Sen. Owen Hill

The bill allows a school district to provide transportation, or reimburse a parent or guardian for providing transportation, to the schools of its district to a student from any other Colorado school district who is enrolled in its schools, if the student is, or has been in the preceding school year, eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch under the national school lunch program or who is a student with a disability and who is, or was in the preceding school year, receiving special education services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Licensed marijuana ownership - allow publicly traded corporations - controlling beneficial owners, indirect financial interest holders, and passive beneficial owners - rule-making authority - suitability finding - notification, disclosure, notice requirements - appropriation. The act repeals the provision that prohibits publicly traded corporations from holding a marijuana license. The act creates new ownership concepts of controlling beneficial owners, indirect financial interest holders, and passive beneficial owners. The act repeals the concept of direct beneficial owner and the associated requirements. The act gives the state licensing authority rule-making authority related to the parameters of, qualifications of, disclosure of, requirements for, and suitability for the new ownership concepts. A "controlling beneficial owner" is limited to a person that satisfies one or more of the following criteria: A natural person, an entity as defined in section 7-90-102 (20) that is organized under the laws of and for which its principal place of business is located in one of the states or District of Columbia, a publicly traded corporation, or a qualified private fund that is not a qualified institutional investor: Acting alone or acting in concert, that owns or acquires beneficial ownership of ten percent or more of the owner's interest of a medical marijuana business; That is an affiliate that controls a medical marijuana business and includes, without limitation, any manager; or That is otherwise in a position to control the medical marijuana business except as authorized in section 44-11-407; or A qualified institutional investor acting alone or acting in concert that owns or acquires beneficial ownership of more than 30 percent of the owner's interest of a medical marijuana business. "Indirect financial interest holder" is a person that is not an affiliate, a controlling beneficial owner, or a passive beneficial owner of a medical marijuana business and that: Holds a commercially reasonable royalty interest in exchange for a medical marijuana business's use of the person's intellectual property; Holds a permitted economic interest that was issued prior to January 1, 2020, and that has not been converted into an ownership interest; Is a contract counterparty with a medical marijuana business, other than a customary employment agreement, that has a direct nexus to the cultivation, manufacture, or sale of medical marijuana, including, but not limited to, a lease of real property on which the medical marijuana business operates, a lease of equipment used in the cultivation of medical marijuana, a secured or unsecured financing agreement with the medical marijuana business, a security contract with the medical marijuana business, or a management agreement with the medical marijuana business, provided that no such contract compensates the contract counterparty with a percentage of revenue for profits of the medical marijuana business; or Is identified by rule by the state licensing authority as an indirect financial interest holder. "Passive beneficial owner" means any person acquiring any interest in a medical marijuana business that is not otherwise a controlling beneficial owner or in control. The act requires a person intending to apply to become a controlling beneficial owner or passive beneficial owner to receive a finding of suitability or an exemption from the state licensing authority prior to submitting a marijuana business application. The act also requires a marijuana business or controlling beneficial owner that is a publicly traded corporation to comply with various notification, disclosure, notice, and suitability requirements. The act limits the types of publicly traded corporations that can be marijuana businesses or controlling beneficial owners. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, $2,783,561 was appropriated from the marijuana cash fund to the department of revenue. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

State institutions of higher education - tuition assistance - dependents of military members - dependents of law enforcement officers and firefighters. A dependent of a prisoner of war or military personnel missing in action, a dependent of a person who died or was permanently disabled while on duty as a Colorado National Guardsman, or a dependent of any person who has been permanently disabled or killed while acting as a police officer, sheriff, or other law enforcement officer or firefighter (dependent) who is eligible for state tuition assistance and federal educational benefits pursuant to the federal "Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act" may receive the state tuition assistance prior to receiving the federal benefit. The state tuition assistance available to a dependent is reduced by the amount of any federal educational benefit provided to the dependent.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More

Currently, under the federal educator expense deduction an eligible educator can claim a deduction, not to exceed $250, for the purchase of school supplies and certain professional development courses. The bill creates a state income tax credit for an eligible educator for the cost of expenses that qualify for the deduction that exceed $250 but are less than $750. The amount of the credit that exceeds the educator's income taxes is refunded to the educator.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

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The bill directs the state board of education (state board) to identify by rule a list of statutes and rules for which a rural school district board of education (local board) may invoke an automatic waiver. A local board may invoke an automatic waiver by adopting a resolution and transmitting the resolution to the state board and the commissioner of education. The local board may invoke the automatic waiver on behalf of the entire rural school district or for one or more identified schools of the district. An automatic waiver remains in effect until revoked by the local board through adoption of a resolution. A rural school district that invokes an automatic waiver must identify the automatic waiver on its website and, starting July 1, 2020, provide a standardized description of and rationale for each automatic waiver of statute and the contact information for a school district employee who can explain the automatic waiver. The department of education, working with a statewide association that represents school districts, must adopt standardized descriptions of and rationales for each of the statutes included on the list of automatic waivers for rural school districts adopted by the state board.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More

The bill directs a peace officer to remove a person from a residential premises and to order the person to remain off the premises if the owner or owner's authorized agent (declarant) swears to a declaration making specified statements concerning ownership of the premises and the lack of authority for the person or persons who are on the premises to be there. The peace officer must allow the person a reasonable opportunity to obtain evidence of his or her authority to be on the premises. A declarant: Agrees to indemnify a peace officer and his or her agency for acts and omissions made in reliance upon the declaration; and Is liable for actual damages, attorney fees, and costs for any false statements made in the declaration. If the declaration includes a statement that the property has been altered or damaged, or if the peace officer sees evidence of alteration or damage, the peace officer shall collect the personal information of the persons removed and provide it to the declarant. A person removed from the property pursuant to the bill who alters or damages the property is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

The bill amends the existing career development success pilot program (program), which provides a distribution of up to $1,000 to school districts and charter schools for each high school student who successfully completes an identified industry-certificate, internship, or pre-apprenticeship program or computer science advanced placement (AP) course. The bill limits the distribution for industry certificates for a single school district or charter school to 10% of the total number of completed industry certificates reported. The bill requires each school district and charter school that participates in the program to explain the program to all high school students with the goal of increasing participation in the industry certificate programs across all student subgroups. Under existing law, the department of education is required to report on the implementation of the program. The bill expands the report to include specified information. The bill extends the repeal date for the program for 5 years and removes the designation of 'pilot'. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More

Currently and until September 1, 2018, a distributor can claim a credit for taxes paid on tobacco products that are shipped or transported by the distributor to a consumer outside of the state. The bill makes the credit permanent and requires the distributor to maintain certain records related to the out-of-state sales to consumers. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.) , Read More