Sen. Kevin Van Winkle

Maddy summaryThis bill proposes an amendment to the Colorado Constitution to change how property taxes are calculated for special districts, such as school districts or water authorities. Starting in the 2025 tax year, the tax owed by each property owner would be determined by multiplying the district's total budget by the ratio of that owner's property value to the total value of all taxable property in the district. The district's budget for this calculation would be based on the 2021 budget adjusted for inflation and population changes. If approved by voters, this method would replace the current system for determining individual property tax bills within these districts.

A public school contracting entity (entity) that executes enters into a contract or renews a contract on or after July 1, 2024, with a vendor or provider of a curated digital research collection (collection) shall include in the terms of the contract a termination clause stating that the contract is materially breached and grounds for termination exist if on 3 separate occasions, a collection is found to have advertisements, promotions, or embedded links or URLs that contain material that is harmful to students or direct students to material that is harmful to students. A public school employee, contractor, or volunteer shall report, and students, parents, guardians, legal custodians, or community members (interested parties) may report, the material that is harmful to students to the entity. The report must include the name of the digital collection and the title of the document, the reference number, or keywords used to access the collection. The entity shall notify the vendor or provider and the department of education (department) of each reported incident. The vendor or provider must remove the material that is harmful to students within 3 business days after receiving notice. the collection contains advertisements, promotions, or embedded links or URLs. All vendors must certify that collections are free of advertisements, promotions, or embedded links or URLs. If a vendor violates the terms of the contract, the entity is entitled to reimbursement and may pursue remedies for breach of contract. The bill requires public schools to annually notify interested parties of the reporting procedures. Public schools may include information on their websites regarding how to make a report. If a public school contracts or enters into an agreement with a public library that promotes a collection, the public school shall annually disclose the details of the contract or agreement by e-mail to the local school district board of education and parents, guardians, or legal custodians of students enrolled in the public school. If any material changes to the contract occur, the public school shall send an e-mail notification to the local school district board of education, parents, guardians, or legal custodians of students enrolled in the school. The department is required to annually report to the general assembly on the number of reports that occur each year. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

The act allows a health-care provider (applicant) who possesses a license, certificate, registration, or other approval as a health-care provider in another state (out-of-state credential) to provide health-care services through telehealth to patients located in Colorado if the applicant registers with the regulator that regulates the health-care services the applicant will provide (regulator). An applicant is eligible for registration if: The applicant submits an application in a manner prescribed by the division of professions and occupations (division) in the department of regulatory agencies (department) and pays the applicable fee; The applicant possesses an out-of-state credential issued by a governmental authority in another state, the District of Columbia, or a possession or territory of the United States that is active and unencumbered, that has educational and supervisory standards equivalent to or exceeding the educational and supervisory standards required for the equivalent credential in this state or the interstate compacft license for the applicable credential type, and that entitles the applicant to perform health-care services that are substantially similar to health-care services that may be performed by a licensee, certificate holder, or registrant in this state; The applicant designates an agent upon whom service of process may be made in Colorado; The applicant has not been subject to any disciplinary action relating to the applicant's out-of-state credential during the 5-year period immediately preceding the submission of the applicant's application that has resulted in the applicant's out-of-state credential being limited, suspended, or revoked, unless the disciplinary action pertains to an action, behavior, or treatment permitted under Colorado law; and The applicant demonstrates passage of a jurisprudence examination administered by the division if passage of a jurisprudence examination is required for substantially similar credentialing in this state. An applicant who has been registered to provide health-care services through telehealth to patients located in Colorado (registered provider) shall: Provide health-care services in compliance with the professional practice standards for health-care services in this state; In the event of an emergency situation, make a good faith effort to contact and coordinate with emergency services located near the originating site, or facilitate contact with the appropriate local mental and behavioral health services, and remain on a synchronous connection with the patient, if the emergency arises during a synchronous connection, until emergency services have reached the originating site or the situation is resolved in the registered provider's clinical judgment; Maintain a written emergency protocol that is appropriate to the applicable standard of care for Colorado; Notify the applicable regulator of restrictions placed on the registered provider's out-of-state credential in any state or jurisdiction or of any disciplinary action taken or pending against the registered provider in any state or jurisdiction; Maintain and have in effect a form of financial responsibility that covers services provided to patients in this state as required by the applicable regulator; Disclose to the patient that the registered provider does not have a physical location in Colorado and disclose the location of the registered provider; and Not open an office in this state and shall not provide in-person health-care services to patients located in this state unless the health-care provider obtains the license, certification, or registration that the applicable regulator requires for the performance of the relevant health-care services in this state. The act also allows the division or the regulator to take disciplinary action against a registered provider under specified conditions. The department may notify other states in which the registered provider is licensed, registered, or certified to practice of any disciplinary actions taken against the registered provider in this state. A registered provider is prohibited from prescribing a controlled substance. