Sen. Marc Catlin

The act repeals the provision that repeals the conservation district grant fund (fund) on December 31, 2022. The act also requires, on an annual basis: The state treasurer to transfer $148,000 from the general fund to the fund; and The department of agriculture to distribute $2,000 from the fund to each conservation district.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act allows a board of county commissioners (board), in consultation with its fire protection district or fire authority, to apply to the state engineer for the designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond. The director of the division of fire prevention and control (director) in the department of public safety is required to promulgate rules to establish criteria for boards, in consultation with fire protection districts or fire authorities, to use to identify and evaluate potential fire suppression ponds. Before applying for the designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond, a board, in consultation with its fire protection district or fire authority, must identify ponds in areas where the outbreak of a fire could result in a major wildfire disaster and perform a needs assessment of each such pond. If a pond that is under consideration for designation as a fire suppression pond is located in whole or in part upon private property, a board must acquire the voluntary written approval of each owner of private property that abuts the pond before the board applies to the state engineer for the designation of the pond as a fire suppression pond. For each pond that is identified and under consideration as a potential fire suppression pond, a board must provide notice of such fact to the state engineer. The act prohibits the state engineer, with exceptions, from ordering any pond to be drained or backfilled: While the pond is under consideration for designation as a fire suppression pond; If the state engineer has designated the pond as a fire suppression pond; or On and after the effective date of the act, and until the date upon which the director promulgates rules. The state engineer may not designate more than 30 total surface acres of pond in any county as a fire suppression pond or designate any pond as a fire suppression pond unless the pond satisfies certain requirements and the board that requested the designation provided notice of the request to interested parties included in the substitute water supply plan notification list established for the water division in which the pond is located. The state engineer may impose reasonable requirements on a board as a condition of designating a pond as a fire suppression pond, including requirements for measuring and recording devices. A board and its fire protection district or fire authority must inspect a designated fire suppression pond at least annually. The designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond expires 15 years after the date of the designation. Before the expiration, the board and the fire protection district or fire authority may perform a needs assessment of the pond. If the needs assessment demonstrates that the pond is in compliance with criteria established in the director's rules, the board and fire protection district or fire authority shall notify the state engineer of such fact, and the state engineer shall redesignate the pond as a fire suppression pond. If the needs assessment demonstrates that the pond is not in compliance with the criteria, the board and fire protection district or fire authority must either: Notify the state engineer that the designation of the pond as a fire suppression pond should be rescinded or allowed to expire; or Provide to the state engineer a plan and a timeline for bringing the pond back into compliance with such criteria. Within 70 days after the state engineer designates a pond as a fire suppression pond, a holder of a decreed water right may file with the water clerk of the water division in which the fire suppression pond is located a petition for review of the state engineer's decision. Upon receiving a petition, a water judge must conduct a review of the state engineer's decision. A water judge may nullify the state engineer's designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond if, after considering the entire record, including any evidence of material injury, the judge finds that: In applying for the designation, the board did not describe a pond that complies with criteria established by rules promulgated by the director; or The state engineer's decision did not accord with certain other requirements in the act concerning fire suppression ponds. The act states that a fire suppression pond and the water associated with it: Are not considered a water right; Do not have a priority for the purpose of determining water rights; and May not be adjudicated as a water right. The act states that a proposed fire suppression pond is presumed to not cause material injury to vested water rights. A holder of a decreed water right may rebut the presumption by providing evidence to the state engineer sufficient to show that material injury has occurred or will occur to the decreed water right. The act appropriates, for the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $19,428 from the general fund to the department of natural resources for use by the executive director's office, to be used as follows: $11,828 to be reappropriated to the department of law for the provision of legal services; and $7,600 to be reappropriated to the office of information technology for the provision of information technology services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the Colorado water conservation board (board) to develop a statewide program to provide financial incentives for the voluntary replacement of irrigated turf with water-wise landscaping (turf replacement program). The act defines water-wise landscaping as a water- and plant-management practice that emphasizes using plants with lower water needs. Local governments, certain districts, Native American tribes, and nonprofit organizations with their own turf replacement programs may apply to the board for money to help finance their turf replacement programs. The board will contract with one or more third parties to administer one or more turf replacement programs in areas where local turf replacement programs do not exist. The state treasurer is required to transfer $2 million from the general fund to the turf replacement fund, which fund is created to finance the turf replacement program. The money is appropriated to the department of natural resources for use by the board to implement the turf replacement program, with $11,400 of the money reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services to the department of natural resources. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies (department), as specified in the department's sunset review of and report on the "Colorado Veterinary Practice Act" (practice act), as follows: Continues the practice act for 11 years, until September 1, 2033; Requires a veterinarian to notify the board of veterinary medicine (board) if the veterinarian suffers from a physical illness or condition or a behavioral or mental health disorder that renders the veterinarian unable to practice with reasonable skill and safety; Repeals the requirement that the board send a letter of admonition by certified mail; Requires veterinarians to create a written plan for the storage, security, and disposal of patient records; and If the board has reasonable cause to believe a veterinarian is unable to practice with reasonable skill and safety due to a physical condition, authorizes the board to order the veterinarian to submit to an examination and to suspend the veterinarian's license for failing to comply with the board's order. The act makes other amendments to the practice act as follows: Authorizes a person who is not a licensed veterinarian in this state to administer rabies vaccinations in a clinic setting under direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian, or through the indirect supervision of a licensed veterinarian if the person is working on behalf of an animal shelter for shelter-owned animals, if the person has been trained in rabies vaccine storage, handling, and administration and in the management of adverse events; Adds two members to the board who are veterinary technicians; Requires credit hours of practice act jurisprudence as part of veterinarians' continuing education program and permits veterinarians to take nonbiomedical courses as part of the program; and Repeals and reenacts the veterinary peer health assistance program to allow veterinary technicians access to the program and to require veterinary professionals, including veterinary technicians, to self-refer to the program upon arrest for a drug- or alcohol-related crime. The act also creates the regulation of veterinary technicians. Effective January 1, 2024, a person who practices as a veterinary technician in this state must be registered by the board. To be registered, a person must have and maintain a credential in good standing from a national veterinary technician credentialing organization. For an individual who is not yet nationally credentialed but who has been practicing as a veterinary technician, the board may issue a provisional registration of limited duration under specified circumstances. Veterinary technicians are subject to discipline by the board for engaging in conduct that is grounds for discipline. The act gives title protection to veterinary technicians and grants standard registration, rule-making, and disciplinary powers to the board. The act also repeals the regulation of veterinary technicians on September 1, 2033, subject to and consistent with the sunset review of the practice act. The act replaces the term "humane society" with "animal shelter" to update and make terminology in the practice act and other statutes consistent. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $80,708 to from the division of professions and occupations cash fund to the department for use by the division of professions and occupations to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the state treasurer to make the following transfers from the economic recovery and relief cash fund: $3,000,000 to the healthy forests and vibrant communities fund for projects that will help communities address the urgent need to reduce wildfire risks by supporting implementation of risk mitigation treatments that focus on promoting watershed resilience; $2,000,000 to the wildfire mitigation capacity development fund for wildfire mitigation and fuel reduction projects; $10,000,000 to the Colorado water conservation board construction fund for watershed restoration and flood mitigation grants; $2,500,000 to the Colorado water conservation board construction fund for the direct and indirect costs of providing assistance to political subdivisions and other entities applying for federal "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" money and other federally available money related to water funding opportunities; and $2,500,000 to the Colorado water conservation board construction fund for issuing grants to political subdivisions of the state for the hiring of temporary employees, contractors, or both that will assist those political subdivisions and other entities in applying for federal "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" money and other federally available money related to natural resource management. All of these transfers relate to essential government services and must comply with the relevant compliance, reporting, record-keeping, and program evaluation requirements established by the office of state planning and budgeting and the state controller. $15,000,000 is appropriated from the Colorado water conservation board construction fund to the department of natural resources for use by the Colorado water conservation board for watershed restoration and flood mitigation project grants. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) encourages communities, parks, and protected areas to preserve and protect dark skies by various means, including an international dark sky places program that offers designations for 5 types of dark sky places. The act requires the Colorado tourism office (office) to establish the Colorado designated dark sky designation technical assistance grant program (program) to: Provide technical assistance grants to applicants seeking direct support from the IDA for activities related to international dark sky designation; and Provide general education and outreach about dark skies and specifically promote responsible and sustainable tourism opportunities in designated dark sky places in the state. The office may contract with the IDA and the Colorado chapter of the IDA to help the office develop its program policies, evaluate grant applications, and make recommendations to the office regarding which applicants should receive grant awards and what the amount of each award should be. The office is also required, on its own, in consultation with the IDA and the Colorado chapter of the IDA, or by contracting with the IDA and the Colorado chapter of the IDA, to provide general education and outreach and to promote tourism. To fund the program, the act requires $35,000 to be transferred from the general fund to the Colorado travel and tourism additional source fund, which current law continuously appropriates to the office. On or before November 1, 2023, the office is required to submit a report detailing the expenditure of the money dedicated to the program to the house of representatives business affairs and labor committee and the senate business, labor, and technology committee, or their successor committees. The report must specify the grant-supported actions taken in furtherance of designating new dark sky places and indicate how many program grant recipients have opened and maintained an active case file with the IDA or have had a community or other place certified by the IDA as a designated dark sky place. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires: The department of higher education (department), in consultation with state institutions of higher education (institutions) and a business organization or industry representative, to develop and implement a process that encourages institutions to identify incremental achievements on the path to degree completion, organize stackable credentials, and identify how credentials may be evaluated and then may become stacked into stackable credential pathways to provide increased access to employment and may result in a degree; The department to facilitate the creation of stackable credential pathways for at least 3 growing industries by January 1, 2024, and at least 2 more growing industries by January 1, 2025; The general assembly to appropriate $1 million to the department from the workers, employers, and workforce centers cash fund for the 2022-23 fiscal year; and The department of higher education to submit a report to the education committees regarding implementation of the act that includes data collected by institutions to measure the total number of credits, credentials, certificates, and professional licenses earned in each pathway at each institution and the funding allocated and distributed to implement the act. The act requires the department to allocate and disburse funds to community and technical colleges and local district colleges to fund student access to nondegree credential programs. The general assembly is required to appropriate $1.8 million to the department for this purpose for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The act requires the general assembly to appropriate $800,000 to the department of education for the adult education and literacy grant program for the 2022-23 fiscal year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the America 250 - Colorado 150 commission (commission) in History Colorado to develop programs and plan for the official observance of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood. The commission is directed to develop and promote plans for activities between July 1, 2025, and December 31, 2026, including historical activities, publication of historical documents, public ceremonies, educational activities for Colorado youth, and other commemorative events, to be supported by comprehensive marketing and tourism campaigns. The commission is required to identify, celebrate, and build knowledge around the history of Black communities, Indigenous communities, communities of color, women, and people with disabilities. In addition, the commission is required to ensure that the activities planned by the commission represent the geographic and demographic diversity of the state, are accessible to people with disabilities, and are accessible to communities throughout the state on an equitable basis. The commission is also authorized to represent the state in official dealings with the United States semi-quincentennial commission and the America250 foundation. An advisory panel composed of regional representatives from the state's tourism districts is created to consult on regional activities celebrating the history and culture of regions across the state. The commission is authorized to establish additional subcommittees to assist the commission in the fulfillment of its duties. History Colorado is required to annually report on the commission's activities as part of its "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" reports. The commission is repealed effective June 30, 2027. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the Colorado land-based tribe behavioral health services grant program (grant program) to provide funding to one or more Colorado land-based tribes to support capital expenditure for the renovation or building of a behavioral health facility to provide behavioral and mental health services. The grant program repeals on July 1, 2027. The act appropriates $5 million from the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the department of human services for use by the behavioral health administration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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, $380,000; Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000; Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $350,000; Continuation of technical assistance for federal cost-share programs, $300,000; Continuation of the Arkansas river decision support system, $500,000; Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $150,000; Continuation of the water forecasting partnership project, $450,000; Support of modeling and data analyses for the upper Colorado river commission's interstate planning and negotiation efforts, $200,000; Performance of comprehensive dam safety evaluations for the reservoir enlargement assessment project, $250,000; Support of the Platte river recovery implementation program, $3,800,000; and Support of Republican river matters related to meeting compact compliance obligations, $2,000,000. The act appropriates $8,200,000 from the water plan implementation cash fund to the CWCB for grant-making for projects that assist in implementing the state water plan. The act directs the state treasurer to transfer the following amounts on July 1, 2022: Up to $2,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the litigation fund; and $1,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the water plan implementation cash fund. The act authorizes the CWCB to make loans of up to $13,130,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the town of Breckenridge to rehabilitate the Goose Pasture Tarn dam. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)