A service retiree of any division of the public employees' retirement association (PERA) is allowed to work for a PERA employer for limited periods and to receive a salary without reduction in benefits under certain circumstances. Boards of cooperative services (BOCES) provide special education services to the school districts they serve. Almost all of these school districts are in rural parts of the state and it is difficult for BOCES to find qualified people to serve as special service providers in these areas. BOCES could address this issue by hiring service retirees, but PERA's employment-after-retirement provisions, including the limitation on the number of days in a calendar year that a service retiree may work for a PERA employer without a reduction in benefits, make it difficult to do so. The act modifies the PERA employment-after-retirement provisions for certain retirees hired by a BOCES if: The BOCES hires the service retiree to provide services in 2 or more rural school districts as determined by the department of education based on the geographic size of the school district and the distance of the school district from the nearest large, urbanized area; The BOCES hires the service retiree for the purpose of providing special services to students enrolled by the districts served by the BOCES; and The BOCES determines that there is a critical shortage of special service providers and that the service retiree has specific experience, skills, or qualifications that would benefit the districts that the BOCES serves. A service retiree who is a special service provider and who is hired by a BOCES may receive salary without a reduction in benefits for any length of employment in a calendar year if the service retiree has not worked for any PERA employer during the month of the effective date of retirement. The act requires a BOCES that hires the service retiree to provide full payment of all PERA employer contributions, disbursements, and working retiree contributions. In addition, the BOCES is required to pay an additional amount equal to 2% of the retiree's salary to PERA. A service retiree may not receive salary without reduction in benefits and without limitation in a calendar year for more than 5 consecutive years, and all BOCES combined are prohibited from hiring more than a total of 40 people over 5 years pursuant to the extension in PERA's employment-after-retirement limitations. PERA is required to submit a report to the general assembly regarding specified aspects of the extension of PERA's employment-after-retirement limitations. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act removes the requirement that a state assessment in social studies be administered to high school students. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
In connection with the existing requirement that the county clerk and recorder (clerk) must ensure that any eligible applicant is registered to vote in an election in specified circumstances, the act adds a requirement that the applicant be mailed a ballot. The act specifies the following new procedures governing the administration of ballots mailed to an elector toward the end of the voting period: Commencing the 15th day before an election through the 8th day before an election, the act requires the clerk to process all voter registration applications and updates to a voter registration record that requires a new ballot to be sent to an elector within 2 business days of the receipt of the application or update by the county clerk. The act permits an eligible elector to obtain a replacement ballot if the ballot that was originally mailed to the elector was destroyed, spoiled, lost, or for some other reason not received by the elector. The act specifies the process by which the elector requests a replacement ballot. The act prohibits a clerk from mailing a replacement ballot to the elector making the request if the clerk has already received a ballot for the election from the elector making the request. The act requires the clerk to deliver any ballot that must be sent by mail to the United States postal service (USPS) within 2 business days after processing a registration application or update to a voter registration record that requires a new ballot to be sent to an elector. Commencing on the 8th day before an election, the county clerk and recorder must mail all mail ballots to the elector by first class mail. Commencing on the 8th day before an election, the clerk is required to deliver to the USPS any ballot that must be sent by mail within 2 business days after receiving a registration application or an update to a voter registration record that results in the issuance of an original or a replacement ballot to an elector. Any clerk who receives information from the USPS or any third party indicating that ballots have been lost, stolen, or will, for any reason, not be timely delivered to electors, must report the issue to the secretary of state. The act imposes a duty on any person responsible for preparing, issuing, transporting, or mailing ballots who has personal knowledge that mail ballots under that person's care have been either lost or stolen or will, for any reason, not be timely delivered to electors, to report the issue to the clerk. A violation results in a civil penalty not to exceed $50. The reporting and penalty provisions of the act do not apply to election judges, staff of the clerk, or individual United States postal workers.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the state medical assistance program (medicaid) to cover routine costs associated with phase I through phase IV clinical trials involving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, or treatment of life-threatening or debilitating diseases or conditions. The medicaid recipient's (recipient's) treating physician must determine that the recipient has a qualifying disease or condition and that the recipient meets the selection criteria for the clinical trial. The clinical trial must be an approved clinical trial, as described in the act, and must be conducted by agencies and organizations specified in the act. As used in the act, "routine costs" include medically necessary items or services included under the medicaid program for a recipient, to the extent that the provision of such items or services to the individual outside the course of such participation would otherwise be covered under the medical assistance program, without regard to whether the recipient is participating in a clinical trial. Routine costs do not include items specified in the act, including the investigational item, device, or service itself; items and services provided solely to satisfy data collection and analysis needed for the clinical trial; and items, drugs, or services that would otherwise be provided by the clinical trial or provided for free to any individual participating in the clinical trial. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
