Sen. Perry Will

The act directs the state treasurer to transfer $26 million from the general fund to the Colorado firefighting air corps fund for use by the division of fire prevention and control to purchase a fire hawk helicopter configured for wildfire and other public safety response needs. APPROVED by Governor May 12, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 12, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the university of Colorado's natural hazards center to conduct a study by July 1, 2024, to determine what municipalities, sheriff's offices, counties, fire districts, and local 911 agencies need to be able to provide emergency alerts in minority languages, and what local 911 agencies need in order to provide live interpretation during a 911 call. The study must: Identify the components of multi-hazard early warning systems that are necessary in order to reach residents and visitors without requiring an opt-in, as well as opt-in options, outputs for emergency alert systems, and the ability to provide emergency alerts in minority languages; Survey state agencies, counties, municipalities, sheriff's offices, fire districts, fire authorities, and local 911 agencies to identify the capabilities of existing emergency alert systems in Colorado compared to the identified essential components; Identify gaps in the capabilities of existing emergency alert systems requiring correction; Identify resources, including federal funding opportunities, to implement a grant program to assist municipalities, sheriff's offices, counties, fire districts, and local 911 agencies in obtaining emergency response technology systems that can provide emergency alerts in minority languages; Determine best practices, which may be identified by reviewing programs in other states, for hiring multilingual and multicultural staff; Determine best practices for engaging local community organizations with connections to populations that speak a minority language; and Present research regarding effective emergency alerts for people with disabilities after consultation with a statewide organization that advocates for people with disabilities. The university of Colorado's natural hazard center shall submit its study report to the division of homeland security and emergency management in the department of public safety and to the general assembly by January 8, 2024. The act appropriates $77,009 from the general fund to the department of higher education to implement the study. APPROVED by Governor May 12, 2023 EFFECTIVE May 12, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the streamlined solar permitting and inspection grant program (program) in the Colorado energy office (office), which will grant money to local governments to implement free automated permitting and inspection software for residential solar projects. To fund the program, the act creates the streamlined solar permitting and inspection cash fund (fund), which is annually appropriated to the office, and appropriates $992,709 from the general fund to the fund for fiscal year 2023-24. The act requires the office to administer the program by developing procedures to award money to applicants, establishing a process for applicants to apply for money, requiring applicants to demonstrate expected costs to implement the automated permitting and inspection software, and beginning to approve applicants no later than June 30, 2024. A grantee is encouraged to implement the free automated permitting software within 180 days of receipt of grant money. Grantees are required to report to the office the implementation status of the free automated permitting software one year after being granted the money, and are encouraged to voluntarily report the same information each year thereafter for 4 years. The office is required to report to the house of representatives energy and environment committee, the senate transportation committee, and the joint budget committee the progress of the grant program yearly beginning on January 1, 2025, and continuing until the repeal of the program on July 1, 2034, or until 5 years after the last grant is awarded, whichever comes first. APPROVED by Governor May 11, 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, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are required to perform certain acts and are prohibited from engaging in certain acts. Specifically, PBMs are prohibited from: Requiring patients to obtain their prescription drugs through mail order; Charging pharmacies fees to adjudicate claims; Requiring pharmacies to obtain accreditations or certifications that are different than what the PBM requires of its affiliated pharmacies; Retroactively reducing a payment made to a pharmacy on a drug claim after the point of sale or reimbursing a pharmacy in an amount that is less than the amount reimbursed to its own affiliated pharmacy for the same pharmacy service; Modifying the prescription drug formulary under a health benefit plan during the plan year; With regard to audits, using specified techniques in calculating a recoupment or penalty, subjecting a pharmacy to recoupment when a clerical error is discovered, and requiring pharmacies to be audited more than once a year; Prohibiting a pharmacy or pharmacist from, or penalizing a pharmacy or pharmacist for, providing information to patients about more affordable, therapeutically equivalent alternatives to a prescribed drug; or Requiring a pharmacy or pharmacist to charge or collect a copayment from an insured patient that exceeds the total charge submitted by the pharmacy for the prescription drug. Additionally, PBMs are required to: Provide pharmacies 7 days' written notice before an audit, conduct an audit by or in consultation with a pharmacist, allow the pharmacy to supplement claims documentation, and establish an appeals process; Provide an insured individual, the insured's health-care provider, or a third party acting on behalf of the insured or provider with up-to-date and real-time cost, benefit, and coverage information under the terms of the insured's health benefit plan; and Provide contracted pharmacies with the list of sources the PBM used in determining maximum allowable cost pricing, update the information every 7 days, allow pharmacies the ability to readily review the information, follow specified requirements when placing a drug on the maximum allowable cost list, and establish an appeals process to resolve disputes. The act specifies that the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) has the power to enforce these prohibitions and requirements and impose penalties on PBMs for failing to comply with these prohibitions and requirements. The commissioner is also authorized to adopt rules as necessary to implement and enforce these prohibitions and requirements. Additionally, the act requires PBMs to register with and pay a registration fee to the commissioner and authorizes the commissioner to deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue, continue, or renew a PBM registration or to issue a cease-and-desist order if the commissioner finds that a PBM has engaged in specified activities, including violating an insurance law. The PBM registration fees imposed under the act are to be used to fund the costs of the division of insurance in enforcing requirements and prohibitions on PBMs. The act appropriates $206,647 from the division of insurance cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance for personal services and operating expenses related to implementing the act. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 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.)

