Rep. Mary Young

Current law authorizes a public school or public place to refuse a donated automated external defibrillator (AED) if the public school or public place does not want to accept responsibility for AED training, installation, or maintenance unless the donating party agrees to be responsible for the AED training, installation, and maintenance. The act removes this authorization for a public school but allows a public school to decide who will be trained, the frequency of training, and when the AED training will take place. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Currently, critical access hospitals must be licensed as general hospitals under state law. The act: Authorizes the department of public health and environment (department) to license critical access hospitals separately from general hospitals; On and after July 1, 2026, prohibits a person from operating a critical access hospital without a critical access hospital license; and Requires the state board of health to promulgate rules concerning the licensure of critical access hospitals. The act appropriates $45,722 from the general fund to the department for administration and operations management. From that appropriation, $12,285 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide services to the department. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024 PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 2026(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act: Exempts veterinarians from complying with specific aspects of the prescription drug use monitoring program (program) that are specific to prescriptions for human patients; Allows the medical director of a medical practice or hospital, including a nurse medical director, to appoint designees to query the program on behalf of a practitioner in the medical practice or hospital setting; Allows the department of health care policy and financing (department) to access the program, consistent with federal data privacy requirements, for purposes of care coordination, utilization review, and federally required reporting relating to recipients of certain benefits; and Updates current language in the laws relating to the program by using more modern terminology. A county or district public health agency may establish a multidisciplinary and multiagency overdose fatality review team (local team). The act prescribes membership requirements, purposes, and duties for local teams, including a duty to report annually to the county or district public health agency served by the local team. The act requires certain entities, upon receiving a written request of the chair of a local team, to provide the local team with information and records regarding a person whose death or near death is being reviewed by the local team. Unless the chair of the local team grants an extension of time, the entity must provide the local team the requested information and records within 10 business days after receipt of the request. A person or entity that receives a records request from a local team may charge the local team a reasonable fee for the service of duplicating any records requested. A person or entity, including a local or state agency, that provides information or records to a local team is not subject to civil or criminal liability or any professional disciplinary action pursuant to state law as a result of providing the information or record. Upon request of a local team, a person who is not a member of a local team may attend and participate in a meeting at which a local team reviews confidential information and considers a plan, an intervention, or other course of conduct based on that review. The act requires each person at a local team meeting to sign a confidentiality form before reviewing information and records received by the local team. Local team meetings in which confidential information is discussed are exempt from the open meetings provisions of the "Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972". A local team shall maintain the confidentiality of information provided to the local team as required by state and federal law, and information and records acquired or created by a local team are not subject to inspection pursuant to the "Colorado Open Records Act". Local team members and a person who presents or provides information to a local team may not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding or disciplinary action regarding the information presented or provided. Law enforcement may not use information from any overdose fatality review for any law enforcement purpose. The department is required to publish guidance for providers concerning reimbursement for all variations of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment interventions. The act requires the existing substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment grant program in the department to require implementation of: A statewide adolescent substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral practice that includes training and technical assistance for appropriate professionals in Colorado schools, with the purpose of identifying students who would benefit from screening, brief intervention, and potential referral to resources, including treatment; and A statewide substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral practice that includes training and technical assistance for pediatricians and professionals in pediatric settings, with the purpose of identifying adolescent patients who would benefit from screening, brief intervention, and potential referral to resources, including treatment. Current law authorizes the center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies (center) to conduct a statewide perinatal substance use data linkage project (data linkage project) that uses ongoing collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health actions to improve outcomes for families impacted by substance use during pregnancy. The act: Requires the center to conduct the data linkage project; Requires the data linkage project to utilize data from additional state and federal programs; and Expands the data linkage project to examine the education of pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates: $75,000 from the general fund to the executive director of the department for general professional services and special projects; this appropriation is based on the assumption that the department will receive $75,000 in federal funds for these services; and $250,000 from the general fund to the department of higher education for use by the Colorado commission on higher education and higher education special purpose programs. