Rep. Chad Clifford

The act requires the department of education (department) to submit a report to the joint budget committee regarding part-time enrichment programs and single- and multi-district online education programs, including online schools, online programs, and supplemental online courses offered by in-person schools.     The act authorizes the department to extend the authorization for the board of cooperative services that is currently administering the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program for up to 2 additional years prior to initiating a new 5-year designation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under existing law, an individual licensed, certified, registered, or enrolled in good standing to practice a particular profession or occupation in another state or United States territory or through the federal government is eligible to apply for and receive a license, certification, registration, or enrollment in that profession or occupation in Colorado (accreditation) if the individual meets specific criteria. The act adds an individual licensed, certified, registered, or enrolled in good standing to practice a particular profession or occupation in another country to those individuals eligible for accreditation if the individual meets specific criteria.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Contingent upon voter approval at the November 2026 general election of a proposed initiative to amend the state constitution to change existing law on transportation funding and to increase the amount of state revenue dedicated to road transportation (proposed initiative), from January 1, 2027, through July 1, 2030, the act reduces:The excise tax on gasoline from $0.22 per gallon to $0.14 per gallon;The excise tax on special fuel from $0.205 per gallon to $0.13 per gallon; Certain vehicle registration fees, including late fees; andThe road usage fees from $0.06 per gallon to $0.04 per gallon and then, beginning in state fiscal year 2027-28, as necessary to offset the amount of state revenue diverted to transportation uses as the result of the proposed initiative.     The act creates the support road transportation fund (fund) contingent upon voter approval of the proposed initiative. The fund consists of state revenue dedicated to road transportation by the proposed initiative. Money in the fund is used to replace certain transportation-related general fund transfers for payments for the financed purchase of assets or certificate of participation agreements, and to replace certain general fund transfers to the state highway fund. The money remaining in the fund after making these transfers is allocated as follows:60% is paid to the state highway fund;23% is paid to counties for certain transportation expenses; and17% is paid to cities and incorporated towns for certain transportation expenses.     The act clarifies that state revenue collected to support road transportation, as defined in the proposed initiative, does not include enterprise fee revenue.     The act creates the road enterprise to complete preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction projects to improve the condition of the roadway surface of the state highway system. The road enterprise is authorized to impose fees for oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations. The creation of the road enterprise is not contingent upon voter approval of the proposed initiative.     Contingent upon the proposed initiative being withdrawn or not submitted for the November 2026 general election, the act creates the transportation funding working group to evaluate and make recommendations to the general assembly, the transportation commission, and the governor concerning funding state and local surface transportation maintenance, repair, capacity, and safety.     Lastly, the act reduces the July 1, 2026, transfer from the general fund to the state highway fund from approximately $50 million to $500,000.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the state treasurer is required to transfer $10.5 million from the general fund to the multimodal transportation and mitigation options fund every July 1 beginning on July 1, 2024, and ending on July 1, 2031. The act eliminates this annual transfer only for 2026, 2027, and 2028.     The act decreases the cash funds appropriation from the multimodal transportation and mitigation options fund created in the annual general appropriation act for the 2026-27 state fiscal year made to the department of transportation for multimodal transportation projects by $10.5 million.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act limits the benefits pregnant women and children with a certain family household income and citizen or immigration status are eligible for under the state medical assistance program and the medical assistance program.     Eligible pregnant women and children are subject to the following limitations on benefits:Beginning July 1, 2026, there is an annual cap on dental services in the amount of $1,100;Beginning January 1, 2027, behavioral health services offered must be provided on a fee-for-service basis only;Beginning January 1, 2027, services offered through the accountable care collaborative are no longer covered; andBeginning January 1, 2027, managed care services through the medical assistance program are no longer covered.     