Under current law, a qualified student who is selected to participate in the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment (ASCENT) program by the department of education (department) may enroll in postsecondary courses and be included in the pupil enrollment of a school district, board of cooperative services, or charter school (local education provider) for funding during the year following the student's fourth year of high school. The number of students who are selected to participate in the ASCENT program is limited each year through the budget process. The bill removes the limit on the number of program participants and allows each qualified student selected by the enrolling local education provider to participate in the program. The bill reduces the number of postsecondary credits a qualified student must have completed to be eligible to participate in the ASCENT program. The bill directs the department to distribute to each local education provider for each ASCENT program participant an amount equal to 3% of the per-pupil extended high school funding amount to pay for non-tuition expenses the qualified student incurs in participating in the postsecondary courses. Under existing law, a qualified student who fails to complete a concurrent enrollment course must repay the local education provider for the amount of tuition, and a local education provider may require a qualified student to repay the tuition amount if the qualified student earns a failing grade for a concurrent enrollment course. The bill repeals these provisions. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
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Section 1 of the bill creates the timber industry workforce development program (internship program) in the Colorado state forest service (forest service) to provide incentives to timber businesses to hire interns through partial reimbursement of the costs to such businesses of hiring interns. Not later than January 1, 2023, the forest service is required to promulgate policies, procedures, and guidelines for administering the internship program. The bill specifies minimum components of the policies, procedures, and guidelines. Subject to available appropriations, the forest service may reimburse a qualified timber business an amount not to exceed 50% of the actual cost to the business to employ the intern. The actual cost includes the wages paid to the intern, a reasonable allocation of fixed overhead expenses, and all incidental costs directly related to the internship. Based on the annual appropriation for the internship program, the forest service shall determine how many internships may be approved, the amount of reimbursement per internship, and whether a timber business may be reimbursed for more than one intern in the same fiscal year. However, no timber business may be reimbursed for more than 3 internships in the same fiscal year. Under current law, for fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2008, but prior to the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2020, and for fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2021, but prior to the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2026, all sales, storage, and use of wood from salvaged trees in Colorado that were killed or infested by mountain pine beetles or spruce beetles, including but not limited to products such as lumber, furniture built from the salvaged trees, and wood chips or wood pellets generated from the salvaged trees, are exempt from the state sales and use tax. For fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2022, but prior to the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2026, section 2 extends this exemption to include all sales, storage, and use of wood harvested in Colorado that is sold on a retail basis, including but not limited to products such as lumber, furniture built from such wood, wood chips or wood pellets generated from such wood, and wood from salvaged trees in Colorado that were killed or infested by mountain pine beetles or spruce beetles. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2021, but prior to January 1, 2027, section 3 allows a timber business doing business in Colorado to claim a credit against the state income tax for 20% of the costs incurred by the taxpayer in purchasing mechanized equipment, certain vehicles, and equipment infrastructure used in the production of wood products, not to exceed $10,000 for the aggregate of all such qualifying items purchased in any one income tax year. The bill specifies additional requirements concerning the administration of the tax credit.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The Colorado constitution requires each bill being considered by the general assembly to be read at length on 2 different days in each chamber of the general assembly, but allows any reading at length otherwise required to be dispensed with upon unanimous consent of the legislators present. If approved by a majority of the voters of the state voting on it at the 2022 general election, the concurrent resolution will eliminate the requirement that bills be read at length on 2 different days in each chamber of the general assembly. (Note: This summary applies to this concurrent resolution as introduced.)
