Sen. Rod Pelton

The bill requires the state board of medical services to adopt rules creating an enhanced or tiered reimbursement rate or rates for secure alternative care facilities that have higher staffing ratios due to providing services to persons with dementia or other conditions. The department of health care policy and financing shall confer with interested stakeholders concerning the appropriate reimbursement rate or rates and may review enhanced or tiered reimbursement rate structures from other states. The state department shall seek any federal authorization necessary to implement the reimbursement rates.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill extends the tax years that a taxpayer may elect to receive a refund of 80% of the amount of an enterprise zone investment tax credit for renewable energy investments. Under current law, if a taxpayer elects such a refund, the taxpayer forgoes the remaining 20% of the amount of the enterprise zone investment tax credit. The bill also adds investments in energy storage systems as a qualified renewable energy investment. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

For the local school food purchasing program, the act: Makes technical changes to when a local education provider may apply to the program and when the department of education (department) selects providers; Requires the department to ensure geographic and district pupil size diversity among providers; Changes the limit for the number of lunches that all local education providers provided in the prior year to 10 million; Changes the reimbursement formula to $0.05 for every meal that the local education provider provided in the previous year; and Specifies that if the department does not spend the full appropriation for the program, up to 5% of the appropriation is available to the department in the following year to pay for the required evaluation and report.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill establishes a parent's bill of rights that sets forth specific parental rights related to directing the upbringing, education, and health care of a minor child. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill directs the state board of education (state board) to identify by rule a list of statutes and rules for which a rural school district board of education (local board) may invoke an automatic waiver. A local board may invoke an automatic waiver by adopting a resolution and transmitting the resolution to the state board and the commissioner of education. The local board may invoke the automatic waiver on behalf of the entire rural school district or for one or more identified schools of the district. An automatic waiver remains in effect until revoked by the local board through adoption of a resolution. A rural school district that invokes an automatic waiver must identify the automatic waiver on its website and, starting July 1, 2021, provide a standardized description of and rationale for each automatic waiver of statute and the contact information for a school district employee who can explain the automatic waiver. The department of education, working with a statewide association that represents school districts, must adopt standardized descriptions of and rationales for each of the statutes included on the list of automatic waivers for rural school districts adopted by the state board.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

For income tax years commencing on and after January 1, 2020, the bill: Reduces both the individual and the corporate state income tax rate from 4.63% to 4.49%; and Reduces the state alternative minimum tax by 0.14%.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

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

Child abuse and neglect - CARENetwork - resource center - appropriation. The act establishes the Colorado child abuse response and evaluation network (CARENetwork) to provide medical exams and behavioral health assessments to children who are subject to physical or sexual abuse or neglect. The department of public health and environment is to contract with a nonprofit organization to act as a resource center. The act specifies duties of the resource center. The act also establishes a CARENetwork advisory committee and specifies the membership and duties of the advisory committee. The act appropriates $632,717 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment to implement the act. (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