Sen. Mike Weissman

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The length of the bill summary for this bill requires it to be published on a separate page here: https://leg.colorado.gov/hb23-1272-bill-summary APPROVED by Governor May 11, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 11, 2023(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill continues the Colorado commission on criminal and juvenile justice (commission) until September 1, 2028 2024 . The bill amends the legislative findings and declaration for the commission. The bill amends the commission membership as follows: Replaces the executive director of the department of human services, or the executive director's designee, with the commissioner of the behavioral health administration, or the commissioner's designee; Replaces the executive director of the department of higher education, or the executive director's designee, with a representative of higher education with expertise in criminal justice; Eliminates an expert in juvenile justice issues; Adds a second criminal defense attorney, and requires that one must be from a rural judicial district; Severs one existing position for a community corrections provider, community corrections board member, or a behavioral, mental health, or substance use disorder treatment provider into 2 positions: One for a behavioral, mental health, or substance use disorder treatment provider and one who represents a community corrections provider or a community corrections board; and Eliminates the 2 at-large members and substitutes one member who works with a community-based reentry program. The bill amends the commission's mission and duties. The bill requires the division of criminal justice (division) to provide a translator to provide oral translation in the Spanish language for every meeting and written translation into Spanish of every publicly available document. The division is required, upon request, to provide a translator to provide oral translation or written translation of a publicly available document in a requested language. The bill requires the commission to provide the opportunity for all members or interested persons to provide topics for study to be submitted to the governor. (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.)

Except in certain circumstances, the act requires a landlord to accept from a prospective tenant a portable tenant screening report (screening report). A landlord may require that the screening report was prepared by a consumer reporting agency (reporting agency) within the previous 30 days, at the prospective tenant's request and expense, and made directly available to the landlord by the agency. The act specifies information that must be included in a screening report, including verification of employment and income, rental and credit history, and criminal history. If a prospective tenant provides a screening report, the landlord shall not charge the prospective tenant either an application fee or a fee for the landlord to access or use the screening report. Prior to collecting any tenant information that would generate an application fee, a landlord shall advise a prospective tenant that the landlord accepts screening reports and is prohibited from charging an application fee or other fee to a prospective tenant who provides a screening report. A landlord is not required to accept a screening report or to provide the advisements required in the act if the landlord does not accept more than one application fee at a time for a dwelling unit or, if a dwelling unit is rented to more than one occupant, does not accept more than one application fee at a time for each prospective tenant or tenant group for the dwelling unit, and if the landlord refunds the total amount of the application fee to each prospective tenant within 20 calendar days after written communication from the prospective tenant or the landlord declining to enter into a lease. If a prospective tenant submits a rental application that results in a landlord obtaining a consumer report relating to the prospective tenant, the landlord shall also provide a copy of the consumer report to the prospective tenant and advise the prospective tenant of the tenant's right to dispute the accuracy of the consumer report with the reporting agency. A landlord that violates the provisions of the act is liable for $2,500, plus court costs and attorney fees, but if the landlord cures the violation within 7 calendar days after receiving notice of the violation, the landlord is to pay the prospective tenant a penalty of $50 and is otherwise not liable for damages. The act authorizes the attorney general to independently initiate and bring an action to enforce the "Rental Application Fairness Act". APPROVED by Governor May 4, 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 act: Caps the rate of interest on medical debt at 3% per annum; Defines "medical debt", for purposes of a statutory cap on interest rates and fair debt collection practices, to include medical debt arising from the receipt of health-care services or medical products or devices, excluding debt charged to a credit card; Upon the consumer's written request, requires a debt collector or collection agency collecting on medical debt to cease collection on the medical debt until the debt collector or collection agency provides to the consumer an itemized statement concerning the medical debt and allows the consumer to dispute the validity of the medical debt; Establishes requirements relating to payment plans for medical debt, including written documentation of the payment plan between the consumer and the debt collector or debt collection agency; notice to the consumer if the payment plan will be accelerated or declared in default or inoperative due to nonpayment; and the opportunity to renegotiate the payment plan; Prohibits a debt collector or collection agency, during an internal or external review or other appeal of a health insurance decision, from collecting on the medical debt, reporting the medical debt to a consumer reporting agency, or selling the medical debt to a debt buyer; Requires a creditor, debt collector, or collection agency that files a legal action to collect medical debt to include the identity of the original creditor, an itemization of the charges and, prior to the entry of a default judgment against the creditor, provide evidence of the medical debt; Makes it a deceptive trade practice to violate provisions relating to billing practices, surprise billing, and balance billing laws; and Requires a health-care provider or health-care facility to provide, upon request of a prospective patient, an estimate of the total cost of a health-care service (service) to a person who intends to self-pay for the service (self-pay estimate). The act includes requirements for the self-pay estimate and caps the amount by which the final, total cost of the service may exceed the self-pay estimate to the lesser of 15% of the self-pay estimate or $400, with exceptions for emergency or unforeseen, medically necessary services required during the service. The act makes it a deceptive trade practice to violate provisions relating to the self-pay estimate. APPROVED by Governor May 4, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 4, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals and reenacts the statutory article related to extreme risk protection orders. Under current law a family or household member and a law enforcement officer or agency can petition for an extreme risk protection order. The act expands the list of who can petition for an extreme risk protection order to include licensed medical care providers, licensed mental health-care providers, licensed educators, and district attorneys. The act requires the office of gun violence prevention to expend funds annually on a public education campaign regarding the availability of, and the process for requesting, an extreme risk protection order. The act appropriates: $140,462 from the general fund to judicial department to implement the act; and $238,846 from the general fund to the department of public safety. APPROVED by Governor April 28, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 28, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The Colorado oil and gas conservation commission (commission) may enter an order combining the ownership interests of 2 or more owners of mineral interests located on separate tracts (drilling unit) to authorize the drilling of an oil and gas well on the drilling unit (pooling order). Under certain circumstances and after notice and a hearing, the commission may enter a pooling order for a drilling unit, which order includes an owner of mineral interests that does not consent to the drilling for oil and gas on the mineral owner's tract (forced pooling order). The bill changes the commission's process for entering a forced pooling order by: Requiring an applicant for a forced pooling order to prove that owners of more than 45% of the mineral interests to be pooled consent to pooling by submitting to the commission a third-party expert's title report or title opinion; Requiring the commission to determine if the minerals in the drilling unit may be extracted without disturbing a nonconsenting mineral interest owner's mineral rights and, if so, requiring the commission to include in the forced pooling order a condition that the nonconsenting mineral interest owner's mineral rights not be disturbed. Alternatively, if the commission determines that the minerals cannot be extracted without disturbing the nonconsenting mineral interest owner's mineral rights, the commission is required to make explicit findings of that determination. Requiring that a forced pooling order be issued in a manner that protects and minimizes adverse impacts on public health, safety, and welfare; the environment; and wildlife resources and that protects against adverse environmental impacts on any air, water, soil, or biological resources resulting from oil and gas operations; Reducing the amount of production costs that consenting mineral interest owners in a drilling unit may recover from a nonconsenting mineral interest owner in the drilling unit; and Prohibiting the commission from entering a forced pooling order that includes an unleased, nonconsenting mineral owner that is a local government or a school district, including a charter school or an institute charter school. Additionally, the bill requires that the commission issue a pooling order before any minerals that are subject to the pooling order are extracted or any well is drilled to access the minerals. The bill also authorizes a nonconsenting owner to audit or cause to be audited certain records of the oil and gas operator no more frequently than every 3 years but before any costs are recovered from the drilling unit. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