Beginning January 1, 2027, children under 19 years old whose family household income does not exceed 260% of the federal poverty line, adjusted for family size, and who are not eligible for the medical assistance program due to their immigration status, are not eligible for home- and community-based services, community first choice, long-term home health, private duty nursing, hospice care, and nursing home care unless those children already receive those services on or before December 31, 2026.     Beginning January 1, 2027, the act caps enrollment of children in the state medical assistance program at 25,000 children if either enrollment exceeds 25,000 or the expenditures for a fiscal quarter exceeds one-quarter of the appropriation for state medical assistance plus 5% to account for seasonality fluctuations. If one of the conditions is met, the enrollment cap begins on the first day of the month following 60 days after the department of health care policy and financing (state department) determines that the condition was met.     The act repeals provisions requiring the state department to develop an outreach and enrollment strategy for enrolling eligible groups into new coverage options and repeals the state children's basic health plan.     The act appropriates $3,378,166 from the general fund to the state department to implement the act and reduces appropriations to the state department by $14,202,723 if certain conditions are met.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act creates the strengthen Colorado homes enterprise (enterprise), which is a government-owned business created in the division of insurance (division) in the department of regulatory agencies. The enterprise is governed by a 7-member board (board), including the commissioner of insurance (commissioner), or their designee; members with expertise in home hardening, risk mitigation, resilient roof systems, and insurance underwriting or actuarial analysis; and members representing the interests of insurance companies, consumers, and counties.     The primary purpose of the enterprise is to impose and collect an annual fee (fee) from an admitted insurance company that offers multiperil homeowner's insurance policies in the state and is subject to certain filing requirements with the division, not including the fair access to insurance requirements association (insurer).     The enterprise shall use fee revenue to provide business services to insurers that pay the fee, including:Reducing insurer losses and administrative expenses due to hail damage claims by defraying the cost of retrofitting residential property by providing grants for the installation of resilient roof systems (grants). At least 85% of the fee revenue must be used for grants to Colorado homeowners to retrofit residential property to reduce insurer losses due to hail and windstorms.Analyzing data on hail losses to identify areas of the state to target for installation of resilient roof systems;Setting standards for resilient roof systems and awarding workforce training grants for installing and certifying resilient roof systems;Creating codes of conduct for roofing contractors to ensure roofs are properly and appropriately installed;Evaluating roofing protocols to ascertain if the protocols meet science-based, certifiable standards; Conducting or contracting with a third party to conduct a study to analyze insurance risk in high-risk wildfire areas of the state; andImproving market stability throughout the state.     Beginning in the 2027 calendar year, the amount of the fee imposed and collected by the enterprise is an amount equal to 0.5% of the total premium collected by an insurer on multiperil homeowner's insurance policies in the state in the immediately preceding calender year. The insurer shall not surcharge the fee amount to policyholders. The enterprise may lower or cease collecting the fee from an insurer in any calendar year to ensure that total fee revenue does not exceed $100 million in the first 5 years of the enterprise's existence.          In awarding grants, the board shall prioritize homes that are the homeowner applicant's (applicant) primary residence and shall consider other criteria, including applicant income, the age of the roof, the size of the home, the number of grant applicants, whether the home is in a locality with hail-resistant building codes, and whether the applicant lives in a location that has historically had a higher susceptibility to extreme weather events. In order to ensure the necessary workforce, fee revenue may also be used to award grants to defray the costs of training and certification related to installing and certifying resilient roof systems. A contractor that is awarded bids and receives money from a grant is prohibited from waiving homeowner's insurance deductibles.     In addition, the board shall use fee revenue to conduct or contract with a third party to conduct a study to analyze insurance risk in high-risk wildfire areas of the state, including an analysis of market competition in those areas and the impact of a high risk program on the potential losses in the high-risk wildfire areas of the state and the availability of homeowner's insurance in those areas. The board or third party conducting the study shall engage with relevant stakeholders that include, at a minimum, representatives of reinsurers and reinsurance brokers, insurers writing homeowner's insurance contracts or policies in Colorado, individuals with expertise in complex financial instruments and debt instruments, and consumers or other individuals with expertise in wildfire mitigation. The board shall send the study to certain committees of the general assembly.          The board shall adopt rules and policies for the regulation of the enterprise's affairs and the conduct of enterprise business, including standards for resilient roof systems and standards for contractor-specialized training in the installation of impact-resistant roof systems.     