The bill creates an independent delivery license for social equity licensees to deliver and sell retail marijuana and retail marijuana products to consumers at the consumer's private residence and requires the department of revenue to promulgate rules concerning the independent delivery license. The bill creates an accelerator independent delivery license, accelerator hospitality business license, and accelerator transporter license, and accelerator retail deliverer permittee for social equity licensees qualified to participate in the accelerator program. The bill requires the department of revenue to provide an annual report to the finance committees of the house of representatives and the senate concerning active social equity licenses, any recommendations for new social equity licenses and permits, and any recommendations for new or innovating funding sources for the social equity licensees or permittees. Effective January 2, March 1, 2024, the bill amends the eligibility requirements for a person to qualify as a social equity licensee. The bill clarifies that the new eligibility requirements only apply to social equity licensee applications received on or after January 2, March 1, 2024. or to the reinstatement or reactivation of social equity licenses originally issued before January 2, 2024. The new eligibility requirements do not apply to the renewal of social equity licenses applied for or issued before January 2, March 1, 2024. The bill authorizes a social equity licensee who satisfies the eligibility requirements effective January 2, 2024, with a retail marijuana transporter licensee and a retail marijuana delivery permit or an accelerator retail deliverer permit, to exercise the privileges of a retail marijuana store license without needing to obtain a retail marijuana store license or accelerator store license. The bill requires permits the department of revenue to create incentives for social equity licensees and accelerator-endorsed licensees, including reducing or waiving fees. The bill requires the department of regulatory agencies, as part its sunset review of the "Colorado Marijuana Code" in 2028, to review social equity licensing and the independent delivery license. The bill creates, in the office of economic development, a grant committee that is responsible for reviewing grant applications, selecting grant recipients, and determining grant awards that are issued pursuant to an existing grant program for supporting entrepreneurs in the marijuana industry. The bill amends the statutory provision concerning retail marijuana sales tax to state that a retailer is not allowed to retain any portion of the retail marijuana sales tax collected to cover the expenses of collecting and remitting the tax. The bill appropriates $330,625 to the department of revenue, and $114,199 to the department of law. (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.)
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Legislative Audit Committee. Under current law, when the public utilities commission (PUC) evaluates electric resource acquisitions and requests for certificates of public convenience and necessity for construction or expansion of generating facilities, the PUC must consider best value regarding employment of Colorado labor and positive impacts on the long-term economic viability of Colorado communities. To this end, the PUC must require electric utilities to obtain certain information regarding certain "best value" employment metrics and report this information to the PUC for its consideration. The bill: Requires the PUC to promulgate rules requiring utilities, when submitting annual progress reports for an electric resource acquisition, to collect and provide to the PUC information concerning the implementation of "best value" employment metrics; Requires the PUC to report annually to committees of reference of the general assembly concerning the information that is reported; and Repeals language requiring the state auditor to conduct a performance audit, which performance audit the state auditor completed in July 2022.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The state constitution allows a veteran who has a service-connected disability rated as a 100% permanent disability to claim a property tax exemption for a portion of the actual value of the veteran's owner-occupied primary residence. The 100% permanent disability requirement can only be changed through a constitutional amendment. If, at the 2024 general election, the voters of the state approve a constitutional amendment to expand eligibility for the exemption by allowing a veteran who has individual unemployability status, as determined by the United States department of veterans affairs, to claim the exemption, the act makes conforming statutory changes to reflect that expansion of the exemption. The act also requires a veteran who has individual unemployability status to be treated equivalently to a veteran who has 100% permanent disability when determining eligibility for any state veterans benefit. Finally, to comply with an existing statutory requirement that "people first language" be used in new or amended statutes that refer to persons with disabilities, the act also changes the existing terms "disabled veteran" and "disabled veterans" to "veteran with a disability" and "veterans with a disability". APPROVED by Governor April 28, 2023 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. Section 11 of the act states that the act takes effect only if a constitutional amendment to section 3.5 (1.5) of article X of the state constitution that modifies the definition of "disabled veteran" by changing the term to "veteran with a disability" and including a veteran who has individual unemployability status as determined by the United States department of veterans affairs is approved by the people at the next general election and becomes law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits a person employed by or volunteering in a public school, a state-licensed child care center, a family child care home, or a specialized group facility from imposing corporal punishment on a child. The act defines "corporal punishment" as the willful infliction of, or willfully causing the