Contingent upon voter approval at the November 2026 general election of a proposed initiative to amend the state constitution to change existing law on transportation funding and to increase the amount of state revenue dedicated to road transportation (proposed initiative), from January 1, 2027, through July 1, 2030, the act reduces:The excise tax on gasoline from $0.22 per gallon to $0.14 per gallon;The excise tax on special fuel from $0.205 per gallon to $0.13 per gallon; Certain vehicle registration fees, including late fees; andThe road usage fees from $0.06 per gallon to $0.04 per gallon and then, beginning in state fiscal year 2027-28, as necessary to offset the amount of state revenue diverted to transportation uses as the result of the proposed initiative. The act creates the support road transportation fund (fund) contingent upon voter approval of the proposed initiative. The fund consists of state revenue dedicated to road transportation by the proposed initiative. Money in the fund is used to replace certain transportation-related general fund transfers for payments for the financed purchase of assets or certificate of participation agreements, and to replace certain general fund transfers to the state highway fund. The money remaining in the fund after making these transfers is allocated as follows:60% is paid to the state highway fund;23% is paid to counties for certain transportation expenses; and17% is paid to cities and incorporated towns for certain transportation expenses. The act clarifies that state revenue collected to support road transportation, as defined in the proposed initiative, does not include enterprise fee revenue. The act creates the road enterprise to complete preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction projects to improve the condition of the roadway surface of the state highway system. The road enterprise is authorized to impose fees for oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations. The creation of the road enterprise is not contingent upon voter approval of the proposed initiative. Contingent upon the proposed initiative being withdrawn or not submitted for the November 2026 general election, the act creates the transportation funding working group to evaluate and make recommendations to the general assembly, the transportation commission, and the governor concerning funding state and local surface transportation maintenance, repair, capacity, and safety. Lastly, the act reduces the July 1, 2026, transfer from the general fund to the state highway fund from approximately $50 million to $500,000.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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If an audit of a medicaid provider who provides nonemergency medical transportation services or pediatric behavioral therapy is initiated after July 1, 2026, for services provided from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2023, the act authorizes the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF) to determine and recover overpayments to a provider using statistical sampling and extrapolation. If an audit identifies a statistically significant pattern of alleged overpayments to a provider, the act authorizes the state auditor to use the same statistical sampling and extrapolation methods to audit services provided by the provider from January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025. If the audit identifies an alleged overpayment, HCPF is required to issue a notice of the alleged overpayment within 60 days after the alleged overpayment is identified. The notice of alleged overpayment must include the basis of the alleged overpayment, the rationale for the alleged overpayment, the methodology used to calculate the alleged overpayment, and information on how HCPF identified the alleged overpayment. If HCPF enters into a contract for the purpose of conducting an audit, the contract must not be a contingency-based contract based on a percentage of the amount of recovery collected from the provider. After HCPF completes an audit of a provider, the state auditor's office is required to conduct an examination to determine that proper statistical sampling and extrapolation methods were used by HCPF when determining whether overpayments were made to a provider. The state auditor shall annually present a report of the findings to the legislative audit committee and the joint budget committee. The act reduces the general fund appropriation to HCPF for medical and long-term care services for Medicaid-eligible individuals by $6,861,775 and increases the cash fund appropriation to HCPF for medical and long-term care services for Medicaid-eligible individuals by $13,723,550.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the nonemergency medical transportation broker (broker) to establish the transportation community advisory board (TCAB) and requires the state department of health care policy and financing (state department) to collaborate with the TCAB prior to establishing rules and processes for the safety and oversight of nonmedical transportation services and nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT) services. The act requires, in collaboration with the TCAB, certain rules for NEMT the state department must adopt. The state department may impose trip caps or market-share restrictions on a transportation provider (provider) as part of corrective action plan. The act requires providers to use vehicles equipped with 2-way video cameras and a video recording system when transporting members. The act establishes how the broker must roll out their implementation and requires the broker to provide all providers with software, a communication toolkit, training, and technical assistance to facilitate NEMT services. The broker may encourage medicaid members (members) to book transportation services at least 2 days before their requested transportation date, and the broker shall accept and make reasonable efforts to fulfill same-day and next-day transportation requests. The act requires providers, only after all service regions have been implemented, to accommodate member requests for preferred or alternate drivers when operationally feasible. The