The bill allows a person who legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law to carry a concealed handgun in Colorado. A person who carries a concealed handgun under the authority created in the bill has the same carrying rights and is subject to the same limitations that apply to a person who holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun under current law, including the prohibition on the carrying of a concealed handgun on the grounds of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The bill reduces an appropriation. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
In an existing provision that authorizes resellers of electricity and natural gas to provide motor vehicle charging or fueling stations as unregulated services, the bill authorizes public utilities to provide these services as regulated or unregulated services and allows cost recovery. The bill allows a utility to apply to build facilities to support alternative fuel vehicles. Standards are set for approval. When a facility is built, the rate and charges for the services: May allow a return on any investment made by an electric public utility at the weighted average cost of capital at the electric public utility's most recent rate of return on equity approved by the public utilities commission (commission); May allow a return on any investment made by a natural gas public utility at the utility's weighted average cost of capital at the public utility's most recent rate of return on equity approved by the commission; and Must be recovered from all customers of an electric or natural gas public utility in a manner that is similar to the recovery of distribution system investments.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
An electioneering communication is certain communication that unambiguously refers to a candidate that is disseminated to the public within 30 days before a primary election or within 60 days before a general election. For purposes of campaign finance disclosure, sections 1 and 2 of the bill expand the definition of this term in the 'Fair Campaign Practices Act' to include any communication that satisfies all other requirements of the definition of the term specified in the state constitution but that is broadcast, printed, mailed, delivered, or distributed between the primary election and the general election.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Current law requires each principal department to review all of its rules, in accordance with a schedule established by the department of regulatory agencies (DORA), to assess, among other things, the continuing need and cost-effectiveness of each rule. The bill repeals the DORA schedule-setting and instead requires each department to complete or have completed, by November 1, 2018, an initial comprehensive internal rule review. Commencing in 2021, the bill imposes a triennial schedule for such reviews to be conducted. The bill further specifies that the public and certain state agencies must be accorded no fewer than 14 business days to provide input regarding an agency's rules during its review, and that any input received must be attached to the report setting forth the results of the rule reviews included in each agency's departmental regulatory agenda. Additionally, the bill encourages each principal department to undertake an annual review of rules to ensure that the rules conform to any federal or state laws enacted, or any federal or state rules promulgated, within the previous year. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill directs the transportation legislation review committee (TLRC) to conduct a hearing during the 2017 interim on the potential economic benefits and costs of energy storage systems (e.g., batteries, heat sinks, pumped storage hydroelectric systems) that an electric utility may incorporate into its electric resource acquisition plans. The hearing must take place on or before December 1, 2017. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill establishes the Colorado secure savings plan (plan), which is a retirement savings plan for private-sector employees in the form of an automatic enrollment payroll deduction individual retirement account. Employers with a specified number of employees in the state are required to participate in the plan, but any employer may choose to participate in the plan. The Colorado secure savings plan board of trustees (board) is created and consists of the state controller, the director of the governor's office of state planning and budgeting, and 7 additional trustees with certain experience who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. The trustees on the board have a fiduciary duty to the plan's enrollees and beneficiaries and are required to: Establish investment options that offer employees returns on contributions without incurring debt or liabilities to the state; Establish the process for allocating investment earnings and losses to individual plan accounts on a pro rata basis; Make and enter into contracts and hire staff as necessary for the administration of the plan; Conduct a periodic review of the performance of any investment vendors; Cause money in the Colorado secure savings plan fund (fund) to be invested with the intent to achieve cost savings through efficiencies and economies of scale; Establish the process for an enrollee to contribute a portion of his or her wages to the plan for automatic deposit and establish the process by which the participating employer forwards those contributions to the plan; Establish the process for enrollment in the plan including the process by which an employee can opt not to participate in the plan; Accept gifts, grants, and donations from specified entities and pursue options for bank loans or a line of credit to cover the start-up costs of the plan; Procure, as needed, insurance against loss in connection with the property, assets, or activities of the plan; Allocate administrative fees to individual retirement accounts in the plan on a pro rata basis; Set minimum and maximum contribution levels; Facilitate education and outreach to employers and employees; Ensure that