Options for the design and implementation of an integrated state rule-making web portal; Common rule-making agency reporting formats, workflows, timelines, and protocols; and An entity to manage the integrated state rule-making web portal. The task force shall submit a written report that summarizes its recommendations by January 1, 2021, to the general assembly's committees of reference with jurisdiction over business and state affairs and cease operations upon submission of the report. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
House Bill 19-1279, concerning the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, requires manufacturers of class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added polyfluoroalkyl substances to notify, in writing, sellers of their products about the state's new regulations of these products "no less than one year prior to the effective date of section 25-5-1303", which is impossible because the notice requirements did not exist prior to the bill's effective date on August 2, 2019. The act addresses this error by modifying the effective date of the required notice to prior to August 2, 2020. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals the death penalty in Colorado for offenses charged on or after July 1, 2020. The act states that any death sentence in effect on July 1, 2020, is valid. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Federal law limits the amount of tax-exempt private activity bonds that may issued within each state and allows each state to provide by law a formula for allocating the limited amount of bonding authority among eligible bond issuers. The act eliminates the bond allocation committee that currently reviews and makes recommendations to the executive director of the department of local affairs (DOLA) regarding statewide priorities for the allocation of the limited amount of bonding authority and requires the state housing board to conduct the review and make the recommendations. The act also eliminates a cap on the amount of the direct allocation fee paid to DOLA by bond issuers that use the direct allocation of bonding authority to issue private activity bonds or that make a mortgage credit certificate election and eliminates the executive director's authority to promulgate rules to implement the statutes that govern private activity bond allocation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act corrects the reimbursement rate specified in law that a health insurance carrier is required to reimburse an out-of-network health care provider who provides either emergency services to a covered person or covered nonemergency services to a covered person at an in-network facility so that the law accurately states the reimbursement rate as the greater of: 110% of the carrier's median in-network rate of reimbursement; or The sixtieth percentile of the in-network rate of reimbursement for the same service in the same geographic area for the prior year based on claims from the all-payer health claims database.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals language requiring each health facility license issued by the department of public health and environment to include the signature of the president of the state board of health, the attestation of the secretary of the state board, and the state board's seal. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)