Rep. Clarice Navarro

The secretary of state currently charges uniform commercial code (UCC) filing fees. Of this fee, $3 is transferred for deposit in the Colorado identity theft and financial fraud cash fund to support activities of the Colorado fraud investigators unit. Legislation enacted in 2014 increased the portion of the UCC filing fee that is transferred to the Colorado identity theft and financial fraud cash fund from $3 to $4, which increase is scheduled to repeal in 2017. The bill extends the scheduled repeal date for the increased fee, and for an associated report to the general assembly, until 2018. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

For the purpose of determining the state income tax liability of an individual, income earned as a direct result of winning a medal while competing for the United States of America at the olympic games is excluded from state taxable income; except that such income is not excluded: For a taxpayer whose federal adjusted gross income exceeds $1,000,000 or, if the taxpayer's filing status is married filing separately, $500,000; or If the income is already excluded from federal taxable income ; except that the monetary value of a medal itself is excluded from state taxable income even if it has already been excluded from federal taxable income. 'Income earned as a direct result of winning a medal' is defined to include both the monetary value of the medal itself and any monetary award given for winning the medal from the United States olympic committee or any sport-specific national governing body or paralympic sport organization and to exclude endorsement income and nonmonetary benefits. 'Olympic games' is defined to include the summer and winter olympic games and the summer and winter paralympic games. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Current law allows a court to grant bail after a person is convicted, pending sentencing or appeal; except that no bail is allowed for persons convicted of certain specific crimes. To this list of crimes the bill adds a second or subsequent conviction for stalking that occurs within 7 years after the date of a prior offense for which the person was convicted; stalking when there was a protection order, injunction, or condition of bond, probation, or parole or any other court order in effect that protected the victim from the person; and any offense that includes an act of domestic violence if the defendant at the time of sentencing has been previously convicted of three or more prior offenses that included an act of domestic violence and that were separately brought and tried and arising out of separate criminal episodes. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill requires a court to sentence a person convicted of a class 2 felony for human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude to the department of corrections for a term of at least the minimum of the presumptive range for a class 2 felony, which is 8 years. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill creates the 'Rewarding Excellence With Annual Redirected Dollars Act' or 'REWARD Act' (program) to award excellence funding to school districts that achieve a level of success in student performance above that of their peer districts. The bill defines 'school district' to include school districts and the state charter school institute (institute). The bill directs the department of education (department) to annually identify peer school districts by categorizing all school districts as either non-rural or rural, as defined in the bill, and then group the school districts within those categories based on demographically similar student populations. Once peer school districts are identified, the department shall compare those school districts to determine which school districts outperform their peer school districts using objective measures of student performance. The bill includes eligibility criteria for participation in the program. The department shall annually award excellence funding to the top 6 highest-performing non-rural school districts and to the top 6 highest-performing rural school districts, for a total of 12 districts. The program is funded by redirecting 1% of statewide total program funding, after application of the negative factor, for the applicable budget year. The department shall reduce the state's share of total program funding for the applicable budget year by the amount of excellence funding, proportionately reducing each school district's state share of total program funding. The department shall distribute 15% of the excellence funding to the top 12 highest-performing school districts in equal shares, and the remaining 85% of excellence funding to those school districts on a per-pupil basis. School districts, including the institute, shall transfer to a district charter school or an institute charter school 100% of the charter school's per-pupil allocation of the total amount of excellence funding received by the school district or the institute. The program is implemented beginning in the 2018-19 budget year, and excellence funding is based on the school districts' student performance in the budget year immediately preceding the applicable budget year. The department shall reduce the amount of excellence funding by the department's reasonable and necessary direct costs incurred in implementing the program. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The bill adds public convenience and the provision of reasonable access to and from public highways and adjoining businesses to the existing purposes for which the department of transportation (CDOT) and local governments are authorized to regulate access to public highways and specifically requires the provision of reasonable access to and from public highways and adjoining businesses to be considered in the development by CDOT of a state highway access code (code). The bill also specifies that if failure to grant a variance from the code would deny reasonable access to or from a business adjoining a divided state highway and the far side of the divided state highway, the denial may amount to a taking that requires just compensation under constitutional and statutory provisions pertaining to eminent domain. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)