| Bill # | Short Title | Sponsors | Bill Summary | Most Recent Status | Position | Comment | Calendar Notification |
| HB10-1001 | Renewable Energy Stds Solar Certif | TYLER / SCHWARTZ & ... | Existing law creates a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) under which certain electric utilities are required to generate an increasing percentage of their electricity from renewable sources, in a series of increments from 3% in 2007 to 20% in 2020 and thereafter. The bill boosts these RPS percentages to achieve 30% renewable generation by 2020 and requires a portion of the RPS to be met through a subset of renewable generation, "distributed generation" (DG), which does not require additional transmission facilities to connect to the grid. Section 1 of the bill directs the Colorado public utilities commission (PUC) to consider employment and economic factors when evaluating proposed new electric generation resource acquisitions by utilities, including the use of "best value" employment metrics such as the availability of training programs and the wages, health benefits, and pensions that workers will earn. Section 2 defines terms, increases the RPS percentages, and, within each RPS percentage, replaces an existing carve-out for solar generation with a larger carve-out for DG (which includes customer-sited solar generation). Section 2 also directs the PUC to monitor compliance with the DG carve-out by issuing a new series of renewable energy credits (RECs) and by redesignating RECs already earned, when appropriate. Finally, section 2 limits the existing 1.25 multiplier for in-state renewable electric generation to utility-scale projects only. Section 3 gives the PUC discretion to incrementally reduce the existing standard rebate offer (which utilities must pay as an incentive for new customer-sited renewable generation facilities such as rooftop solar panels) from $2 to some lesser amount if the PUC finds that the market no longer requires this level of subsidy. In addition, section 3 requires that the rebate offer for DG systems decline based on market conditions, as determined by the PUC, but allows the PUC to adopt performance-based incentives for DG systems. Section 4 allows a utility to develop and own, as part of its rate base, up to 50% of the DG capacity it acquires from power purchase agreements and new construction if the cost is reasonably comparable to current market cost. Section 4 also requires the PUC to allow a utility cost recovery for the construction of new DG on a par with the cost recovery allowed for new coal-fired facilities. For large DG facilities of one megawatt or more, section 4 directs the PUC to require registration with a regional system for tracking renewable energy generation. Effective January 1, 2012, sections 4 and 7 require new DG installations funded wholly or partly through ratepayer incentives and rebates to be installed by licensed electricians or apprentices, where appropriate, and supervised by persons who are certified by the North American board of certified energy practitioners (NABCEP) or another nationally recognized organization designated by the PUC. Finally, section 4 specifies that DG program expenditures be allocated 10% to wholesale and 90% to retail, with residential and nonresidential retail receiving a proportionate share based on the utility's customer profile. The utility may retain its costs of administering DG programs, not to exceed 5% annually. Section 5 expressly authorizes any committee formed by executive order for the purpose of studying the desirability of regulating solar installers to submit a request for sunrise review by the department of regulatory agencies under the state's sunrise and sunset law. Sections 5 and 6 require that for projects funded by federal or state grants or by clean energy loans made through the state's clean energy finance program, the licensing and NABCEP requirements apply beginning July 1, 2011. Section 8 defines special terms used in sections 4 to 7. | 03/22/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1002 | Priority Of TABOR Refund Methods | KEFALAS / SANDOVAL | Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. The bill increases the threshold necessary to trigger a temporary income tax rate reduction as a method to provide a constitutionally required refund of excess state revenues so that the rate reduction does not occur unless there is also an earned income tax credit refund. | 04/05/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1008 | No Gender Individual Health Ins Rates | SCHAFER S. & ... / CARROLL M. & ... | Health Care Task Force. The bill prohibits carriers from using gender as a basis for varying premium rates for individual health insurance policies and declares premium rates based on gender to be unfairly discriminatory. | 03/29/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1009 | Pinnacol Assurance Board Of Directors | MIKLOSI / HODGE | Interim Committee to Study Issues Related to Pinnacol Assurance. The bill requires 2 employee members of the board of directors of Pinnacol Assurance (board) to be nonmanagement employees. Adds 2 additional members to the board: An injured worker and the executive director of the Colorado department of labor and employment or his or her representative. The bill increases the per diem for the board members from $140 to $250. The bill requires the board to post the date, time, and location of board meetings on the Pinnacol Assurance web site at least 7 calendar days prior to a meeting. Requires the board to allow reasonable time for public comment at all board meetings. | 05/26/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose |
Bill HB10-1009 - MIKLOSI / HODGE Pinnacol Assurance Board Of Directors | |
