The act establishes a set of evidence-based definitions to be used when analyzing a program or practice. If a state agency or the office of state planning and budgeting includes an evidence-based evaluation of a program or practice in a budget request or budget amendment, then the state agency or office is required to describe the program or practice using the definitions. In such case, the state agency or office is also required to provide any research that supports the program or practice or a decrease in funding for a program or practice, along with information concerning how the evidence referenced was used in the development of the budget request or budget amendment request.Joint budget committee staff is required to independently analyze and describe the program or practice using the definitions and to include any evidence-based information as part of any recommendation it makes regarding a budget request or budget amendment request. The staff director is required to appoint additional staff as necessary to provide the evidence-based analysis, and upon request, joint budget committee staff shall also assist legislators in incorporating evidence-based assessments in legislation for bills that create a new program or practice.The joint budget committee is required to consider, as one of many factors, any available evidence-based information when determining the appropriate level of funding of a program or practice.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The office of the state architect and the department of transportation are each required to establish policies regarding the global warming potential for specific categories of eligible materials used to construct certain public projects.The office of the state architect is required to establish a maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible material used in certain public projects under its purview. The act specifies which building materials are eligible materials. The office of the state architect is required to base the maximum acceptable global warming potential on the industry average of global warming potential emissions for that material and to express it as a number that states the maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible material.The department of transportation is required to develop policies to determine, track, and record greenhouse gas emissions for each category of eligible materials used in certain public projects under its purview in a manner consistent with criteria in an environmental product declaration.The office of the state architect and the department of transportation are both required to strive to achieve continuous reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in construction materials over time for the projects under their purview.For solicitations for certain public projects under the purview of the office of the state architect or the department of transportation issued after certain dates, the contractor that is awarded the contract is required to submit a current environmental product declaration for each eligible material proposed to be used in the public project.A contractor that is awarded a contract for certain public projects is prohibited from installing any eligible material on the project until the contractor submits an environmental product declaration for that material. If an environmental product declaration is not available for an eligible material, the contractor shall notify the relevant agency of government and install an alternative eligible material with an environmental product declaration. However, if a product meeting the policy requirements for a category of eligible materials is not reasonably priced or is not available to the contractor on a reasonable basis, the relevant agency of government may waive the requirement that the contractor submit an environmental product declaration for that eligible material before installing it.The office of the state architect and the department of transportation are required to annually report to the general assembly regarding the implementation of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the executive director of the department of labor and employment (executive director), in partnership with the director of the division of unemployment insurance, the office of the governor, and either the new American advisor in the department or the director of the office of new Americans (ONA), if established, to study the feasibility of establishing a contract with a nonprofit, third-party entity to administer a wage replacement program for individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own and who are ineligible for regular unemployment benefits due to their immigration status. The executive director and the new American advisor or director of the ONA are required to submit recommendations to the governor and to the senate business, labor, and technology committee and the house of representatives business affairs and labor committee.$75,000 is appropriated to the department of labor and employment for the wage replacement program study.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act updates the methods used to determine the cost-effectiveness of demand-side management (DSM) programs of public utilities selling natural gas at retail, including requiring that the calculation of future benefits reflects the avoided costs to ratepayers resulting from reduced consumption of natural gas. The act specifies that the calculation must be based on reliable estimates and published scientific data, including an increase in the social cost of carbon dioxide from $46 to $68 per short ton, and must include methane emissions using a social cost of methane of not less than $1,756 per short ton. In addition, the act adds savings targets and budget control mechanisms to the approval process for gas DSM programs, paralleling the existing process that applies to electric DSM programs. Section 5 of the act specifies labor standards that apply to all necessary plumbing, mechanical, and electrical work performed in connection with DSM projects for which a utility customer is eligible for a rebate from the utility. Under these standards, the utility may assign its own employees to do the work, but if a contractor is to be hired for a project in a commercial or industrial building or multifamily residential structure, the contractor must be chosen from a list of qualified contractors maintained by the Colorado department of labor and employment. To be eligible for inclusion on the list, a contractor must participate in specified apprenticeship programs. In addition, for smaller residential projects, the utility must condition customer rebates on the customer's use of licensed plumbing and electrical contractors.