The act allows a member of the general assembly who is absent when the general assembly is in session for a long-term illness, parental leave in excess of the permitted maximum period, or another similar purpose, subject to approval by the president of the senate or the speaker of the house of representatives, respective to the member's house, to be exempted from forfeiture of their compensation. Previously, the exemption from forfeiture of compensation was only for an approved absence for a long-term illness. The act also allows a member of the general assembly to receive compensation for an absence due to parental leave for a maximum of 12 weeks, plus up to an additional 4 weeks for a serious health condition related to complications of pregnancy or childbirth. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act amends employment discrimination laws, commonly referred to as the "Colorado Anti-discrimination Act" or "CADA", as follows: With regard to the jurisdiction of the Colorado civil rights commission (commission) over discrimination complaints, instead of allowing the commission 270 days to notice a hearing on the complaint and the ability to grant the parties an extension of up to an additional 180 days, allows the commission a total of 450 days to notice a hearing on the complaint or lose jurisdiction over the complaint; Expands the definition of "employee" to include individuals in domestic service and specifies that it is not a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice with respect to sex for a person to consider sex when hiring an employee to engage in child-care-related domestic services; Extends the time limit to file a charge with the commission from 6 months to 300 days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred; and Repeals the prohibition, applicable in age discrimination cases only, against the relief and recovery of certain damages so that the remedies available in employment discrimination claims are consistent, regardless of the type of discrimination alleged. The act appropriates $113,548 from the general fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the civil rights division to implement the act, with $98,718 allocated for personal services and $14,830 for operating expenses. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act changes current state law to align with the federal "No Surprises Act" (federal act) by: Allowing a covered person who requests an independent external review of a health-care coverage decision to request a review to determine if the services that were provided or may be provided by an out-of-network provider or facility are subject to an in-network benefit level of coverage; Requiring that payments made for health-care services provided at an in-network facility or by an out-of-network provider be applied to the covered person's in-network deductible and any out-of-pocket maximum amounts as if the services were provided by an in-network provider; Requiring that emergency health-care services, regardless of the facility at which they are provided, be covered at the in-network benefit level; Requiring each health insurance carrier (carrier) to cover post-stabilization services to stabilize a patient after a medical emergency at the in-network benefit level; Requiring carriers to develop disclosures to provide to covered persons that comply with the act; Requiring the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) and certain regulators of health-care occupations to adopt rules concerning disclosure requirements, including a list of ancillary services for which a provider or facility cannot charge a balance bill; Requiring the commissioner to convene a work group to facilitate and streamline the implementation of the payment of claims for services provided by an out-of-network provider at an in-network facility and for services surrounding a medical emergency; Prohibiting a carrier from recalculating a covered person's cost-sharing amount based on an additional payment made as a result of arbitration; Requiring the parties to an arbitration over health-care coverage to split the costs of the arbitrator if the parties reach an agreement before the final decision of the arbitrator; Authorizing the commissioner to promulgate rules to implement the requirements of the act, including rules necessary to implement the requirements of the federal act; Changing the amount of time that a managed care plan must allow a person to continue to receive care from a provider from 60 after the date an in-network provider is terminated from a plan without cause to up to 90 days after a carrier provides notice that the contract is terminated; Implementing specific requirements for health-care coverage and services for covered persons who are continuing care patients of a provider or facility whose contract with the patient's health insurer is terminated; Authorizing the regulator of health-care providers, in consultation with the commissioner, to adopt rules concerning consumer disclosures; Allowing an out-of-network provider and an out-of-network facility to charge a covered person a balance bill for health-care services other than ancillary services if the out-of-network provider complies with specific notice requirements and obtains the covered person's signed consent; and Requiring a carrier offering an individual health benefit plan or short-term limited duration health insurance policy to make consumer disclosures. The act changes from January 1 to March 1 the date by which a carrier is required to submit information to the commissioner concerning the use of out-of-network providers and out-of-network facilities and the impact on health insurance premiums for consumers. $233,018 is appropriated from the division of insurance cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use in the 2022-23 state fiscal year for personal services, operating expenses, and to purchase legal services, and of that amount, $88,713 is reappropriated to the department of law to provide legal services for the department of regulatory agencies. $7,506 is appropriated from the health facilities general licensure cash fund to the department of public health and environment for use in the 2022-23 state fiscal year by health facilities and emergency medical services division to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes a study to investigate devices that are capable of assessing cognitive and physical impairment of motorists to detect the presence of drugs other than alcohol during roadside sobriety investigations. The act requires the Colorado department of transportation (department) to issue a request for proposal for a study and report to be conducted and completed not later than June 1, 2023. The department shall submit and present a final report with the findings of the study at the joint transportation committee's "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing and to the Colorado task force on drunk and impaired driving. The act sets requirements and standards for the study. The study repeals July 1, 2024. The act appropriates $751,649 from the marijuana tax cash fund to the department for the study. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act: Clarifies that every prescriber must query the prescription drug monitoring program (program) prior to filling a prescription for an opioid or benzodiazepine; Requires each prescriber and pharmacist to attest that they have registered and are maintaining a user account with the program and that they are aware of the penalties for noncompliance; Allows a practitioner or pharmacist who is registered with the program to authorize an unlimited number of designees to access the program on the practitioner's or pharmacist's behalf if the designees meet the eligibility criteria and to register those designees in a group designee user account. The practitioner or pharmacist is required to approve, maintain, and track the identifying information of each authorized designee in the group designee user account. Requires the division of professions and occupations (division) to solicit applications from public and private integration organizations and, on or before January 1, 2023, approve qualified integration organizations that practitioners and pharmacists may use to integrate the program with patient electronic medical records; and Subject to available funding, requires the division to implement a process whereby practitioners and pharmacists may apply for and receive reimbursement from the division for all or a portion of the costs of integrating the program with electronic medical records. $2,016,475 is appropriated from the prescription drug monitoring fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of professions and occupations. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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.)