act requires the broker, and, if there is no broker, the providers to verify that individuals using the transportation services are eligible members during the scheduling of transportation services. The act prohibits the broker from operating, owning, or controlling a provider in Colorado. The act requires the broker to provide their trip assignment rules and procedures to the state department for approval and for publication on the state department's website. The act allows a transportation network company to provide NEMT services when a provider is unavailable. The state department shall ensure all transportation providers, drivers, and vehicles are credentialed, and services provided by noncredentialed drivers or in noncredentialed vehicles are not eligible for reimbursement. The act prohibits the state department from denying payment of services to providers if the provider provides scheduled transportation services in good faith based on the information provided by the broker or if the provider had no knowledge of an inaccuracy and the provider followed all applicable rules and procedures. Subject to available appropriations, the act requires the state department to audit providers and audit the broker annually. The act requires the state department to categorize all NEMT expenditures as medical services and make changes to the NEMT program as necessary to obtain medical services federal match rates for NEMT services. The act also eliminates the requirement that the state department provide transportation services as an administrative cost. The act reduces appropriations to the state department from the general fund by $76,639 and from the healthcare affordability and sustainability hospital provider fee cash fund by $20,941,853.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the ibogaine research pilot program (pilot program) in the behavioral health administration (BHA) to research the safety and effectiveness of using ibogaine to treat mental health conditions and substance use disorders. The act requires the BHA to establish a committee to review pilot program site applications and make recommendations to the BHA on which applicants to accept. The BHA may select up to 5 ibogaine pilot sites. The act allows the BHA to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, and donations and establishes the ibogaine research pilot program cash fund. The pilot program is contingent on the BHA receiving sufficient gifts, grants, and donations to administer the pilot program and award grants to the selected ibogaine pilot sites to help with financing needs. Under current law, the division of natural medicine advisory board consists of 15 voting members, 8 of whom must have general expertise and experience related to natural medicine and 7 of whom must have specialized expertise and experience in various areas of natural medicine. The act amends the expertise and experience requirements to apply equally to all 15 voting members. The act adds that a facilitator of natural medicine services is not liable for a physical or psychological injury that a participant may experience as a result of the facilitator's performance or supervision of the natural medicine services that a participant receives, unless the injury is the result of the facilitator's intentional misconduct, gross negligence, or a deviation from the recognized standard of care. The act authorizes the state licensing authority for natural medicine or natural medicine product (state licensing authority) to adopt rules related to the administration, manufacturing, and use of ibogaine. The act sets requirements for how the state licensing authority must prioritize reviewing applications for licensure to facilitate natural medicine services and allows the state licensing authority to set different licensing fees depending on the type of natural medicine the applicant is seeking licensure for. The act allows the state licensing authority to accept gifts, grants, and donations from public or private sources and requires gifts, grants, or donations received to be deposited in the regulated natural medicine division cash fund. The act requires the BHA to work to secure federal research and development funding available through the advanced research projects agency for health within the federal department of health and human services, or other available funding, in order to advance research on the use of ibogaine for the treatment of serious mental illness. The act updates the powers and duties of the director of the division of professions and occupations to include adopting rules that guide the use and administration of ibogaine. A licensee seeking to cultivate, manufacture, dispense, or administer ibogaine shall, in consultation with Indigenous communities, establish a benefit-sharing plan that directly benefits those Indigenous communities. The act:Updates definition of 'administration session' to include the use of regulated natural medicine and regulated natural medicine product that the participant purchases to consume during the administration session;Prohibits a person from advertising bona fide harm reduction services or bona fide support services offered for remuneration, advertising natural medicine or natural medicine products, or using harm reduction services or support services to conduct sales of natural medicine;Clarifies that the state licensing authority is not required to conduct routine, periodic, or pre-operational inspections as a condition of licensure unless expressly required;Requires state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding licensing privileges and restrictions of a limited regulated natural medicine sales license and eligibility requirements for an applicant to obtain a limited regulated natural medicine sales license;Allows the state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding the application procedures and license requirement for a healing center to operate a temporary premises; and requirements for cultivation, manufacture, testing, or dispensing of ibogaine;Allows the department of public health and environment to issue a temporary premises permit to a licensed natural medicine healing center if certain conditions are met and allows a healing center to apply for a temporary premises permit;Prohibits a healing center licensee from selling regulated natural medicine or regulated natural medicine product unless a co-located limited regulated natural medicine sales licensee conducts the transaction in accordance with certain requirements; andAllows the director of the natural medicine division to issue an order to cease and desist if the director determines that a person is acting or has acted without a license to operate a natural medicine business or to own, grow, harvest, transfer, manufacture, supervise, provide, or administer natural medicine.