The bill requires applicants for initial licensure or certification, as well as current licensees and certificate holders, to submit to a fingerprint-based criminal history record check for: Podiatrists ( sections 1 and 2 ); Dentists and dental hygienists ( sections 3 and 4 ); Medical doctors, physician assistants, and anesthesiologist assistants ( sections 5 and 6 ); Nurses ( sections 7 and 8 ); Certified nurse aides ( sections 12 and 13 ); Optometrists ( sections 16 through 18 ); and Veterinarians ( sections 19 through 21 ). Sections 9 and 10 of the bill establish standards for certain professional nurses, practical nurses, and retired volunteer nurses who suffer from a physical or mental illness or condition that renders the nurse unable to practice. Section 11 of the bill eliminates the nurse alternative to discipline program. Sections 14 and 15 of the bill require an employer of a certified nurse aide (CNA) to report any violation of the CNA practice act that results in a CNA being terminated from employment, including resignation in lieu of termination, within 30 days after the termination or resignation. The state board of nursing is authorized to fine an employer that fails to report the termination or resignation. Section 22 amends the 'Medical Transparency Act of 2010' to include a person applying for nurse licensure under the 'Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact' within the definition of 'applicant'. Section 23 of the bill repeals the current 'Nurse Licensure Compact' and adopts the 'Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact'. Section 24 appropriates $576,126 from the Colorado bureau of investigation identification unit fund to the department of public safety to implement the bill.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
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The bill establishes the Colorado secure savings plan (plan), which is a retirement savings plan for private-sector employees in the form of an automatic enrollment payroll deduction individual retirement account. Employers with a specified number of employees in the state are required to participate in the plan, but any employer may choose to participate in the plan. The Colorado secure savings plan board of trustees (board) is created and consists of the state controller, the director of the governor's office of state planning and budgeting, and 7 additional trustees with certain experience who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. The trustees on the board have a fiduciary duty to the plan's enrollees and beneficiaries and are required to: Establish investment options that offer employees returns on contributions without incurring debt or liabilities to the state; Establish the process for allocating investment earnings and losses to individual plan accounts on a pro rata basis; Make and enter into contracts and hire staff as necessary for the administration of the plan; Conduct a periodic review of the performance of any investment vendors; Cause money in the Colorado secure savings plan fund (fund) to be invested with the intent to achieve cost savings through efficiencies and economies of scale; Establish the process for an enrollee to contribute a portion of his or her wages to the plan for automatic deposit and establish the process by which the participating employer forwards those contributions to the plan; Establish the process for enrollment in the plan including the process by which an employee can opt not to participate in the plan; Accept gifts, grants, and donations from specified entities and pursue options for bank loans or a line of credit to cover the start-up costs of the plan; Procure, as needed, insurance against loss in connection with the property, assets, or activities of the plan; Allocate administrative fees to individual retirement accounts in the plan on a pro rata basis; Set minimum and maximum contribution levels; Facilitate education and outreach to employers and employees; Ensure that the plan complies with all applicable state and federal laws; Deposit all gifts, grants, donations, fees, and earnings from investment of moneys in the fund into the fund and pay the administrative costs and expenses for the creation, management, and operation of the plan from moneys in the fund; Determine any nominal and reasonable assistance that may be provided to businesses to offset the initial costs of enrolling employees in the plan and complying with audits and plan implementation; Prepare or cause to be prepared certain annual audits and annual reports regarding the plan; Develop a process to ensure that employers are in compliance with the requirements of the plan and develop a penalty structure for employers who fail, without reasonable cause, to enroll employees in the plan; Conduct or cause to be conducted a financial feasibility study to ensure that the plan will be self-sustaining; and Conduct an analysis of relevant consumer protections available under federal law and make recommendations to the general assembly regarding additional necessary consumer protections that should be included in legislation implementing the plan. The bill specifies the process by which the board is required to engage an investment manager to invest the assets of the plan and specifies the investment options that the board is required to create. The bill creates the fund as a trust outside of the state treasury, specifies that the fund will include the individual retirement accounts of enrollees in the plan, and allows the board to use a certain percentage of money in the fund for the administrative expenses of the plan. The money in the fund is not property of the state and cannot be commingled with state money. The board must design and disseminate employer and employee information packets regarding the plan and the options for employee participation in the plan to all employers that participate in the plan. If, based on the required financial feasibility study, the board determines that the plan will be self-sustaining and would promote greater retirement savings for private-sector employees, the board must recommend to the general assembly that the plan be implemented. The board may not implement the plan unless the general assembly, acting by bill, directs the board to implement the plan. The bill dictates the timing for the board to implement the plan, if directed to do so by the general assembly, and a time frame for employers to establish a system by which enrollees in the plan can remit payroll deduction contributions to the plan. Employers must automatically enroll employees in the plan unless an employee has opted out of participation in the plan. Enrollees may select an investment option and contribution level or use the default investment option and contribution amount established by the board. The bill specifies that the state and employers do not have any duty or liability to any party for the payments of any retirement savings benefits accrued by any individual through the plan. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Sunset Process - Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The bill implements the recommendations of the sunset review and report on the certification of speech-language pathologists through the department of regulatory agencies by: Extending the automatic termination date of the 'Speech-language Pathology Practice Act' to September 1, 2022, pursuant to the sunset law ( sections 1 and 2 of the bill); and Removing references to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association ( sections 3 and 4 of the bill).(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
With regard to students enrolled in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, or second grade, the bill prohibits a school district, board of cooperative services, charter school, or public preschool program (enrolling entity) from expelling a student, except as specifically required by federal law, and allows the enrolling entity to impose an out-of-school suspension on the student only under specified circumstances for 3 school days. Under additional specified circumstances, the enrolling entity may extend the out-of-school suspension to a total of 5 school days. Each school district and charter school must ensure that its school discipline code reflects the requirements specified in the bill. The state board of education cannot waive the provisions concerning expulsion and suspension of young students for school districts or charter schools. The bill specifies that school districts are required to adopt prevention and early intervention strategies to reduce the need for early childhood and early elementary grade suspensions and expulsions. The bill expands the expelled and at-risk student services grant program to include services for preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary grade students and their families. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
In 2009, the general assembly enacted the 'Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act' (2009 act), which allowed an employee of an employer who is subject to the federal 'Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993' to take leave from work for the purpose of attending academic activities for or with the employee's child. Under the 2009 act, academic activities included parent-teacher conferences or meetings related to special education services, interventions, dropout prevention, attendance, truancy, or discipline issues. The leave was allowed for an employee who is the parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in a public or private school or in a nonpublic home-based educational program in this state in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Leave under the 2009 act was limited to 6 hours per month and 18 hours in any academic year. The 2009 act permitted employers to: Restrict the use of leave in cases of emergency or other situations that may endanger a person's health or safety or if the employee's absence would halt the employer's service or production; and Limit the leave to 3-hour increments at a time and require the employee to submit written verification from the school or school district of the activity necessitating the leave. An employee was required to provide the employer with at least one week's notice of the leave except in emergency situations. The 2009 act specified that the 2009 act would repeal on September 1, 2015. The repeal provision was never amended, so the 2009 act repealed on September 1, 2015. The bill recreates and reenacts the 2009 act with the following modifications: School districts and institute charter schools must post on their websites, and include in district-wide or school-wide communications sent to parents and the community at large, information about the act; The Colorado state advisory council for parent involvement in education must also provide information about the act to the extent possible within existing resources; and The act continues indefinitely and the original repeal date in the 2009 act is amended to specify that the repeal was to apply only to the 2009 act.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)