the plan complies with all applicable state and federal laws; Deposit all gifts, grants, donations, fees, and earnings from investment of moneys in the fund into the fund and pay the administrative costs and expenses for the creation, management, and operation of the plan from moneys in the fund; Determine any nominal and reasonable assistance that may be provided to businesses to offset the initial costs of enrolling employees in the plan and complying with audits and plan implementation; Prepare or cause to be prepared certain annual audits and annual reports regarding the plan; Develop a process to ensure that employers are in compliance with the requirements of the plan and develop a penalty structure for employers who fail, without reasonable cause, to enroll employees in the plan; Conduct or cause to be conducted a financial feasibility study to ensure that the plan will be self-sustaining; and Conduct an analysis of relevant consumer protections available under federal law and make recommendations to the general assembly regarding additional necessary consumer protections that should be included in legislation implementing the plan. The bill specifies the process by which the board is required to engage an investment manager to invest the assets of the plan and specifies the investment options that the board is required to create. The bill creates the fund as a trust outside of the state treasury, specifies that the fund will include the individual retirement accounts of enrollees in the plan, and allows the board to use a certain percentage of money in the fund for the administrative expenses of the plan. The money in the fund is not property of the state and cannot be commingled with state money. The board must design and disseminate employer and employee information packets regarding the plan and the options for employee participation in the plan to all employers that participate in the plan. If, based on the required financial feasibility study, the board determines that the plan will be self-sustaining and would promote greater retirement savings for private-sector employees, the board must recommend to the general assembly that the plan be implemented. The board may not implement the plan unless the general assembly, acting by bill, directs the board to implement the plan. The bill dictates the timing for the board to implement the plan, if directed to do so by the general assembly, and a time frame for employers to establish a system by which enrollees in the plan can remit payroll deduction contributions to the plan. Employers must automatically enroll employees in the plan unless an employee has opted out of participation in the plan. Enrollees may select an investment option and contribution level or use the default investment option and contribution amount established by the board. The bill specifies that the state and employers do not have any duty or liability to any party for the payments of any retirement savings benefits accrued by any individual through the plan. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Section 17 of the bill requires a ballot question to be submitted to the voters of the state at the November 2017 statewide election that seeks approval for the state to temporarily impose additional state sales and use taxes for 20 years beginning January 1, 2018, and to issue up to a specified amount of transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) for the purpose of funding specified state transportation projects. If the voters approve the temporary additional sales and use taxes and the issuance of TRANs, the new sales and use tax revenue and TRANs proceeds generated are allocated, pursuant to sections 7, 14, 15, 16, and 19, solely for transportation funding purposes as follows: $375 million of the new sales and use tax revenue annually and all TRANs proceeds to the state highway fund for use by the department of transportation (CDOT) to repay the TRANs and to fund qualified federal aid transportation projects, including multimodal capital projects, that are designated for tier 1 funding as ten-year development program projects on CDOT's 2017 development program project list until all of the projects are fully funded, for tier 2 funding for such projects thereafter, and for maintenance, including rapid response maintenance, of state highways; and Of the remaining new sales and use tax revenue: 70% to counties and municipalities in equal total amounts; and 30% to a multimodal transportation options fund created in section 22. If the voters approve the ballot question: Sections 5 and 8 respectively impose additional state sales and use taxes at a rate of 0.62% and exempt the sale, storage, use, and consumption of aviation fuels from the additional taxes. Section 9 ensures that revenue generated by the new taxes that is attributable to sales of marijuana and marijuana products is used for transportation purposes by exempting such revenue from the existing requirement that state sales and use tax revenue attributable to such sales by credited to the marijuana tax cash fund. Section 17 requires the transportation commission to covenant that amounts it allocates on an annual basis to pay TRANs shall be paid: First, from $50 million of any legally available money under its control other than the new sales and use tax revenue; next, from the new sales and use tax revenue; and last, if necessary, from any other legally available money under its control any amount needed for payment of the TRANs until the TRANs are fully repaid; The new sales and use tax revenue allocations to counties and municipalities are further allocated, pursuant to sections 15 and 16, to each county and municipality in accordance with certain existing statutory formulas used to allocate highway users tax fund (HUTF) money to each county and municipality; Section 10 repeals an existing late vehicle registration fee. Section 12 requires CDOT to evaluate options for more flexible use of high-occupancy vehicle and high-occupancy toll lanes and to report to the transportation legislation review committee (TLRC) regarding the evaluation no later than August 1, 2018. Section 14 