| HB10-1010 | Expand Public-private Initiatives | FERRANDINO / MORSE | Long-term Fiscal Stability Commission. Using the existing public-private initiative program for the department of transportation as a model, section 1 of the bill: * Authorizes state agencies to enter into public-private initiative agreements with nonprofit entities; and * Specifies evaluative criteria to be used by and procedures to be followed by the agencies in considering, evaluating, and accepting or rejecting unsolicited proposals for public-private initiatives. Section 2 of the bill provides an incentive for an agency to enter into public-private initiatives by amending an existing statutory definition of "cost savings" in order to allow an agency to retain a portion of any cost savings realized from a personal services contract entered into pursuant to a public-private initiative agreement. | 04/15/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1012 | Limit Surveillance Workers' Comp Claims | PACE / CARROLL M. | Interim Committee to Study Issues Related to Pinnacol Assurance. Section 1 of the bill: * Prohibits an insurer or employer from conducting surveillance of an employee who has submitted a workers' compensation claim unless the insurer or employer has a reasonable basis to suspect that the employee has committed fraud or made a material misstatement concerning the claim; * Allows the employee to request an expedited hearing before a prehearing administrative law judge; * Requires the insurer or employer to provide all materials collected during the surveillance to the injured worker and to destroy all materials collected during the surveillance unless the materials are reasonably necessary to resolve an ongoing claim of fraud; * Requires persons conducting surveillance to answer the employee's questions truthfully; and * Creates a $1,000-per-day penalty for violations. Section 2 of the bill: * Directs the prehearing administrative law judge to issue an injunction against the surveillance unless the insurer or employer shows that it has a reasonable basis to suspect that the employee has committed fraud or made a material misstatement concerning the claim; and * Allows the identity of a witness or whistleblower who provides evidence in good faith to be withheld or limited to an in camera review. | 05/05/2010 Senate Committee on Judiciary Postpone Indefinitely | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1017 | Vol Agrmnt Affecting Rent Pvt Res Prop | KAGAN / BOYD | Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. Current law prohibits counties and municipalities from enacting any ordinance or resolution that would control rent on private residential property (rent control statute). The bill clarifies that the rent control statute applies only to private residential housing units. The bill also clarifies that nothing in the rent control statute shall prohibit or restrict the right of a property owner and a state agency, county, municipality, or housing authority (public entity) from voluntarily entering into and enforcing an agreement that controls rent on a private residential housing unit, whether the agreement is entered into before, on, or after the effective date of the bill. An agreement authorized pursuant to the act may specify how long a unit is subject to its terms, whether or not subsequent property owners are subject to the agreement, and remedies for early termination agreed to by both the property owner and the public entity. Finally, the rent control statute shall not preclude public entities from cooperatively entering into an agreement, nor shall it preclude the assignment of rights and remedies to any party to the agreement. | 05/06/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1023 | Employer Liability Negligent Hiring | WALLER / HUDAK | Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. The bill prohibits information regarding an employee's criminal history from being introduced as evidence in a civil action against an employer if: * The nature of the criminal history does not bear a direct relationship to the facts underlying the cause of action; * A court order sealed any record of a criminal case or a pardon was issued before the occurrence of the civil action; or * The record of an arrest or charge did not result in a criminal conviction. The bill does not eliminate the requirement for criminal history background checks in hiring for certain employment. | 03/29/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1072 | Create Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund | COURT / HEATH | Long-term Fiscal Stability Commission. Section 1 of the bill makes legislative findings and declarations that: * The state should save substantial amounts of money during periods of significant economic growth in order to prevent drastic cuts in core state services during economic downturns; * By enacting Senate Bill 09-228, which will, if significant economic growth occurs, increase the amount of the required general fund reserve for future fiscal years, as a first step towards ensuring that the state saves more money in the future, the general assembly has recognized that the state has not saved enough money during past periods of significant economic growth; * Based on the experience of the state during recent economic downturns, the increased general fund reserve required by Senate Bill 09-228 is likely to prove inadequate to fully stabilize the state budget and prevent drastic cuts in state services during future economic downturns; and * It is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of the state to: * Convert the general fund reserve to a state budget stabilization reserve fund; * Further increase the amount of general fund revenues that