The act requires the department of public health and environment (department), to the extent that funding is available as part of the department's green business network, to: Provide annual training that includes food waste prevention and reduction strategies; Develop a food waste reduction guidance document (document); Place the document on the department's public website; and Update the document at least annually. The act suggests means by which retail food establishments may donate or resell safe food. The act states that, on and after January 1, 2026, grocery stores are encouraged to: Clearly display the ingredients of items of prepared food; and Use "best if used or frozen by" dates rather than "sell by" dates upon prepared items of food. Current law provides civil and criminal immunity to a farmer, retail food establishment, correctional facility, school district, hospital, or processor, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer of food that donates items of food to a nonprofit organization for use or distribution in providing assistance to individuals in need. The act extends this immunity to apply to: Faith-based organizations that donate food; and Food donations to faith-based organizations and individuals. The act also clarifies that the immunity from liability applies regardless of whether the donated food is alleged to have caused illness or death. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act prohibits a person's failure to appear from forming the basis of a municipal criminal charge against the person. The act clarifies that, for purposes of the act, failure to appear includes contempt of court for the failure to appear or any other term used by a municipality to refer to a person's failure to appear at a scheduled court date. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes the following changes to the "Colorado Open Records Act" (CORA): Excludes from the definition of a "public record" a written document or electronic record that is produced by a device or application that is used to assist an individual with a disability or individuals with a language barrier to facilitate communication if the written document or electronic record has been produced to facilitate communication in lieu of verbal communication; Changes the reasonable time to respond to a CORA request, except for requests from a mass medium or a newsperson, from 3 working days to 5 working days and changes the extension of time for the response period if extenuating circumstances exist from not exceeding 7 additional days to not exceeding 10 additional days; Adds an extenuating circumstance that allows for an extension of the response period when the custodian is not scheduled to work within the response period; Requires public entities to post any rules or policies adopted pursuant to CORA, including, if the public entity has one, the public entity's records retention policy, and to post information for members of the public regarding how to make a public records request; If public records are in the sole and exclusive custody and control of someone who is not scheduled to work within the response period, requires a custodian to provide all other available responsive public records within the response period and notify the requester of the earliest date on which the person is expected to be available or that the person is not expected to return to work. The requester may make a subsequent request for additional responsive records, if any, on or after the date the custodian provides. Allows a custodian, subject to certain exceptions, to determine that a request is made for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain, requires the custodian to provide written notice of the determination to the requester, allows the custodian a 30-day response period for such a request, permits the requester to submit a signed statement affirming that the request is not for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain that the custodian must consider in making their determination, permits the requester to appeal the determination that the request is made for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain to the district court, and allows a custodian to charge the requester for the reasonable cost of directly responding to the request notwithstanding the allowance for the first hour of research and retrieval to otherwise be free of charge and notwithstanding the statutory cap on fees, which otherwise would apply; In addition to the prohibition on disclosing public elementary or secondary school students' addresses and telephone numbers, prohibits disclosure of any other information of such a student that could be used by a person to directly contact, address, or send a message to the student through any means or method; Clarifies that if a custodian imposes any requirements concerning the prepayment of fees or the payment of fees in connection with a request for inspection of public records, the requirements must be in accordance with the custodian's adopted rules or written policies and must not be inconsistent with the provisions of CORA; Allows a requester to ask a custodian for a reasonable break-down of costs that comprises the fee charged for the research and retrieval of the requested public records; Modifies the requirement that, if a custodian of records for a public entity allows members of the public to pay for any other service or product provided by the custodian with a credit card or electronic payment, then the custodian must allow a requester of a public record to pay any fee or deposit associated with the request with a credit card or electronic payment, to instead require that the custodian allow for payment in this manner if the public entity allows members of the public to pay for any other service or product provided by the public entity; and Allows a custodian to treat a CORA request made within 14 calendar days of another CORA request for information pertaining to facially similar content made by the same person as one request for purposes of calculating the fee that the custodian may charge the requester for research and retrieval of responsive public records. VETOED by Governor April 17, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates $74,577,313 to the legislative department for the payment of expenses in the 2025-26 state fiscal year. Of this amount, $72,829,086 is from the general fund, $5,000 is from cash funds, and $1,743,227 is from reappropriated funds. Additionally, the act: Appropriates $5,000 from the general fund to the youth advisory council cash fund; and Further appropriates to the legislative department, for use by the legislative council in the 2025-26 state fiscal year for document remediation, $150,000 from the general fund appropriation to the legislative department for the 2024-25 state fiscal year that was not expended in that fiscal year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the Colorado pet overpopulation authority (authority) to distribute money to encourage a pet animal facility, a pet animal rescue, and a spay and neuter organization located in Colorado (animal welfare facility) to trap, neuter, and return to its habitat a free-roaming domestic cat that may have a caretaker and is not socialized to humans (community cat). The adopt a shelter pet account in the pet overpopulation fund (account) provides the funding for these services. The authority will allocate funding pursuant to the direction of the authority's board of directors (board). The authority must not favor a particular animal welfare facility's shelter model over another when allocating money to an animal welfare facility. A pet animal facility must be licensed and in good standing with the department of agriculture and located in Colorado to be eligible for money to support trapping, neutering, and returning to the community a community cat (trap-neuter-return). An animal welfare facility allocated money for trap-neuter-return may spend the money only on: Trapping, sterilizing, vaccinating, and ear-tipping community cats in Colorado; Veterinary care for the treatment and sterilization of community cats in Colorado; Training for community cat caretakers and animal control personnel in humane trapping and trap-neuter-return protocols in Colorado; and For an animal welfare facility that is a spay and neuter organization, veterinary materials and support for mobile clinics in Colorado. The act changes the composition of the board and board member qualifications as follows: Replaces the representative of the Colorado federation of animal welfare agencies or its successor