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the hospice and palliative care license plate for vehicles. A person is qualified to be issued the plate if the person makes a donation to a designated nonprofit organization. The person must also make an annual donation to the organization.In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees for the issuance of the plate. One of these fees is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other fee is credited to the licensing services cash fund.To implement the act, $6,907 is appropriated to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act defines a "gas distribution utility" (GDU) as a gas public utility with more than 90,000 retail customers. The bill requires each GDU to file a clean heat plan (plan) with the public utilities commission (PUC). A plan must demonstrate how the GDU will use clean heat resources to meet clean heat targets (targets) established by the act. The targets are a 4% reduction below 2015 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels by 2025 and 22% below 2015 GHG emission levels by 2030.The PUC will initiate a rule-making proceeding by October 1, 2021, to update demand-side management rules. The PUC will establish a cost cap for each GDU's compliance with its plan. The cost cap is 2.5% of annual gas bills for all of a GDU's full-service customers. The PUC is directed to approve a plan if the PUC finds that doing so is in the public interest.A municipal GDU must file a plan with the air quality control commission (AQCC) that demonstrates a 4% GHG emission reduction by 2025 and a 22% GHG emission reduction by 2030, both as compared with 2015 levels. Small GDUs may file a plan, which is subject to the cost cap and must contain its own targets.Section 2 requires the AQCC to initiate a rule-making proceeding by September 1, 2022, to establish protocols for recovered methane that utilities must use in forecasting their emission reductions.Section 3 directs the oil and gas conservation commission (commission) to conduct a study to evaluate the resources that would be needed to ensure the safe and effective regulation of injection wells used for sequestration of GHG.Section 4 makes the following appropriations:$92,482 and 1.0 FTE is appropriated from the public utilities commission fixed utility fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the PUC; $199,111 and 1.6 FTE is appropriated from the general fund to the department of public health and environment; From reappropriated funds received from the department of public health and environment, $37,000 is appropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology and $21,268 and 0.1 FTE is appropriated to the department of law; and $49,362 and 0.5 FTE is appropriated from the oil and gas conservation and environmental response fund to the department of natural resources for use by the commission.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act authorizes the public utilities commission (PUC) to approve utilities' applications to build new transmission facilities if the PUC, consistent with its authority, finds that the new facilities would assist the utilities in meeting the state's clean energy goals established in 2019. In constructing or expanding transmission facilities, a utility must use its own employees, engage a contractor whose employees have access to federally approved apprenticeship programs, or both. Section 1 also requires the PUC to consider the ability of the proposed facilities to support future expansion as needed to enable the utility to participate in an organized wholesale market (OWM), which is defined in section 2 as an organization established for the purpose of coordinating and managing the transmission of electricity among multiple public utilities on a multistate or regional basis. An application for construction or expansion of transmission facilities is deemed approved if the PUC does not deny it within 240 days after the application is complete and public notice has been given.Section 6 imposes a 180-day deadline for approval by a local government if local government approval is required.Sections 4 and 7 create the Colorado electric transmission authority (CETA) as an independent special purpose authority, and section 4 specifies the composition and manner of appointment of the board of directors that governs the authority. CETA is authorized to select a qualified transmission operator to finance, plan, acquire, maintain, and operate eligible electric transmission and interconnected storage facilities (eligible facilities).Under sections 4, 8, and 9, CETA is granted various powers necessary to accomplish its purposes, including the power to:Issue revenue bonds; Identify and establish intrastate electric transmission corridors; Coordinate with other entities to establish interstate electric transmission corridors; Exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire eligible facilities; and Collect payments of reasonable rates, fees, interest, or other charges from persons using eligible facilities. CETA is generally subject to state open-records and open-meetings requirements, but proprietary confidential information that it holds, including power purchase agreements, costs of production, costs of transmission, transmission service agreements, credit reviews, detailed power models, and financing statements, is not subject to inspection. Section 10 authorizes payment of CETA's administrative expenses, not to exceed $500,000 annually, from an existing cash fund administered by the PUC.Section 2 sets out deadlines and conditions under which an electric utility that owns and controls transmission facilities (transmission utility) is required to join an OWM. The commission may delay or waive this requirement for a utility that is unable, despite its best efforts, to find a viable and available OWM to join or if the commission determines, based on its evaluation of specified factors, that requiring the transmission utility to join an OWM would not be in the public interest. A transmission utility that joins an OWM may recover costs of participating in the OWN from its ratepayers.Under current law, a cooperative electric association with an electric easement on real property is authorized to install or to allow a commercial broadband supplier to install broadband facilities on the real property, subject to notice and procedural requirements. Section 3 expands the authorization to apply to any non-investor-owned, non-municipally-owned, vertically integrated supplier of electric energy to its customers or members.Section 9 specifies that when a right-of-way is taken for an interstate electric transmission line, the court shall evaluate public purpose in light of the transmission system as a whole, including public use and benefits occurring either within Colorado or at a regional level.