When the statewide internet portal authority (SIPA) was created, it was charged with offering information technology products and services to local governments and "state agencies". At that time, SIPA's statute defined "state agency" to have the same meaning as the term was defined in the statute that governed the former office of innovation and technology. That definition defined "state agency" to mean every state office, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, and all of its respective offices, departments, divisions, commissions, boards, bureaus, and institutions, excepting only state-supported institutions of higher education, the department of higher education, the Colorado commission on higher education, or other instrumentality thereof. Subsequent to SIPA's creation, the statutes that governed the former office of innovation and technology were amended to create the office of information technology (OIT), and the definition of "state agency" was narrowed to cover only the agencies to be served by OIT. The statute now excludes the legislative and judicial departments, the departments of law, state, and treasury, state-supported institutions of higher education, and the department of education. The changes to the OIT definition of "state agency" have inadvertently excluded these agencies from the scope of state agencies that may obtain services from SIPA. The act restores the definition of "state agency" in SIPA's statutes to its original scope and also includes higher education institutions and agencies, as the practice has been for SIPA to serve all state agencies, including higher education institutions and agencies. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a requirement that of the 90 hours of professional development training currently required for renewal of a teacher's license during the term of the teacher's license, at least 10 of those hours must include some form of behavioral health training that is culturally responsive and trauma- and evidence-informed and increases awareness of laws and practices relating to educating students with disabilities in the classroom, including child find and inclusive learning environments. The 10 clock hours may be obtained by any combination of related courses, so long as at least 1 of the 10 clock hours is related to behavioral health training and at least 1 of the 10 clock hours is related to educating students with disabilities in the classroom. The act requires teacher preparation programs to include in program graduation requirements that each teacher candidate in an initial educator licensure program complete at least 1 semester- or quarter-length course in behavioral health training that is culturally responsive and trauma- and evidence-informed. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report on the regulation of naturopathic doctors as follows: Continues the regulation of naturopathic doctors by the department of regulatory agencies for 9 years, until September 1, 2029; and Provides immunity from liability for the director of the division of professions and occupations (director), division staff, consultants, and complainants in any civil action brought against the individual for acts occurring while the individual is acting in the individual's capacity as director, board member, staff, consultant, or witness, respectively. The act also: Requires that of the 3 doctors of medicine or osteopathy who serve on the naturopathic medicine advisory committee (committee), one must be a pediatrician and one must be a member of a statewide multispecialty medical society; Requires the committee to meet at least once each year and tasks the committee with reviewing the naturopathic doctor formulary, making recommendations to the director on additions to the formulary, and discussing issues of importance to naturopathic doctors and their patients; Allows the director to make additions to the naturopathic formulary; and Prohibits a person who is not registered as a naturopathic doctor from using any title that implies the person is registered or licensed as a naturopathic doctor.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law disqualifies a recipient who is found to have committed an intentional violation from participation in any public assistance program for a specified amount of time. The act clarifies that a recipient who is found to have committed an intentional violation is only disqualified from participating in the public assistance program in which the recipient is found to have committed the intentional violation. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes changes to the assistance programs that are designed to increase the number of educators within the state, especially in rural school districts, by: Expanding the educator loan forgiveness program by making it available to individuals who graduate from any preparation program that leads to educator licensure and removing the limitation of no more than 100 new participants per year; Clarifying that a stipend provided to teacher candidates in rural areas does not constitute student financial assistance; Clarifying that a teaching fellow may choose to have a teaching fellowship program stipend awarded as student financial assistance or wages for employment; Authorizing stipends for teachers employed by a rural school, rural school district, or rural board of cooperative services who seek additional license endorsements or a master's degree to meet a faculty need; and Specifying percentages for allocating funding among various programs that provide