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act amends the existing definition of "immature plant" to mean a nonflowering marijuana plant that is no taller than 15, rather than 8, inches; no wider than15, rather than 8, inches; and produced from a cutting, clipping, or seedling. Current law requires beneficial owners and people who have access to the limited access areas of a medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business to have identification cards. The act repeals this requirement for beneficial owners. The act requires the state licensing authority to promulgate rules that do not require a licensee to use radio frequency identification technology to track regulated marijuana. Current law requires the marijuana enforcement division in the department of revenue (division) to promulgate rules requiring testing of marijuana and marijuana products for contaminants or substances that are harmful to health and allows a licensee to remediate marijuana or marijuana products that fail a test. The act clarifies that if a licensee is able to remediate or decontaminate a product and the product passes retesting, the licensee need not provide an additional label that would otherwise not be required for a product that passed initial testing. Current law requires every marijuana business to post, at all times and in a prominent place, a warning about using marijuana while pregnant or breastfeeding. The act requires the warning to be posted at each point of sale. Current law allows a person who qualifies as a social equity licensee to apply for any regulated marijuana business license or permit, including an accelerator store, accelerator cultivator, or accelerator manufacturer license. The act establishes new criteria under which a natural person may qualify as a social equity licensee and excludes certain persons from qualifying as a social equity licensee. The act extends initial license and license renewal periods from one year to 2 years. Local authorities may decide what licenses they will issue for one year or 2 years. The act requires the state licensing authority to promulgate rules authorizing multiple regulated marijuana business licensees with identical controlling beneficial owners to submit a single initial or renewal application. The act requires a medical marijuana store, when completing a sale of medical marijuana concentrate, to physically attach to the receipt, container, or packaging the tangible educational resource created by the state licensing authority regarding the use of medical marijuana concentrate. Current law allows the transfer of immature plants, seeds, and genetic material between a medical or retail cultivation facility and certain people, including people approved by rule. The act allows such a transfer from or to a medical or retail marijuana cultivation facility from or to a person permitted by another jurisdiction to possess or cultivate marijuana. The medical or retail cultivation facility must establish a process to confirm that the purchaser is 21 years of age or older using an age verification process. The cultivation facility may accept online payments for the transfer. A cultivation facility may accept online payment for genetic material but is prohibited from transferring genetic material to consumers that are on the licensed premises. The state licensing authority may promulgate rules to implement the provision, but limits are placed on the rules that the state licensing authority may adopt. The act prohibits a licensed retail marijuana store from selling food in excess of 20% of the store's annual gross revenues. Current law sets the amount of the application fee for a retail marijuana business at $5,000. The act allows the state licensing authority to set the initial application fee in an amount not to exceed $5,000. The state licensing authority must set the amount of the application fee to offset the direct and indirect costs of regulating retail marijuana businesses. Current law requires that excise tax be levied on the first transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana. The act specifies that the transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana exclusively for microbial control is not the first transfer of unprocessed retail marijuana for taxation purposes. Current law requires a taxpayer to be engaged in a business that is legal under both state and federal law in order to claim an enterprise zone tax credit. The act removes this restriction for a marijuana business that is licensed under state law. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires local taxing jurisdictions that impose a local lodging tax or a sales or use tax on building or construction materials that integrate such taxes into building permits (applicable sales or use tax) to file with the executive director of the department of revenue (executive director) a copy of the resolution or ordinance, and any amendments thereto, imposing such taxes and, if not included in the resolution, ordinance or amendments and certain additional information related to each type of tax. For local lodging taxes, the act requires local taxing jurisdictions to report the rate of the tax, the types of lodging the tax applies to, the number of days after which a stay may be exempt from the tax, and the amount of tax that may be retained by the collector of the tax in exchange for timely filing. For the applicable sales or use tax, the act requires local taxation jurisdictions to report the rate and calculation, what information is included on building permits, the timing for remittance of the tax, and whether the tax is imposed on asphalt equipment, storage of equipment, or services. By no later than July 1, 2025, and by no later than January 1 and July 1 of each year thereafter, the executive director must publish the information in the local taxing jurisdiction's reports relating to the local lodging tax and applicable sales or use tax. The act also modifies the scope of the sales and use tax simplification task force (task force) to include simplification of local lodging tax systems and requires that, in the 2024 interim, the task force shall receive testimony and proposals related to the feasibility and implementation of an electronic system for the collection and remittance of local lodging taxes in the same manner or in a manner similar to the electronic sales and use tax simplification system. The task force may propose legislation for the 2025 legislative session to implement or create such an electronic portal. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 4, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Beginning on July 1, 2025, and every July 1 thereafter through July 1, 2059, the act requires the state treasurer to issue warrants in the amount of $2,250,000 to the fire and police pension association. The association is required to deposit the warrants into the statewide death and disability trust fund so that there will be sufficient money to pay future death and disability benefits to members of the association. APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 28, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill establishes the school safety firearm detection funding program (program) in the office of school safety (office) to disburse money to local education providers to purchase, install, and operate firearm detection software for use in schools. The office administers the program. In order to receive a disbursement, a local education provider must submit an application. The office shall disburse program money to eligible applicants in the order the applications are received. A recipient shall use program money to purchase and operate firearm detection software to detect, and alert local education provider personnel and first responders about, the presence of visible, unholstered firearms on school property.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates a process and establishes a public online forum for members of the general assembly to publish drafts or titles of the bills that they are considering introducing during the next legislative session. The bill allows each member to post multiple bill titles, drafts, or a combination of titles and drafts on the online forum, and establishes a timeline for a member to publish up to 3 versions of each bill title or bill draft. The bill also requires each bill title or bill draft published to include a disclaimer stating that the bill is subject to change and may or may not be introduced based on the discretion of the prime sponsor. The web page on which the bill titles and bill drafts are published must be taken down at midnight on the first day of the legislative session.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Under current law, the department of revenue (department) administers, collects, and enforces the local sales or use tax that a statutory local government or a special district imposes and, if requested, administers, collects, and enforces any such tax that a home rule jurisdiction imposes. The statutes that govern the administration, collection, and enforcement of these local sales or use taxes are located in multiple titles of the Colorado Revised Statutes. The act revises, modernizes, and harmonizes the separate statutes that govern the state administration of local sales or use tax by creating new parts 2 and 3 in article 2 of title 29. In general, the act makes clear that the department collects, administers, and enforces a local government sales or use tax in the same manner as it collects, administers, and enforces the state sales tax. The act: Requires a statutory local government, special district, or requesting home rule jurisdiction that imposes a new sales or use tax, makes a change to its existing sales or use tax, or changes its geographical boundaries by ordinance, resolution, or election to provide the department written notice within specified deadlines and establishes the applicability dates for such events; Requires each statutory local government, special district, and requesting home rule jurisdiction to designate one or more liaisons to coordinate with the department regarding the collection of its sales or use tax; Establishes a dispute resolution process when the local sales or use tax that is administered, collected, and enforced by the department is paid erroneously to the state or to the wrong statutory local government, special district, or home rule jurisdiction; Makes clear that a vendor who uses the department's geographic information system (GIS) database to determine the jurisdictions to which statutory local government, special district, or requesting home rule jurisdiction tax is owed is held harmless for any tax, charge, or fee liability that would otherwise be due solely as a result of an error or omission in the GIS database data; Clarifies that a statutory local government, special district, or requesting home rule jurisdiction may allow a retailer that collects and remits its sales or use tax to retain a percentage of the amount remitted to cover the vendors' expenses in collecting and remitting the statutory local government, special district, or requesting home rule jurisdiction's sales or use tax, but specifies that the statutory local government, special district, or requesting home rule jurisdiction may not impose a limit on the amount retained; Modifies the relief available under the provisions for local dispute resolution for sales or use taxes asserted by the local government to reflect the availability of the department's GIS database for accurately sourcing sales; and Makes conforming amendments for the collection, administration, enforcement, and distribution of statutory local government, special district, and requesting home rule jurisdiction sales or use taxes. APPROVED by Governor May 1, 2024 EFFECTIVE July 1, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The department of revenue (department) owns, maintains, and provides to vendors a GIS database that enables vendors to determine the jurisdictions to which sales or use tax is owed and to calculate appropriate sales and use tax rates for individual addresses. The act establishes that any vendor that properly uses and reasonably relies on the information in the GIS database to determine the tax rate and local taxing jurisdictions to which sales or use tax is owed is held harmless in an audit by a local taxing jurisdiction for an underpayment of or failure to remit a tax, charge, or fee if the underpayment or failure to pay results solely from an error or omission in the GIS database data. The act requires the department to update the GIS database within 30 days after receipt of updated or corrected information from a local taxing jurisdiction, provide a reasonably convenient method for a local taxing jurisdiction to report an error in the GIS database data, and ensure that the jurisdictional boundaries and tax rates data is at least 95% accurate. APPROVED by Governor April 19, 2024 EFFECTIVE April 19, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)