The act directs the Colorado state forest service (forest service) to establish a rural grant navigator grant program to provide grant money to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing outreach and technical assistance, including grant writing assistance, to rural communities seeking to apply for state or federal grants for wildfire mitigation and preparedness (wildfire-related grants). On or after March 1, 2025, an NGO may apply to the forest service for grant money in accordance with application and eligibility guidelines that the forest service establishes with input from NGOs that assist Colorado communities with wildfire mitigation and preparedness. On or before March 1, 2026, and on or before March 1 of every year thereafter, the forest service is required to prepare a report summarizing its work to award grants to NGOs assisting rural communities with identifying and applying for wildfire-related grants. The forest service is required to submit the report to the wildfire matters review committee or, if the committee no longer exists, to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over natural resources matters. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $300,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of higher education for use by the forest service to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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Section 1 of the act changes the geographic locations where the department of transportation (department) has authority to require certain traction-enhancing equipment for any commercial vehicle with a declared gross vehicle weight rating of 16,001 pounds or more from September 1 through May 31 of each year during any conditions that exist on the highway to the following corridors located on the western slope: Interstate highway 70 (I-70) west of milepost 259 (Morrison); Colorado state highway 9 from milepost 63 to milepost 97 (Frisco to Fairplay); U.S. Route 40 west of milepost 256 (Empire); U.S. Route 50 west of milepost 225 (Salida); U.S. Route 160 west of milepost 304 (Walsenburg); U.S. Route 285 west of milepost 250 (Morrison); and U.S. Route 550 from milepost 0 to 130. Section 2 allows the department to establish heightened speed limit enforcement zones (zone) within public highways in Glenwood Canyon on I-70 eastbound from milepost 116.0 to milepost 131.0 and westbound from milepost 118.5 to milepost 131.0 where there are safety concerns related to commercial motor vehicle drivers exceeding the posted speed limits. If the department establishes a zone, the department must erect signs identifying the zone and notifying commercial motor vehicle drivers that increased fines are assessed for speeding in the zone. Section 3 makes it a traffic offense for any commercial vehicle to be driving in the farthest left lane on I-70 between milepost 115.5 and milepost 131.0 (Glenwood Springs), between milepost 169.5 and milepost 173.0 (Dowd junction), between milepost 180.0 and milepost 190.5 (Vail pass), between milepost 205.5 and milepost 221.0 (Eisenhower-Johnson tunnel), between milepost 224.0 and milepost 228.5 (Georgetown hill), and between milepost 243.0 and milepost 247.0 (Floyd hill) during all conditions on that highway except to safely pass a vehicle driving under the posted speed limit. Section 4 subjects a commercial motor vehicle driver who commits a speeding violation in a zone to double fines and surcharges except when the driver of a commercial motor vehicle commits the violation within a highway maintenance, repair, or construction zone and is already subject to an increased penalty and surcharge. Section 5 ensures that a port of entry officer has all the powers of a peace officer when enforcing highway closures and the state's winter traction device law. Section 6 requires the freight mobility and safety branch of the department to study potential additional locations of chain-up and chain-down stations and to study what appropriate technology could be added to existing chain-up and chain-down stations to improve safety and mobility. The study must identify existing barriers to building new chain-up and chain-down stations and examine the economic and safety impacts of commercial motor vehicle incidents and closures during inclement weather events and examine commercial motor vehicle parking locations on I-70. Section 7 allows the study on feasibility of new chain-up and chain-down stations to be funded by the fuels impact reduction grant program. Section 8 appropriates $31,684 from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund to the department of revenue for implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the conservation easement oversight commission (commission) and the certified holder program indefinitely. The act replaces a nonvoting member of the commission who represents the great outdoors Colorado trust fund (GOCO) with a voting member who represents GOCO and who is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the executive director of GOCO. The act also adds a voting member appointed by the governor who meets the definition of "socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher" as defined in federal law. A conservation easement tax credit (credit) is not available for income tax years commencing after December 31, 2031, except for credits created on or before December 31, 2031, and subsequently transferred or carried over as a credit in other tax years. The cap for the total value of credits that may be claimed by and credited to donors of a conservation easement (easement) in one calendar year is increased from $45 million to $50 million starting in calendar year 2025. Credits filed after the cap is reached are placed in a priority system of allocation based on the date the application for the credit was filed, the completeness of the application, and whether the application is approved. Earlier filed credits take precedence over later filed credits. Credits for easements