Sen. Leroy M. Garcia, Jr.

Emergency medical service providers - application for licensure - eligibility. The act authorizes a certified emergency medical service (EMS) provider to apply for licensure from the department of public health and environment based on a demonstration to the satisfaction of the department that the EMS provider has completed a 4-year bachelor's degree program from an accredited college or university in a field related to the health sciences or an equivalent field, as determined by the state board of health by rule. Specified portions of the act are contingent upon House Bill 19-1172 becoming effective. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Public utilities commission - continuation under sunset law - distribution system planning - workforce transition planning - clean energy plan - wholesale electric cooperative electric resource plan - vehicle booting regulation - energy impact bonds - rules - appropriation. The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies' 2018 sunset review and report on the public utilities commission (commission) by: Authorizing the commission to promulgate rules to delegate routine, administrative transportation matters to staff and clarifying that the commission provides initial review of each case submitted for adjudication and determines whether it wishes to retain the case or to assign it to an administrative law judge or to an individual commissioner; Providing for alternate forms of communication that a public utility may utilize to notify its customers of rate changes, including text message and e-mail, and requiring the public utility to post notice of the rate change on its public website, including a reference to the docket numbers of relevant rules or adjudicatory matters; Transferring the administration of the legal services offset fund from the department of law to the department of regulatory agencies; Making technical changes regarding criminal history record checks and telecommunications; Repealing a requirement that an electric utility, as part of the electric utility's plan for acquisition of renewable resources, purchase a certain amount of energy from community solar gardens in 2011 through 2013, but delaying the repeal until 2043 to keep the legislation in place until contracts entered into pursuant to the requirement have likely all expired; Repealing the requirement that the commission, in considering electric utilities' proposals for generation acquisition, give consideration to proposals to propose, fund, and construct integrated gasification combined cycle generation facilities; and Clarifying that the commission may impose a civil penalty for a violation of railroad crossing safety regulations. The act also: Directs the commission to promulgate rules to require an investor-owned utility to file with the commission, for the commission's approval, a distribution system plan regarding the utility's anticipated distribution system investments; Requires an investor-owned utility, when submitting a filing to the commission that includes a proposed retirement of an electric generating facility, to include in the filing a workforce transition plan that provides estimates of workforce transitions that will occur as a result of retiring the electric generating facility; Directs the commission to conduct an investigation of financial performance-based incentives and performance-based metric tracking to identify mechanisms for aligning utility operations and investments with various public benefit goals, including safety, cost efficiency, and emissions reduction. The commission must report the findings of its investigation to the general assembly 18 months after the act's passage; Requires the commission to open a nonadjudicatory proceeding to conduct a survey of public utility retail rates and to consider recommendations for providing rate relief in geographic areas with retail rates that are materially greater than the state average; Directs the commission to require a wholesale electric cooperative to submit to the commission an application for approval of an integrated or electric resource plan; Declares the rights of retail electric utility customers to generate, consume, store, and export electricity from eligible energy resources through distributed generation; Requires a qualifying retail utility to submit a plan, and allows any other electric utility to voluntarily submit a plan, to the commission as part of its ongoing resource acquisition planning process to seek approval from the commission on how the qualifying retail utility plans to address clean energy targets established in the act. A utility implementing a clean energy plan may recover its cost of implementation through electricity rates, as approved by the commission. Directs the commission to evaluate the cost of carbon dioxide emissions in certain proceedings related to a public utility subject to the commission's jurisdiction and to promulgate rules to require those public utilities, when submitting filings, to include the cost of carbon dioxide emissions related to the evaluation of electric generation resources. Starting in 2020, the commission is required to establish a base cost of carbon dioxide emissions in an amount not less than $46 and shall modify the cost thereafter based on escalation rates established by a federal interagency working group. Authorizes the commission to regulate vehicle booting companies, which are private entities in the business of immobilizing motor vehicles through use of a boot, through issuance of permits and enforcement mechanisms including inspections, imposition of a civil penalty, and revocation of a permit; and Adopts the "Colorado Energy Impact Bond Act", under which electric utilities may finance the retirement of fossil-fuel-powered generation facilities and the transition to renewable energy sources by issuing low-cost corporate securities. The securities are subject to commission approval and required to have a rating of at least AA or Aa2, must have a scheduled maturity date of 32 years or less, and are repayable through electricity rates as part of the costs of implementing a clean energy plan. The act continues the functions of the commission for 7 years, until 2026. $907,566 is appropriated for state fiscal year 2019-20 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the commission for personal services, operating expenses, and the purchase of legal services. The money is appropriated from the public utilities commission fixed utilities fund. Additionally, $163,820 is appropriated to the department of public health and environment from the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