infliction of, physical pain on a child. APPROVED by Governor April 20, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 20, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill defines the term "assault weapon" and prohibits a person from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of an assault weapon. The bill further prohibits a person from possessing a rapid-fire trigger activator. A violation is a class 2 misdemeanor. The prohibition does not apply to: A member of the United States armed forces, a peace officer, or other government officer or agent, to the extent that such person is otherwise authorized to acquire or possess an assault weapon and does so while acting within the scope of the person's duties; The manufacture, sale, or transfer of an assault weapon by a licensed firearms manufacturer to any branch of the United States armed forces or to an entity that employs peace officers for use by that agency or its employees; The sale or transfer of an assault weapon to a licensed firearms dealer or gunsmith for the purposes of maintenance, repair, or modification, and the subsequent return of the assault weapon to the lawful owner; Any federal, state, or local historical society, museum, or institutional collection that is open to the public, provided that the assault weapon is securely housed and unloaded; A forensic laboratory, or any authorized agent or employee of the laboratory, for use exclusively in the course and scope of authorized activities; An entity that operates an armored vehicle business and an authorized employee of such entity while in the course and scope of employment; A licensed gun dealer who has remaining inventory of assault weapons as of July 1, 2023, and sells or transfers the remaining inventory only to a non-Colorado resident and the sale or transfer takes place out-of-state; or A peace officer. The bill provides civil penalties for individuals and for gun show vendors and licensed firearms dealers who violate the law. The bill creates the crime of possessing, manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of a rapid-fire trigger activator. A violation is a class 2 misdemeanor. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The state constitution allows a veteran who has a service-connected disability rated as a 100% permanent disability to claim a property tax exemption for a portion of the actual value of the veteran's owner-occupied primary residence. The 100% permanent disability requirement can only be changed through a constitutional amendment. The concurrent resolution submits a constitutional amendment to the voters of the state at the 2024 general election that will, if approved, expand eligibility for the exemption by allowing a veteran who has individual unemployability status, as determined by the U.S. department of veterans affairs, to claim the exemption. In most cases, to have individual unemployability status, a veteran must be unable to keep a steady job because the veteran either has at least one service-connected disability rated at 60% or more disabling or has 2 or more service-connected disabilities with at least one disability rated at 40% or more disabling and a combined rating of 70% or more disabling. To conform to the existing public policy of the state that "people first language" be used in new or amended legislation that refers to persons with disabilities, the concurrent resolution also changes the existing defined term "disabled veteran" to "veteran with a disability". (Note: This summary applies to this concurrent resolution as adopted.)
Before passage of the act, Colorado law required a motor vehicle or a powersports vehicle manufacturer (manufacturer) to timely compensate a motor vehicle or a powersports vehicle dealer (dealer) for warranty repairs based on the dealer's typical charges for parts and labor if these charges were reasonably consistent with the law governing the setting of these charges. The act repeals the condition that the charges must be reasonably consistent with this law, requiring the manufacturer to pay the charges even if there is a dispute as to the charges. The law governing the setting of these charges is not repealed, so the charges must continue to comply with the law. Before passage of the act, Colorado law governing these charges allowed a manufacturer to challenge the setting of a labor rate or part markup if either was inaccurate or if either was substantially different than the charges of other similarly situated line-make dealers. The act repeals the manufacturer's ability to challenge these charges when the rates are substantially different than the charges of other similarly situated line-make dealers. In order to challenge the setting of a labor rate or part markup as allowed before the passage of the act, the manufacturer was required to provide the dealer a notice that explains why the calculation was subject to contest. The act changes this requirement, requiring instead that the notice must explain why the calculation is materially inaccurate. APPROVED by Governor April 3, 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 aligns the timelines for hearings in Colorado law for a juvenile already ordered to be held in an adult facility while awaiting trial with the timelines in the federal "Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act". APPROVED by Governor March 23, 2023 EFFECTIVE March 23, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, when an employer is going to hire a person to work in a position in which the person has contact with at-risk adults, the employer must perform a check of the system that contains substantiated claims of mistreatment against an at-risk adult (CAPS check). The bill requires a staffing agency that provides employees who will have contact with at-risk adults to perform a CAPS check and to provide the results to the employer. Under current law, disclosure of a report of mistreatment or neglect is generally only allowed with a court order. The bill clarifies a court order is not required when the report is disclosed for purposes of a guardian's appeal of a substantiated case of at-risk adult mistreatment. APPROVED by Governor March 10, 2023 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)