Under current law, a board of county commissioners or governing body of a municipality (local government) may authorize the use of graywater within its jurisdiction. Graywater refers to certain types of wastewater that is collected from fixtures before it is treated and put to certain beneficial uses. The act authorizes the installation of graywater treatment works in new construction projects and the use of graywater statewide; except that a local government: May adopt an ordinance or a resolution prohibiting the installation of graywater treatment works or the use of all graywater or categories of graywater use within its jurisdiction; and Shall notify the division of administration in the department of public health and environment of any such local ordinance or resolution adopted and of any local ordinance or resolution adopted that authorizes a use of graywater previously prohibited. APPROVED by Governor May 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2026(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report on the high cost support mechanism, established by the public utilities commission to support telecommunications service access, by continuing the high cost support mechanism indefinitely and continuing funding for rural telecommunications providers from the high cost support mechanism indefinitely. The act modifies the computation of fees for the public utilities commission fixed utility fund and the telecommunications utility fund. APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 2024 statewide election to allow the state to keep and spend all revenue from the existing tax on the net proceeds of licensed sports betting (sports betting tax), including revenue in excess of the $29 million fiscal year estimate included in the 2019 ballot question as follows: All revenue from the sports betting tax up to $29 million annually, together with all revenue derived by the division of gaming in the department of revenue, will continue to be used to pay for the regulation of sports betting, to offset losses to other wagering revenue recipients, and to support responsible gaming, with any remaining money being transferred to the water plan implementation cash fund; and All sports betting tax revenue in excess of $29 million annually will be transferred to the water plan implementation cash fund to be used for water conservation and protection projects. If the majority of electors voting at the November 2024 statewide election vote against allowing the state to keep and spend all sports betting tax revenue as outlined above, then any tax revenue collected in excess of $29 million annually will be refunded to the licensed sports betting operations that paid the sports betting tax according to a reasonable method to be determined by the department of revenue. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 20, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For state fiscal year 2024-25, the act appropriates $5,000,000 from the species conservation trust fund in the state treasury for various wildlife conservation programs directed at conserving candidate species or species that are likely to become candidate species, as determined by the United States fish and wildlife service, as follows: $1,800,000 for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program; $650,000 for selenium management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and control; $50,000 for 3 species recovery efforts; $1,700,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation; and $800,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill requires the department of education to create, maintain, and manage an online career support and pathways portal (online portal) for educators; staff; school districts, district charter schools, institute charter schools, boards of cooperative services, or approved facility schools (local education providers); and educator preparation programs (educator programs). The online portal must have: Access to career incentives, stipends, and loan forgiveness; Career pathway information for educators and staff, including, but not limited to, mentoring, induction program coaching, instructional coaching, district curriculum support, special assignments for teachers, and principal leadership; and A job posting and application portal for local education providers to post open employment positions and to search for prospective candidates, and for educators and staff to upload resumes and to apply to open employment positions. Local education providers and educator programs shall post a link to the online portal on their websites to promote the online portal to educators and staff. The bill allows Indian tribes and tribal organizations to access and use the online portal. Pursuant to current law, the educator and retention program (ERR program) provides support to members of the armed forces and nonmilitary-affiliated educator candidates. The bill expands criteria for participation in the ERR program to include applicants who are: Enrolled in a teacher degree apprenticeship program and employed by an Indian tribe or tribal organization or a local education provider; or Enrolled in an educator program to attain a special services provider license with the appropriate endorsement.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill establishes a state income tax credit (credit) for the sale or lease of land, crops, livestock and livestock facilities, farm equipment and machinery, grain storage, irrigation equipment, or water used for agriculture (agricultural assets) to certain agricultural producers for income tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2031. There are 3 different credits that may be earned by a qualified taxpayer. For the sale of an agricultural asset to a beginning farmer or rancher or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher, a qualified taxpayer may earn a credit equal to 5% of the lesser of the sale price or fair market value of the agricultural asset up to a maximum credit of $32,000 for one income tax year. For the lease of an agricultural asset to a beginning farmer or rancher or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher, a qualified taxpayer may earn a credit equal to 10% of the gross rental income in each of the first, second, and third years of the rental agreement, up to a maximum credit of $7,000 for one income tax year. For the lease of an agricultural asset to a beginning farmer or rancher or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher for a period of 20 years or more, a qualified taxpayer may also earn a credit equal to 2% of the gross rental income for each year after the first 3 years of the extended term lease, up to a maximum amount