Current law provides whistleblower protections for workers who raise a reasonable concern about health or safety related to a public health emergency. The act expands the protection to all health and safety concerns regardless of whether there is a declared public health emergency. To implement the act, the act appropriates: $417,629 to the department of labor and employment, of which $386,579 is for use by the division of labor standards and statistics and $31,050 is for the purchase of legal services; $228,499 to the department of personnel, of which $125,000 is for use by the division of human resources for liability claims and $103,499 is for the purchase of legal services; and $134,549 to the department of law, reappropriated from the department of labor and employment and the department of personnel.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the healthy school meals for all program (program) in the department of education (department) to: Reimburse school food authorities that choose to participate in the program (participating school food authorities) for free meals provided to students who are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the federal school meals programs; Provide local food purchasing grants to eligible participating school food authorities; Provide funding to participating school food authorities to increase the wages or provide stipends for individuals employed to prepare and serve food; and Provide assistance to participating school food authorities through the local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program. A participating school food authority must: Provide free meals to all students enrolled in the public schools that the participating school food authority serves and that participate in the national school lunch program or national school breakfast program; Provide to the department annual notice of participation; and Maximize the amount of federal reimbursement by participating in the federal community eligibility provision to identify students who are eligible for the federal school meals programs. The portion of the program that provides reimbursement for school meals begins operating in the 2023-24 budget year. The remaining portions of the program begin operating in the first full budget year after the state of Colorado begins participating in the federal demonstration project to use medicaid eligibility to identify students who are eligible for the federal school meals programs (demonstration project). The act requires the department to participate in the federal community eligibility provision for the state as a whole, if that option is available, and apply to participate in the demonstration project. The amount of reimbursement distributed pursuant to the program is equal to the federal free reimbursement rate multiplied by the total number of meals served minus any other federal or state reimbursement the school food authority receives for providing meals. Under the act, a participating school food authority that creates a parent and student committee to advise on food purchasing (advisory committee) is eligible to receive a local food purchasing grant (grant) to purchase Colorado grown, raised, or processed products for school meals. The act establishes the amount of the grants, limits on how the grant money may be spent, and the required membership of the advisory committee. The department must annually review a sample of the invoices for purchases made using grant money to ensure compliance with purchasing requirements. The act creates the local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program (grant program) under which a statewide nonprofit organization distributes grants to promote the purchase of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products by participating school food authorities and to assist participating school food authorities in preparing meals using basic ingredients rather than processed products. The nonprofit organization must report annually to the department concerning implementation of the grant program. The department must submit to committees of the general assembly a biennial report concerning implementation of the program. The department must contract with an independent auditor to conduct a biennial financial and performance audit of the program. The report and the audit must include implementation of the program, implementation of the local food purchasing grants, use of the additional amount for increasing wages or providing stipends, and implementation of the grant program. Current law limits state income tax itemized deductions for taxpayers who have federal adjusted gross income of $400,000 or more to $30,000 for single filers and $60,000 for joint filers. The act applies the limit to both itemized and standard income tax deductions for taxpayers who have federal adjusted gross income of $300,000 or more and lowers the limit to $12,000 for single filers and $16,000 for joint filers. The amount of revenue generated by the changes to the limit must be appropriated to fund the program. If the program is repealed, the changes to the limit no longer apply. The act directs the general assembly to appropriate annually the amount necessary to implement the program, including a specified amount for the grant program. The act takes effect only if it is approved by the voters at the November 2022 general election. This approval is a voter-approved revenue change that allows the state to retain and spend all revenue generated by the changes to the limit on state income tax deductions. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the epilepsy awareness license plate for motor vehicles. The department of revenue must designate a nonprofit organization to qualify applicants for issuance of the license plate. The organization must: Be headquartered in Colorado; Have been in existence for at least 5 years; Be a nonprofit organization; Provide education to the public about epilepsy; Offer programs for youth and adults with epilepsy; and Fund services and support for those affected by epilepsy. An applicant qualifies for issuance of the license plate if the applicant makes a donation to the organization and pays all required taxes and fees. In addition to the standard motor vehicle fees, the applicant must pay 2 one-time fees of $25 for issuance of the license plate. One fee is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other to the licensing services cash fund. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $29,671 is appropriated for use by the division of motor vehicles in the department of revenue (department) to implement the act, of which amount $3,168 is reappropriated to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services for the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)