stipends for teacher candidates, teachers completing alternative licensing programs, and teachers in rural school districts. The act amends the program requirements that the department of higher education and the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) must review when approving educator preparation programs (programs). With the passage of the act, after reviewing a program, the commission, in addition to approving the program, placing the program on probation status, or terminating the program, may grant the program conditional approval. The commission must adopt policies regarding how long a program may remain on conditional approval or probation and how a program is moved from one approval level to another. A program that receives conditional approval may continue accepting new students, but a program on probationary status cannot accept new students. After reviewing the content of a program to ensure the content prepares teachers to meet the teacher quality standards and qualify for licensure, the state board of education (state board) may now recommend that the program be placed on conditional approval or probation. The commission must work with the state board in determining the status of educator preparation programs. The act requires the department of higher education, by October 1, 2020, to post information on the department's website describing the various programs and pathways in Colorado that lead to teacher licensure. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 2 of the act increases the statewide base per pupil funding for the 2020-21 budget year by $132.08 to account for inflation of 1.9% for a new statewide base per pupil funding of $7,083.61. In addition, it sets the minimum statewide district total program funding amount for the 2020-21 budget at $7,230,448,891 and removes the requirement for the dollar amount of the budget stabilization factor to remain the same as during the 2019-20 budget year. Section 3 makes changes to budget procedures for school districts, charter schools, and local college districts for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Under current law, a proposed school district budget must be submitted to the local board of education 30 days prior to July 1, the beginning of the budget year. The act requires the proposed budget to be submitted on or before June 25, 2020. Further, the act requires publication of the notice not later than June 25, 2020. Notice of the budget shall be posted for at least 2 business days. Sections 4 and 5 repeal the required statutory appropriations of $250,000 for the 2020-21 budget year for both the school counselor corps grant program to assist students and families with completing state and federal financial aid forms and the computer science education grant program to increase enrollment or participation of traditionally underrepresented students in computer science education. Sections 6 and 7: Reduce the state fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 appropriation from the public school capital construction assistance fund (assistance fund) for "Building Excellent Schools Today Act" program cash grants for public school capital construction from $160 million to $60 million; Transfer $100 million from the assistance fund to the state public school fund on July 1, 2020; and For FY 2020-21, divert revenue above the first $40 million received from the state retail marijuana excise tax from the assistance fund to the state public school fund. Sections 8 through 12 suspend the implementation of the K-5 social and emotional health pilot program and make conforming changes to the dates for selecting pilot program participants, the pilot program coordinator, maintenance of effort requirements for the pilot districts, and the initial and final pilot program evaluations. The department of education (department) shall implement the pilot program subject to available appropriations or gifts, grants, or donations for the 3-year term of the pilot program. Further, the general assembly is not required to appropriate money for the pilot program for the 2020-21 state fiscal year but authorizes the general assembly to appropriate marijuana tax cash fund money for the pilot program in the future. The department may accept and expend gifts, grants, or donations for the pilot program. The repeal date of the program is extended by 10 years to allow for future implementation of the pilot program. Sections 13 through 17 repeal the grow your own educator program. Section 18 repeals the advanced placement incentives pilot program on July 1, 2020, instead of July 1, 2021. Sections 19 and 20 require the state treasurer to transfer to the state education fund on July 1, 2020, $3.5 million from the early literacy fund and $11,831 from the Colorado teacher of the year fund. Sections 21 through 23 repeal the school cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator training fund and the closing the achievement gap cash fund, which are inactive; requires the state treasurer to transfer all unexpended and unencumbered money in each of those funds to the state education fund; and makes conforming amendments. Sections 24 through 27 require the state treasurer to transfer all unexpended and unencumbered money credited to each of the following funds to the state education fund: The great teachers and leaders fund on July 1, 2020; The nonpublic school fingerprint fund, as it existed prior to its repeal in 2006, on July 1, 2020; The student re-engagement grant program fund, as it existed prior to its repeal in 2019, on July 1, 2020; The retaining teachers fund on July 1, 2020; and The full-day kindergarten facility capital construction fund on June 30, 2020. Section 28 requires the state treasurer to transfer any unexpended and unencumbered principal of the high-cost special education trust fund to the state public school fund on July 1, 2020. Section 29 transfers $2.5 million from the marijuana tax cash fund to the state public school fund on July 1, 2020. Sections 30 through 32 delay certain provisions of the local school food purchasing program by one year, including delaying the start of reimbursements to October 2021; the first report to on or before December 1, 2022; and the repeal of the program to January 