No sooner than January 1, 2027, and upon the commissioner adopting rules, an insurer offering multiperil homeowner's insurance for property or risks located in the state is required to submit an annual filing to the commissioner that includes the number of policies in force, the number of homes that have installed a resilient roof system, the discount applied to homes due to the presence of a resilient roof system, and the wind and hail claims frequency and severity for homes with and without a resilient roof system.     $66,250 is appropriated from the legal services cash fund to the department of law to provide legal services to the department of regulatory agencies to implement the act. The appropriation is from revenue received from the department of regulatory agencies that is continuously appropriated to the department of regulatory agencies from the strengthen Colorado homes enterprise fund. The appropriation to the department of law is based on an assumption that the department of law will require an additional 0.3 FTE to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

In 2022, the general assembly enacted Senate Bill 22-110, concerning a requirement that a wind-powered energy generation facility be equipped with light mitigating technology (technology), to require an owner or operator of a new wind-powered energy generation facility (facility) to install technology at the facility and to obtain federal aviation administration (FAA) approval before installing the technology. An owner or operator of a facility can request from the governing body of the local government in which the facility is located an extension of up to 24 months to install the technology.     The act requires the owner or operator of a facility to also obtain federal communications commission (FCC) approval for installation of the technology and requires that a governing body of a local government grant an owner or operator of a facility an extension of time to install the technology if FAA, FCC, or other federal agency approval is delayed. The act also requires that an extension of time granted by the governing body of a local government is at least 24 months in duration.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the nonemergency medical transportation broker (broker) to establish the transportation community advisory board (TCAB) and requires the state department of health care policy and financing (state department) to collaborate with the TCAB prior to establishing rules and processes for the safety and oversight of nonmedical transportation services and nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT) services.     The act requires, in collaboration with the TCAB, certain rules for NEMT the state department must adopt. The state department may impose trip caps or market-share restrictions on a transportation provider (provider) as part of corrective action plan. The act requires providers to use vehicles equipped with 2-way video cameras and a video recording system when transporting members.     The act establishes how the broker must roll out their implementation and requires the broker to provide all providers with software, a communication toolkit, training, and technical assistance to facilitate NEMT services. The broker may encourage medicaid members (members) to book transportation services at least 2 days before their requested transportation date, and the broker shall accept and make reasonable efforts to fulfill same-day and next-day transportation requests. The act requires providers, only after all service regions have been implemented, to accommodate member requests for preferred or alternate drivers when operationally feasible.     The act requires the broker, and, if there is no broker, the providers to verify that individuals using the transportation services are eligible members during the scheduling of transportation services. The act prohibits the broker from operating, owning, or controlling a provider in Colorado. The act requires the broker to provide their trip assignment rules and procedures to the state department for approval and for publication on the state department's website. The act allows a transportation network company to provide NEMT services when a provider is unavailable.     The state department shall ensure all transportation providers, drivers, and vehicles are credentialed, and services provided by noncredentialed drivers or in noncredentialed vehicles are not eligible for reimbursement. The act prohibits the state department from denying payment of services to providers if the provider provides scheduled transportation services in good faith based on the information provided by the broker or if the provider had no knowledge of an inaccuracy and the provider followed all applicable rules and procedures. Subject to available appropriations, the act requires the state department to audit providers and audit the broker annually.     The act requires the state department to categorize all NEMT expenditures as medical services and make changes to the NEMT program as necessary to obtain medical services federal match rates for NEMT services. The act also eliminates the requirement that the state department provide transportation services as an administrative cost.     The act reduces appropriations to the state department from the general fund by $76,639 and from the healthcare affordability and sustainability hospital provider fee cash fund by $20,941,853.