Current law requires an operator of a motorboat in the state to be at least 16 years of age but allows an individual who is at least 14 years of age and who has completed a motorboat safety course to operate a motorboat in the state. The act increases this age requirement to require all individuals under 18 years of age to take a boating safety course and to have a certificate of completion from that course in the individual's possession or in an accessible place in order to operate a motorboat. The act provides an exception to the age requirement for the operation of motorboats on bodies of water located on private property. APPROVED by Governor May 4, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 1, 2024 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act: Amends the practice of a pharmacy technician to include performing point-of-care testing and patient care technical tasks as specifically trained for and delegated by a supervising pharmacist; Requires the majority of pharmacy technicians to be fully certified by the state board of pharmacy when 3 or more pharmacy technicians are on duty; and Changes the supervision ratio for pharmacists to include supervising up to 8, rather than only 6, pharmacy technicians when the pharmacy, other than a pharmacy located in a hospital, is a central fill pharmacy that is not a public-facing pharmacy and is acting as an agent of an originating pharmacy to fill or refill a prescription. The act authorizes reimbursement under the medical assistance program for dispensing or administering vaccines to children under 19 years of age. To be eligible to receive reimbursement, the pharmacy or pharmacist must be enrolled in good standing with the federal centers for disease control and prevention vaccines for children program administered by the department of public health and environment (department). Until the department determines a framework for participation by pharmacies or pharmacists, the department is not required to enroll pharmacies receiving reimbursement for the administration of vaccines through the medical assistance program as vaccines for children providers. APPROVED by Governor May 4, 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 state constitution allows a veteran who has a service-connected disability rated as a 100% permanent disability to claim a property tax exemption for a portion of the actual value of the veteran's owner-occupied primary residence. The 100% permanent disability requirement can only be changed through a constitutional amendment. The concurrent resolution submits a constitutional amendment to the voters of the state at the 2024 general election that will, if approved, expand eligibility for the exemption by allowing a veteran who has individual unemployability status, as determined by the U.S. department of veterans affairs, to claim the exemption. In most cases, to have individual unemployability status, a veteran must be unable to keep a steady job because the veteran either has at least one service-connected disability rated at 60% or more disabling or has 2 or more service-connected disabilities with at least one disability rated at 40% or more disabling and a combined rating of 70% or more disabling. To conform to the existing public policy of the state that "people first language" be used in new or amended legislation that refers to persons with disabilities, the concurrent resolution also changes the existing defined term "disabled veteran" to "veteran with a disability". (Note: This summary applies to this concurrent resolution as adopted.)

Starting December 31, 2023, the act requires each entity described below to label packages of premoistened, nonwoven disposable wipes (covered product) with the phrase "Do Not Flush": A manufacturer of a covered product that is sold or offered for sale in this state; and A wholesaler, supplier, or retailer that is responsible for the labeling or packaging of a covered product. The act outlines the parameters to which the labeling must adhere in order to comply with state and federal requirements, as applicable, and specifies that a violation of the requirements of the act is a deceptive trade practice under the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act". APPROVED by Governor April 11, 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 creates an additional exception to the general prohibition on advance payment in the state's fiscal rule by directing the controller to promulgate rules providing for advance payment for the purchase of state agricultural products by a charitable food organization using state grant money. APPROVED by Governor March 31, 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.)

Current law authorizes the board of the fire and police pension association (FPPA) to grant compounding cost of living adjustments (COLAs). The act authorizes the board of FPPA, within certain limits, to also grant noncompounding COLAs. APPROVED by Governor March 23, 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.)