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 6, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF), in collaboration with the behavioral health administration (BHA) and the department of human services (CDHS), to develop a system of care (system of care) for children and youth who are less than 21 years of age and who have complex behavioral health needs. At a minimum, the system of care must include: Implementation of a standardized assessment tool; Intensive-care coordination; Expanded supportive services; and Expanded access to treatment foster care. The act requires HCPF to convene a leadership team that is responsible for the decision-making and oversight of the system of care and to convene an implementation team to create a plan to implement the system of care. The act requires CDHS and HCPF to report progress on the development and implementation of the system of care to the general assembly. The act creates the residential child care provider training academy in CDHS to create a pipeline of high-quality staff for residential child care providers and ensure that individuals hired to work at residential child care facilities receive the necessary training to perform the individual's job functions responsibly and effectively. The act requires CDHS to expand the number of treatment beds available for children and youth whose behavioral or mental health needs require services and treatment in a residential child care facility. The act requires CDHS to develop a system to establish and monitor quality standards for residential child care providers and ensure the quality standards are implemented into all levels of care that serve children and youth in out-of-home placement. The act requires CDHS to develop a system to incentivize residential child care providers to implement quality standards above CDHS' established minimum standards. The act requires CDHS to make publicly available on the department's website a directory of each residential child care provider's quality assurance. The CDHS program that provides emergency resources to certain licensed providers to help remove barriers the providers face in serving children and youth whose behavioral or mental health needs require services and treatment in a residential child care facility currently repeals on July 1, 2028. The act extends the program indefinitely and requires CDHS to contract with additional licensed providers for the delivery of services to children and youth who are eligible for and placed in the program. The act requires CDHS and the BHA to increase the minimum reimbursement rates paid to qualified residential treatment programs for the purpose of aligning room and board payments across payer sources. The act requires HCPF to contract with a third-party vendor to complete an actuarial analysis in order to determine the appropriate medicaid reimbursement rate for psychiatric residential treatment facilities. The act requires CDHS to contract with one or more third-party vendors to implement a pilot program to assess the needs of, and provide short-term residential services for, juvenile justice-involved youth who do not meet the criteria for detention. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates money to the department of human services and the department of health care policy and financing to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 6, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires health insurance carriers (carriers) to comply with federal price transparency laws and to make available an internet-based self-service tool that provides real-time responses to a covered person's questions concerning carrier prices that are based on cost-sharing information. The act also requires carriers to submit information required by federal pharmacy benefit and drug cost reporting laws to the commissioner of insurance and to make certain information regarding price transparency publicly available. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act clarifies what constitutes an abbreviated school day and describes the effects of placing children with disabilities on abbreviated school day schedules (abbreviated schedule). The act requires the department of education (department) to create and implement a policy that explains the: Definition of an abbreviated school day, including how the definition applies to attendance and school discipline; Circumstances in which abbreviated schedules are permissible and impermissible; Roles of the teams who determine whether to assign children with disabilities to abbreviated schedules; Extent to which children with disabilities may participate in field trips, school functions, and extracurricular activities; Documentation and maintenance of records relating to children with disabilities' abbreviated schedules; Review of abbreviated schedules on a regular basis by the teams who determine whether to assign children with disabilities to abbreviated schedules; Information that parents, legal guardians, or custodians of children with disabilities (parents) must receive regarding whether parents may consent to, revoke consent to, or oppose abbreviated schedules; and Procedural safeguard information distributed to parents prior to meetings in which abbreviated schedules are discussed. Each administrative unit shall adopt the department's policy and create a plan to support children with disabilities who are assigned an abbreviated schedule. The plan must include the outcomes for placing children with disabilities on an abbreviated schedule and