Rep. Steve Lebsock

The bill creates a registration in both the medical marijuana and retail marijuana codes for a fibrous waste recycling facility. A fibrous waste recycling facility takes marijuana waste and makes it into industrial products like rope, paper, and building material. The state licensing authority shall issue the registration to an applicant if the applicant demonstrates that its processes render the fibrous waste unusable as medical or retail marijuana.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

On March 1, 2018, the bill repeals the general state sales tax exemption for sales of retail marijuana and reduces the retail marijuana sales tax by 2.9% from 15% to 12.1%. With the repeal of the state exemption, sales of retail marijuana will automatically be subject to the sales tax levied by a limited purpose governmental entity whose sales tax authority is the same as the state. Currently, statutory municipalities and counties are authorized to create an exemption for sales of retail marijuana that are exempt from the state general sales tax. Along with the repeal of the state exemption, this contingent authority is repealed. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More

The bill prohibits the state or a state agency, or an employee or personnel of the state or a state agency while acting in an official capacity, from aiding or assisting a federal agency in: Arresting a Colorado citizen or person lawfully present in Colorado for committing an act in Colorado that is a Colorado constitutional right; or Violating a Colorado constitutional right of a Colorado citizen or a person lawfully present in Colorado. The bill does not prohibit the state, an agency of the state, or an employee or personnel of the state or a state agency from participating in an investigation until it is recognized that the action being investigated is a Colorado constitutional right. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More

For the fiscal year 2017-18 and each fiscal year thereafter, the general fund reserve required by law is currently equal to 6.5% of the amount appropriated for expenditure from the general fund. The bill increases the general fund reserve to: 7% for the fiscal year 2018-19; 7.5% for the fiscal year 2019-20; and 8% for the fiscal year 2020-21 and each fiscal year thereafter.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More

Section 2 of the bill defines 'health care prescriber board' to mean the following boards in the department of regulatory agencies: The Colorado podiatry board; the Colorado dental board; the Colorado medical board; the state board of nursing; the state board of optometry; and the state board of veterinary medicine. Section 2 also: Requires each health care prescriber board to: Within 15 days after receipt of a complaint, provide the complainant with a written notice providing contact information for the board and a summary of the regulatory and statutory procedures, timelines, and complainant and respondent rights that apply to the processing and resolution of complaints, including, if the complainant is the patient of the licensee who is the subject of the complaint, a notice of the patient's right to receive from the licensee a copy of his or her patient records; Provide the complainant, within 30 days after the action, with written notice of the action taken by the board if an investigation was initiated by a complaint and the board took public formal action regarding the alleged misconduct; Notify the complainant that the complaint remains pending, subject to applicable restrictions in the board's governing law, if a complaint is still pending after 6 months; and Update its website at least monthly to list the status of each licensee subject to the applicable board's governing law; Requires the licensee to provide the board with the patient records within 30 days after the board requests the records; and Requires the department to include in its annual SMART act presentation a performance report prepared by the division of professions and occupations regarding changes to the boards' processes and procedures. Section 1 requires health insurance companies to update their provider directories at least monthly, based on information on the department's health care prescriber boards' websites, to remove a provider whose license has been suspended or revoked.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

