The act makes it unlawful for a person to threaten, coerce, or intimidate an election official with the intent to interfere with the performance of the official's duties or with the intent to retaliate against the official for the performance of the official's duties. The prohibition does not apply to an enforcement action taken by the secretary of state to enforce state election laws or to an enforcement action take by a designated election official against an election judge who has violated a statute, a rule promulgated by the secretary of state, or the election judge's oath. The act also prohibits a person from making the personal information of an election official or an election official's immediate family publicly available on the internet if the person knows or reasonably should know that doing so will pose an imminent and serious threat to the election official or the election official's immediate family. For the purposes of this restriction, "election official" is defined to include a county clerk and recorder, a municipal clerk, an election judge, a member of a canvassing board, a member of a board of county commissioners, a member or secretary of a board of directors authorized to conduct public elections, a representative of a governing body, or any other person contracted for or engaged in the performance of election duties. An election worker may file a request with a state or local official to remove personal information from records that the official makes available on the internet. The request must include an affirmation under penalty of perjury that the election worker has reason to believe that the dissemination of the election worker's personal information on the internet poses an imminent and serious threat to the safety of the election worker. After receiving a request from an election worker, the state or local official is also required to deny access to the personal information in response to a request for records under the "Colorado Open Records Act"; except that a party to a record, settlement service, title insurance agency, mortgage servicer or mortgage servicer's agent, and an attorney engaged in a real estate matter may access records maintained by a county recorder, county assessor, or county treasurer. For purposes of this protection, "election worker" is defined to include a county clerk and recorder, county election staff, a municipal clerk, municipal election staff, the secretary of state, and the secretary of state's election staff but does not include an election judge or a temporary employee. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act increases election security measures for the secretary of state's office, election officials, candidates for elective office, and voters. Section 4 of the act requires the district court and the supreme court, if applicable, to expedite scheduling and the issuance of any orders in connection with an enforcement action brought by the attorney general or the secretary of state to enforce the provisions of the election code to ensure that a final ruling is made within specified periods. Section 5 requires a designated election official for a county, a coordinated election official for a county, and employees in the election division of the department of state (department), at the discretion of the secretary of state, to complete a certification program for election officials provided by the secretary of state (certification program). The secretary of state is strongly encouraged to complete the certification program. Employees, designated election officials, and coordinated election officials are required to complete the certification program within a specified period and may not serve as the designated election official for a county or the coordinated election official for a county without completing the certification program. Section 6 requires that the certification program curriculum include courses in voter registration and list maintenance, accessibility, coordinated elections, mail ballot and in-person voting processes, voting systems testing, risk-limiting audits, and canvass. Section 7 specifies that a person is ineligible to serve as a designated election official for a county or as a coordinated election official if the person has been convicted of an election offense or of committing or conspiring to commit sedition, insurrection, treason, conspiracy to overthrow the government, or another similar federal offense. Section 8 requires the secretary of state to invoice any county that uses a voting system in an instant runoff voting election for its share of the cost as a proportion of the number of registered active voters in all participating municipalities in that county compared to the total number of registered active voters in all participating municipalities in the state as determined by the secretary of state. Section 9 modifies the prohibition for certain elected officials or candidates for elective office from preparing, maintaining, or repairing any voting equipment or device that is to be used in an election to apply to any contact with the voting equipment or device, rather than just physical contact. In a political subdivision with a population of 100,000 or more, section 9 also prohibits any elected official, any candidate for elective office, and the secretary of state from having key card access to or being present in a room with components of a voting system without being accompanied by one or more persons with authorized access. Section 10 requires that for elections conducted under the "Uniform Election Code of 1992", the governing body of any political subdivision is required to adopt an electronic or electromechanical voting system to be used for tabulating votes at all elections held by the political subdivision. This requirement does not apply to counties with fewer than 1,000 active electors at the date of the last general election. Section 11 prohibits a county from creating, permitting any person to create, or disclosing to any person an image of the hard drive of any voting system component without the express written permission of the department. Section 12 specifies that if a software or hardware malfunction makes it impossible to count all or a part of the ballots with electronic vote-tabulating equipment, the secretary