For a mutual ditch corporation, the act clarifies that, subject to the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the corporation:When stockholder demand exceeds supply, the corporation may limit or otherwise rotate delivery of water ratably among the stockholders; and When a stockholder is not using some of or all of the available water under the stockholder's shares, the remaining stockholders taking delivery of water through the ditch may use any unused portion of the water that would otherwise have been available to the first stockholder. The act specifies that it is not intended to prevent a stockholder from changing the use of the water rights represented by the stockholder's shares, create any impediments to changes in use, affect storage water rights, or change the standards for water court approval to change a water right.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act amends the definition of "telemedicine" in the "Colorado Medical Practice Act" to state that the term means the delivery of medical services through technologies that are used in a manner that is compliant with the federal "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996", including information, electronic, and communication technologies, remote monitoring technologies, and store-and-forward transfers, to facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, consultation, or treatment of a patient while the patient is located at an originating site and the person who provides the service is located at a distant site. The act amends and preserves the existing statutory definition of "telemedicine" for purposes of the "Colorado Medical Assistance Act".(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act defines "overpayments" of workers' compensation benefits as money received by a claimant that:Is a result of fraud; Is the result of an error due only to miscalculation, omission, or clerical error asserted in a new admission of liability; Is paid in error or in excess of an admission or order that exists at the time that the benefits are paid to a claimant; or Results in duplicate benefits as specified in the act. The act also:Clarifies that these limitations on overpayments do not prevent an insurance carrier or employer from receiving a credit against permanent disability benefits for temporary disability benefits paid beyond the date of maximum medical improvement and do not prevent the director of the division of workers' compensation or an administrative law judge from determining overpayments and requiring repayment of overpayments; and Prohibits the director or an administrative law judge from reopening an award of benefits paid to a claimant due to an overpayment except in limited, specific circumstances.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the department of education (department) to identify educational products, strategies, and services that have demonstrated effectiveness in identifying and reversing student learning loss that has been caused by the suspension of in-person learning. The department must create and maintain a resource bank of examples of educational products, explanations of and instructions for implementing strategies and educational services, and models of professional development programs related to using the products and implementing the strategies and services. School districts, boards of cooperative services, and charter schools (local education providers) may submit information to the department concerning products, strategies, and services that they have used with success, and the department must include them in the resource bank. The department must also provide information concerning public or private nonprofit entities that local education providers may work with in providing student support. The act also directs the department, to the extent possible within existing resources, to provide technical assistance to local education providers upon request.The act recognizes the amount of federal COVID-relief money that the department is expected to receive and encourages the department to use as much as possible of the amount received to fund learning recovery initiatives. The act requires the department to prepare a report concerning the department's use of the federal money received and submit the report to the education committees of the general assembly and post the report on the department's website.The act directs the board of cooperative services that administers the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program (administering BOCES) to partner with local education providers for delivery of supplemental online learning recovery courses for students in elementary and secondary schools. The administering BOCES and local education providers are also directed to partner with nonprofit entities and community-based organizations to expand the availability of, and students' access to, supplemental online learning recovery courses. The administering BOCES and the local education providers must provide information concerning the availability of the learning recovery courses and other supplemental online courses.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires each dental plan issued, amended, or renewed in this state to cover services offered to a covered person through telehealth. The act also requires the state's medical assistance program to reimburse providers for dental care services provided through telehealth.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, the Colorado state fair authority (authority) and its board of commissioners are required to publish an annual report each year by October 31 and to distribute the report to the governor and the members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over agricultural matters. The act changes the annual reporting deadline to January 31 or 10 days after the legislative audit committee releases the authority's financial audit, whichever is later, and requires that the report be submitted to all members of the general assembly.