The act allocates $20 million from the general fund to the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) to be spent to implement the state water plan as follows:$15 million, which is transferred to the water plan implementation cash fund and appropriated to the department of natural resources for expenditures and grants administered by the CWCB to implement the state water plan; and $5 million, which is transferred to the water supply reserve fund for the CWCB to disperse to the basin roundtables. The act also establishes a minimum 25% matching fund requirement for the water plan implementation grant program; except that, during 2021 and 2022, the CWCB can reduce the minimum match requirement.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects:Continuation of the satellite monitoring system, $100,000 (section 1 of the act); Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2); Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $350,000 (section 3); and Continuation of technical assistance for federal cost-share programs, $300,000 (section 4). Section 5 directs the state treasurer to transfer up to $2,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the litigation fund on July 1, 2021.Section 6 appropriates $3,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the department of natural resources for use by the CWCB to make a grant to the Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation in furtherance of the San Luis valley confined aquifer recovery project.Section 7 reinstates severance tax funding of the water efficiency grant program by authorizing a transfer of $550,000 in each state fiscal year commencing on or after July 1, 2020, from the grant program reserve of the severance tax operational fund, which reserve is part of the "tier 2" funding that is used only if the general assembly chooses not to spend 100% of the money in the operational fund on core departmental programs, to the water efficiency grant program cash fund. The reinstated funding is repealed on July 1, 2030, when the water efficiency grant program is scheduled to repeal.Section 8 restores the continuous appropriation of $150,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the CWCB for the ongoing operations of a water education foundation, which is currently known as Water Education Colorado, which continuous appropriation was repealed in HB 20-1403, enacted in 2020.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates in the department of agriculture the agricultural drought and climate resilience office (office). The office may provide voluntary technical assistance, nonregulatory programs, and incentives that increase the ability to anticipate, prepare for, mitigate, adapt to, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to drought or the climate. The commissioner of agriculture shall appoint the head of the office and may adopt rules necessary for the office's administration after convening a stakeholder group.Except for a program or support administered by the office to address immediate needs as a result of disaster, including wildfire and drought, or a program that was in existence on January 1, 2021:A program administered by the office must be designed to benefit bona fide agricultural producers actively engaged in agriculture; Grants awarded by the office must pay for implementation of practices to address and mitigate the impacts of climate change or drought or to provide direct adaptation support for impacted agricultural communities; and Grants must receive final approval by the state agricultural commission before a final award can be issued. The act:Annually transfers $500,000 from the severance tax operational fund to the agriculture value-added cash fund until July 1, 2029; and Appropriates $101,333 from that fund to the department of agriculture to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes a mobile veterans-support unit grant program (grant program) to provide grant funding to a veteran-owned-and-focused organization to create a mobile veterans-support unit. A mobile veterans-support unit acts as a point of contact to veterans in rural areas or to veterans experiencing homelessness, regardless of the veteran's discharge status. The mobile veterans-support unit transports veterans who do not have access to public or private transportation. The act requires the mobile veterans-support unit to make every effort to ensure the vehicle is compliant with the federal "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990".The division of local government (division), created as a division of the department of local affairs, shall establish and administer the grant program.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $229,070 is appropriated from the general fund and an additional 0.6 FTE is provided to the division to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law repeals the forest health advisory council, which was created within the Colorado state forest service, on September 1, 2021, subject to sunset review. The act repeals the forest health advisory council and creates the Colorado forest health council within the division of forestry within the department of natural resources and specifies the new council's membership and duties. The council is scheduled for sunset review in 2026.