1, 2024. Sections 33 through 38 reset the total program mill levy for the 2020 property tax year for each school district as follows: If the school district has obtained voter approval to keep revenue that exceeds the constitutional limit, the lesser of: 27 mills; the number of mills necessary to fully fund the school district's total program; or the number of mills the school district would have levied in the preceding property tax year but for unauthorized reductions in the school district's mill levy after the school district received voter approval to retain excess revenue; or If the school district has not obtained voter approval to keep revenue that exceeds the constitutional limit, the lesser of: 27 mills; the number of mills levied in the preceding property tax year; or the number of mills that generates an amount of revenue that does not exceed the constitutional limit. For the 2021 property tax year and each property tax year thereafter, each school district must levy the lesser of: 27 mills; the number of mills levied in the preceding property tax year; the number of mills necessary to fully fund the school district's total program; or if the school district has not obtained voter approval to keep revenue that exceeds the constitutional limit, the number of mills that generates an amount of revenue that does not exceed the constitutional limit. In a property tax year in which a school district is required to levy more mills than it levied for the 2019 property tax year, the school district board of education must approve a tax credit in the amount of the increase in the number of mills. The amount of revenue attributable to the number of mills for which there is a tax credit is not included in calculating the school district's state share. Section 39 increases the maximum total annual amount of lease payments from $110 million to $125 million for FY 2020-21 and for each state fiscal year thereafter for lease-purchase agreements entered into by the state for public school facility capital construction projects under the "Building Excellent Schools Today Act". Section 40 requires the department, for the 2020-21 budget year only, to use student enrollment numbers for the 2018-19 budget year in calculating a local education provider's per-pupil intervention money under the READ Act. Section 41 clarifies that students enrolled part-time in a kindergarten program are counted for school formula funding as 0.58 of a full-day pupil. Section 42 authorizes 5-year-old first graders to receive full school finance formula funding. Section 43 requires the commissioner of education (commissioner) to convene education stakeholders to review the impact of the cancellation of assessments, accountability, accreditation, and educator evaluations for the 2019-20 school year and whether future modifications are needed for the accountability, accreditation, and educator evaluation systems as a result of, and in response to, the COVID-19 pandemic and possible further disruptions. Section 44 authorizes the commissioner to expend appropriations to correct the underpayment of state funding to a school district, board of cooperative services, the state charter school institute, or to a group care facility or home due to errors in information certified to the department of education for the determination of state funding. Sections 45 through 47 remove the requirement that the department determine the level of attainment on performance indicators achieved by each public school, each school district, the state charter school institute, and the state as a whole for the 2019-20 school year. In addition, the department shall not assign accreditation ratings for school districts or the state charter school institute, and shall not recommend improvement plans for public schools, for the 2020-21 school year. A school district, the state charter school institute, and schools shall continue to implement the plan type that was assigned for the 2019-20 school year. Section 48 extends the June 1 deadline for written notice of contract nonrenewal to June 26, 2020, for probationary teachers employed by a school district on a full-time basis during the 2019-20 school year, so long as the recommendation for contract nonrenewal is for reasons relating to budgetary shortfalls. Section 49 sweeps the revenue received by the state for the 2020-21 state fiscal year for natural resources purchased or extracted from state lands and the use of state lands that would otherwise go into the permanent school fund and instead places the revenue in the state public school fund for use for school finance. The act includes the following in reductions in appropriations to the department of education (department) in the 2020-21 long bill: $15,000,000 decrease in the appropriation from the public school capital construction assistance fund to provide additional spending authority for lease payments (section 50); Decreases in general fund appropriations by (section 51): $675,255 and 0.4 FTE for local school food purchasing programs; $250,000 for the counselor corps grant program; $250,000 for computer science education grants; $22,933 and 0.3 FTE for the grow your own education program; $100,000,000 decrease in the appropriation from the public school capital construction assistance fund for cash grants (section 51); $2,500,000 decrease in the appropriation from the marijuana tax cash fund, and 1.0 FTE, for the K-5 social and emotional health program (section 51); $2,500,000 decrease in the appropriation from the retaining teachers fund, and 1.0 FTE, for the retaining teachers grant program (section 50); $262,763 decrease in the appropriation from the state education fund, and 0.3 FTE, for the advanced placement incentives pilot program (section 51); and $721,579,451 decrease in the appropriation from the general fund (section 52) for the state share of districts' total program funding. Section 53 authorizes the use of up to $3,655,000 of appropriations to the department for ASCENT program funding for an estimated 500 pupils at a cost of $7,330 per pupil. Section 54 appropriates $2,200,000 from the state public school fund to the department for audit recoveries and payments relating to school finance. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)