donated in a prior year are eligible for tax credit certificates in subsequent years in order of application. The act provides that for conservation easements donated on or after January 1, 2027, a taxpayer may claim 80% of the fair market value of the donated portion of the easement. Credits may be issued in increments of no more than $1.5 million per year. The total aggregate amount of the credit that may be refunded to the owners, partners, and shareholders of an entity donating an easement may not exceed $200,000 for income tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. On and after January 1, 2027, the act eliminates the requirement that to claim the credit, the state controller must certify that the amount of state revenues for the fiscal year ending in the income tax year for which the refund is claimed exceeds the limitation on state fiscal year spending for that fiscal year. The act allows an easement granted on or after January 1, 2025, to include a provision that, subject to specified requirements, allows the holder to approve expanded wind or solar energy facilities that are compatible with and do not impair conservation values. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $12,925 is appropriated from the conservation cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of conservation. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 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 act adopts the dentist and dental hygienist compact (compact) to facilitate the interstate practice of dentistry and dental hygiene. With the adoption of the compact, a dentist or dental hygienist who holds an active, unencumbered license in a participating state and does not have an encumbered license from any participating state may apply to another participating state (remote state) for a privilege to practice dentistry or dental hygiene, as applicable, (compact privilege) in that state. Under a compact privilege, the dentist or dental hygienist must practice within the scope of practice authorized for a dentist or dental hygienist licensed in the remote state and is subject to the remote state's licensing authority, which may, within the borders of the remote state, take adverse action against the dentist's or dental hygienist's compact privilege in order to protect the health and safety of its citizens. If a remote state, acting through its licensing authority, takes adverse action, the dentist's or dental hygienist's compact privilege in all remote states is removed until any restriction on the compact privilege is removed. Only the participating state in which the dentist or dental hygienist is licensed may take adverse action against the dental or dental hygienist's license; however, a remote state may take adverse action against the dentist's or dental hygienist's compact privilege in the remote state. The compact creates the dentist and dental hygienist compact commission (commission). The commission consists of one commissioner from each participating state who is selected by the state's licensing authority. The compact authorizes the commission to create the administrative structure for the compact, including granting the powers necessary to establish and operate the commission, adopt rules and bylaws, establish an executive committee, hire employees, establish an office, and conduct the commission's meetings. Further, the commission shall develop and maintain a coordinated database and reporting system to include significant investigatory information from participating states concerning the dentist's or dental hygienist's practice and to record any adverse action against the dentist or dental hygienist. To pay the costs associated with the compact, the compact authorizes the commission to levy and collect an annual assessment from each participating state and to impose fees on licensees for the granting or renewal of a compact privilege; except that an active military member or the member's spouse will not be required to pay the commission's fee for a compact privilege. The compact includes provisions governing disputes among participating states and between the commission and a participating state, enforcement provisions, and withdrawal of participating states from the compact. The compact is effective for participating states on the date on which the compact is enacted in the seventh participating state. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $78,750 is appropriated to the department of regulatory agencies from the division of professions and occupations cash fund for use by the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For the treatment of cancer or a life-threatening disease or for the treatment of a symptom, complication, or consequence of cancer or a life-threatening disease, the act prohibits a carrier, with respect to a health benefit plan issued on or after January 1, 2025, from: Requiring a provider-administered drug to be dispensed only by specific network pharmacies; If a provider-administered drug is otherwise covered by the carrier for the covered person, limiting or excluding coverage for the drug based on the covered person's choice of participating provider; Requiring a participating provider to bill for or be reimbursed for the delivery and administration of a provider-administered drug under the pharmacy benefit instead of the medical benefit without informed, written consent of the covered person and written attestation by the covered person's participating provider that a delay in the drug's administration will not place the covered person at an increased health risk; or Requiring a covered person to pay additional fees, copayments, or coinsurance based on the covered person's choice of pharmacy. The act also requires the reimbursement rate for covered provider-administered drugs to be at the carrier's in-network negotiated rate for participating providers. The act appropriates $7,333 to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance from the division of insurance cash fund to implement the act. VETOED by Governor May 17, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill requires the department of labor and employment (department), in consultation with the department of military and veterans affairs, to create and distribute a poster that provides information on services, resources, and benefits that are available to veterans of the armed services. Each employer in this state with more than 50 employees is required to display the poster created by the department in a conspicuous and accessible area in the workplace. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Sections 1 and 2 of the bill eliminate the liquor-licensed drugstore license, effective January 1, 2025. All active liquor-licensed drugstore licenses will convert to a fermented malt beverage and wine retailer license on that date; except that a licensee with a single location may choose to convert the liquor-licensed drugstore license to a retail liquor store license. Section 3 of the bill prohibits the state and local licensing authorities from issuing new liquor-licensed drugstore licenses. The state and local licensing authorities may renew liquor-licensed drugstore licenses that are in effect on the effective date of the bill. Sections 18 21 through 29 make conforming amendments to account for the removal of the liquor-licensed drugstore license prohibition on the issuance of new liquor-licensed drugstore licenses . Sections 3 and 4 require 4 and 5 prohibit fermented malt beverage and wine retailers to display from displaying alcohol beverages for sale in a single location in certain locations on the licensed premises and prohibit fermented malt beverage and wine retailers from selling alcohol fermented malt beverages with greater than 14% 17% alcohol by volume. Sections 5 and 6 6 and 7 expand on a wholesaler's duty not to discriminate when selling products to retailers and allows the state licensing authority to recover the cost of enforcing the anti-discrimination laws from a person found in violation of the anti-discrimination laws. Current law limits the amount of alcohol beverages certain retailers can purchase from retail liquor stores, liquor-licensed drugstores, and fermented malt beverage and wine retailers to $2,000 dollars' worth of alcohol beverages each calendar year . Sections 7 through 17 remove 8 through 18 and 22 increase the cap as it applies purchases by certain retailers from retail liquor stores to $5,000 worth of alcohol beverages each calendar month . Section 22 allows retail liquor stores to purchase $5,000 worth of alcohol beverages from other licensed retail stores each calendar month. For the delivery of alcohol beverages: Section 4 5 prohibits fermented malt beverage and wine retailers from delivering alcohol beverages to another person licensed to sell alcohol beverages; and Section 24 22 removes the prohibition on a retail liquor store delivering alcohol beverages to another retail liquor store. Section 18 19 allows automated teller machine (ATM) cards associated with public assistance programs to be used at ATMs in grocery stores. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Existing law limits the amount recoverable for noneconomic damages in medical malpractice actions to $300,000. Beginning January 1, 2025, the bill incrementally increases the noneconomic damages limitation to $500,000 over the course of 5 years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill defines an electronic extension of a physical driver's license, minor driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card issued by the department of revenue that is approved by the department as an "electronic identification credential". Under existing law, a driver must be in immediate possession of the driver's driver's license or instruction permit while driving. The bill allows a driver who is not in possession of the person's physical driver's license or permit to possess and present a digital an electronic identification credential that is an extension of a license or permit instead. Under existing law, it is a class A traffic infraction for a driver who is in possession of a driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card to refuse to provide that identification, upon request, to a peace officer who reasonably suspects the driver has violated a traffic law. The bill requires a person who has in the person's possession a digital driver's license or identification card (digital identification) an electronic identification credential to provide the digital identification electronic identification credential , upon request, to a peace officer who reasonably suspects the driver has violated a traffic law. The bill makes it a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense to refuse to provide a driver's license, instruction permit, identification card, or digital identification to a peace officer. The bill removes the specified penalty and surcharge for the traffic infraction. The bill permits a driver who does not have the person's driver's or minor driver's license in the person's immediate possession to present to a requesting peace officer a digital driver's license or identification card as a form of personal identification. The bill requires a person who operates a motor vehicle who does not have the person's driver's or minor driver's license, instruction permit, or identification card, or an electronic identification credential that is an extension of the same (identification), or who has identification in the person's possession but refuses to present it to a peace officer, to provide personally identifying information to the peace officer upon request. Failure to provide identifying information to a peace officer by a driver is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense, and a peace officer shall not arrest a person for committing the offense. The bill takes effect March 31, 2025. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)