a description of the stages for gradual reintroduction to return children with disabilities to full-time school day schedules. The department shall provide annual training and ongoing technical assistance to administrative units. On or before July 1, 2026, and each July 1 thereafter, a school district, a district charter school, an institute charter school, or a board of cooperative services shall submit a report to the department summarizing: The number of children with disabilities who were placed on abbreviated schedules during the preceding school year; The number of days and the percentage of the school year that each child with disabilities was placed on an abbreviated schedule; The student demographic information for each child with disabilities placed on an abbreviated school day schedule, including race, gender, English language learner status, and whether the child has a disability pursuant to federal law, to the extent possible while maintaining student privacy; and The student demographic data collected, disaggregated by race, gender, English language learner status, and disability status pursuant to federal law, to the extent possible while maintaining student privacy. The act requires the department to post the reports to the department's website on an annual basis. Beginning in January 2027, and in January every year thereafter, the department shall include as part of its presentation during its "SMART Act" hearing information concerning abbreviated schedules. By the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, the department shall standardize the reporting method that schools of a school district, district charter schools, school districts, institute charter schools, and the state charter school institute use to collect and report data concerning: Instructional hours; School calendars; and The number of hours students spend on instructional time during the school year. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, and each school year thereafter, the department shall collect from schools of a school district, district charter schools, school districts, institute charter schools, and the state charter school institute, at a minimum, the following data: Days of instruction for elementary and secondary schools; Instructional hours for elementary and secondary schools; Estimated non-instructional hours, school closures, snow days, and time spent on lunch and passing between classes; and The number of days and percentage of the school year students were placed on abbreviated schedules. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $250,108 is appropriated to the department from the general fund to implement this act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or before July 1, 2026, the act requires the department of education to: Create, deliver, and make publicly available a training program, in plain and easy-to-understand language, regarding individualized education program laws and procedures, including parent and student rights; and Deliver the training program in person and make the training program and related information publicly available online. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $75,288 from the general fund to the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law prohibits electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) from being performed on a minor under 16 years of age. The act authorizes ECT to be performed on a minor who is under 16 years of age only if: 2 individuals licensed to practice medicine in Colorado and specializing in psychiatry approve the ECT; Other less-invasive treatments have failed; ECT is medically necessary to treat life-threatening malignant catatonia; ECT is performed by at least one physician, or the physician's designee, who is trained and credentialed in ECT; and The minor's parent or guardian consents to ETC. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires a pharmacy, on and after July 1, 2025, to provide an individual who has difficulty seeing or reading standard printed labels on prescription drug containers with access to the prescription drug label information by: Including an electronic label affixed to the prescription drug container that transmits the prescription drug's label information, directions, and written instructions to an individual's external accessible device, including an individual's compatible prescription drug reader; Providing a prescription drug reader at no cost to the individual; Providing a prescription drug label in braille or large print; or Providing the individual with a method recommended by the United States access board. A pharmacy has 28 days to provide such access if a patient requests a method of access the pharmacy has not yet been asked by any other patient to provide. A pharmacy must make reasonable efforts to inform the public that prescription drug label information is available in accessible formats. The act creates the prescription accessibility grant program in the department of public health and environment to provide hardship grants to pharmacies for the purchase of equipment used to create accessible prescription labels. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act states that a court shall not delay permanency planning for a child or youth for purposes of maintaining financial support for a kinship foster care home or a non-certified kinship foster care home, unless there are exceptional circumstances as approved by the court. Prior to transferring temporary legal custody of a child or youth to a relative or kin, the court shall make findings that the relative or kin was advised regarding the differences between kinship foster care and non-certified kinship care, including, but not limited to, financial assistance, custody requirements, and long-term financial support options. The act allows the state department of human services (state department) to promulgate rules to modify the requirements for kinship foster care homes, including training topics for kinship foster care certification. Emergency financial assistance for a kinship foster care home is expanded