The bill specifies that for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2021, a senior is deemed to be a 10-year owner-occupier of a primary residence that the senior has owned and occupied for less than 10 years and therefore qualifies for the senior property tax exemption for the residence if: The senior would have qualified for the senior property tax exemption for the senior's former primary residence but for the fact that medical necessity required the senior to stop occupying the former primary residence; The senior has not previously received the exemption for a former primary residence on the basis of medical necessity; and The senior has not owned and occupied another primary residence since the senior first stopped occupying his or her former primary residence due to medical necessity. "Medical necessity" is defined as a medical condition of a senior that a physician licensed to practice medicine in Colorado has certified, on a form developed by the state property tax administrator, as having required the senior to stop occupying the senior's prior primary residence. When applying for such an exemption, a senior must provide the form establishing proof of medical necessity. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
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School Safety Committee. The bill instructs the school safety resource center (center) to convene a working group of necessary and interested stakeholders to assess the needs of school districts with respect to the adequacy and availability of residential mental health treatment for children and youth who have been identified by school personnel as having severe behavioral or mental health disorders and potential ways to resolve such needs. The working group is directed to gather information on the availability, need, and cost associated with residential treatment services for children and youth in Colorado. The center shall use the data to prepare a report and make any legislative recommendations to address the mental health needs of children and youth in Colorado. The center is required to present the report and any legislative recommendations as part of its presentation to its committee of reference at a hearing held pursuant to the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" in January 2021. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Statewide health care review committee - creation - membership - duties - appropriation. The act recreates the former health care task force, renamed as the statewide health care review committee, to study health care issues that affect Colorado residents. The committee consists of no more than 10 of the members from the house of representatives committees on health and insurance and public health care and human services and the senate committee on health and human services. The committee may hold 2 meetings during the interim between legislative sessions, each of which may be a field trip. $16,062 is appropriated from the general fund to the legislative department to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Urban drainage and flood control district - board of directors. The urban drainage and flood control district is a special district created in statute to design and construct flood control and warning measures within portions of the metropolitan Denver area. The district is governed by a board of directors (board). The act repeals a requirement that the board consist of 16 directors and a requirement that the board meet on the first business day of February each year. The act relocates a requirement that each director take an oath of office to a different statutory section. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
The bill specifies that for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2020, a senior is deemed to be a 10-year owner-occupier of a primary residence that the senior has owned and occupied for less than 10 years and therefore qualifies for the senior property tax exemption for the residence if: The senior would have qualified for the senior property tax exemption for the senior's former primary residence but for the fact that medical necessity required the senior to stop occupying the former primary residence; The senior has not previously received the exemption for a former primary residence on the basis of medical necessity; and The senior has not owned and occupied another primary residence since the senior first stopped occupying his or her former primary residence due to medical necessity. "Medical necessity" is defined as a medical condition of a senior that a physician licensed to practice medicine in Colorado has certified, on a form developed by the state property tax administrator, as having required the senior to stop occupying the senior's prior primary residence. When applying for such an exemption, a senior must provide to the assessor the form establishing proof of medical necessity. For any property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2019, the bill prohibits the general assembly from reducing or suspending the exemption for qualifying seniors and disabled veterans by lowering the maximum amount of actual value of residential real property that is the primary residence of a qualifying senior or a qualifying disabled veteran of which 50% is exempt from property taxation below $200,000 unless the amount of general fund revenue for the state fiscal year that ended during the prior property tax year is less than the amount of general fund revenue for the next preceding state fiscal year. If the general assembly lowers the amount of actual value of residential real property that is the primary residence of a qualifying senior or a qualifying disabled veteran of which 50% is exempt from property taxation for a property tax year below $200,000 in accordance with the new limitation established by the bill, that amount automatically increases to $200,000 for any subsequent property tax year for which the amount of general fund revenue for the state fiscal year that ended during the prior property tax year