Law enforcement is required to report to the peace officers standards and training board (P.O.S.T. board) certain information related to peace officer conduct for inclusion in a searchable database. The act requires the head of the law enforcement agency providing the report to certify the accuracy of the information in the report. When certain peace officer conduct is reported, the peace officer is entitled to a show cause hearing. Upon request of the P.O.S.T. board, the agency providing the report shall provide the P.O.S.T. board with all documents relevant to the discipline for which the peace officer was placed in the database. If a law enforcement agency refuses to provide the records, the P.O.S.T. board may subpoena the records. If the court grants the subpoena, the court may order the law enforcement agency to pay the P.O.S.T. board's attorney fees, costs, and fees related to the subpoena. The act prohibits the P.O.S.T. board from including information in the database if the information is received from an agency that does not employ or has not employed the subject of the information. If an agency fails to report the information, the agency is subject to a fine. A peace officer who is included in the searchable database can appeal the officer's inclusion in the database. When a peace officer is added to the database, the P.O.S.T. board shall provide the officer with information on its website about how to appeal that action. The act requires the peace officer's disciplining law enforcement agency to provide the P.O.S.T. board with all documents relevant to the discipline for which the officer was placed in the database. If a law enforcement agency refuses to provide the records, the P.O.S.T. board may subpoena the records. If the court grants the subpoena, the court may order the law enforcement agency to pay the P.O.S.T. board's attorney fees, costs, and fees related to the subpoena. The act gives the P.O.S.T. board the authority to remove entries from the database that are in error. Under current law, the P.O.S.T. board shall permanently revoke a peace officer's certification and record that information in the database if the officer is found civilly liable for the use of unlawful physical force or is found civilly liable for failure to intervene in the use of unlawful force and the incident resulted in serious bodily injury or death to another person. The act gives the P.O.S.T. board the discretion to permanently revoke a peace officer's certification in those cases. If a law enforcement agency is investigating a peace officer for an incident that could result in a database report, the law enforcement agency shall inform the peace officer of the agency's duty to report that information and the consequences of the reporting. The act prohibits a law enforcement agency from agreeing to a settlement with a peace officer that includes the agency agreeing to not report the information to the database. Current law requires a law enforcement agency to provide a peace officer's personnel records, when they receive a waiver for the records, to another law enforcement agency that is considering employing the peace officer. The act requires a law enforcement agency or governmental agency that submits the waiver to another agency and does not receive the records to report that fact to the P.O.S.T. board. The P.O.S.T. board may contact the agency, and if the agency does not provide the disclosure within 6 calendar days, the P.O.S.T. board shall not provide the agency with P.O.S.T. board funding for a period of one year and the agency may be subject to fines. The act allows a person to maintain their P.O.S.T. certification if they are not working as a peace officer but are working for a law enforcement agency in a non-peace-officer role and they maintain the annual P.O.S.T. board training requirements. In 2024, the general assembly provided temporary peace officer status to administrators of judicial security. The act makes the status permanent. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act creates 2 income tax subtractions for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2027, but before January 1, 2038. The first subtraction is for an amount equal to state capital gains that are realized by a taxpayer, who is the owner of a qualified business, during the taxable year for the conversion by an increment of at least 20% ownership to a qualified employee-owned business. The taxpayers that are eligible for this subtraction are the same taxpayers that would be eligible for the tax credit for conversion costs for employee business ownership. The total amount of capital gains that a taxpayer may subtract is set by and may be annually adjusted by the Colorado office of economic development (office), and is required to be posted on the office's website. The second subtraction is allowed to worker-owned cooperatives in an amount equal to the worker-owned cooperative's federal taxable income for the tax year not to exceed $1 million. The act also makes changes to the tax credit for conversion or expansion costs for employee business ownership (credit), which has been available through income tax year 2026. The act extends the credit through income tax years commencing in 2031. The act also specifies that the aggregate amount of credits that can be claimed for each income tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2032, is $3 million. The act also increases the percentage of conversion or expansion costs that are eligible to be claimed for the credit from 50% to 75% beginning in tax year 2026 while maintaining the existing dollar caps for the different methods of conversion. Additionally, the act revises several definitions to expand eligibility for the credit and allows for qualified support entities, which are businesses or nonprofit organizations that provide services to businesses that qualify under the credit so that those businesses can convert or expand to employee ownership, to be eligible to receive the credit for up to 75% of the costs incurred for providing such support, not to exceed $167,000, including for staff salaries and benefits, marketing and outreach, and consulting and technical assistance. Support costs exclude any costs that are considered conversion or expansion costs that can be claimed in the credit for employee business ownership. