Sen. Iman Jodeh

Infusion pharmacies supply medicaid members with parenteral nutrition, which provides patients with essential nutrients through an intravenous infusion. The act requires the state department of health care policy and financing (state department) to create specific professional dispensing fees for the preparation and dispensing of parenteral nutrition (fees) to encourage an adequate level of market participation among infusion pharmacies that serve medicaid members. During the year beginning January 1, 2026, the fees must not exceed 30% of infusion pharmacy administrative costs for the preparation and dispensing of parenteral nutrition. The state department shall seek federal authorization, as necessary, to implement the fees. The act requires the state department to annually report on the adequacy of the infusion pharmacy network that supplies parenteral nutrition to medicaid members. For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $54,832 to the state department from the general fund. The state department may use the appropriation for medical and long-term care services for medicaid-eligible individuals. The general assembly anticipates that the state department will receive an equal amount in federal funds to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act defines an "equestrian zone" as an area that a municipality or county determines is suburban or urban and contains: Public equestrian venues; Residential neighborhoods that are equestrian centric and were zoned in such a manner as to allow housing privately owned equines but are now being developed for primarily residential use or that are zoned in such a manner as to allow housing privately owned equines; Keystone properties that have equestrian facilities that have boarding facilities for equines, training for equestrians, equine service and education programs, equine stables that facilitate animal welfare rescue programs or equine therapy programs, breeding facilities for equines, or nonpublic equestrian venues that provide services to the equestrian community; or Roads or trails that equestrians regularly use and that are related to the areas described above. The act authorizes municipalities and counties to: Construct and maintain equestrian road crossings or horse-trailer parking necessary to access equestrian trails and install signs that notify the public of the infrastructure; Identify locations where equestrian road crossings are needed to safely use horse trails, construct and maintain the equestrian road crossings in those places, and install signs notifying the public of the crossings; Publish a map showing the location and character of existing or proposed equestrian infrastructure; Erect road signs bearing the universal equestrian sign symbol and the words "wide and slow" in equestrian zones; and Identify and show the location and character of existing or proposed equestrian infrastructure, venues, and riding zones on master plans. A municipality or county may organize public events to educate the public about equestrian use of recreational trails and roads and the duties of users of trails and roads with regard to equestrian users. The chief of the Colorado state patrol is authorized to educate sheriffs and local law enforcement about equestrian safety. The department of revenue is given the duty of adopting rules to add equestrian safety to driver's education curricula. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act reorganizes and updates statutes pertaining to the duties of the office of the child protection ombudsman (office) and the child protection ombudsman (ombudsman). The act: Clarifies when the ombudsman may receive and conduct an independent and impartial investigation of complaints concerning child protection services; Clarifies the types of information, documents, or records that the ombudsman does and does not have access to; Reorganizes statutes that pertain to when an ombudsman investigates a complaint; Reorganizes statutes that pertain to the ombudsman's duties; Reorganizes and creates a new provision that pertains to the office's access to information necessary to conduct an independent review of a complaint; Reorganizes and creates a new provision focused on the office's and ombudsman's duty to confidentiality; and Provides the office access to residential child care facilities and facilities established and operated by the department of human services (facilities). The office may only access facilities in coordination with the facility directors in response to a request from a child or youth residing in the facility; in response to a request from a child's or youth's family member, caregiver, or other concerned individual; or to distribute materials created by the office informing children or youth on how to access the office, the office's services, and how to file a complaint with the office.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act amends statutory provisions relating to unused medication in facilities, including correctional facilities, nursing care facilities, assisted living residences, hospice, and other facilities, to change the defined term "medication" to "medicine" and specifies the types of unused medicines that may be redispensed to patients or donated to another entity that has legal authority to possess the medicine. The act creates the Colorado drug donation program (donation program). The donation program allows a person legally authorized to possess medicine, including an individual donor who is a member of the public and other donors, including a pharmacy, a long-term care facility, a surgical center, a prescriber or other health-care professional or facility, a wholesaler, a distributor, a third-party logistics provider, and others (donor), to donate certain unused medicine (donated medicine), as specified in the act. The act prohibits the donation of prescription drugs that are subject to risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS), unless all of the required guidelines are followed, or REMS drugs that were initially dispensed by a pharmacy pursuant to a restricted distribution channel. A donor or an individual donor may donate unused medicine to a donation recipient that is authorized to possess medicine and that has a credential in good standing in the state in which the donation recipient is located. A donation recipient includes a hospital, pharmacy, clinic, health-care provider, or prescriber office, and may include a wholesaler, distributor, third-party logistics provider, reverse distributor, or repackager if the entity is a nonprofit entity or is directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or could be controlled by a nonprofit entity. The act requires the donation recipient to keep a record of the donated medicine, separate the donated medicine from regular stock, and have donated medicine inspected by a licensed pharmacist. The donation recipient may transfer the donated medicine to another donation recipient or entity, repackage the donated medicine, or, if the donation recipient is a prescription drug outlet or other outlet, replace medicine of the same drug name and strength. The act requires donated medicine to first be dispensed to an eligible patient who is an individual who is indigent, uninsured, or underinsured. Donated medicine must not be resold; except that a donation recipient may charge a handling or dispensing fee for the donated medicine. When acting in good faith, the participants in the donation program are not subject to civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action. The act also shields drug manufacturers from liability for donated medicine that is subject to REMS under federal law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act prevents a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) from