The bill makes the following modifications to statutory provisions governing special districts to increase the accountability of special districts to taxpayers: If a separate legal entity established by contract includes one or more special districts, requires the separate legal entity to file with the division of local government in the department of local affairs certain financial information pertaining to the special district. In such circumstances, the directors of the special district are also required to comply with oath and bond requirements for directors of special districts.Expands existing requirements on the information a metropolitan district must include on its public website to include information that is required by the service plan of the metropolitan district, by an ordinance or resolution adopted by the board of commissioners of a county, or by the governing body of a municipality, as applicable;Expands the applicability of statutory provisions governing the approval and oversight of special districts to specify that these provisions do not apply when a special district that was originally approved at any time thereafter becomes wholly included within the boundaries of one or more municipalities;Specifies information to be included in the financial plan that a new district submits along with its service plan;Removes an existing cap on the amount of the fee that a special district must pay the board of county commissioners for processing review of a service plan; For any proposed special metropolitan district that has any property within its boundaries that is zoned or valued for assessment as residential, enumerates certain acts that are disallowed for any service plan required to be filed by the district. A local government acting on a service plan is prohibited from approving a service plan for a special metropolitan district that permits any of these same acts the purchase of district debt by any entity with respect to which any director of the district has a conflict of interest necessitating disclosure .Clarifies requirements affecting the oversight by a municipality that is wholly contained within the boundaries of the municipality, especially in connection with an annexing municipality;Expands the circumstances under which material modifications of a special district's service plan are approved by the county or municipality, as applicable, to include the situation when the special district after initial approval of the plan becomes wholly included within the boundaries of a newly annexed municipality;Specifies that approval is also required for any action or omission of a special district that is materially inconsistent with the district's service plan. Expands the list of examples of acts or omissions necessitating approval.Authorizes a board of county commissioners for a district that lies entirely within the territorial boundaries of a county or the governing body of a municipality for a district that lies entirely within the boundaries of a municipality to impose a fee to offset the costs incurred by the county or municipality, as applicable, in reviewing the operations of the district and the district's compliance with its service plan. The fee is not payable more than once annually. Prohibits a member of the board of a district that approved the issuance of any debt while the member was serving on the board from thereafter 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; except that this requirement does not apply to debt acquired indirectly through an investment fund if the member has no input into or control over the individual securities that the fund purchases; Prior to issuing debt to a director of a metropolitan district or to an entity with respect to which a director of a metropolitan district must make disclosure of a conflict of interest, the bill requires the board of the metropolitan district to receive a statement of a registered municipal advisor certifying that the interest rate of the debt does not exceed the lesser of: The interest rate allowed under a method of calculation specified in the bill; or The current market interest rate for the debt based on criteria determined by the municipal advisor, examples of which are listed in the bill; Requires all meetings of a board of a special district that are held solely at physical locations to be held at physical locations that are within the boundaries of the district or that are within the boundaries of any county in which the district is located, in whole or in part, without exceptions or the possibility of a waiver;Clarifies that the powers of the board of directors of any metropolitan district are limited by the district's service plan;On and after September 1, 2022, prohibits a metropolitan district from entering into any new contract or agreement as of that date to furnish covenant enforcement and design review services. On and after September 1, 2022, the bill prohibits a metropolitan district from renewing any existing agreement entered into prior to that date to furnish covenant enforcement and design review services. Upon the expiration of the agreement, the master association or similar entity contracting with the metropolitan district is required to assume covenant enforcement and design review services.Under current law, under specified circumstances, the board of county commissioners or the governing body of the municipality that has adopted a resolution of approval of the special district may require the board of the special district to file an application for a finding of reasonable diligence every 5 years. The bill makes this an annual requirement. Makes proof of the commission of such act by a preponderance of the evidence proof that the director has breached the director'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 bill reclassifies private passenger motor vehicle insurance and homeowner's insurance as type I kinds of insurance for rate filing increases, thereby requiring insurers to file and obtain prior approval of requests for rate increases before implementing increased rates for those lines of insurance. The rate filings remain on file for 60 days and must not be approved or disapproved, and must not become effective, during the 60-day period except after a public hearing. If the commissioner of insurance fails to make a determination on the rate filing within the 60-day period, the rate filing is deemed approved as of 12:01 a.m. on the sixty-first day, unless during the 60-day period the commissioner determines that a public hearing is in the public interest.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Under existing law, the keeper of a jail is required to submit a quarterly report of inmate information to the division of criminal justice within the department of public safety (division), and the division is required to publish that information in a searchable and sortable format. That requirement is set to repeal on January 31, 2023. The act strikes the repeal. The act requires the inmate information collected to include each inmate's age. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $4,918 from the general fund and authorizes 0.1 FTE to the department of public safety for use by the division of criminal justice for administrative services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
