The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report on the division of gaming (division) in the department of revenue. Specifically, the act: Continues the division for 11 years, until 2033; Allows the Colorado limited gaming control commission (commission) to delegate licensing duties to the division; Lowers the minimum age for a casino employee from 21 years of age to 18 years of age; Designates the department of revenue's hearings division to conduct hearings under the "Fantasy Contests Act"; Repeals the requirement that internationally based internet sports betting personnel submit to a fingerprint-based criminal history record check; and Subjects payments of sports bet winnings to the "Gambling Payment Intercept Act" on and after July 1, 2023. The act also empowers the commission to determine whether persons that are not licensed by the commission to conduct sports betting or limited gaming operations are offering to one or more members of the public, in any city, town, city and county, or county: Unlicensed sports betting operations; Unlicensed internet sports betting operations; or Unlicensed establishments that allow the use of equipment or devices that qualify as slot machines or are used to play roulette or craps. The act also prohibits a person from offering sports betting or one or more games, authorized as "limited gaming", to the public without possessing the required license from the commission to conduct: Sports betting operations; Internet sports betting operations; or Operations using equipment or devices that qualify as slot machines or are used to play roulette or craps. The act also adjusts the elements of the existing offense of underage gaming and resets the penalties for the offense as follows: For a first offense, a civil penalty of $500; For a second offense, a civil penalty of $1,000; and For a third or subsequent offense, a class 2 misdemeanor.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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Under current law, facilities that provide long-term nursing, rest, and assisted living services, where residents reside for more than 30 days, are classified as residential properties. However, facilities that provide short-term convalescent care and rehabilitation services, where patrons visit the facility periodically or temporarily reside there for less than 30 days, are valued and classified as nonresidential property. The act defines a nursing home as a licensed nursing care facility, including a nursing care facility that provides convalescent care and rehabilitation services. The act specifies that land on which a nursing home is situated and any improvements affixed to that land for the use of the nursing home are classified and assessed as residential real property, regardless of a resident's length of stay. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals the requirements that property must be owned for strictly charitable purposes and not for private gain or corporate profit and that the property must be irrevocably dedicated to a charitable purpose in order for the property to qualify for the property tax exemption for property used as an integral part of a child care center. These changes allow property that is used by a tenant or subtenant to operate a child care center to be eligible for the exemption, and the act specifies that in such case, only the operator's use is to be considered for purposes of determining whether the property is eligible for the exemption. An operator of an eligible facility, or the operator's authorized agent, is required to sign the exemption application form and to provide the property tax administrator with any requested information related to the exemption. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the department of public health and environment to prohibit the chemical modification, conversion, or synthetic derivation of intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol isomers that originate from industrial hemp or may be synthetically derived. The act also creates a task force to study intoxicating hemp products and make legislative and rule recommendations. The task force will submit a report to the general assembly by January 1, 2023. The task force consists of 20 members including representatives of state government, experts in marijuana and industrial hemp regulation, persons licensed in the marijuana and medical marijuana fields, persons working with industrial hemp, testing laboratories, and a representative of a county or district public health agency. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $587,347 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department of law, $4,630 of which is reappropriated to the department of personnel. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the teen parent driver's license program (program) in the department of human services (department) to provide financial assistance for the cost of driver's education school training for eligible individuals and the cost to obtain a driver's license or permit. A person is eligible for the program if the person is a parent and 15 years of age or older and under 21 years of age. The department must solicit interest and cost distribution proposals from teen parent organizations to administer the program. The department must annual report on: The total number of teen parent organizations contracted with the department; The total amount of money awarded to each teen parent organization; The location of each teen parent organization and the counties served; The total number of eligible individuals who received driver's licenses each year, disaggregated by each month; and The total number of eligible individuals who received training from a driver's education school, disaggregated by each month. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the department of human services for use by the office of economic security to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state treasurer to make 2 payments of $6,650,000 to the fire and police pension association for it to deposit in the statewide death and disability trust fund. The first payment on July 1, 2022, is from the general fund, and the second payment on July 1, 2023, is from the newly created death and disability payment cash fund, which consists of money transferred from the general fund on July 1, 2022. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows a medical marijuana cultivation facility to transfer medical marijuana, physically or virtually via the seed-to-sale tracking system, to a retail marijuana cultivation facility with at least one of the same owners, and the retail marijuana cultivation facility to receive the marijuana and change the designation of the marijuana from medical to retail. The act clarifies that the retail marijuana cultivation facility is required to pay any retail marijuana excise tax on the transferred marijuana. The act appropriates $228,510 to the department of revenue from the marijuana cash fund for use by the marijuana enforcement division. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The school security disbursement program (program), which was repealed in 2021, is recreated and reenacted in the department of public safety (department) to provide funding for school districts, district charter schools, institute charter schools, boards of cooperative services, and eligible nonprofit organizations (eligible entities) to implement school security improvements to prevent incidents of school violence. Eligible entities may apply for a disbursement by submitting an application to the department. An eligible entity that receives a disbursement may use the money for one or more of the following purposes: Capital construction that improves the security of a public school facility or public school vehicle; Training in student threat assessment for school staff; In collaboration with local law enforcement agencies, providing the training for peace officers on interactions with students at school; School emergency response training for school staff; Programs to help students become more resilient in meeting the daily challenges they face without resorting to violence against themselves or others; Developing and providing training programs, curricula, and seminars related to school safety incident response; and Developing best practices and protocols related to school safety incident response. The department is required to review the applications received from eligible entities and, subject to available appropriations, to disburse money to applicants that satisfy the application requirements from money credited to the school security disbursement cash fund. The department is required to give priority to applicants that commit to providing matching money for the amount of the disbursement received. Each disbursement recipient is required to report to the department concerning its use of the money, and the department is required to annually provide a summary of the reports to specified committees of the general assembly. The program is repealed, effective July 1, 2032. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the school security disbursement program cash fund (cash fund). The department of public safety (department) may disburse money from the cash fund to school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative services to improve security within public schools. The act appropriates $6 million from the general fund to the cash fund. The act continues the temporary youth mental health services program and the bi-annual reporting requirements until June 30, 2024, and appropriates $6 million from the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the department of human services for the program. The act appropriates $2 million from the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the department of education for the behavioral health care professional matching grant program. Provisions of the act creating the school security disbursement program cash fund are contingent upon House Bill 22-1120, which recreates the school security disbursement program, becoming law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, common carriers and contract carriers may use independent contractors for transportation services. The contract must provide for coverage under either workers' compensation or an occupational accident insurance policy that provides "similar coverage" to that available under workers' compensation. "Similar coverage" must meet or exceed standards set by the division of insurance and is defined to require benefits that are at least comparable to the benefits offered under the workers' compensation system. The act changes the definition of "similar coverage" to an occupational accident insurance policy that provides a minimum aggregate policy limit of $1,500,000 for all benefits paid for the benefit of the operator. The act also defines "commercial vehicle" and "operator" for the purpose of occupational accident insurance required by independent contractors of carriers. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)