State prisons - bed shortages - CSP II - input from prison population interim committee. Under current law, the Centennial south campus of the Centennial correctional facility (CSP II) is not available to house inmates. The act allows CSP II to be used to house inmates when the state male prison vacant bed rate, excluding RTP treatment beds, remains below one percent vacancy for 2 consecutive months. Once the prison population surpasses one percent vacancy, the department of corrections (department) shall transfer any inmates housed in CSP II to an appropriate facility under the department's control within 30 calendar days. No more than 126 inmates may be housed at CSP II. The department shall report the use of CSP II to the joint budget committee and the judiciary committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, within 5 calendar days after the use and will make monthly reports during its use. The act requires the department to consider input from the prison population management interim committee regarding: Strategies to safely reduce the prison population and reduce recidivism; and Prison use analysis. These provisions repeal September 1, 2020. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Sales and use tax - wholesale sales - agricultural commodities - fertilizer and spray adjuvants. Wholesale sales are not subject to sales and use taxes. The act includes sales of fertilizer and spray adjuvants used in the production of agricultural commodities in the definition of "wholesale sales" for sales and use tax purposes.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

State sales tax exemption for farm equipment - extension - applicability to local sales taxes. Current law exempts cow identification systems and transponders used by a farm dairy to identify and track dairy cows from the state sales and use tax but does not otherwise exempt any equipment or systems used by a farm operation to identify or track food animals. By amending the statutory definition of "farm equipment", the act extends the existing state sales and use tax exemption to include, regardless of purchase price, any visual, electronic identification, or matched pair ear tags and electronic identification readers used to scan ear tags that are used by a farm operation to identify or track food animals, including animals used for food or in the production of food. Under the act the extension of the exemption only applies to a county or municipal sales tax if the county or municipality amends its sales tax ordinance to include the extension of the exemption.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Access to behavioral health supports for high-risk families - pregnant and parenting women - high-risk families cash fund - child care services and substance use disorder treatment pilot program - regional mobile child care model - appropriation. The act amends existing programs that provide access to substance use disorder treatment to pregnant and parenting women up to one year postpartum. The act creates child care pilot programs for parenting women engaged in substance use disorder treatment. The act: Encourages health care practitioners and county departments of human or social services to identify pregnant women and parenting women for a needs assessment to determine needed services; Authorizes the state department of human services (state department) to use state money to provide residential substance use disorder treatment to pregnant and parenting women until such time as those services are covered under the state program of medical assistance and authorized under federal law; Creates the high-risk families cash fund (cash fund) in the office of behavioral health in the state department to increase capacity for and provide services to high-risk parents, including pregnant and parenting women, and for services for high-risk children and youth with behavioral health disorders. The state treasurer shall transfer unencumbered money in the cash fund to certain programs listed in the act. Creates the child care services and substance use disorder treatment pilot program (pilot program) as a two-generation initiative in the state department, and awards pilot program grants to enhance existing child care resource and referral programs and increase child care navigation capacity to serve pregnant and parenting women seeking or participating in substance use disorder treatment; Awards pilot program grants to enhance the capacity of the existing child care resource and referral program's centralized call center to serve pregnant and parenting women with a substance use disorder; Awards pilot program grants to pilot a regional mobile child care model to serve young children of parenting women in substance use disorder treatment; Requires an annual appropriation of $500,000 for 3 fiscal years for the pilot program, and requires annual reporting to the general assembly concerning the pilot program. Any money not expended for the pilot program will be transferred to the high-risk families cash fund. Prohibits the admission into evidence in criminal proceedings information relating to substance use during pregnancy, with certain exceptions, that is obtained as part of providing postpartum care for up to one year postpartum or disclosed while women are seeking or participating in behavioral health treatment. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the bill appropriates $500,000 from the general fund to the department of human services, office of early childhood, to implement the child care services and substance use disorder treatment pilot program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More