The bill establishes the legal responsibilities of wakeboard park operators and wakeboarders who use wakeboard parks, including: An operator's responsibility to post boundary markings and any warnings necessary for the safe enjoyment of the wakeboard park; A wakeboarder's assumption of the inherent dangers and risks involved in wakeboarding at a wakeboard park; and Limitations on the type and amount of liability that an operator has with regard to a wakeboarder's loss or injury suffered while wakeboarding at the operator's wakeboard park. The bill also defines the rights and responsibilities between wakeboarders at a wakeboard park. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Under current law, any person may ask the executive director of the department of regulatory agencies or the executive director's designee (executive director) to require a rule-making agency to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of a draft rule or draft amendment to a rule (proposed rule) for which the agency has filed a notice of proposed rule-making (notice). The bill extends the time period for which such request may be made from up to 5 days after the notice has been filed to up to 15 days before the scheduled rule-making hearing or, if the rule-making hearing is scheduled only 20 days after the notice was filed, up to 10 days after the notice was filed. The agency is required to complete the cost-benefit analysis at least 5 days before the scheduled rule-making hearing. The bill also specifies the following regarding a cost-benefit analysis: If the executive director determines that the proposed rule would likely have materially disparate effects on different regions of the state, the agency must include in the cost-benefit analysis a determination of the anticipated benefits, costs, and adverse effects of the proposed rule on different regions of the state; If the executive director determines that the proposed rule would have a negative economic or noneconomic impact, the executive director shall inform the public by either making a public presentation about the negative impact and any counterbalancing positive impact at the rule-making hearing or publishing a written report summarizing the impacts; The executive director, upon request of any party to the rule-making or member of the general assembly or upon the executive director's own motion, may require an agency to update a cost-benefit analysis to reflect material changes made to the proposed or adopted rule either before, during, or after the rule-making hearing; A member of the general assembly, no earlier than one year after a rule has been adopted, may request that the adopting agency conduct a cost-benefit analysis regarding the rule's implementation; and The public utilities commission, the department of natural resources, or the department of public health and environment, with regard to any cost-benefit analysis conducted by that agency, shall present the cost-benefit analysis at the rule-making hearing and allow public testimony at the hearing regarding the cost-benefit analysis. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill establishes requirements for health benefit plans related to health-care services provided by physician assistants and reimbursement for such services. The bill also modifies the relationship between a physician assistant and a physician by removing the supervision requirement and replacing it with a requirement that a physician assistant collaborate with a physician. Formal collaboration with a physician is required only for a physician assistant with fewer than 5,760 hours of practice experience or who is beginning practice in a new specialty. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires health-care providers that perform induced terminations of pregnancies to report specified information concerning the women who obtain the procedure to the state registrar of vital statistics in the department of public health and environment. The reported information must not include information that could identify the women who obtained induced terminations of pregnancies. The bill requires the state registrar to annually create a summary report of the information reported by health-care providers and to make the report available to the public. The bill places limitations on how and to whom the state registrar may release the information reported to the state registrar. A physician or physician assistant who falsifies or fails to submit the required information engages in unprofessional conduct pursuant to the "Colorado Medical Practice Act". An advanced practice registered nurse who falsifies or fails to submit the required information is subject to discipline pursuant to the "Nurse and Nurse Aide Practice Act". (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires a wind energy developer or owner to notify the United States department of defense military aviation and installation assurance siting clearinghouse (clearinghouse) of the new construction or expansion of a wind energy facility if the proposed project would include vertical construction exceeding 200 feet in height. Upon receiving notification of a proposed project, the clearinghouse is requested to review the proposed project to determine whether it would have an adverse impact to military mission, training, or operations and to notify the wind energy developer of its determination in writing within 90 days after receiving the notice. If the clearinghouse determines the proposed project will have no adverse impact, the proposed project may proceed. If the clearinghouse determines that the proposed project will have an adverse impact, the proposed project may proceed only if the wind energy developer or owner commits to resolving the adverse impact through the implementation of mitigation measures that the clearinghouse identifies in its determination. A wind energy developer or owner shall not construct a new wind energy facility or expand an existing wind energy facility in a manner that includes any vertical construction in excess of 50 feet in height if the wind energy facility is located within 2 nautical miles of an active federal military missile launch or control facility. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Current law authorizes the department of revenue (department) to make bulk electronic transfers, for a fee, of certain information obtained from applications for driver's licenses, motor vehicle registrations, motor vehicle titles, identification cards, and other official records and documents. The bulk electronic transfers are made to users and vendors who are permitted to transfer or resell such information. Notwithstanding the provisions of the federal "Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994", the bill prohibits the department from making bulk electronic transfers of information collected by the department to primary users and vendors who transfer or resell such information. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill defines a "health-care cost-sharing arrangement" as a health care sharing ministry or medical cost-sharing community that collects money from its members on a regular basis, at levels established by the arrangement, for purposes of sharing, covering, or defraying the medical costs of its members. A health-care cost-sharing arrangement is required to: Report specified information to the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) regarding its operations, financial statements, membership, and medical bills submitted, paid, and denied in Colorado; Provide certain written disclosures to potential and renewing members, post the disclosures on its website, if the arrangement has a website, and include the disclosures in its marketing materials; Provide specified written statements about arrangement finances and guidelines about arrangement procedures to members; and Respond to requests for payment of medical expenses from members or health-care providers within a period specified by the commissioner by rule. An insurance broker that offers a health-care cost-sharing arrangement in this state is required to provide written or electronic disclosures about the product to prospective members before selling the arrangement to the person. The commissioner is authorized to: Adopt rules to implement the data reporting, disclosure, and response time requirements; Impose fines for failure to comply with the requirements and prohibitions specified in the bill; Issue an emergency, ex parte cease-and-desist order against a person the commissioner believes to be violating the bill if it appears to the commissioner that the alleged conduct is fraudulent, creates an immediate danger to public safety, or is causing or is reasonably expected to cause significant, imminent, and irreparable public injury; and Impose a civil penalty, order restitution, or both, against a person that violates an ex parte cease-and-desist order. A person is prohibited from making, issuing, circulating, or causing to be made, issued, or circulated any statement or publication that misrepresents the medical cost-sharing benefits, advantages, conditions, or terms of any health-care cost-sharing arrangement. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Section 2 of the bill: Sets forth a process and deadlines for and requires the conversion of Pinnacol Assurance from a political subdivision of the state to a stock insurance company owned by a mutual insurance holding company, the initial members of which are the policyholders of Pinnacol Assurance immediately prior to the conversion, and also sets forth a process and deadlines for the disaffiliation of Pinnacol Assurance from the public employees' retirement association (PERA), with details as to how the disaffiliation is to be accomplished; Requires the transfer of a specified amount from Pinnacol Assurance to the state within 5 days of the effective date of the conversion and requires the money transferred to be allocated in equal shares to the controlled maintenance trust fund and to the just transition trust fund; and Requires the commissioner of insurance to contract with an insurance company as the carrier of last resort for employers seeking workers' compensation insurance and for the successor stock insurance company to serve in that capacity for a transitional period. Section 3 repeals the existing statutes concerning Pinnacol Assurance in its current form as a political subdivision of the state.Sections 4 to 35 make conforming amendments necessitated by the conversion of Pinnacol Assurance from a political subdivision of the state to a stock insurance company owned by a mutual insurance holding company and the disaffiliation of Pinnacol Assurance from PERA.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill creates the driver's license and identification card processing unit (unit) in the department of revenue. The unit processes and issues a driver's license or identification card to persons who are eligible for a driver's license or identification card and are scheduled to be released from the department of corrections or a jail. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill permits a fermented malt beverage retailer that is licensed to sell fermented malt beverages for off-premises consumption and that has licensed premises comprising less than 7,500 square feet to use a third-party delivery service, instead of its own employees and vehicles, to deliver fermented malt beverages to its customers.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill extends the duration of a state of disaster emergency declared by the governor from 30 to 60 days, but prohibits the governor from renewing a state of disaster emergency declared beyond 60 days. Instead, the bill authorizes the general assembly, upon the written request of the governor and by adopting a joint resolution, to extend the state of disaster emergency for up to 60 additional days. The general assembly may continue, at the written request of the governor and by adopting a joint resolution for each extension, to extend a state of disaster emergency for periods of up to 60 days for as long as it deems it necessary to do so. If the general assembly is not scheduled to convene in a regular session when a state of disaster emergency will end as required by the bill, the governor or a two-thirds majority of the members of each house of the general assembly, in accordance with applicable state constitutional provisions, may call the general assembly into an extraordinary session to consider extending the state of disaster emergency.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The starting point for determining state income tax liability is federal taxable income. This number is adjusted for additions and subtractions (deductions) that are used to determine Colorado taxable income, which amount is multiplied by the state's income tax rate. Income earned from pensions or annuities, including military retirement benefits, can be considered income for purposes of the state's income tax. In Colorado, current law provides an income tax deduction that subtracts from federal taxable income amounts received from pensions or annuities for individuals who are 55 years or older. For individuals who are 55 to 64, that benefit is capped at $20,000 per income tax year. For individuals who are 65 or older, that benefit is capped at $24,000 per income tax year. This existing benefit applies to pensions or annuities received, among other things, from service in the uniformed services of the United States. The bill does not change this current tax benefit. In 2018, the general assembly enacted a separate temporary income tax deduction through the income tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2023, that subtracts from federal taxable income amounts received from military retirement benefits for individuals who are under 55 years old. This additional deduction for military retirements benefits is currently capped as follows: $7,500 for the income tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2020, but before January 1, 2021; $10,000 for the income tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2021, but before January 1, 2022; and $15,000 for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022, but before January 1, 2024. The bill makes modifications to the existing tax deduction for military retirement benefits for individuals who are under 55 years old by: Extending the number of years the temporary income tax deduction is available by 10 years; and Increasing the maximum benefit to $20,000 for income tax years commencing January 1, 2023, and for each income tax year thereafter.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