organization with one representative of an animal shelter; Replaces the representative of an association organized for Colorado animal control officers with one representative of a Colorado animal control agency; Replaces the member of an animal rescue organization with one person who is a member of a pet animal rescue; Modifies the qualifications of the representative from western Colorado by requiring that the person represent an animal shelter or a pet animal rescue or be a veterinary professional licensed with the state board of veterinary medicine located in western Colorado; Adds one representative from southern Colorado and one representative from eastern Colorado, both of whom must represent either an animal shelter or a pet animal rescue or be a veterinary professional licensed with the state board of veterinary medicine located in their respective regions; and Adds one representative of a pet animal facility located in a county with a population of 50,000 or less. The board member who represents the general public must not also be on the board of any animal welfare organization. Any other board member may be a member of a board or subcommittee of a board of an animal welfare organization, but no more than one member of the board may be on the board or subcommittee of the board of the same animal welfare organization. A member of the board shall recuse themself from any board action or vote if they have a conflict of interest, including a vote on any allocation of funding to the board member. The board must annually publish on the pet overpopulation fund website the name of each grantee receiving money from the pet overpopulation fund, the amount of money provided to a grantee, when a grantee received a grant, and the names of each board member. The act requires at least 70% of all money awarded for grants from the pet overpopulation fund to be used for animal welfare facilities that are headquartered and located in a Colorado county with a population of 200,000 or less and requires the board to consider awarding at least 50% of the funds designated for these rural communities to counties with a population of 50,000 or less. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires an insurer that issues or renews an automobile insurance policy to include in the applicable coverage the replacement cost of a child restraint system that is in a motor vehicle at the time of a motor vehicle accident and to which the coverage is applicable. The act requires the insurer to ask a claimant if a child restraint system was in the motor vehicle at the time of the accident and, if so, requires the applicable coverage to cover the cost of its replacement. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits food processing plants from selling or offering for sale cell-cultivated meat that is misbranded as a meat product. The act also requires food processing plants to clearly label cell-cultivated meat as cell-cultivated meat. The department of public health and environment (department) is required to inspect food at a food processing plant if the department has reasonable cause to believe that: Cell-cultivated meat sold or offered for sale by the plant is misbranded as a meat product; or The plant is failing to label cell-cultivated meat as required. If, after an inspection, the department has reasonable cause to believe that a food processing plant is selling or offering for sale cell-cultivated meat that is misbranded as a meat product, or is failing to label cell-cultivated meat as required, the department may issue a stop order. Upon being issued the stop order, the food processing plant shall not sell the product or offer it for sale until the department determines whether it is misbranded or unlabeled in violation of the act. If the department determines that a food processing plant is selling or offering for sale cell-cultivated meat that is misbranded as a meat product, or is failing to label cell-cultivated meat as required, the department may issue an embargo order requiring the food processing plant to dispose of the cell-cultivated meat by means other than by sale to purchasers in Colorado. The department, the attorney general, or the district attorney in the district where cell-cultivated meat is being offered for sale or sold may petition the district court to enforce a stop order or an embargo order. The department may adopt rules as necessary to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies that the fair access to insurance requirements plan association (association) is not: A department, unit, agency, political subdivision, or instrumentality of the state; or An insurance company or a person engaged in the business of insurance. The act also grants a member insurer, the association and its agents or employees, the board of directors of the association, and the commissioner of insurance or the commissioner's representatives immunity for any action taken by them in the performance of their powers and duties for the association. The act specifies that the only causes of action and remedies available to a policyholder of a fair access to insurance requirements plan policy against the association is for breach of contract or breach of the common law covenant of good faith and fair dealing. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act encourages each local education provider to adopt a policy to reduce food waste in school cafeterias and food preparation facilities (policy). The policy may address food waste diversion and aversion initiatives, including composting, donation of excess food to local nonprofits, or share table programs that permit students to return whole food or beverage items for redistribution to other students. A local education provider that implements a policy shall comply with all applicable sanitation and health requirements, including protocols to prevent student exposure to allergens, and shall require school personnel to complete related safety training. Current law establishes the Colorado circular communities enterprise (enterprise) to award grants and other funding and to provide technical assistance to certain entities throughout the state that pursue a circular economy for waste management, including waste diversion and aversion. The act requires the enterprise to consider reducing food waste by incentivizing public schools to develop and implement effective composting, excess food donation, or share table programs. The act extends limited immunity from civil and criminal liability to school personnel and local education providers that supervise food and beverage redistribution in accordance with policies that include share tables. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires an individual who completes a certificate of death to record the decedent's sex to reflect the decedent's gender. If an individual who completes a certificate of death is presented with a document memorializing the decedent's gender (gender document), the individual must record the decedent's sex to reflect the gender indicated in the gender document. If a gender document is not presented and an individual with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains objects to the sex recorded by the individual who completes the certificate of death, the individual with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains may state their objection to the individual who completes a certificate of death before the certificate of death is filed, and the individual who completes the certificate of death must record the sex as the gender reported by the individual with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains. If a gender document is presented to the office of state registrar of vital statistics in the department of public health and environment (state registrar) for a decedent that died in the state, the state registrar must issue an amended certificate of death for the decedent that changes the decedent's sex to reflect the gender indicated in the gender document. The state registrar must also amend the certificate of death to reflect a legal name change if the appropriate legal name change documentation is submitted to the state registrar. An individual with the right to control the disposition of a decedent's remains may file a claim seeking an order of the court to amend the information recorded on the decedent's certificate of death. The act requires the department of public health and environment to add a gender field to the certificate of death form and the electronic death registration system. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)