Current law requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to annually prepare a written hospital expenditure report. The act changes the name of the report to the hospital transparency report (transparency report). The act adds specified information that each hospital shall report to the state department for the transparency report. No later than July 1, 2024, the act requires each hospital to provide specified information to the state department for previous fiscal years. The act authorizes the state department to impose certain enforcement mechanisms against a hospital that does not provide all of the information required to be reported to the state department. Current law requires the state department to submit the transparency report to the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee. The act requires the transparency report to also be submitted to the house of representatives health and insurance committee. The act requires the state department to report on the transparency report during the state department's "SMART Act" hearing. Beginning July 1, 2024, the act requires any patient bill to follow industry standard billing practices, including, at a minimum, the date of service, the patient's name, the provider's name, a description of the services provided, and the charges for each service. The act appropriates $75,167 to the state department from the healthcare affordability and sustainability cash fund to implement the act. It is anticipated that the state department will receive an additional $75,165 in federal funds for the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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Starting July 1, 2024, the act authorizes individuals who have a midwife certification from the American Midwifery Certification Board, pay the required fee, and submit to a criminal history record check to obtain a license from the state board of nursing (board) to practice as a certified midwife in the state. A certified midwife licensed by the board may apply for and obtain provisional and full prescriptive authority upon satisfying the requirements specified in the act. Certified midwives are subject to regulation by the board to the same extent that the board regulates the practice of nursing, including grounds for discipline and disciplinary actions. Effective July 1, 2024, the act adds a member to the state board of nursing who is a certified midwife or an advanced practice registered nurse who is a certified nurse midwife. The act appropriates $15,393 from the general fund to the department of public health and environment for use by the health facilities and emergency medical services division for administration and operations necessitated by the act. APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE May 25, 2023 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024 NOTE: Section 69 of the act states that the act takes effect upon passage; except that, section 12-255-105, Colorado Revised Statues, as amended in section 3 of the act, takes effect July 1, 2024. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the wolf depredation compensation fund (fund) to compensate landowners and agricultural producers for wolf depredation of livestock and working animals. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the state treasurer is directed to transfer $175,000 from the general fund to the fund, and for each state fiscal year thereafter, the state treasurer is directed to transfer $350,000 from the general fund to the fund. At the end of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 state fiscal years, any unencumbered balance in the fund that exceeds $100,000 is used to implement the gray wolf restoration and management plan (plan). At the end of subsequent state fiscal years, any unencumbered balance in the fund that exceeds 120% of the amount spent from the fund in the previous state fiscal year is used to implement the plan. The parks and wildlife commission may adopt rules establishing criteria for compensation, including criteria for indirect livestock loss. Each year, the director of the division of parks and wildlife will submit a report at the appropriate "SMART Act" hearing. To implement the act, $175,000 is appropriated from the fund to the department of natural resources for use by the division of parks and wildlife. APPROVED by Governor May 23, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 23, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the department of agriculture (department) to create the Colorado wild horse management project (wild horse project) as a nonprofit, state-owned corporate entity that manages and operates programs benefitting wild horses and supports wild horse management. The director of the wild horse project will be selected by a committee of the governor, the commissioner of agriculture, the executive director of the department of natural resources, the majority leader of the house of representatives, and the minority leader of the senate. The wild horse project has the same powers as a nonprofit corporate entity. Until December 31, 2027, the department must annually report on the project to the governor, the joint budget committee, and the appropriate joint legislative committee at the department's "SMART Act" hearings. The wild horse project may seek federal payment, gifts, grants, and donations for wild horse management support activities. On the effective date of the act, the state treasurer is required to transfer $1.5 million from the general fund to the wild horse project fund, which is created for use by the wild horse project and, until the project is created, the department. The money is continually appropriated for the purposes of the act. The wild horse project must establish a working group to identify and pursue long-term solutions for wild horses that are removed from federal horse management areas or held in federal facilities and make recommendations to the governor and the general assembly. The working group will have representation from the executive branch, the legislative branch, nonprofit organizations, businesses, the western slope, and the ranching community. The Colorado state director of the federal bureau of land management (bureau), the Southern Ute Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe may appoint representatives to the working group. The wild horse project must oversee the wild horse stewardship program, created to help manage range health and infrastructure, and the wild horse fertility control program, created to manage the wild horse herd population by collaborating, coordinating, and training people and entities to manage wild horse populations. The department must support the wild horse project through grants and contracts to assist with managing wild horse populations using fertility control methods, subject to approval by the bureau, until the wild horse project is created and commences its own program to manage wild horse populations. The department must also coordinate with certain interested parties. To implement the act, $1,654 is appropriated from the general fund to the legislative department for use by the general assembly, and $21,148 is appropriated from the legal services cash fund to the department of law. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 20, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the Colorado river drought task force (task force). The members of the task force must, to the extent practicable, reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the state and have experience with a wide range of water issues. The act directs the executive committee of the legislative council to hire a facilitator to support the work of the task force. The task force must begin meeting no later than July 31, 2023, and may hold up to 12 meetings in the 2023 legislative interim. The purpose of the task force is to develop recommendations for state legislation that provides additional tools for the Colorado water conservation board to collaborate with the Colorado river water conservation district, the southwestern water conservation district, and other relevant stakeholders in the development of programs that address drought in the Colorado river basin and interstate commitments related to the Colorado river and its tributaries through water conservation (recommendations). The act also requires the task force to establish a sub-task force to study tribal matters (sub-task force) and provide additional recommendations for state legislation. No later than December 15, 2023, the task force and sub-task force must submit a report that includes the recommendations and a summary of the task force's and sub-task force's work to the water resources and agriculture review committee. The act is repealed July 1, 2024. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $200,000 to the legislative department for use by the legislative council to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 20, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the "Born to Be Wild" special license plates for certain motorcycles, passenger cars, trucks, or noncommercial or recreational motor vehicles. An applicant qualifies for the issuance of the special license plates if the applicant pays the following fees to the department: A one-time $25 fee that is credited to the highway users tax fund; An annual $50 fee that is credited to the wildlife cash fund in the division of parks and wildlife; and A one-time $25 fee that is credited to the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account. The division of parks and wildlife is directed to use the money collected and credited to the wildlife cash fund for implementing nonlethal means of mitigating and preventing conflict with gray wolves and promoting the license plate. To implement this act, $99,642 is appropriated to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles. This appropriation consists of $11,054 from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund and $88,588 from the license plate cash fund. APPROVED by Governor May 20, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, a unit owners' association (association) of a common interest community may not prohibit the use of xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes to provide ground covering to property for which a unit owner is responsible. There is, however, an exception authorizing an association to adopt and enforce design or aesthetic guidelines or rules that apply to nonvegetative turf grass and drought-tolerant vegetative landscapes or to regulate the type, number, and placement of drought-tolerant plantings and hardscapes that may be installed on a unit owner's property, on a limited common element, or on other property for which the unit owner is responsible. The act states that an association's guidelines or rules must: Not prohibit the use of nonvegetative turf grass in the backyard of a unit owner's property; Not unreasonably require the use of hardscape on more than 20% of the landscaping area of a unit owner's property; Allow a unit owner an option that consists of at least 80% drought-tolerant plantings; and Not prohibit vegetable gardens in the front, back, or side yard of a unit owner's property. The act requires an association to develop at least 3 garden designs that are preapproved by the association for installation in front yards within the common interest community. To receive preapproval, a garden design must adhere to the principles of water-wise landscaping or be part of a water conservation program operated by a local water provider. A unit owner who is affected by an association's violation of the act's requirements may, after providing the association notice of and a 45-day period to cure the violation, bring a civil action to restrain further violation and to recover up to $500 or actual damages, whichever is greater. The act's provisions apply only to a unit that is a single-family detached home and do not apply to: A unit that is a single-family attached home that shares one or more walls with another unit; or A condominium. APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits the reintroduction of gray wolves unless the United States secretary of the interior promulgates rules making the gray wolf population a nonessential experimental population, which gives the state greater flexibility to manage the wolves. VETOED by Governor May 16, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the state board of community colleges and occupational education (board) to administer the in-demand short-term credentials program (program) to support the expansion of the number of available and qualified professionals who are able to meet Colorado's in-demand workforce needs. Under the program, the board is required to allocate funds to community and technical colleges, area technical colleges, local district colleges, and Colorado Mesa university to provide assistance to students for eligible expenses that support their enrollment in eligible programs. If unexpended resources exist, the funds must be used to pay for a student's housing, transportation, child or dependent care, or food expenses. The act requires the Colorado commission on higher education to submit a report regarding the program to the house of representatives and senate education committees during its annual "SMART Act" hearing. The act requires the office of future work (office) to provide grants to registered apprenticeship programs that provide training in the building and construction trade at no cost to apprentices (grant program). The act requires the office to submit a report regarding the grant program to the house of representatives business affairs and labor committee and senate business, labor, and technology committee during its annual "SMART Act" hearing. In the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the general assembly appropriated $10 million to the department of public health and environment (department) for the purpose of recruitment and re-engagement efforts with health-care professionals with licenses and staffing. The act extends the authority for the department to use the appropriation through December 30, 2024. In the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the general assembly appropriated $3 million to the department for the school nurse grant program, which provides grants for hiring school nurses for public schools. The act extends the authority for the department to use the appropriation through December 30, 2024. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $43,600,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of higher education, of which: $38,600,000 for the program; and $5,000,000 to establish 2 new short-term degree nursing programs at community or technical colleges. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, $1,400,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of labor and employment for the grant program. APPROVED by Governor May 16, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 16, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)