of $2,000 per income tax year. The credit is refundable and may not be carried forward. To claim the credit, a qualified taxpayer must apply to the Colorado agricultural value-added development board (board) for a credit certificate (certificate). The board will evaluate the application and issue a certificate if the taxpayer qualifies for the credit. If a certificate is issued, the qualified taxpayer must attach it to the taxpayer's income tax return and submit it to the department of revenue to claim the credit. The board may issue rules to administer the credit. The aggregate amount of credits issued in one calendar year cannot exceed $2 million. After certificates have been issued for credits that exceed an aggregate of $2 million for all qualified taxpayers during a calendar year, any claims that exceed the amount allowed are placed on a wait list in the order submitted and a certificate is issued for use of the credit in the next income tax year. No more than $2 million in claims shall be placed on the wait list in any given calendar year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Current law allows an entity that wants to access public rights-of-way (rights-of-way) for the deployment of broadband to enter into a public-private initiative agreement with the department of transportation (department) for the entity's access to the rights-of-way. The bill creates an alternative method for entities that want to access rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband, whereby the department may issue a permit and impose a permit fee for access to rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband. The bill specifies that an entity that wants to access rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband may pursue either the permit application and fee process created in the bill or the existing public-private initiative agreement process. In issuing permits that grant access to rights-of-way, the bill: Requires the department to allow competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory access to broadband providers seeking to use rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband; Requires the department to determine the form and manner of the permit application process and to approve or deny a permit application within 30 days; Specifies that the term of any permit issued pursuant to the bill is 30 years and that the department cannot assert ownership of broadband infrastructure except for when a permit recipient abandons the broadband infrastructure; Prohibits the department from requiring the permit recipient to lay additional fiber for use by the department or any third party; Prohibits the department from requiring the permit recipient to provide any in-kind goods or services as a condition of granting access to rights-of way; and Requires the department to produce an anticipated annual budget for the costs associated with the permit application process and an anticipated annual forecast of the revenue that the department will generate from the permit fees. The department may impose a one-time permit processing fee in connection with an application to gain access to rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband (permit processing fee) so long as the fee does not exceed the department's actual costs in connection with granting or administering the permits. The department is prohibited from imposing any other fee or charge for access to rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband. The department is also prohibited from including any charge in the permit processing fee to receive compensation for the fair market value of rights-of-way or access to rights-of-way; except that if the attorney general certifies in writing to the transportation commission that excluding fair market value in the permit processing fee violates federal law and that the violation will result in the loss of federal money apportioned to the state, the department is required to include fair market value in the permit processing fee. In such case, the department is required to set the rate of fair market value at a level that does not exceed the lowest rate of fair market value established by any other state for access to that state's rights-of-way for the deployment of broadband. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Prior to the consolidation of the division of wildlife and the division of parks and recreation and their respective commissions in Senate Bill 11-208, concerning the consolidation of wildlife entities with parks and outdoor recreation entities under the department of natural resources, enacted in 2011, members of the wildlife commission were required to hold at least 2 public meetings per year in their respective geographic districts. The act renews the public engagement requirement for the members of the parks and wildlife commission in the department of natural resources who are appointed by the governor and adds the same public engagement requirement for members of the state agricultural commission and the Colorado water conservation board who are appointed by the governor. Commission and board members subject to the public engagement requirement are entitled to reimbursement for their reasonable costs in participating in public meetings. Status updates on the commission and board members' compliance with the public engagement requirement must be reported to the chair of each member's respective commission or board and included in each member's respective executive department's annual "SMART Act" presentation to the general assembly. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $10,504 is appropriated to the department of natural resources for use by the division of parks and wildlife to implement the act, with $6,828 of the money appropriated from the wildlife cash fund and $3,676 from the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund. APPROVED by Governor May 1, 2024 EFFECTIVE January 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the state historical society, also known as history Colorado, to sell the real property that is referred to as its north storage property. History Colorado is required to credit the proceeds of the sale to the state museum cash fund to be used for moving, retrofitting, lease-related, and acquisition costs for a new storage facility that history Colorado will lease in the future or for controlled maintenance. APPROVED by Governor May 1, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the Colorado natural areas council, an advisory council to the parks and wildlife commission, for 10 years until September 1, 2034, subject to sunset review. APPROVED by Governor April 19, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)