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the department of human services (state department) to disclose the results of a CAPS check without a court order to:A health oversight agency within the department of regulatory agencies (DORA), or a regulator within such a health oversight agency, for the purpose of a regulatory investigation; or The court if an individual is petitioning the court for conservatorship or guardianship of an at-risk adult. The act requires an employer and a current or former employee to provide, upon request of a county department of human or social services and for the purposes of an investigation into an allegation of mistreatment, the professional license number issued by DORA for the employee who holds a health-care provider or health-care occupation license and who, as a result of the investigation, is substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult.Current law requires the state department to promulgate rules to establish a process at the state level by which a person who is substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult may appeal the finding to the state department. The act requires the state department to promulgate rules to address the process to share information on the outcome of an appeal with a health oversight agency within DORA, or a regulator within such health oversight agency, if the health oversight agency or its regulator requests information for the purpose of a regulatory investigation. Appeal information is confidential and used only for the regulatory investigation.Beginning January 1, 2022, the state department shall provide the court the results of a CAPS check, upon the court's request, to determine if the person is substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult.The act requires the state department to promulgate rules that address:The process for the state department to notify a health oversight agency within DORA or a regulator within such health oversight agency when a professional regulated by a regulator within such health oversight agency is substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult; and The information that will be made available to a health oversight agency within DORA or a regulator within such health oversight agency for the purpose of conducting a regulatory investigation. A person who may be appointed as a conservator or guardian of an at-risk adult who knowingly provides inaccurate information to the court for a CAPS check commits a class 1 misdemeanor.Beginning January 1, 2022, prior to appointing a person as a conservator or guardian of an at-risk adult, the court shall request a CAPS check by the state department to determine if the person is substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult. Within 7 calendar days after the date of the court's request, if the person has been substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult, the state department shall provide the court with information concerning the mistreatment, unless the finding was expunged through a successful appeal to the state department. The state department shall disclose to the court that the person substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult has the right to initiate an appeal of the substantiated finding within the time frame set forth in state department rules. If the appeal is active, the state department shall inform the court that such appeal is active. The court shall have the discretion to consider the results of the CAPS check and determine the weight of the information and its probative value. Nothing delays or precludes the court's appointment of an emergency guardian or conservator of an at-risk adult, regardless of the timing of the state department's notification of the CAPS check results.The act requires the state department to notify the court within 7 calendar days after a substantiated finding of mistreatment by a person appointed as a conservator or guardian for an at-risk adult is subsequently entered into CAPS.The act requires the state department to notify a health oversight agency within DORA or a regulator within such health oversight agency within 10 calendar days after a substantiated finding of mistreatment by a professional regulated by DORA. Any information provided to a health oversight agency is confidential. A health oversight agency shall have the discretion to consider the results of the CAPS check and determine the weight of the information and its probative value.The act requires a licensee, certificate holder, or registrant substantiated in a case of mistreatment of an at-risk adult to provide the person's professional license number to county adult protective services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act addresses multiple recommendations from the Colorado behavioral health task force (task force), created in 2019, related to the creation of a behavioral health administration (BHA). The BHA would be a single state agency to lead, promote, and administer the state's behavioral health priorities.The act requires the department of human services (department) to submit a plan for the creation of the BHA on or before November 1, 2021, to the joint budget committee and to the department's committees of reference. The act outlines what the plan must, at a minimum, include. The essential duties of the BHA, once established, are set forth.A timeline is described for the establishment of the BHA in the department and for a future determination of the state department in which the BHA will exist, if different than the department of human services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a provider of services related to child and youth out-of-home placement (service provider) to provide fair and equal access to all available programs, benefits, and services offered by the service provider. Services related to out-of-home placement must be provided in a manner that is culturally responsive to the complex social identity of the child or youth receiving such services.A service provider is prohibited from denying any person the opportunity to become an adoptive or a foster parent, or delaying or denying the placement of a child or youth for adoption or into foster care, on the basis of the real or perceived disability, race, creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, or any communicable disease, including HIV, of the prospective adoptive or foster parent or the child unless the delay or denial of the placement is not detrimental to the health or welfare of the child or youth.The act requires that foster parent training include instruction on the right of a foster child or youth to have fair and equal access to all available services and other health and educational services available to foster children and foster youth, including siblings in foster care.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)