of state, after consultation with the designated election official, may permit the designated election official to direct that such ballots be counted manually. Section 13 requires a designated election official to keep all components of a voting system in a location where entry is controlled by use of a key card access system and that is under video security surveillance recording. The designated election official is required to ensure that records in connection with access to the location of the voting system and video recordings of the location are created and maintained for specified periods. Section 3 defines terms in connection with these requirements. Section 13 also directs the general assembly to appropriate the following amounts for the 2022-23 state fiscal year: One million dollars from the general fund to the department to administer a grant program, which is created by the act, to provide assistance to counties in complying with the security requirements of the act; and $117,000 from the department of state cash fund to the department to assist the state and counties with assessing potential risks to the proper administration of elections. In addition, section 13 requires the general assembly to make appropriations for the 2023-24 state fiscal year and each state fiscal year thereafter from the department of state cash fund to the department to assist the state and counties with assessing potential risks to the proper administration of elections. Section 14 states that if a majority of a canvass board in a county is unable to or does not certify the abstract of votes for any reason by the applicable deadline, the secretary of state is required to review the noncertified abstract of votes and other evidence provided by the canvass board. If, after review, the secretary of state determines that the noncertified abstract of votes is sufficiently explicit in showing how many votes were cast for each candidate, ballot question, or ballot issue, the secretary of state is required to certify the results for the county and proceed to certifying state results. Section 15 specifies that in addition to complying with certain existing rules of the secretary of state when carrying out the duties of the secretary of state, a person is also required to comply with other policies of the secretary of state, including the acceptable use policy for the statewide voter registration system, when carrying out such duties. Section 15 also specifies that any person who willfully interferes with a person in notifying or obstructs a person from notifying the department of a potential violation or retaliates against a person for providing such notice is subject to current penalties for election offenses. Section 16 prohibits a person from accessing electronic voting equipment or an election-night reporting system without authorization and specifies that a person who accesses such equipment or system is guilty of a class 5 felony. Section 16 also specifies that an authorized person who knowingly publishes or causes to be published passwords or other confidential information relating to a voting system will immediately have their authorized access revoked and is guilty of a class 5 felony. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the functions of the Colorado resiliency office in the department of local affairs until September 1, 2037, pursuant to the provisions of the sunset law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the "Donor-conceived Persons and Families of Donor-conceived Persons Protection Act" (act). The act defines the following terms, among others: "Assisted reproduction" means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse; "Donor" means an individual who produces eggs or sperm collected by a gamete agency, gamete bank, or fertility clinic (ART agency) for use in assisted reproduction; "Donor-conceived person" (DCP) means an individual of any age who was born as a result of assisted reproduction; "Fertility clinic" means an entity or organization that performs assisted reproduction medical procedures and receives donor gametes for a recipient in, or who is a resident of, Colorado, and the recipient and gamete donor are unknown to each other at the time of donation; "Gamete" means unfertilized oocytes or sperm; "Gamete agency" means an oocyte or sperm donor matching agency that is located within or outside of Colorado and matches gamete donors with recipients in, or who are residents of, Colorado, and are unknown to each other at the time of donation; "Gamete bank" means an entity or organization that collects gametes from a donor or receives embryos and provides gametes or embryos to a recipient parent or the parent's medical provider and the recipient and donor are unknown to each other at the time of donation and the parent lives in, or is a resident of, Colorado at the time of donation; "Identifying information" means the donor's full name; the donor's date of birth; and the donor's permanent and, if different, current address or other contact information at the time of the donation, or, if different, the donor's current address or other contact information or both as retained by the ART agency; "Medical history" means information regarding any present physical illness of the donor; past illness of the donor; and social, genetic, and family medical history pertaining to the donor's health; and "Recipient" or "recipient parent" means an individual who receives donor gametes or embryos as an intended parent from an ART agency for use in assisted reproduction for the purpose of conceiving a child. The act requires: An ART agency that, on or after January 1, 2025, collects gametes from a donor or matches a donor with a recipient, or receives gametes from a different ART agency, to collect the donor's identifying information and medical history and make a good-faith effort to maintain current contact information and updates on the donor's medical history by requesting updates from the donor at least once every 3 years; Upon request of a DCP who is 18 years of age or older, or less than 18 years of age but legally emancipated, release of identifying and medical information to the DCP or the DCP's legal parent or guardian. An ART agency shall not match or provide gametes from a donor who does not agree to the identity