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act clarifies an existing requirement for the criminal conviction of a property owner by requiring that one or more criminal charges be brought as a prerequisite to any nuisance abatement or forfeiture proceeding. Existing law provides an exception to the conviction requirement for noninnocent owners who are not subject to criminal charges that no criminal conviction is necessary of the nonowner criminal defendant if the plaintiff proves its case by clear and convincing evidence that the property subject to the forfeiture proceeding is traceable proceeds of the charged offense or related criminal activity. The act clarifies this exception to first require a conviction of the nonowner criminal defendant before the noninnocent owner's property may be forfeited, while retaining other various exceptions that allow forfeiture actions to proceed against the interest of a claimant. The act establishes a right for indigent civil asset forfeiture defendants to access forfeiture defense counsel and creates a procedure for the appointment of forfeiture defense counsel in nuisance abatement and forfeiture proceedings. The state court administrator shall enter into a contract for services with a private contractor who regularly provides legal services for indigent clients or litigants to provide a legal defense to a civil asset forfeiture proceeding. The private contractor is subject to certain reporting requirements. The act creates a forfeiture defense counsel fund (fund) to pay for contracted forfeiture defense counsel who are authorized to represent persons against whom a nuisance abatement or forfeiture proceeding has been filed in connection with criminal charges. The fund is capped at $500,000, and starting in state fiscal year 2027-28, no general fund money is allowed to finance the fund. The balance of the fund over $500,000 is credited to the law enforcement community services grant program fund. The act transfers any unexpended and unencumbered money from the law enforcement community services grant program fund to the forfeiture counsel defense fund. The act alters the disposition of property and proceeds ordered forfeited in a nuisance abatement or forfeiture action. Currently, forfeited property and proceeds are applied first toward restitution and cost recovery for a list of stakeholders, and of the remainder, 50% is granted to the local governmental body with authority over the seizing agency, 25% is granted to the local behavioral health administrative services organization, and 25% is granted to the law enforcement community services grant program fund. The act amends the disposition of the remainder so that 50% is granted to the local governmental body with authority over the seizing agency, 25% is granted to the fund, and 25% is granted to the local behavioral health administrative services organization. The act appropriates $556,750 to the judicial department from the fund for civil asset forfeiture defense contracting and $55,000 to the department of local affairs from the fund for civil asset forfeiture portal administration.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act exempts Colorado courts' e-filing system from the requirement that users certify that they will not disclose personal identifying information obtained from the system for federal immigration enforcement. The act authorizes a public health agency to inspect or examine a facility that houses or detains individuals who are noncitizens for purposes of civil immigration proceedings. Under current law, the department of public health and environment is authorized to inspect facilities that house or detain individuals who are noncitizens for purposes of civil immigration proceedings. The act expands the inspection authority, including the frequency of inspections and things that are subject to inspection. A facility that refuses to allow the inspection is subject to a civil penalty. The department of public health and environment is authorized to set fees for inspections and deposit the money from the fees in the immigration facility inspection and detention cash fund, which is created in the state treasury. The act authorizes the department of public health and environment to require facilities that house or detain individuals who are noncitizens for purposes of civil immigration proceedings to comply with requirements, including health and safety standards and reporting requirements. A facility that fails to comply is subject to a civil penalty. The act requires the department of public health and environment to submit an annual report to the attorney general concerning facilities' compliance with these new requirements and make the report publicly available on its website. The act requires the P.O.S.T. board to establish training standards related to peace officer compliance with current laws concerning civil immigration detainers. P.O.S.T.