With respect to the nongame and endangered wildlife tax check-off, which is scheduled to sunset in 2018, the bill: Expands and renames the check-off as the Colorado nongame conservation and wildlife restoration voluntary contribution program (check-off) for the purpose of benefiting all wildlife in Colorado; Extends the future repeal date of the check-off by 5 years; Specifies that the voluntary contribution moneys allocated to the division of parks and wildlife (division) in the department of natural resources (i.e., 90% of the first $250,000 and $75% of the moneys over that initial $250,000 in contributions per year) will continue to be used by the division for the protection and perpetuation of nongame and endangered wildlife; Provides that the remainder of the moneys received through the check-off (i.e., 10% of the first $250,000 received and 25% of the moneys above $250,000 contributed each year) will be used to make grants for wildlife rehabilitation in the state; For the facilitation of the wildlife rehabilitation grant program, creates the Colorado nongame conservation and wildlife restoration cash fund (fund) authority that is overseen by a seven-member board of directors (board); Describes the process by which the board makes recommendations to the division for authorizing grants to rehabilitators and requires the board to develop guidelines for processing and evaluating grant applications; and Specifies that the board is subject to open records and open meetings laws. Sections 3 and 4 make conforming amendments necessitated by the change of the name of the fund. To implement the bill, section 5 makes an appropriation of $2,200 for the 2017-18 fiscal year from the fund to the department of revenue.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill requires an oil and gas operator to give electronic notice, in a format and by a deadline established by the Colorado oil and gas conservation commission by rule, of the location of each flow line, gathering pipeline, and transmission pipeline installed, owned, or operated by the operator to the director of the commission and each local government within whose jurisdiction the subsurface facility is located. The commission shall post the information on its website in a searchable database. The commission recently promulgated several rules to implement 2 of the recommendations of the governor's oil and gas task force. The bill also codifies some of the essential elements of one of the 2 recommendations, with the following modifications: The rules require operators to share their development plans with municipalities where the proposed operations will occur; and the bill adds counties where the proposed operations will occur. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill specifies that on and after July 1, 2018, the use of any north interstate highway 25 express lane that is operated or managed by the high-performance transportation enterprise or by a partner of the transportation enterprise under the terms of a public-private partnership is free for any motor vehicle that is occupied by 2 or more individuals, including the driver.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The Colorado court of appeals has held that current law does not authorize counties to levy and collect a sales tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products in addition to any sales tax imposed by the state and the standard sales tax imposed by the county (special sales tax). Current law is also silent regarding the authority of a statutory municipality (municipality) to collect a special sales tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products. The bill authorizes counties and municipalities to levy, collect, and enforce a special sales tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products; except that a county may levy, collect, and enforce a special sales tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products only under the following circumstances: The county levies, collects, and enforces a special sales tax upon all sales of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products in the unincorporated areas of the county; The county levies, collects, and enforces a special sales tax upon all sales of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products in the municipalities within the county that do not levy a special sales tax on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products. The county special sales tax is authorized only until the municipality obtains voter approval for a special municipal tax on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products. After such time, any county special sales tax is invalid within the corporate boundaries of the municipality unless the county enters into an intergovernmental agreement with the municipality to allow the county to continue to levy, collect, and enforce the county's special sales tax. The governing body of any county and the governing body of any municipality within the boundaries of the county that levies a municipal special sales tax on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products enter into an intergovernmental agreement pertaining to the county's levy, collection, and enforcement of a special sales tax upon all sales of all retail marijuana and retail marijuana products. The intergovernmental agreement may include a provision for the apportionment of a specified percentage of the gross retail marijuana special sales tax revenue collected by the county to the municipality. The bill specifies that a county or a municipality may not levy a special sales tax under any circumstance until the proposed tax has been referred to and approved by the eligible electors of the county or municipality, as applicable. A county or municipality must refer the proposed tax to the eligible electors only on the date of the state general election, on the first Tuesday in November of an odd-numbered year, or, in the case of a municipality, on the date of a municipal biennial election. The bill specifies that if a county or municipality obtained voter approval prior to the effective date of the bill to levy, collect, and enforce a special sales tax upon the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products, the tax is valid; except that, for a county, the tax is valid only so long as the county complies with the conditions specified in the bill. If the county levies, collects, and enforces such tax in a municipality that has already obtained voter approval to levy a special sales tax on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products, the county's special sales tax is invalid unless the county enters into an intergovernmental agreement with the municipality. Any special sales tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products shall not be collected, administered, or enforced by the department of revenue. Instead, such tax shall be collected, administered, and enforced by the county or municipality imposing the tax. A county or municipality in which the eligible electors have approved a special sales tax on the sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products may credit the revenues collected from the tax to the general fund of the county or municipality or to any special fund created in the county or municipality's treasury. The governing body of a county or municipality may use the revenues collected from the tax for any purpose as determined by the governing body of the county or municipality. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)