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of personnel (department), in partnership with the office of new Americans, to conduct or contract to conduct a statewide language access assessment of the readiness of principal departments to meet the language access standards outlined in the language access universal policy (assessment). The assessment covers all principal departments except the department of state, the department of the treasury, and the department of law (principal departments). The assessment must identify: The needs of principal departments to meet the language access standards outlined in the language access universal policy, including requests for guidance, training, and technical assistance; Relevant language access materials from principal departments, including language access plans, position descriptions related to language access, procedures related to language access, and technical assistance or training materials; Information on current language services contracts, expenditures, and funding sources related to language access; The public-facing responsibilities of principal departments, including designating which principal departments and their subcontractors do and do not have frequent contact with linguistically diverse individuals; and Other covered entities that may be subject to the standards outlined in the language access universal policy. The department may enter into an agreement with a third-party entity to conduct all or part of the assessment. The third-party entity must have demonstrated expertise in working with state governments on language access initiatives, such as developing language access policies or plans. At the conclusion of the assessment and not later than December 31, 2026, the department, the office of new Americans, or the third-party entity is required to create a report that summarizes the findings of the assessment and makes recommendations concerning: Improving efficiency, increasing quality of service, reducing cost, avoiding duplicative work, building on existing best practices, and minimizing administrative burden with respect to the provision of linguistically accessible government services and programs to linguistically diverse individuals; Addressing gaps and improving meaningful service through changes to language access services, practices, and procedures; Evaluating potential technological options for increasing language access, such as artificial intelligence; and Determining what infrastructure is needed to ensure full and sustainable implementation of the standards outlined in the language access universal policy. The department must also maintain a community of practice to focus on implementing the language access universal policy with ongoing observation of best practices in the principal departments. The department must include a summary of the report and assessment in its January 2027 presentation to legislative oversight committees required by the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act". For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, $100,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department for use by the Colorado equity office for personal services. Any money not expended by July 1, 2026, is further appropriated to the Colorado equity office through December 31, 2026. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes a county, special district, or school district to negotiate property tax relief with a taxpayer that establishes or expands a "qualified communication services facility", which is a facility or other real or personal property used in the provision of fixed broadband or mobile broadband internet access service, if the facility will serve an unserved or underserved area of the county, special district, or school district. The act sets limits and standards for the tax relief. The act also amends the legislative declaration for the statute establishing a sales tax refund for rural broadband service providers by: Stating that requirements to pay sales and use tax on federal-funded and state-funded broadband deployment reduce the efficacy and impact of the federal and state deployment grant money; Noting that wireless telecommunications technologies rely on forms of broadband infrastructure like fiber and landline networks and are, therefore, interconnected to broadband; and Including a tax preference performance statement for the sales tax refund indicating that a purpose of the sales tax refund is to incentivize private sector investment in broadband infrastructure.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under the federal 340B drug pricing program (340B program), a covered entity, including certain hospitals, programs, and federally qualified health centers (covered entity), that serves patients with low income receives discounted outpatient drugs (340B drugs) from manufacturers that participate in the federal medicaid and medicare programs. Unless the receipt of 340B drugs is prohibited by the federal department of health and human services, the act prohibits a manufacturer, third-party logistics provider, or repackager in this state, or an agent, contractor, or affiliate of those entities, including an entity that collects or processes health information, from directly or indirectly denying, restricting, prohibiting, discriminating against, or otherwise limiting the acquisition of a 340B drug by, or delivery of a 340B drug to, a covered entity, a pharmacy contracted with a covered entity, or a location otherwise authorized by a covered entity to receive and dispense 340B drugs. The act also prohibits a manufacturer from directly or indirectly requiring a covered entity, a pharmacy contracted with a covered entity, or any other location authorized to receive 340B drugs by a covered entity to submit any health information, claims or utilization data, or other specified data that does not relate to a claim submitted to certain federal health care programs, unless the data is voluntarily furnished or required to be furnished under federal law. The act defines "340B savings" as the difference between the aggregated market rate costs and the aggregated acquisition costs for 340 B drugs. Certain hospital covered entities are prohibited from using 340B savings for certain purposes. A violation of the prohibitions in the act is an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act" (protection act), and the violator is subject to the enforcement provisions and penalties contained in the protection act. In addition, a person regulated by the state board of pharmacy (pharmacy board) that violates the provisions of the protection act may be subject to discipline by the pharmacy board against the person's license, certification, or registration, as well as other penalties. The act requires certain hospital covered entities to annually report to the department of health care policy and financing certain information concerning 340B savings and costs relating to providing charity care. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