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act establishes the ibogaine research pilot program (pilot program) in the behavioral health administration (BHA) to research the safety and effectiveness of using ibogaine to treat mental health conditions and substance use disorders. The act requires the BHA to establish a committee to review pilot program site applications and make recommendations to the BHA on which applicants to accept. The BHA may select up to 5 ibogaine pilot sites. The act allows the BHA to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, and donations and establishes the ibogaine research pilot program cash fund. The pilot program is contingent on the BHA receiving sufficient gifts, grants, and donations to administer the pilot program and award grants to the selected ibogaine pilot sites to help with financing needs.     Under current law, the division of natural medicine advisory board consists of 15 voting members, 8 of whom must have general expertise and experience related to natural medicine and 7 of whom must have specialized expertise and experience in various areas of natural medicine. The act amends the expertise and experience requirements to apply equally to all 15 voting members.     The act adds that a facilitator of natural medicine services is not liable for a physical or psychological injury that a participant may experience as a result of the facilitator's performance or supervision of the natural medicine services that a participant receives, unless the injury is the result of the facilitator's intentional misconduct, gross negligence, or a deviation from the recognized standard of care.     The act authorizes the state licensing authority for natural medicine or natural medicine product (state licensing authority) to adopt rules related to the administration, manufacturing, and use of ibogaine.     The act sets requirements for how the state licensing authority must prioritize reviewing applications for licensure to facilitate natural medicine services and allows the state licensing authority to set different licensing fees depending on the type of natural medicine the applicant is seeking licensure for.     The act allows the state licensing authority to accept gifts, grants, and donations from public or private sources and requires gifts, grants, or donations received to be deposited in the regulated natural medicine division cash fund.     The act requires the BHA to work to secure federal research and development funding available through the advanced research projects agency for health within the federal department of health and human services, or other available funding, in order to advance research on the use of ibogaine for the treatment of serious mental illness.     The act updates the powers and duties of the director of the division of professions and occupations to include adopting rules that guide the use and administration of ibogaine.     A licensee seeking to cultivate, manufacture, dispense, or administer ibogaine shall, in consultation with Indigenous communities, establish a benefit-sharing plan that directly benefits those Indigenous communities.     The act:Updates definition of 'administration session' to include the use of regulated natural medicine and regulated natural medicine product that the participant purchases to consume during the administration session;Prohibits a person from advertising bona fide harm reduction services or bona fide support services offered for remuneration, advertising natural medicine or natural medicine products, or using harm reduction services or support services to conduct sales of natural medicine;Clarifies that the state licensing authority is not required to conduct routine, periodic, or pre-operational inspections as a condition of licensure unless expressly required;Requires state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding licensing privileges and restrictions of a limited regulated natural medicine sales license and eligibility requirements for an applicant to obtain a limited regulated natural medicine sales license;Allows the state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding the application procedures and license requirement for a healing center to operate a temporary premises; and requirements for cultivation, manufacture, testing, or dispensing of ibogaine;Allows the department of public health and environment to issue a temporary premises permit to a licensed natural medicine healing center if certain conditions are met and allows a healing center to apply for a temporary premises permit;Prohibits a healing center licensee from selling regulated natural medicine or regulated natural medicine product unless a co-located limited regulated natural medicine sales licensee conducts the transaction in accordance with certain requirements; andAllows the director of the natural medicine division to issue an order to cease and desist if the director determines that a person is acting or has acted without a license to operate a natural medicine business or to own, grow, harvest, transfer, manufacture, supervise, provide, or administer natural medicine.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act permits an administrative agency that is conducting an adjudicatory hearing (agency) to serve a person entitled to notice of that hearing using electronic means. The agency's use of electronic service requires a documented request by or the documented consent of the person to be notified. The act similarly authorizes electronic service with respect to an agency's final decision or the initial decision by an administrative law judge or hearing officer.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)