-certified peace officers must complete the training before December 31, 2027. The act requires the attorney general to develop and make publicly available a policy regarding current laws concerning the protection of personal identifying information. The act appropriates $107,283 to the department of public health and environment from the immigration facility inspection and detention cash fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the division of administration in the department of public health and environment (division), no later than July 2029, to propose a final rule (rule) establishing certain limits on the emission of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide (emission limits) from an electric generating unit (unit) that is owned or operated by an electric utility; is located in the state; and emitted 200 tons or more of nitrogen oxides, or sulfur dioxide, or both in calendar year 2024 (covered unit). The rule must require compliance with the emission limits as soon as practicable after December 31, 2034, and must not cover units that, before December 31, 2029, have ceased operations; burn natural gas, fuel oil, or both only; or have certain systems installed. A unit that operates after December 31, 2034, must install certain pollution controls and comply with the emission limits on or before December 31, 2034. An owner or operator of a unit is required to provide quarterly emission reports showing compliance with the rule to the division. On August 1, 2029, the air quality control commission in the department of public health and environment (AQCC) must submit to the general assembly a list of any units that are subject to a federal order. If there are any units subject to a federal order, the AQCC must also submit to the general assembly recommendations on whether to amend the requirements for units subject to federal order. An investor-owned utility or wholesale electric cooperative that is the owner or operator of a unit is required, beginning 150 days after the issuance of a federal order requiring the unit to remain operating after the unit was scheduled to retire (order) and continuing every 90 days until the order is no longer in effect, to file a report with the public utilities commission (commission) that contains certain information about the costs to operate the unit and the amount of electricity generated by the unit. The commission must make these reports publicly available. An investor-owned utility is also permitted to submit an application for a financing order to recover the costs of complying with an order. Any decision by the commission approving or modifying a portfolio in an electric resource plan of an investor-owned utility serving more than 500,000 customers must approve an amount of accredited capacity that allows the investor-owned utility to reliably achieve certain retirement and carbon dioxide emission reduction requirements. This requirement applies to an investor-owned utility serving more than 500,000 customers until the division determines that the investor-owned utility has achieved certain carbon dioxide emission reductions or until the investor-owned utility has retired all covered units, whichever is later.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Maddy summarySB 132, known as the "Magnus Law," requires Colorado law enforcement officers to offer drivers involved in collisions resulting in death or suspected serious injury the opportunity to voluntarily take a breath test for alcohol. The bill mandates officers provide clear, plain-language advisement that the test is voluntary, refusal carries no penalty, and results cannot be used in court. It applies when officers reasonably suspect the driver was at fault and the driver isn't critically injured, creating a standardized protocol to ensure consistent investigation of potential impairment at serious crash scenes. This change aims to preserve evidence that might otherwise be lost, without altering existing legal standards for driving under the influence.
The act expands the 'Colorado Cottage Foods Act' (CCFA) by allowing for the sale of homemade foods that require refrigeration and foods that include meat and meat products. A producer of a food (producer) that requires time and temperature control must take a food safety course that includes food handling training concerning time and temperature control and acquire and maintain proof of course completion. A producer selling products that require time and temperature control for safety may sell one type of such food product, with the ability to offer up to 5 variations of that one type of food product. The producer must specify the individual food products that require time and temperature control for safety and provide a list of such food products to the department of public health and environment (department) or a county, district, or regional health agency (public health agency) upon request. A producer selling products under the CCFA is required to register with the department before selling. The department must issue a registration number to each producer and maintain an electronic registry of producers. A producer may earn up to $150,000 of net revenues under the CCFA each calendar year, increased from $10,000 . The department is required to adjust this cap annually for inflation. The act authorizes a public health agency that inspects or investigates homemade food products produced pursuant to the CCFA to impose a fine for a violation of the requirements of the CCFA and to recover the cost of the inspection or investigation. If a public health agency determines that, on 3 separate occasions within 12 months, a producer has misbranded food that requires time and temperature control for safety or failed to comply with requirements related to food that requires time and temperature control for safety, the producer shall not sell foods that require time and temperature control. The act creates the cottage foods cash fund (cash fund) and transfers $300,000 into the cash fund ($200,000 from the medication administration cash fund and $100,000 from the assisted living residence cash fund). The act also appropriates $119,354 to the department to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Maddy summaryThis bill designates a two-mile stretch of Colorado Highway 14 in Weld County as 'Mono & Matt Road' to honor Edwardo 'Mono' Hernandez and Matthew Garcia, two high school basketball players who died in a 2014 traffic accident. The legislation authorizes the Colorado Department of Transportation to install signs for the new name and allows the department to accept donations for this purpose while exploring a cooperative agreement with Weld County for future maintenance. By placing the names on a specific roadway, the bill creates a permanent physical tribute to the students in the location where the accident occurred.