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the keep Colorado wild pass (wild pass) for entry into state parks and other participating public lands. Commencing no earlier than January 1, 2023, but no later than January 1, 2024, each resident with one of the following motor vehicles that is not a commercial vehicle is assessed a fee for the wild pass (wild pass fee) when registering the motor vehicle:A passenger motor vehicle; A light-weight truck with an empty vehicle weight of less than or equal to 16,000 pounds; A motorcycle; or A recreational vehicle. A resident may decline to pay the wild pass fee when registering the resident's motor vehicle, and nonpayment of the wild pass fee does not affect the resident's ability to register the motor vehicle. A resident who declines or fails to pay the wild pass fee is presumed to decline to pay the wild pass fee in subsequent years with respect to registration of the same motor vehicle, and the division of parks and wildlife in the department of natural resources (division) is required to develop an opt-in provision on subsequent registration notifications sent to the resident for that motor vehicle.The parks and wildlife commission in the department of natural resources (commission) is required to adopt rules to set the wild pass fee and, for income-eligible households, a reduced wild pass fee and may establish a process for applying existing discounts or free entry to persons eligible for the discount or free entry to the wild pass. The commission may also adopt rules establishing a separate fee for a pass, including a separate fee for passes for nonresidents, residents who decline to pay the wild pass fee when registering the resident's motor vehicle, and residents who do not possess one of the motor vehicles listed above.For each state fiscal year, the division will use the wild pass fees collected to achieve stated goals such as providing affordable access to state parks and public lands; managing state parks; supporting search and rescue and avalanche safety efforts; conserving vulnerable species and habitats; funding equity, diversity, and inclusion programs; and financing regional outdoor partnerships for community-driven planning and projects.The division is required to:Develop language to notify motor vehicle registrants of their option to decline to pay the wild pass fee, which notice must be conspicuously placed on registration documents and on the division's and the division of motor vehicles' websites; and Implement a public outreach campaign, including outreach to and engagement of disproportionately impacted communities, to educate the public about the availability of the wild pass through the motor vehicle registration process and about access to state parks and public lands that the wild pass will provide. The division is required to prepare annual reports on, and on or before March 1, 2025, and on or before March 1, 2030, to make presentations to a joint session of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over agriculture matters regarding, the number of wild passes sold in the previous 12 months, an accounting of the expenditures made with the increased revenue generated from sales of the wild pass, and a summary of the effect that those increased expenditures have had on the achievement of the stated goals.The act also repeals limitations on the amount that the commission may increase fees for daily and annual park passes purchased by individuals who do not purchase the discounted wild pass, authorizes the division to enter into cooperative agreements with other land management agencies, and requires the division to develop a program for seeking, accepting, and expending gifts, grants, or donations.For state fiscal year 2021-22, the act appropriates $504,646 from the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund to the division for implementation of the wild pass and reappropriates $108,200 of that money to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles for maintenance and support of the Colorado driver's license, record, identification, and vehicle enterprise solution (Colorado DRIVES).(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) in the department of regulatory agencies to establish a standardized health benefit plan by rule on or before January 1, 2022, to be offered by health insurance carriers (carriers) in the individual and small group markets. The standardized plan must:Offer health-care coverage at the bronze, silver, and gold levels of coverage; Include pediatric and other essential health benefits; Be offered through the Colorado health benefit exchange and in the individual market; Have a standardized benefit design that is created through a stakeholder engagement process, has a defined benefit design and cost sharing that improves access and affordability, and is designed to improve racial health equity and decrease racial health disparities; Provide by, among other measures, providing first-dollar, predictable coverage for certain high value services; Be actuarially sound and allow carriers to meet financial requirements; Comply with state and federal law; and Have a provider network (network) that is culturally responsive and reflects the diversity of its enrollees and be no more narrow than the most restrictive nonstandardized plan offered by the carrier. Each carrier must:Include, as part of its network access plan for the standardized plan, a description of its efforts to construct diverse, culturally responsive networks; Include a majority of the essential community providers in the service area in its network; and Allow consumers to easily compare the standardized health benefit plans offered by each carrier. Additionally, the act requires the commissioner to:Promulgate rules regarding network adequacy; Contract with an independent third party to conduct an analysis of the implementation of the standardized health benefit plan and the related