to include goods needed for the child's basic care, including beds, clothing, and transportation costs, and limited rental or housing assistance not to exceed a 60-day subsidy. The act clarifies the definitions regarding foster care homes, kinship foster care homes (kinship home), and non-certified kinship foster care homes (non-certified kinship home). A kinship home is a home that has been certified by a county department of human or social services (county department) a child placement agency to provide 24-hour care for relatives or kin who are less than 21 years of age. A kinship home is eligible for the same foster care reimbursement, assistance, and other supports as foster care homes. "Kinship foster care home" does not include a non-certified kinship home. A non-certified kinship home means a relative or kin who has a significant relationship with the child or youth and who has either chosen not to pursue the certification process or who has not met the certification requirements for a kinship home. The act formally establishes the process by which a kinship home may apply for certification from a county department or child placement agency. A county department or child placement agency, upon the completion of the required background checks, may issue a one-time provisional certificate for a period of 6 months to an applicant at a specific location who is requesting provisional certification, if requested by the applicant. If the applicant completes the required background checks, the county department or child placement agency shall make payment beginning with the completion of the fingerprint background check. The county department or child placement agency shall complete the certification process within the timelines promulgated by rule of the state board of human services. The applicant has the right to appeal any denial of certification. The state department, a county department, or a child placement agency has the right to revoke a kinship home's certification for cause. Prior to issuing a certificate or subsequent certificate to an applicant to operate a kinship home, a county department or a child placement agency shall conduct a fingerprint-based criminal history record check (fingerprint check) through the Colorado bureau of investigation. The applicant shall pay, unless otherwise paid by a county department, the costs associated with the fingerprint check to the Colorado bureau of investigation. The county department or child placement agency to which the kinship home applied for certification shall extend the provisional certification by an additional 60 days if the applicant can demonstrate that the applicant did not cause the delay in completing all the requirements for certification. A kinship home may opt out of the provisional certification process and remain eligible for supports through sources other than foster care maintenance. Kinship foster care homes are eligible for financial reimbursement and supports at the same rate as foster care homes, as established in rules promulgated by the state board of human services. Non-certified kinship care homes are eligible for financial assistance and supports at 30% of the foster care rate, increasing to 50% beginning in the 2026-27 state fiscal year, based on the age of the child or youth receiving care. The state department shall reimburse the county departments 90% of the amounts expended by county departments for kinship foster care and non-certified kinship care daily rates to support financial assistance. The kinship foster care rate and non-certified kinship care rate are exempt from the state close-out process. The state department shall collaborate with the department of education, the department of public health and environment, and the department of health care policy and financing to develop an interagency resource. The state department shall prominently post the resource on the state department's website. The act directs the state department and the judicial department to collect data on the number of children who are placed with certified and non-certified kin through a dependency and neglect case, regardless of who has custody of the child or youth. The state department shall make the data available on its website on or before October 1, 2025. On or before October 1, 2025, the state department shall study and report to the general assembly the feasibility of using federal funds, including, but not limited to, federal IV-B, IV-E, or TANF funds, or other grant funding to provide or reimburse for the provision of brief legal services or legal representation of relative and kin caregivers. On or before August 1, 2025, and every August 1 thereafter until August 1, 2030, the state department shall submit a report to the joint budget committee on the implementation of non-certified kinship care homes, the impacts to the number of placements with kinship foster care homes, and the impacts to the number of placements with county departments in their ability to support providers. The state department shall submit data provided by county departments as a supplement to the report. The act makes conforming amendments to align statutory sections related to foster care homes with kinship homes. The act makes the following appropriations to the department of human services for the 2024-25 state fiscal year: $190,672 from the general fund for use by the administration and finance division; $5,516,580 from the Colorado long-term works reserve for use by the office of children, youth, and families for child welfare services; and $1,221,710 from local funds for use by the office of children, youth, and families for child welfare services. The act anticipates that the department of human services will receive $6,459,409 in federal funds to be used by the office of children, youth, and families for child welfare services. The act appropriates $55,748 to the department of public safety for the 2024-25 state fiscal year for use by the biometric identification and records unit. APPROVED by Governor May 30, 2024 EFFECTIVE September 1, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)