prohibiting a rural independent pharmacy from using a private courier or a delivery service to deliver a prescription drug to a patient. A PBM is required to reimburse a rural independent pharmacy for a prescription drug in an amount not less than the national average drug acquisition cost for the dispensed prescription drug ingredients, plus pay a dispensing fee. When a PBM conducts an audit of a rural independent pharmacy and the audit results in a recoupment of more than $1,000 or a penalty of more than $1,000, the PBM must: Electronically notify the rural independent pharmacy of the rural independent pharmacy's rights to appeal at least 30 days before the recoupment of funds; If the rural independent pharmacy does not respond to the electronic notification within 30 days after the electronic notification, again electronically notify the rural independent pharmacy of the rural independent pharmacy's rights to appeal at least 30 days before the recoupment of funds; and If the rural independent pharmacy does not respond to the second electronic notification within 30 days after the second electronic notification, serve process on the rural independent pharmacy notifying of the rural independent pharmacy's rights to appeal at least 30 days before the recoupment of funds. The act allows a rural independent pharmacy to operate without being under the direct charge of a pharmacist if the initial interpretation and final evaluation of the prescription is done by a state-licensed pharmacist in person or remotely. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF) to seek and accept gifts from private or public sources for the primary care fund. The act authorizes a federally qualified health center (FQHC) to establish a separate subsidiary company for the purpose of providing fee-for-service services outside of the FQHC's standard cost report if the subsidiary is providing fee-for-service services that have historically been provided and reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis and if HCPF determines that the subsidiary's reimbursements would be budget neutral. Upon receiving any necessary federal authorization, HCPF is required to reimburse a subsidiary of an FQHC on a fee-for-service basis for services that are eligible for fee-for-service reimbursement. A subsidiary that receives reimbursement is authorized to pass through money received from the reimbursement directly to the FQHC operating as the subsidiary's parent corporation. Services reimbursed to an FQHC's subsidiary are excluded from the FQHC's cost report. The act requires HCPF to exclude all costs associated with a subsidiary company from the calculation of a FQHC's reimbursement rates and requires a FQHC that establishes a separate subsidiary company to include the costs associated with the subsidiary in its cost report that is necessary to calculate reimbursement rates. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or after July 1, 2025, the act requires a person, before commencing a project to install or substantially repair a contiguous fence of at least a specified certain size in the Sangre de Cristo land grant lands (covered fencing project), to submit an application for the covered fencing project to the local government with jurisdiction over the covered fencing project (application) if the local government has opted into the act's requirements. No later than 14 days after the local government's receipt of an application, the local government must publish notice of the application on the local government's website. No later than 60 days after the local government's receipt of an application, the local government must either approve or reject the application based on certain criteria; except that, despite the criteria, a local government may approve an application if it determines that the benefits of the covered fencing project outweigh the harms. If the local government finds that a covered fencing project presents no significant environmental impacts, then the local government shall not require a person commencing the covered fencing project to submit an application or pay a fee. The act does not apply to a covered fencing project that is necessary for a public utility or department of transportation project, an energy sector public works project, the safety or security of a public school or prison, or fences provided by the division of parks and wildlife. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The Tony Grampsas youth services grant program (grant program) provides grants to community-based programs to reduce incidents of youth crime and violence. The youth mentoring program, the student dropout prevention and intervention program, and the student before-and-after school project (collectively, the "programs") were created within the grant program. The act repeals the individual programs and instead lists the programs as allowable uses for grant money under the grant program. The act transfers certain responsibilities from the Tony Grampsas youth services board (board) to the department of human services (department). The act repeals local public-to-private funding match requirements. The act requires each entity that receives a grant to annually report certain information to the department; except that an entity that has an operating budget of less than $1.5 million, or that receives a grant in the amount of not more than $25,000, is not required to report on the outcomes achieved by the services provided and the methods used to track the outcomes. The act decreases the appropriation from the marijuana tax cash fund to the youth mentoring services cash fund by $500,000 and reappropriates the money to the grant program by $500,000. The act decreases the appropriation from the youth mentoring services cash fund to the grant program by $504,120. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act extends the achieving a better life experience state income tax deduction (ABLE deduction) until December 31, 2030. The act specifies that the purposes of the ABLE deduction are to provide support to individuals with disabilities and their families and to provide an incentive for individuals with disabilities and their families to set aside money in an account to cover future disability-related expenses. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, certain provisions are required in a public school contract (contract), and if the provisions are omitted from a contract, the law deems that the provisions are automatically included in the contract. The act clarifies that the list includes that a contractor is required to comply with accessibility standards adopted by the office of information technology for an individual with a disability. The act adds a provision to the list to require a contractor to indemnify, hold harmless, and assume liability on behalf of a public school contracting entity, the public school, and the public school's employees and agents, for all remedies for noncompliance with standards that ensure technology accessibility to persons with disabilities. The act requires that a contract or agreement entered into between a state agency or public entity and a contractor must require a contractor to comply with accessibility standards adopted by the office of information technology for an individual with a disability. Additionally, the contractor must indemnify, hold harmless, and assume liability on behalf of a state agency or public entity's officers, employees, and agents for all remedies for noncompliance with standards that ensure technology accessibility to persons with disabilities. If the provisions are omitted from a contract, the law deems that the provisions are automatically included in the contract. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)