The act allows a board of county commissioners (board), in consultation with its fire protection district or fire authority, to apply to the state engineer for the designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond. The director of the division of fire prevention and control (director) in the department of public safety is required to promulgate rules to establish criteria for boards, in consultation with fire protection districts or fire authorities, to use to identify and evaluate potential fire suppression ponds. Before applying for the designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond, a board, in consultation with its fire protection district or fire authority, must identify ponds in areas where the outbreak of a fire could result in a major wildfire disaster and perform a needs assessment of each such pond. If a pond that is under consideration for designation as a fire suppression pond is located in whole or in part upon private property, a board must acquire the voluntary written approval of each owner of private property that abuts the pond before the board applies to the state engineer for the designation of the pond as a fire suppression pond. For each pond that is identified and under consideration as a potential fire suppression pond, a board must provide notice of such fact to the state engineer. The act prohibits the state engineer, with exceptions, from ordering any pond to be drained or backfilled: While the pond is under consideration for designation as a fire suppression pond; If the state engineer has designated the pond as a fire suppression pond; or On and after the effective date of the act, and until the date upon which the director promulgates rules. The state engineer may not designate more than 30 total surface acres of pond in any county as a fire suppression pond or designate any pond as a fire suppression pond unless the pond satisfies certain requirements and the board that requested the designation provided notice of the request to interested parties included in the substitute water supply plan notification list established for the water division in which the pond is located. The state engineer may impose reasonable requirements on a board as a condition of designating a pond as a fire suppression pond, including requirements for measuring and recording devices. A board and its fire protection district or fire authority must inspect a designated fire suppression pond at least annually. The designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond expires 15 years after the date of the designation. Before the expiration, the board and the fire protection district or fire authority may perform a needs assessment of the pond. If the needs assessment demonstrates that the pond is in compliance with criteria established in the director's rules, the board and fire protection district or fire authority shall notify the state engineer of such fact, and the state engineer shall redesignate the pond as a fire suppression pond. If the needs assessment demonstrates that the pond is not in compliance with the criteria, the board and fire protection district or fire authority must either: Notify the state engineer that the designation of the pond as a fire suppression pond should be rescinded or allowed to expire; or Provide to the state engineer a plan and a timeline for bringing the pond back into compliance with such criteria. Within 70 days after the state engineer designates a pond as a fire suppression pond, a holder of a decreed water right may file with the water clerk of the water division in which the fire suppression pond is located a petition for review of the state engineer's decision. Upon receiving a petition, a water judge must conduct a review of the state engineer's decision. A water judge may nullify the state engineer's designation of a pond as a fire suppression pond if, after considering the entire record, including any evidence of material injury, the judge finds that: In applying for the designation, the board did not describe a pond that complies with criteria established by rules promulgated by the director; or The state engineer's decision did not accord with certain other requirements in the act concerning fire suppression ponds. The act states that a fire suppression pond and the water associated with it: Are not considered a water right; Do not have a priority for the purpose of determining water rights; and May not be adjudicated as a water right. The act states that a proposed fire suppression pond is presumed to not cause material injury to vested water rights. A holder of a decreed water right may rebut the presumption by providing evidence to the state engineer sufficient to show that material injury has occurred or will occur to the decreed water right. The act appropriates, for the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $19,428 from the general fund to the department of natural resources for use by the executive director's office, to be used as follows: $11,828 to be reappropriated to the department of law for the provision of legal services; and $7,600 to be reappropriated to the office of information technology for the provision of information technology services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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Current law requires every owner, keeper, or proprietor of a junk shop, junk store, salvage yard, or junk cart or other vehicle and every collector of or dealer in junk, salvage, or other secondhand property to keep a book or register detailing all transactions involving commodity metals and to comply with certain other requirements concerning transactions involving commodity metals. Current law also establishes the commodity metals theft task force (task force) and charges the task force with certain duties to address the theft of commodity metals. The act extends the scope of the current laws addressing commodity metal theft to include theft of catalytic converters. The act also expands the scope of the duties of the task force to include consideration of catalytic converter theft. For the purposes of the existing criminal statute prohibiting the operation of motor vehicle chop shops, the act adds catalytic converters to the definition of "major component motor vehicle part". (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act removes autocycle from the definition of motorcycle. The definition of motorcycle is changed to add that a motorcycle has handlebars to steer and a seat the rider sits astride. The definition of autocycle is also changed to classify it as a motor vehicle and to clarify that an autocycle may use handlebars to steer. In removing autocycle from the definition of motorcycle, the act makes the following clarifications and changes: Section 2 clarifies that the driver of an autocycle need not have a motorcycle endorsement regardless of the autocycle's maximum speed and that all 3-wheel motorcycle drivers need a general or limited motorcycle endorsement; Colorado law requires all motorcycle drivers to wear eye protection unless the motorcycle has 3 wheels, has a maximum speed of no more than 25 miles per hour, has a windshield, and has seatbelts. Section 3 clarifies that this exception applies to drivers of autocycles, not motorcycles, fitting that description. Colorado law requires a motorcycle driver who is under 18 years of age to wear a helmet unless the motorcycle has 3 wheels, has a maximum speed of no more than 25 miles per hour, has a windshield, and has seatbelts. Section 4 clarifies that this exception applies