disclosure when a DCP reaches 18 years of age; An ART agency to collect and securely maintain any records of the donor's identifying information and medical history. The ART agency shall also regularly request at least once every 3 years that a donor provide updates to the donor's contact information and medical history. An ART agency that matches or collects gametes from a donor on or after January 1, 2025, who is unknown to the recipient parent at the time of the donation to provide the donor with information about disclosure of information and obtain a declaration from the donor agreeing to identity disclosure when a DCP reaches 18 years of age; An ART agency to make and submit a proposed plan to the department of public health and environment (department) to permanently maintain records of donor identifying information and medical history, the number of families established with each donor's gametes, and genetic screening and testing in the event of dissolution, insolvency, or bankruptcy. In the case of such event, the gamete bank shall inform by mail and email, sent to the last known address, all gamete donors whose gametes were collected, matched, or received, as well as recipient parents who received gametes or embryos from the gamete bank. That, once an ART agency has record of or should reasonably know that 25 families have been established using a single donor's gametes in or outside of Colorado, with no limit on the number of children conceived by each of the families, the gamete bank shall not match or provide gametes from a donor to additional families. On or before January 1, 2025, the department to develop written materials for intended parents and separate materials for donors. An ART agency is required to ensure that, prior to tissue donation or sale of tissue, each tissue donor and intended recipient receives these written materials. The written materials are not meant to be in lieu of any mental health evaluations. That donors be at least 21 years of age at the time of the donation; On or after January 1, 2025, an ART agency operating in Colorado or providing donor gametes for use in assisted reproduction in Colorado to obtain a license that is conditioned on compliance with the act and its implementing rules; The state board of health (board) to establish a schedule of fees for licensure, with the department collecting the appropriate fee at the time of application for licensure; and The department to revoke licensure and issue fines for violations of the license, act, and implementing rules. The department is allowed to assess a civil penalty for violations of the act. The board is granted rule-making authority for the implementation of the act, with rules to be promulgated on or before July 1, 2024. The donor gamete agency, gamete bank, and fertility clinic fund is created. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $192,293 is appropriated to the department from the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the department of public health and environment to prohibit the chemical modification, conversion, or synthetic derivation of intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol isomers that originate from industrial hemp or may be synthetically derived. The act also creates a task force to study intoxicating hemp products and make legislative and rule recommendations. The task force will submit a report to the general assembly by January 1, 2023. The task force consists of 20 members including representatives of state government, experts in marijuana and industrial hemp regulation, persons licensed in the marijuana and medical marijuana fields, persons working with industrial hemp, testing laboratories, and a representative of a county or district public health agency. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $587,347 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department of law, $4,630 of which is reappropriated to the department of personnel. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Beginning July 1, 2023, the act grants the public employees of a county with a population of 7,500 people or more (county employees) the right to: Organize, form, join, or assist an employee organization or refrain from doing so; Engage in collective bargaining; Engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; Communicate with other county employees and with employee organization representatives and receive and distribute literature regarding employee organization issues; and Have an exclusive representative at formal discussions concerning a grievance, a personnel policy or practice, or any other condition of employment. The act clarifies that county employees may participate fully in the political process. Additionally, the act: Grants the exclusive representative of county employees the right to access county employees at work, through electronic communication, and through other means, including employee orientations; Requires counties to honor county employee authorizations for payroll deductions for the exclusive representative; Clarifies that specific rights of county employers are not impaired unless otherwise agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement; Clarifies that nothing in a collective bargaining agreement restricts or usurps the existing authority granted to county commissioners; Requires the director of the division of labor standards and statistics in the department of labor and employment (director) to enforce, interpret, apply, and administer the provisions of the act and, in doing so, to adopt rules, hold hearings, and impose administrative remedies; Authorizes the director or any party of interest to request a district court to enforce orders made pursuant to the act; Sets forth the process by which an employee organization is certified and decertified as the exclusive representative of county employees; Sets forth the process by which an appropriate bargaining unit is determined; and Requires the county and the exclusive representative to collectively bargain in good faith. The act states that the collective bargaining agreement is an agreement negotiated between an exclusive representative and a county, with the approval of the board of county commissioners of the county, that must: Be for a term of at least 12 months and not