With regard to the family and medical leave insurance program (program), the act extends the duration of paid family and medical leave, up to an additional 12 weeks, for a parent who has a child receiving inpatient care in a neonatal intensive care unit. The act also changes the premiums financing the program benefits by extending the current premium amount, 0.9% of wages per employee, through 2025 and setting the premium amount for the 2026 calendar year at 0.88% of wages per employee. For each subsequent calendar year, the director of the division of family and medical leave insurance (director) is required set the premium on or before September 1 of the preceding year, in a manner such that: At the end of the year, the balance of the family and medical leave insurance fund (fund) is not less than 6 months' worth of projected expenditures from the fund required for performance of the functions and duties of the director; The volatility of the premium rate is minimized; and The premium amount does not exceed 1.2% of wages per employee.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act removes the term "homosexuality" from the definition of sexual conduct in the sexually explicit materials harmful to children part of the "Colorado Criminal Code". (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the strategic outdoor recreation management and infrastructure cash fund (infrastructure cash fund), requires a specified percentage of lottery fund money to be distributed to the infrastructure cash fund in state fiscal years when available lottery fund money exceeds $20 million, and continuously appropriates the money in the cash fund to the division of parks and wildlife for specified outdoor recreation and management purposes. The act also creates the outdoor recreation economic development cash fund (development cash fund); requires a specified amount and, in state fiscal years when available lottery fund money exceeds $20 million, an additional specified percentage, of lottery fund money to be distributed to the development cash fund; subject to annual appropriation, allows the outdoor recreation industry office to spend money from the development fund; and requires the following transfers to be made to the development cash fund on June 30, 2025: $176,830 from the damage prevention fund; $83,839 from the dispute resolution fund; $6,784 from the youthful offender system surcharge fund; $118,741 from the professional development center cash fund; $21,278 from the immunization fund; $83,354 from the family support services fund; $5,348 from the department of military and veterans affairs fund; $9,648 from the publications fund; $85,901 from the tax lien certification fund; $4,413 from the wholesale and distributing subcontractor license fund; $5,963 from the moving outreach fund; and $121,389 from the disabled parking education and enforcement fund. Law in effect before the passage of the act distributed, to the extent available, the first $3 million of the lottery fund to the outdoor equity fund, the next $3 million to the public school capital construction assistance fund, and any remaining money as follows: 25% to the wildlife cash fund; 25% to the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund; and 50% to the public school capital construction assistance fund. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year and each state fiscal year thereafter, the act redistributes, to the extent available, the first $4 million of the lottery fund to the outdoor equity fund, the next $3 million to the public school capital construction assistance fund, the next $750,000 to the development cash fund, and any remaining money as follows: If the total amount of lottery fund money available is $20 million or less: 50% to the public school capital construction assistance fund; 20% to the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund; 20% to the wildlife cash fund; and 10% to the outdoor equity fund; or If the total amount of lottery fund money available is more than $20 million: 50% to the public school capital construction assistance fund; 15% to the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund; 15% to the wildlife cash fund; 10% to the outdoor equity fund; 5% to the development cash fund; and 5% to the infrastructure cash fund. For state fiscal year 2025-26, the act appropriates $723,488 from the development cash fund to the office of economic development for use by the outdoor recreation industry office. If not fully expended in state fiscal year 2025-26, the appropriation remains available for expenditure for state fiscal years 2026-27 and 2027-28. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates state procurement practices for firearms and items regulated pursuant to the federal "National Firearms Act" ("NFA"). The act applies to all contracts the state sources, enters into, awards, amends, renews, or extends on or after January 1, 2026, for procuring firearms or items regulated pursuant to the "NFA". During a governmental body's contracting process, sourcing method process, or upon request during the term of a contract, a contractor or bidder shall comply with certain requirements, make certain disclosures, and provide certain documentation to confirm that the contractor or bidder engages in safe business practices. The attorney general may assist the department of personnel (department) in developing processes and procedures to implement the procurement practices. The department may adopt rules to implement this act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Beginning January 1, 2027, the act: Allows a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) to earn income derived from the assessment of a flat-dollar service fee for the provision of a prescription drug; Prohibits a PBM from earning income based on the price or cost of a prescription drug; Prohibits a PBM from designing a formulary to favor a certain branded pharmaceutical or biologic; Requires a PBM to be reimbursed by a health benefit plan for lowering the plan's prescription drug spending over a given period of time and for the direct services the PBM provides to the plan; Sets the amount that a PBM shall reimburse an unaffiliated pharmacy or a PBM-affiliated retail, mail order, or specialty pharmacy for a prescription drug; and Requires a contract between a PBM and a health benefit plan to contain a provision where the PBM discloses prescription drug cost information to the health benefit plan and a provision authorizing the health benefit plan to execute an audit to validate compliance with the contract.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)