During the 2021 session, the general assembly created a civil infraction as penalty for violations of the law that do not rise to criminal conduct and included procedures for civil infractions. The act repeals those provisions and replaces them with new procedures for handling civil infractions. The act makes conforming amendments related to civil infractions. The act makes clean-up changes to other provisions to conform to changes made to criminal sentencing provisions during the 2021 session. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, it is a class 2 misdemeanor to practice the following professions without an active license, registration, or certification: Professional engineering, architecture, audiology, dentistry, direct-entry midwifery, medicine, physician assistant, anesthesiologist assistant, professional nursing, nursing home administration, optometry, pharmacy, pharmacy technician, and respiratory therapy. The act makes it a class 6 felony to practice any of these professions intentionally without a license, registration, or certification and fraudulently representing that the person has a license, certification, or registration. The act states the purposes of probation are to: Serve as a sentencing option and a response to crime in order to moderate and deter future criminal behavior and victimization; Support persons in behavior change through the coordination and provision of effective and individualized services which may include, but are not limited to, educational, therapeutic, restorative, and skill-building services; Hold persons accountable for their behavior through supervision and interventions that promote reparation of harm to the community and victims, which reparation includes, but is not limited to, restitution to victims; Serve as a cost-effective option for persons appropriate for community supervision; and Honor the statutory and constitutional rights of victims of crime. The act requires a probation officer to issue a summons when a probationer has allegedly violated a condition of probation or the officer is seeking probation revocation, with some exceptions. The act requires the state court administrator to develop a system of structured and individualized behavior responses to guide probation officers in determining how best to respond to probation violations. Under current law, when a parolee has a technical violation of parole, a brief period of confinement in a county jail may be imposed as a sanction. The act allows that confinement to also be served in a department of corrections facility. The act specifies that for a theft that involves public benefits, the value of the benefits involved for purposes of determining the level of the offense is calculated by the difference between the value of the benefits received and the value of benefits the recipient was eligible for. Under current law, it is illegal for someone to possess a firearm if the person was convicted of or adjudicated for a victim's right act crime that is a felony. The act adds more felony offenses to the convictions that prohibit a person from possessing a firearm. Under current law, it is illegal for someone to possess a firearm if the person was previously adjudicated for a victim's right act crime that is a felony offense. The act allows a person in that situation who has good cause for possessing a firearm to petition the court for an order determining that the crime does not apply to the person. The act appropriates $53,390 to the judicial department from the general fund and authorizes 0.7 FTE for probation programs. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the committee on legal services (committee) to adopt its own rules of procedure. The act authorizes the committee to approve questions concerning retention of legal counsel by poll of the committee in lieu of a meeting, unless a committee member objects. If the committee approves retention of counsel by poll, the committee must give public notice of the vote to retain counsel, including the name of the legal counsel to be retained, the legal matter for which the legal counsel will provide representation, and the entity or individual that the legal counsel will represent. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the bill extends the powers of the initiative and referendum reserved to the people in the state constitution to the electors of special districts.Section 2 requires each developer-affiliated board (board) of a special district (district) to issue an agenda and board packet for each board meeting. The board must send the agenda and board packet by regular United States mail and by e-mail to each resident of the district along with a separate statement that expressly discloses to each resident the fact that the board has a conflict of interest with the residents and that residents of the district may serve on the board. The bill also requires each board to send a self-nomination form to each resident of the district with each agenda and board packet with instructions that a resident may follow for completing the form and delivering the completed form to the manager and legal counsel of the district. Immediately upon receiving a self-nomination form from a resident for a position on the board, the board must identify the board position to be terminated and immediately appoint the resident who submitted the self-nomination form to fill the position. A developer-affiliated position is immediately terminated upon receipt by the board of a self-nomination form from a resident. If self-nomination forms are received from residents in an amount that exceeds the positions on the board, the board is required to immediately call a special election to fill all of the developer-affiliated positions. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)