more than 60 months; and Provide a grievance procedure that culminates in final and binding arbitration. The act prohibits a collective bargaining agreement from: Delaying the prompt interviewing of county employees under investigation; Permitting a county employee to use paid time for a suspension from employment; Permitting the expungement of disciplinary records under certain circumstances; and Imposing limits on the period of time for which a county employee may be disciplined for incidents of violence. The act describes the dispute resolution process that the exclusive representative and a county must follow if an impasse arises during the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement. The act sets forth the actions taken during the collective bargaining process by a county or an exclusive representative that are unfair labor practices. To implement the act, $326,092 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of labor and employment and from that appropriation, $59,142 is reappropriated to the department of law to provide legal services for the department of labor and employment. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 2 of the act creates the disaster resilience rebuilding program in the division of local government (division) in the department of local affairs. The disaster resilience rebuilding program's purpose is to provide loans and grants to homeowners, owners of residential rental property, businesses, governmental entities, and other organizations working to rebuild after a disaster emergency. The division may contract with a governmental entity, bank, community development financial institution, or other entity to administer the disaster resilience rebuilding program. The division or an administrator is required to establish policies for administering the disaster resilience rebuilding program, including application requirements, eligibility requirements for applicants, maximum assistance levels, loan terms, equitable outreach, and any specific criteria for the allowable uses of the loans and grants. The division is required to prioritize applicants who demonstrate that their needs cannot be met by other sources of assistance. Loans and grants may be used to: Subsidize costs to repair or rebuild a homeowner's primary residence that are insufficiently covered by the homeowner's insurance or by federal assistance programs, including costs of rebuilding to advanced fire resistance standards and to replant climate ready trees and vegetation; Repair or reconstruct housing stock in areas that are experiencing a shortage of available housing by housing authorities and nonprofit organizations working to repair or reconstruct housing stock, or by owners of rental housing who agree to requirements to provide affordable rent or temporary rental assistance to displaced renters; Rebuild neighborhoods in a manner intended to resist the impacts of natural disasters; Provide operating capital to a business experiencing a loss or interruption of business or to pay to repair or replace damaged business property and inventory; Reimburse governmental entities for costs associated with a declared disaster that are not covered by available federal assistance, including infrastructure repairs and replacement of lost revenue; or Assist eligible applicants in addressing other related unmet needs as allowed by division policies. Section 2 also creates the disaster resilience rebuilding program fund. The state treasurer is required to transfer $15 million from the general fund to the fund after the effective date of the act. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the division for the rebuilding program. Section 3 creates the sustainable rebuilding program in the Colorado energy office. The office is required to consult with the department of local affairs in creating the sustainable rebuilding program. The sustainable rebuilding program's purpose is to provide loans and grants to homeowners, owners of residential rental property, and businesses that are rebuilding after a wildfire or other natural disaster to cover costs associated with building high performing, energy efficient, and resilient homes and structures. The office may contract with a governmental entity, Colorado-based nonprofit green bank with history and expertise in providing loans and grants for energy efficiency projects and services, business nonprofit organization, bank, or community development financial institution to administer the sustainable rebuilding program. The Colorado energy office or an administrator is required to establish policies for administering the sustainable rebuilding program, including application requirements, eligibility requirements for homeowners and businesses, maximum assistance levels, loan terms, equitable outreach, and any specific criteria for the allowable uses of the loans and grants. The loans and grants may be used to: Install high-efficiency heat pumps for heating space or water; Achieve advanced energy certifications, including from Energy Star, the Passive House Institute U.S., the United States department of energy zero energy ready homes, or other similar programs; Achieve net zero energy or net zero carbon buildings with the addition of renewable energy generation; Assist with the costs of installing battery storage and electric vehicle charging stations; Cover the incremental costs of building to the most recent energy standard adopted by a local jurisdiction compared to the earlier version of the jurisdiction's energy code; and Support other similar uses identified by the office. The act creates the sustainable rebuilding program fund. The state treasurer is required to transfer $20 million to the fund after the effective date of the act. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the office for the sustainable rebuilding program and for development of the disaster survivor portal that may be created as authorized by section 6. Section 4 creates the office of climate preparedness in the governor's office. The office is required to coordinate disaster recovery efforts for the governor's office and to develop, publish, and implement the statewide climate preparedness roadmap (roadmap). The office of climate preparedness may establish interagency and intergovernmental task forces and community advisory groups to inform and support the work of the office. The office may promote community engagement and information sharing and further efforts to implement the recommendations of the roadmap. The office of climate preparedness is required to coordinate the implementation of the roadmap and may establish criteria for evaluating existing programs in all other state agencies to ensure implementation of the roadmap and its governing principles. No later than December 1, 2023, the office of climate preparedness is required to prepare and publish and, every 3 years thereafter, update the roadmap. The roadmap must integrate and include information from all existing and future state plans that address climate mitigation, adaptation, resiliency, and recovery. The roadmap must build upon this previous body of work, seek to align existing plans, and identify any gaps in policy, planning, or resources. The roadmap must identify strategies for how the state will grow in population and continue to develop in a manner that meets certain goals specified in the act. Section 5 requires the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) to conduct a study and prepare a report on methods to address the stability, availability, and affordability of homeowner's insurance in Colorado with a focus on stabilizing the market. The commissioner may contract with a third party and is required to consult with stakeholders in completing the study. Section 6 removes the existing cap on the size of grants that the governor may provide to individuals to meet disaster-related expenses that cannot be met from other means of assistance. Section 6 also requires the office of emergency management to coordinate with the governor's office, federal agencies, and other state and local agencies to ensure that individual disaster assistance is delivered in a coordinated effort. The office of emergency management is authorized to create a disaster survivor portal in collaboration with the department of local affairs and the Colorado energy office. The portal may provide a coordinated method to access individual disaster assistance benefits, including from the disaster resilience rebuilding program and the sustainable rebuilding program. Section 7 requires the division of fire prevention and control (DFPC) in the department of public safety to establish and maintain a statewide fire dispatch center for rapid responses to wildfires and all-hazard incidents. Section 8 authorizes the center of excellence within the DFPC to develop and implement a Colorado team awareness kit. Section 8 also requires the transfer of $15,500,000 from the disaster emergency fund to the Colorado firefighting air corps fund for use by the DFPC to implement the statewide fire dispatch center and the team awareness kit and for the leasing of appropriate aviation resources for wildfire suppression. Section 9 requires the transfer of $2,700,000 from the disaster emergency fund to the capital construction fund for use by the DFPC for capital construction related to aviation resources for wildfire suppression. The $2,700,000 transferred in section 9 is appropriated to the department of public safety in section 12 for capital construction related to aviation resources for wildfire suppression. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act prohibits a prepaid inpatient health plan from: Requiring prior authorization for outpatient psychotherapy services; Retroactively recovering provider payments if a recipient was initially determined to be eligible for medical benefits or the prepaid inpatient health plan makes an error processing the claim but the claim is otherwise accurately submitted by the provider; and Retroactively recovering provider payments after 12 months from the date a claim was paid, except in certain circumstances. If a prepaid inpatient health plan retroactively recovers a provider payment that is equal to or greater than $1,000, the act requires the prepaid inpatient health plan to work with the provider to develop a payment plan if the provider requests a payment plan. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes a district attorney or a deputy or assistant district attorney (district attorney), in investigating a complaint alleging a violation of consumer protection laws, to request records from a state or local licensing authority (licensing authority) regarding a person that the licensing authority regulates (regulated person) and that is the subject of the complaint if the complaint alleges: The complainant suffered damages in an amount of at least $20,000 and the district attorney determines the amount alleged appears to be reasonable in relation to the alleged conduct forming the basis of the complaint; or 2 or more regulated persons jointly engaged in conduct that forms the basis of the complaint. The act only applies to those state licensing authorities that authorize a licensee to perform activities at specific premises. A district attorney's authority to request records from a licensing authority does not apply with respect to a complaint alleged against a person regulated by a board or commission. The licensing authority shall share with, and allow inspection of its records by, the district attorney upon receipt of such request if the licensing authority has already determined not to take action against the regulated person or persons. Additionally, the act authorizes a state licensing authority, subject to approval by the head of the executive department in which the state licensing authority is located, to enter into an interagency agreement with the attorney general or the attorney general's designee for the referral of complaints alleging violations of consumer protection laws. A regulated person is entitled to costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred and actual damages sustained in relation to the district attorney's or attorney general's investigation and in relation to a licensing authority's investigation in a related matter if a court determines that the complaint that led to the district attorney's or attorney' general's investigation is frivolous, groundless, and was filed in bad faith or if the regulated person prevails or substantially prevails in the matter. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)