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the Colorado school of public health to do a systematic review of the scientific research related to the possible physical and mental health effects of high-potency THC marijuana and concentrates using only funding provided by the general assembly. The act creates a scientific review council (council) to review the report and make recommendations to the general assembly. Based on the research and findings, the Colorado school of public health shall produce a public education campaign for the general public, to be approved by the council, regarding the effect of high-potency THC marijuana on the developing brain and mental health.Current law requires a doctor to conduct a full assessment of the patient's medical history when making a medical marijuana recommendation. The act requires that assessment to include the patient's mental health history. If the recommending physician is not the patient's primary care physician, the act directs the recommending physician to review the records of a diagnosing physician or licensed mental health provider. When a practitioner makes a medical marijuana authorization, the practitioner must certify that authorization to the department of public health and environment (department). The act requires the certification to include:The date of issue and the effective date of the recommendation; The patient's name and address; The recommending physician's name, address, and federal drug enforcement agency number; The maximum THC potency level of medical marijuana being recommended; The recommended product, if any; The daily authorized quantity, if the quantity exceeds the maximum statutorily allowed amount for the patient's age; Directions for use; and The recommending physician's signature. The act prohibits a physician for charging an additional fee for recommending an extended plant count or making a recommendation related to an exception to a medical marijuana requirement. The act directs the department to annually report on the number of physicians who made medical marijuana recommendations in the past year, how many recommendations each physician made, and the number of homebound patients ages 18 to 20 years old in the registry.The act imposes the following requirements on medical marijuana patients ages 18 to 20 years old:Two physicians from different medical practices have to diagnose the patient as having a debilitating or disabling medical condition after an in-person consultation; One of the physicians must explain the possible risks and benefits of the medical use of marijuana to the patient; One physician must provide the patient with the written documentation specifying that the patient has been diagnosed with a debilitating or disabling medical condition and the physician has concluded that the patient might benefit from the medical use of marijuana; and The patient attends follow-up appointments every 6 months after the initial visit with one of the physicians unless the patient is homebound. The act requires the department to create a report from emergency room and hospital discharge data of patients who presented with conditions or a diagnosis that reflects marijuana use and provide that report at the department's annual "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing.The act directs the association representing coroners to establish a working group to study methods to test for all scheduled drugs and the presence and quantity of THC in each case of a non-natural death and make recommendations by July 1, 2022. The recommendation must be reported to the house of representatives health and insurance committee and the senate health and human services committee, or their successor committees. Beginning January 1, 2022, the act requires the coroner in each case of a non-natural death to complete a toxicology screen. The coroner shall report the results of the toxicology screen to the Colorado violent death reporting system. The department then produces an annual report of the data beginning January 2, 2023, and annually each year thereafter.The act prohibits medical marijuana advertising that is specifically directed to persons ages 18 to 20 years old and requires medical and retail marijuana concentrate advertising to include a warning regarding the risks of medical marijuana concentrate overconsumption.A medical marijuana store and retail marijuana store shall provide a patient with a tangible education resource regarding the use of medical or retail marijuana concentrate when selling concentrate.The act requires medical marijuana stores to immediately record transactions in the seed-to-sale inventory tracking system to allow the system to:Continuously monitor entry of patient data to identify discrepancies with daily purchase limits and potency authorizations; Access and retrieve real-time sales data based on patient identification number; and Respond with a user error message if a sale to a patient or caregiver will exceed the patient's allowed purchase limit for that business day or potency authorization. The data collected is confidential and shall not be shared with anyone except when necessary to complete a sale.The act limits the amount of medical marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams, unless the patient is 18 to 20 years old then the limit is 2 grams, except in the case of a homebound patient, if the patient's certification states that the patient needs more than 8 grams or 2 grams respectively. The limit does not apply to medical marijuana patients if it would be a significant physical or geographic hardship for the patient to make a daily purchase or if the patient had a registry identification card prior to being 18 years old.The act limits the amount of retail marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams.The marijuana enforcement division shall convene a stakeholder work group to develop and complete by January 1, 2022:A uniform certification form to be used by recommending physicians when authorizing the patient to purchase more than the statutorily allowed quantities, as required by section 25-1.5-106 (5), Colorado Revised Statutes, which may be relied upon by medical marijuana stores. The form must contain a uniform weight and uniform potency description to enable a medical marijuana store to fulfill its obligations without the need to make a further calculation or examine other documents. The form shall not contain any information concerning the patient's medical condition or diagnosis. A tangible educational resource regarding the use of regulated marijuana concentrate. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act appropriates:$4,000,000 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado school of public health and any unexpended money from the appropriation is further appropriated to the department for the same purpose; $541,826 to the department of public health and environment for use by the center for health and environmental information: $265,656 of the appropriation is from the general fund and is $276,170 from the medical marijuana program cash fund; $50,000 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment for use by disease control and public health response; $255,167 from the marijuana cash fund to the department of revenue to implement the act; $95,706 and allocates 0.5 FTE to the department of law from reappropriated funds from the department of revenue; and $2,000,000 from the first time drunk driving offender account to the department of transportation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law imposes a limitation on the permit, application review, or any other related or associated fees that may be assessed by counties, municipalities, state agencies, and political subdivisions of the state for the installation of an active solar electric or solar thermal device or system. The act modifies this language so that the limitation applies to the aggregate of all charges or other related or associated fees the state, a county, municipality, state agency, or any other political subdivision of the state (governmental bodies) imposes or assesses for the installation of an active solar energy system.The act sets a limit on the aggregate of all charges or other related or associated fees any governmental body may impose or assess to install an active solar energy system of $500 for a residential permit and $1,000 for a commercial permit. In the case of a nonresidential application, on an individual installation basis only, if the governmental body incurs actual costs for issuing the permit that are greater than $1,000, the governmental body is entitled to recovery of its actual costs for issuing the permit by submitting in writing and disclosing to the applicant for the particular permit proof of the governmental body's actual costs.In connection with existing statutory requirements affecting state agencies and political subdivisions, the act clarifies that the duty to clearly and individually identify all fees and taxes assessed on an application on the invoice lies with the state or any agency, institution, authority, or political subdivision of the state.Under existing law, one component of determining the lawful fee for issuing a permit or reviewing an application requires a comparison of the lesser of the actual costs of providing such services or $500 for a residential application. The act restricts a governmental body from increasing its fees or other charges by more than 5% on an annual basis until the $500 limitation is achieved.The act also extends the repeal date of the fee limitation from July 1, 2025, to December 31, 2029.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals a moratorium on changing a ratio for valuation for assessment (assessment rate), which is the percentage applied to a property's actual value to determine the taxable amount upon which a mill levy is imposed and classifies agricultural property, lodging property, and renewable energy production property as new subclasses of nonresidential property for purposes of the valuation for assessment. The assessment rate for agricultural property and renewable energy production property is temporarily reduced from 29% to 26.4% for the next 2 property tax years. The law is restructured so that, if an initiated measure to reduce the assessment rate for nonresidential property is approved by voters, then it would only apply to lodging property.Multi-family residential real property is classified as a new subclass of residential real property. The law is restructured so that, if an initiated measure to reduce the residential assessment rate is approved by voters, then it would only apply to multi-family residential real property. If the initiated measure fails or is not on the ballot, then, the assessment rate for multi-family residential real property is temporarily reduced from 7.15% to 6.8% for the next 2 property tax years. The assessment rate for all residential real property other than multi-family residential real property is temporarily reduced from 7.15% to 6.95% for the next 2 property tax years.The property tax deferral program is expanded to allow any person to defer the payment of the portion of real property taxes that exceed the tax-growth cap, which is an amount equal to the average of the person's real property taxes paid for the preceding 2 property tax years for the same homestead, increased by 4%. The minimum amount a taxpayer may defer at one time under this authorization is $100, and the total taxes that a taxpayer may defer is $10,000. The taxpayer is treated like a person called into military service for purposes of surviving-spouse eligibility and the equity the person must have in the homestead to qualify for a deferral.The governor's office, in consultation with the treasurer, is required to commission a study on the property tax deferral program and make recommendations for possible changes to the general assembly by January 1, 2022.Assessors are required to include information about the assessment rates that apply to the various classes of property, which is prepared by the property tax administrator, along with the notices of valuation that are sent in 2022 or make this information available on the assessor's website.Finally, the act makes conforming amendments related to the new classifications or assessment rates.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)