is equal to or more than the amount of general fund revenue for the next preceding state fiscal year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Capital development committee - appointments - chair and vice-chair elections. The act clarifies who makes the appointments of members from the senate and the house of representatives to serve on the capital development committee and clarifies that the chair and vice-chair elections are made at the first December meeting of the capital development committee held after the general election in each even-numbered year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Capital construction - controlled maintenance - state architect - flexibility in administering payment of certain projects. The act grants the state architect, through the executive director of the department of personnel, flexibility in administering the payment of certain controlled maintenance projects from the proceeds of the lease-purchase agreements executed as required by Senate Bill 17-267, concerning the sustainability of rural Colorado.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
To protect clean water supplies and public health and safety as a matter of statewide concern, the bill prohibits a person from camping within 100 feet of an urban environmentally sensitive area unless a state or local governmental agency has approved the area for camping. A county or district public health agency that has one or more environmentally sensitive areas within the agency's jurisdiction shall conduct and periodically update an environmental impact study of all environmentally sensitive areas within the agency's jurisdiction to evaluate the public health risks associated with unauthorized camping in the environmentally sensitive areas. Upon conclusion of the study or update, each agency shall adopt or update and implement an environmental mitigation plan to avoid, minimize, and remediate the risks. An agency may apply to the applicable local government to use Great Outdoors Colorado money to conduct and update an environmental impact study or to implement a mitigation plan.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
Section 2 of the bill establishes leave savings accounts. A leave savings account is an account with a financial institution for which the individual uses money to pay for any expense while he or she is on eligible leave, which includes: The birth of a child of the individual and in order to care for the child; The placement of a child with the individual for adoption or foster care; Caring for a spouse, child, or parent of the individual if the spouse, child, or parent has a serious health condition; A serious health condition that makes the individual unable to perform the functions of the position of the individual; or Any qualifying exigency, as determined by the United States secretary of labor, arising out of the fact that a spouse, child, or parent of the individual is on covered active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty, in the United States armed forces. An individual may annually contribute up to $5,000 of state pretax wages to a leave savings account. Employers may also make a matching contribution to an employee's leave savings account. The department of revenue is required to establish a form about a leave savings account, and the individual must annually file this form to be eligible for the tax benefit. Sections 3 and 4 allow an employee and an employer to claim a state income tax deduction for amounts they contribute to the employee's leave savings account. Section 3 also allows a taxpayer to deduct any interest or other income earned on the investment during the taxable year from their leave savings account. Regardless of how the money is deposited in the leave savings account, if an individual uses money in the account for an unauthorized purpose, then the money is subject to recapture in the year it is withdrawn and to a penalty equal to 10% of the amount recaptured. Section 5 creates an income tax credit for an employer that pays an employee for leave that is between 6 and 12 weeks long for one of the following reasons: The birth of a child of the employee and in order to care for the child; Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care; Caring for a spouse, child, or parent of the employee if the spouse, child, or parent has a serious health condition; A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of the employee; or Any qualifying exigency, as determined by the United States secretary of labor, arising out of the fact that a spouse, child, or parent of the employee is on covered active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty, in the United States armed forces. For employers with fewer than 50 employees, the credit is equal to 50% of the amount paid, and for employers with 50 or more employees it is equal to 25% of the amount paid. The credit is not refundable, but it may be carried forward up to 5 years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill requires an agency or nonprofit organization operating a clean syringe exchange program to submit an annual environmental impact mitigation plan (plan) to its county or district board of health detailing: The number of syringes received from clean syringe exchange program participants in the previous calendar year; The number of syringes given to clean syringe exchange program participants in the previous calendar year; The agency's or nonprofit organization's plan to minimize the number of syringes near the clean syringe exchange program location that have not been disposed of safely; and The agency's or nonprofit organization's plan to minimize the environmental impacts of unsafe or improper syringe disposal. The county or district must forward the plan to the department of public health and environment (department). The department must compile the information received from all county and district boards of health and report the information to the general assembly during the department's "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More