to autocycles, not motorcycles, fitting that description. Colorado law imposes a fee of $4 to register motorcycles for motorcycle operator safety training. Redefining autocycles as not being motorcycles in section 1 means that autocycle owners will not pay the fee. Section 5 removes the authorization for 2 autocycles to drive abreast in one lane; and Section 8 clarifies that the department of revenue will continue to issue a motorcycle license plate for an autocycle. Section 33 appropriates $15,976 from the general fund for use by the division of motor vehicles to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a film incentive task force to study how to make the performance-based incentive for film production in Colorado more effective. The task force is required to submit its findings to the house of representatives business affairs and labor committee and the senate business, labor, and technology committee by January 1, 2023. The executive director of the office of economic development is authorized, in the executive director's discretion, to authorize the approval or issuance of an incentive in an amount that exceeds the current statutory limit of 20% of qualifying local expenditures for a production company that qualifies for an incentive. On July 1, 2022, the state treasurer is required to transfer $2 million from the general fund to the Colorado office of film, television, and media operational account cash fund. The $2 million that is transferred is appropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of economic development for the Colorado office of film, television, and media. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
To provide additional funding for the community revitalization grant program, the act requires the state treasurer to transfer $20 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the community revitalization fund on July 1, 2022. On and after the effective date of the act, for-profit entities and organizations are no longer eligible to receive grants through the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the microgrids for community resilience grant program (grant program) to be administered by the division of local government (division) in the department of local affairs (department), in collaboration with the Colorado resiliency office in the division and the Colorado energy office. A cooperative electric association or a municipally owned utility (utility) may apply to the division for a grant award to finance the purchase of microgrid resources in eligible rural communities within the utility's service territory that are at significant risk of experiencing severe weather or natural disaster events and in which one or more community anchor institutions, which institutions are important community, educational, health care, or other institutions, are located. The microgrids, which can be connected to or be disconnected from, and work independent of, the utility's electric grid, can increase an eligible rural community's ability to avoid or remediate interruptions to the electric grid, such as those caused by severe weather or natural disaster events. On an annual basis commencing in 2023, the division is required to: Report on the progress of the grant program, including information on the number of grants awarded and the amount of money awarded for each grant; Submit copies of the report to the house of representatives energy and environment committee and the senate transportation and energy committee, or their successor committees; and Publish the report on the department's website. For state fiscal year 2022-23, the bill appropriates from the general fund: $3,500,000 to the department for use by the division for implementation of the grant program; and $20,713 to the office of the governor for use by the Colorado energy office for grant program administration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires a consumer reporting agency to exclude sealed and expunged records from a consumer report, unless the user of the report demonstrates that the user is otherwise required to consider the information pursuant to law. Currently, there is a process that allows for automatic sealing of criminal justice records for certain drug offenses. The act extends automatic sealing to all offenses, including civil infractions, that allow a defendant to petition the court for sealing criminal justice records that are not subject to the victims rights act. The act streamlines the automatic record sealing process. The act allows a district attorney to object to the automatic sealing of a felony offense that is not a drug felony and, if the defendant requests a hearing in that case, the court shall schedule a hearing to determine whether to seal the records. The act requires the state court administrator to produce an annual report regarding automatic record sealing. During the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions, the judicial department shall report on the progress of its implementation of the automatic sealing created by the act, including as part of the department's SMART act hearing. The act requires district attorneys, in the completion of diversion prior to charges being filed, to seal diversion records without a court order. The act provides that a defendant's and a district attorney's access to sealed records do not require a court order. The act provides the conditions that must be met for a researcher to access sealed records without a court order. The act allows a record to be sealed if a defendant owes fines, court fees, late fees, or other court-ordered fees. The act requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to produce an annual report regarding record sealing. The act makes clarifying and organizational changes to the record sealing statutes. The act appropriates $725,145 from the general fund to the judicial department to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the teen parent driver's license program (program) in the department of human services (department) to provide financial assistance for the cost of driver's education school training for eligible individuals and the cost to obtain a driver's license or permit. A person is eligible for the program if the person is a parent and 15 years of age or older and under 21 years of age. The department must solicit interest and cost distribution proposals from teen parent organizations to administer the program. The department must annual report on: The total number of teen parent organizations contracted with the department; The total amount of money awarded to each teen parent organization; The location of each teen parent organization and the counties served; The total number of eligible individuals who received driver's licenses each year, disaggregated by each month; and The total number of eligible individuals who received training from a driver's education school, disaggregated by each month. The act appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the department of human services for use by the office of economic security to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state treasurer to make 2 payments of $6,650,000 to the fire and police pension association for it to deposit in the statewide death and disability trust fund. The first payment on July 1, 2022, is from the general fund, and the second payment on July 1, 2023, is from the newly created death and disability payment cash fund, which consists of money transferred from the general fund on July 1, 2022. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)