Rep. Colin Larson

The Colorado interagency working group on school safety (working group) is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2022. The act continues the working group indefinitely and requires the department of public safety to convene the first meeting of the working group no later than December 31, 2022. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the department of public safety for the working group. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act enacts the "Interstate Licensed Professional Counselors Compact", which, once effective, will allow licensed professional counselors in any state that has joined the compact (member state) to provide: Licensed professional counselor services in each member state under a privilege to practice; and Telehealth services in each member state under a privilege to practice. The act authorizes the state board of licensed professional counselor examiners (board) to promulgate rules and to facilitate Colorado's participation in the compact, including notification to the Counseling Compact Commission (commission) established by the compact of any adverse action taken by the board against a Colorado licensed professional counselor. The commission includes a delegate from each member state and has the powers and duties set forth in the act. The compact becomes effective on the date the compact is enacted in the tenth member state. The act appropriates $104,538 to the department of regulatory agencies from the division of professions and occupations cash fund for use by the division of professions and occupations to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

No later than January 2024, the act requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to submit a report to specified committees of the general assembly identifying: A reimbursement system with a goal to incentivize and increase transportation provider participation; How the state department will ensure compliance with applicable federal laws and waiver requirements; A system of common reporting to ensure a recipient does not exceed the medicaid benefit in a multi-provider scenario; and Best practices based on what other states have done to allow transportation network companies (TNC) to provide nonmedical transportation services for individuals receiving services. Upon completion of the report, the act requires the state department to analyze and review each operational TNC and no later than July 1, 2024, verify each TNC's viability to ensure the health, safety, welfare, cost effectiveness, and capability in expanding nonmedical transportation services for individuals receiving services under the home- and community-based services for the elderly, blind, and disabled waiver; the home- and community-based services for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities waiver; the home- and community-based services for persons with major mental health disorders waiver; the home- and community-based services for persons with brain injury waiver; the home- and community-based supported living services waiver; or the complementary and alternative medicine for a person with a spinal cord injury waiver. By July 1, 2024, the state department shall authorize verified transportation network companies to provide nonmedical transportation services if the state department finds the transportation network company viable under federal requirements and within budgetary constraints and shall promulgate any necessary rules. The act appropriates $110,811 to the department of health care policy and financing. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act expands the definition of "earmark" for purposes of the "Fair Campaign Practices Act" to include contributions or expenditures greater than $1,000 to support or oppose a specified ballot issue or ballot question. The act also modifies the process to determine whether an organization is an issue committee to include an examination of the organization's pattern of conduct based upon whether the organization: During the combined period of the current calendar year and the preceding 2 calendar years, made either contributions to one or more statewide Colorado issue committees or direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditures, in either support of or opposition to one or more statewide Colorado ballot issues or ballot questions, that exceeded 30% of the total expenditures by the organization for any purpose and in any location during the entire preceding and current calendar years; During the combined period of the current calendar year and the preceding 2 calendar years, made either contributions to a single statewide Colorado issue committee or direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditures, in either support of or opposition to a single statewide Colorado ballot issue or ballot question, that exceeded 20% of the total expenditures by the organization for any purpose and in any location; or Acted as an issue committee's funding intermediary by making contributions to an issue committee from funds earmarked for the issue committee. Further, the act defines "direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditure" as direct spending in support of or opposition to any single ballot issue or ballot question by a person who does not otherwise meet the requirements of an issue committee. Contributions to an issue committee are not direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditures. Any person who expends $5,000 in aggregate in a calendar year on direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditures must report to the secretary of state, and any person who makes a direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditure must disclose their name in certain communications about a ballot issue or ballot question. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $30,000 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state technology division for information technology personal services to implement the act. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $14,309 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state election division for personal services, based on an assumption that the division will require an additional 0.3 FTE to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The federal "Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019" expanded qualified distributions from a qualified state tuition program (529 account) to include expenses for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for the participation of a designated beneficiary in certain apprenticeship programs. In light of these changes to federal law, the act amends Colorado law to clarify what qualifies as a qualified distribution from a 529 account for the purpose of determining state taxable income. The act allows expenses for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for the participation of a designated beneficiary in certain apprenticeship programs to be treated as such a qualified distribution. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a consumer reporting agency to exclude sealed and expunged records from a consumer report, unless the user of the report demonstrates that the user is otherwise required to consider the information pursuant to law. Currently, there is a process that allows for automatic sealing of criminal justice records for certain drug offenses. The act extends automatic sealing to all offenses, including civil infractions, that allow a defendant to petition the court for sealing criminal justice records that are not subject to the victims rights act. The act streamlines the automatic record sealing process. The act allows a district attorney to object to the automatic sealing of a felony offense that is not a drug felony and, if the defendant requests a hearing in that case, the court shall schedule a hearing to determine whether to seal the records. The act requires the state court administrator to produce an annual report regarding automatic record sealing. During the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions, the judicial department shall report on the progress of its implementation of the automatic sealing created by the act, including as part of the department's SMART act hearing. The act requires district attorneys, in the completion of diversion prior to charges being filed, to seal diversion records without a court order. The act provides that a defendant's and a district attorney's access to sealed records do not require a court order. The act provides the conditions that must be met for a researcher to access sealed records without a court order. The act allows a record to be sealed if a defendant owes fines, court fees, late fees, or other court-ordered fees. The act requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to produce an annual report regarding record sealing. The act makes clarifying and organizational changes to the record sealing statutes. The act appropriates $725,145 from the general fund to the judicial department to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act clarifies that: Each prescriber of prescription drugs must register and maintain a user account with the prescription drug monitoring program (program); and Each licensed health-care practitioner must query the program prior to filling a prescription for every opioid or benzodiazepine. The act requires the group tasked with developing a strategic plan to reduce prescription drug misuse to evaluate and make recommendations to the executive director of the department of regulatory agencies regarding balancing the use of the program as a health-care tool with enforcement of the requirements of the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes the state treasurer to stagger the terms of the state treasurer's 3 appointed members to the public school fund investment board (investment board), commencing with new appointments beginning on and after July 1, 2022, to ensure that no more than 2 members' terms expire in the same year. Beginning in the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act reorganizes the distribution of interest or income earned on the investment of the money in the public school fund (fund) to: Pay first from the distribution the services of the investment consultant hired by the investment board; Credit next to the state public school fund, for distribution for school finance, all remaining interest and income, not to exceed $21 million dollars; and Credit next to the public school capital construction assistance fund all remaining interest and income, not to exceed $20 million dollars. The act creates a working group, convened by the state treasurer, to consider opportunities to improve the growth of the public school fund and its distributions for the intergenerational benefit of public schools. The act authorizes the state treasurer, after consulting with the investment board, to select the members of the working group, and the act specifies the issues the working group must study. Not later than February 28, 2023, the state treasurer shall report the findings and recommendations of the working group to the joint budget committee and to the education committees of the house of representatives and of the senate. The act modifies the time frame and clarifies the circumstances in which a realized investment loss to the fund may be offset by realized gains before the general assembly is required to appropriate money to cover losses to the fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The collegeinvest authority administers the achieving a better life experience (ABLE) savings program. Individuals who were declared disabled, as defined under federal law, before reaching 26 years of age are eligible to open an ABLE savings account. ABLE savings accounts under section 529A of the internal revenue code are modeled after section 529 college savings accounts, but, unlike those accounts, ABLE savings accounts may be used to save for many expenses related to an individual's disability without disqualifying the individual for certain federal benefits. The act modifies the administration and operation of these accounts in 2 ways. First, the act allows a person other than the individual with a disability to open an ABLE savings account for the individual and to have signature authority over that account. Second, the act prohibits the state from filing a claim against the ABLE savings account upon the account owner's death for outstanding payments due for qualified disability expenses. The act also modifies the tax benefits associated with an ABLE savings account for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 tax years. Under the act, a taxpayer may deduct from their federal taxable income for purposes of calculating their state taxable income certain contributions made to an ABLE savings account. Further, the act ensures that a taxpayer does not encounter tax recapture of any deductions claimed for these contributions when distributions are made from an ABLE savings account for qualified disability expenses. $44,517 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of revenue for the implementation of the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law requires the department of education to distribute to each administrative unit $1,250 for each child with a disability who receives special education services from the administrative unit. The act increases the amount to $1,750 and requires the amount to increase by the rate of inflation each budget year beginning with the 2024-25 budget year. The act increases the required annual appropriation by an additional $26.8 million to fund children who have one or more disabilities and receive special education services from an administrative unit and requires the amount to increase by the rate of inflation each budget year beginning with the 2024-25 budget year. The act requires the special education fiscal advisory committee to submit a report to the education committees of the general assembly on or before January 1, 2023. The report must include the following information: An analysis of funding for special education services in other states compared to the funding model used in Colorado, with a focus on the proportionate share between federal, state, and local funding and how other states fund different categories of disabilities to target the needs of children with disabilities; An analysis of the actual costs to provide special education services to children with disabilities in Colorado; An analysis of the effectiveness of the current model for funding special education services, including whether the current funding model adequately supports special education services; An examination of the high-cost special education trust fund (fund) that includes how the fund is operated, who receives funding from the fund, and how the fund impacts those who receive funds; An analysis of the current disability categories for children with disabilities and whether the disability categories are sufficient for meeting the needs of children with disabilities; and Recommended changes, if any, to the special education services funding model. The act appropriates $80 million from the state education fund to the department of education for special education programs for children with disabilities. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)