requirements; and Collaborate with the health benefit exchange to conduct a consumer survey. Beginning January 1, 2023, and each year thereafter, the act requires carriers that offer:An individual health benefit plan in Colorado to offer the standardized health benefit plan in the individual market in each county where the carrier offers an individual plan; and A small group health benefit plan in Colorado to offer the standardized health benefit plan in the small group market in each county where the carrier offers a small group plan. In the individual market and in the small group market, each carrier shall offer a standardized health benefit plan premium that:For 2023, is at least 5% less than the premium rate for health benefit plans offered by that carrier in the 2021 calendar year, as adjusted for medical inflation; For 2024, is at least 10% less than the premium rate for health benefit plans offered by that carrier in the 2021 calendar year, as adjusted for medical inflation; For 2025, is at least 15% less than the premium rate for health benefit plans offered by that carrier in the 2021 calendar year, as adjusted for medical inflation; For 2026 and each year thereafter, is increased above the premium in the previous year by no more than medical inflation, relative to the previous year. The act also requires each carrier to file its premium rates for the standardized health benefit plan with the commissioner. If a carrier or health-care provider anticipates that a carrier will be unable to meet network adequacy standards or the premium rate requirements due to a reimbursement rate dispute, the carrier or the health-care provider may initiate nonbinding arbitration prior to filing rates for the standardized health benefit plan. If a carrier cannot meet the premium rate requirements, the carrier must notify the commissioner of the reasons. The division shall hold a public hearing concerning network adequacy and premium rates. Based on evidence at the hearing, the commissioner may establish carrier reimbursement rates for hospitals and health-care providers and require the hospitals and health-care providers to accept patients and the established reimbursement rates. The act establishes limits on the reimbursement rates that may be set.The act creates an advisory board, with members appointed by the governor, to implement the standardized health benefit plan. The advisory board is charged with considering recommendations to streamline prior authorization and utilization management processes, recommend ways to keep health-care services in communities where patients live, and to consider alternative payment models.The commissioner may apply to the secretary of the United States department of health and human services for a state innovation waiver to capture savings as a result of the implementation of the standardized health benefit plan. Upon approval of the waiver, the commissioner is authorized to use any federal money for the implementation of the bill and for the Colorado health insurance affordability enterprise.The act requires the commissioner to:Contract with an independent third party to prepare reports regarding the implementation of the bill; Monitor whether there is an adequate number of health-care providers in the carriers' standardized health benefit plan network and the percentage of premiums attributable to health-care providers in the network; Contract with an independent third-party organization to evaluate how to phase in a hospital's reimbursement rate methodology; Report various findings during the hearings conducted pursuant to the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act"; and Disapprove of a rate filing submitted by a carrier if the rate filing reflects a cost shift between the standardized health benefit plan and the health benefit plan for which rate approval is being sought. The department of public health and environment, upon notice from the commissioner, may fine or suspend or impose conditions on a hospital that refuses to participate in the standardized health benefit plan.The act creates the office of the insurance ombudsman in the department of health care policy and financing to act as an advocate for consumer interests in matters related to access to and affordability of the standardized health benefit plan.To implement this act:$1,409,637 is appropriated to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance and the executive director's office, $212,680 of which is reappropriated to the department of law for the provision of legal services; and $78,993 is appropriated to the department of health care policy and financing.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates $5 million to the department of local affairs (department) to use for the rural economic development initiative (REDI) grant program, and permits the department to use up to 3.75% of the appropriation for any direct and indirect administrative expenses related to the grants awarded from the appropriation.If the department determines that a rural community needs resources or assistance because it has been impacted by a significant economic event or an anticipated event that has been announced, the department may use all or a portion of the money appropriated for the REDI grant program for the purposes of the "Rural Economic Advancement of Colorado Towns (REACT) Act". The act repeals the sunset of the REACT Act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act removes the residency requirements for student members to serve on the board of trustees for Western Colorado university.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)