repeals the existing statutory requirement that at least 10% of the sales and use tax net revenue and other general fund revenue that may be transferred or appropriated to the HUTF and subsequently credited to the state highway fund must be expended for transit purposes or transit-related capital improvements and limits the use of new state sales and use tax revenue for toll highways; Section 22 creates a transportation options account and a pedestrian and active transportation account in the fund and requires the transportation commission to designate the percentages of fund revenue to be credited to each account subject to the limitations that for any given fiscal year no more than 75% of the revenue may be credited to the transportation options account and at least 25% of the revenue must be credited to the pedestrian and active transportation account; Section 22 also creates a multimodal transportation options committee of gubernatorial and legislative appointees representing transit agencies, transportation planning organizations, and local governments and the executive director of CDOT or the executive director's designee as a type 1 agency within CDOT for the purpose of allocating the money in the transportation options account of the fund for transportation options projects throughout the state. Under the supervision and guidance of the committee, section 11 requires the transit and rail division of CDOT to solicit, receive, and evaluate proposed transportation options projects and propose funding for interregional transportation options projects. Any transportation options project receiving funding from either account of the fund must also be funded by at least an equal total amount of local government, regional transportation authority, or transit agency funding; except that small local governments and transit agencies may provide 20% matching money. Section 22 also requires CDOT to allocate the money in the pedestrian and active transportation account of the fund for projects for transportation infrastructure that is designed for users of nonmotorized mobility-enhancing equipment and persons with disabilities who use motorized wheelchairs, scooters, or functionally similar assistive technology; Section 3 eliminates transfers of general fund revenue to the HUTF that are scheduled under current law to be made for state fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20; Section 21 reduces the state road safety surcharges imposed on motor vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less are reduced for the same period during which the rates of the state sales and use taxes are increased. The resulting reduction in state fee revenue is taken entirely from the share of such fee revenue that is kept by the state so that county and municipal allocations of such revenue are not reduced. Section 18 requires CDOT to annually report to the joint budget committee, legislative audit committee, house transportation and energy committee, and senate transportation committee regarding its use of TRANs proceeds and to post the reports and certain user-friendly project-specific information on its website; and Section 20 creates a transportation revenue anticipation notes citizen oversight committee is created to provide oversight of the expenditure by the department of the proceeds of additional TRANs. The committee must annually report to the TLRC regarding its activities and findings.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Currently, a person who is not lawfully present in the United States may obtain a driver's license or identification card if certain requirements are met. One of the requirements is that the person present a taxpayer identification card. The bill allows a social security number to also meet this requirement. The bill also allows the license or identification card to be reissued or renewed in accordance with the process used for other licenses and identification cards. $216,000 is appropriated to the department of revenue from the licensing services cash fund to implement the bill. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill establishes a private school tuition income tax credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2018, that allows any taxpayer to claim a credit when the taxpayer enrolls a dependent qualified child in a private school or the taxpayer provides a scholarship to a qualified child for enrollment in a private school and the private school issues the taxpayer a credit certificate for either enrolling a dependent qualified child in the private school or providing a scholarship to a qualified child for enrollment in the private school. The credit may be carried forward for 3 years but may not be refunded, and the department of revenue is granted rule-making authority. In addition, the credit may be transferred, subject to certain limitations. The amount of the credit is: For any qualified child attending a private school on a full-time basis as described in the state board of education rules, an amount equal to either the tuition paid or the scholarship provided to a qualified child, as applicable, or 50% of the previous year's state average per pupil revenues, whichever is less; and For any qualified child attending a private school on a half-time basis as described in the state board of education rules, an amount equal to either the tuition paid or the scholarship provided to a qualified child, as applicable, or 25% of the previous year's state average per pupil revenues, whichever is less. The bill also establishes an income tax credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2018, that allows any taxpayer who uses home-based education for a qualified child to claim an income tax credit in an amount equal to: $1,000 for a taxpayer who uses home-based education for a qualified child who was enrolled on a full-time basis as described in the state board of education rules in a public school in the state prior to being taught at home; and $500 for a taxpayer who uses home-based education for a qualified child who was enrolled on a half-time basis as described in the state board of education rules in a public school in the state prior to being taught at home. The credit may be carried forward for 3 years but may not be refunded. In addition, the credit may be transferred, subject to certain limitations. The bill decreases the general fund appropriation made in the annual general appropriation act for the 2017-18 state fiscal year to the department of education for the state share of districts' total program funding by $50,000,000. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Current law's definition of a water supply that is 'adequate' for purposes of a local government's approval of a real estate development permit merely allows the inclusion of reasonable conservation measures and water demand management measures to account for hydrologic variability. The bill amends the definition to include reasonable conservation measures and water demand management measures to reduce water needs and account for hydrologic variability ( section 2 of the bill) and prohibits the local government from approving the permit application unless the applicant demonstrates that appropriate water conservation and demand management measures have been included in the water supply plan ( section 3 ). Current law also requires an applicant for a real estate development permit to demonstrate to the local government issuing the permit: The water conservation measures, if any, that may be implemented within the development; and The water demand management measures, if any, that may be implemented to account for hydrologic variability. Section 4 requires the applicant to demonstrate: The water conservation measures that may be implemented within the development to reduce indoor and outdoor demand; and The water demand management measures that may be implemented to account for hydrologic variability.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill creates a financial relief program, available from July 1, 2017, through December 31, 2018, or until the total amount of money appropriated for the program is distributed, to provide financial assistance to individuals and their families residing in the program area who spend more than 15% of their household income on individual health insurance premiums. The Colorado health benefit exchange (exchange) is to oversee the program, and counties in the program area may elect to administer the program in their counties. For any county that opts not to administer the program, the exchange is to administer the program in that county. Financial relief is available to individuals and families residing in the program area who are determined eligible based on the following: The individual or family enrolled in and paid premiums for a bronze, silver, or gold level individual health benefit plan purchased through the exchange; The individual or family has a household income of more than 400%, but not more than 500%, of the federal poverty line; The individual or family does not have access to a government-sponsored program, such as medicaid or medicare, or an affordable employer-sponsored plan; and The individual or family pays more than 15% of the household income on premiums for the plan. The exchange is to certify that an individual or family resides in the program area and has enrolled in one of the specified health benefit plans, the premium amount of the plan, the household income of the individual or family, and that the individual or family does not have access to a government-sponsored program or employer-sponsored plan. The amount of financial relief is calculated based on the cost of the premium for the lowest-cost bronze health benefit plan available to the individual or family through the exchange, minus an amount equal to 15% of the individual's or family's household income. The general assembly is to appropriate not more than $5.7 million from the general fund to the department of health care policy and financing, for allocation to the exchange to provide financial assistance to individuals who qualify under the program. A carrier offering individual health benefit plans on the exchange must permit an individual to purchase an individual health benefit plan on the exchange during a special enrollment period that begins June 1, 2017, and ends August 1, 2017, for plans effective through December 31, 2017. For the 2018 plan year, individuals are subject to the standard open enrollment period specified in law. The program repeals on September 1, 2019, unless congress enacts and the president signs legislation repealing the advance premium tax credit authorized under federal law, in which case the program repeals upon the date of the repeal of said tax credit. The bill appropriates $5.7 million to the department of health care policy and financing for allocation to the exchange to provide financial relief to qualified individuals. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
The bill amends the definition of 'durable medical equipment supplier' to include a person or entity that bills or bids or plans to bill or bid in the current calendar year for services or products listed in the centers for medicare and medicaid services durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies in a current bidding program or pursuant to any successor bidding program.. The bill clarifies the requirements for a durable medical equipment supplier to do business in Colorado. For each of its physical locations providing services in Colorado, a durable medical equipment supplier must be licensed by the Colorado secretary of state and attest that each of its physical locations providing services in Colorado are within 100 miles of any Colorado-resident medicare beneficiary being served by the supplier in Colorado or any Colorado medicaid recipient who is being served by the provider in Colorado. The bill includes language relating to licensing durable medical equipment suppliers that prohibits a supplier from meeting the requirements through a durable medical equipment warehouse or repair facility, but does allow a supplier to domicile a fully accredited facility within a durable medical equipment warehouse or repair facility. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