For any proposed metropolitan district that has any property within its boundaries that is zoned or valued for assessment as residential, section 1 of the bill prohibits requires the service plan to include a prohibition on the purchase of district debt by any entity with respect to which any director of the district has a conflict of interest necessitating disclosure under current law. Section 2 prohibits a board of county commissioners from approving a service plan for such a metropolitan district unless the service plan includes the prohibition. Section 3 prohibits a court from considering a petition for the organization for such a metropolitan district unless the service plan includes the prohibition. Section 2 4 prohibits a member of the board of a metropolitan district that approved the issuance of any debt while the member was serving on the board from acquiring any interest in the debt individually or on behalf of any organization or entity for which the board member is engaged as an employee, counsel, consultant, representative, or agent unless the debt is acquired indirectly through an investment fund and the member has no input into or control over the individual securities that the fund purchases. Section 3 5 states that proof of a violation of the prohibition set forth in section 2 4 is proof that the violator has breached the actor's fiduciary duty and the public trust. (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 creates a refundable income tax credit (credit) that is available for the income tax year commencing on January 1, 2022, for a qualifying senior, which means a resident individual who: Is 65 years of age or older at the end of 2022; Has federal adjusted gross income (AGI) that is less than or equal to $75,000; and Has not claimed a homestead property tax exemption for the 2022 property tax year. The amount of the credit is $1,000 for a qualifying senior with federal AGI that is $25,000 or less. For every $500 of AGI above $25,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $10. In the case of 2 taxpayers who share the same primary residence and who may legally file a joint return but actually file separate returns, both taxpayers may claim the credit, but the maximum credit for each taxpayer is $500 and, for every $500 of adjusted gross income above $25,000, the amount of the credit is reduced by $5. Notwithstanding the income-based reductions in the allowable credit amount, a taxpayer who also qualifies for a property tax and rent assistance grant or heat assistance grant during calendar year 2022 is eligible to receive the full credit. The property tax administrator is required to provide reports from counties related to taxpayers who are eligible for and actually claim the homestead property tax exemption. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)