the state is required to save; and * Promote fiscal discipline in state government and protect against rapid depletion of the reserve fund by reducing the percentage of estimated reserve fund depletion that will require the governor to formulate a plan for reducing general fund expenditures from the percentage of estimated general fund reserve depletion that currently triggers that requirement. Section 2 of the bill creates the state budget stabilization reserve fund (fund) and requires fund investment earnings to be credited to the fund. Beginning in FY 2009-10, section 2 also requires increasing amounts of general fund moneys, measured as a percentage of annual general fund appropriations, to be credited to the fund at the end of each fiscal year until the fund balance can be maintained at 15% of general fund appropriations. Section 3 of the bill reduces the percentage of estimated general fund reserve depletion for a fiscal year that triggers a requirement that the governor formulate a plan for reducing general fund expenditures from 50% of the amount of the existing general fund reserve to the greater of 2% of the amount appropriated for expenditure from the general fund for the fiscal year or one-third the amount of the fund that is replacing the general fund reserve. Section 3 also makes a conforming amendment regarding the trigger for transferring general fund moneys previously credited to the capital construction fund back into the general fund. Sections 4 through 12 of the bill make conforming amendments necessitated by the conversion of the general fund reserve to the fund. | 03/10/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1087 | End Automatic Employer Tax Withholding | SWALM / CADMAN | Currently, an employer is required to deduct and withhold Colorado income tax from an employee's wages. The bill eliminates the mandatory deduction and withholding. Instead, an employer will only deduct and withhold Colorado income tax from an employee's wages if the employee and employer voluntarily agree to it. The bill also makes a conforming amendment to an income tax credit, so that the change to the withholding requirement does not affect the eligibility for the credit. | 02/10/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1088 | Devolve State Commuter Hwys To Loc Govs | VAAD | The bill requires the department of transportation, using existing or easily obtainable data, to determine which state highways and portions of state highways located within metropolitan planning areas are commuter highways and to report the determination to the transportation commission by a specified date. The bill requires the commission to adopt a resolution that removes all of the highways and portions of highways that the department has determined to be commuter highways from the state highway system as of a specified date. The bill defines "commuter highway" as a highway or a portion of a highway that is: * Part of the state highway system; * Located within the territory of a metropolitan planning organization; * Not an interstate highway; and * Determined by the traffic study conducted by the department to be used at least a specified percentage of the time, measured as a percentage of total trips on the highway or portion of a highway, for travel within the territory of the metropolitan planning organization. The bill specifies that the removal of a highway or a portion of a highway from the state highway system shall not be deemed to require the department to cease working on or funding an uncompleted highway project. | 02/02/2010 House Committee on Transportation & Energy Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1094 | Deadly Force Intruder Businesses | GARDNER C. / HARVEY | The bill extends the right to use deadly force against an intruder under certain conditions to include owners, managers, and employees of places of business. | 03/15/2010 House Committee on Judiciary Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1102 | Mod Late Vehicle Registration Penalties | MURRAY / KOPP | Effective July 1, 2010, the bill modifies the penalties for late registration of vehicles as follows: * Section 1 changes the administrative penalty for operation of special mobile machinery during a period for which specific ownership tax has not been paid by: * Changing the amount of the penalty from the greater of $500 or double the amount of the specific ownership tax owed to double the amount of the specific ownership tax owed; and * Waiving the penalty if the owner of the machinery pays all specific ownership tax due and registers the machinery by the last day of the month following the month in which the machinery was operated without being registered. * Section 2 of the bill: * Reduces the maximum fee for late registration of a vehicle without motive power that weighs 2000 pounds or less to $25. * Exempts from the fee for late registration of a vehicle the owner of a vehicle who, at the time an application for renewal of registration is made, signs an affidavit indicating that the vehicle has been an idled vehicle that has not been operated on any public highway of the state or, if the vehicle is mobile machinery or self-propelled construction equipment required to be registered, has not been operated at all, since the end of the last registration period for which the vehicle was registered and the grace period for renewal of registration except for the purposes of obtaining a required emissions control inspection or actually registering the vehicle. * Specifies that a vehicle owner who knowingly signs a false affidavit commits perjury on a motor vehicle registration application and that exemption from the late fee does not exempt the owner from any other taxes or fees related to vehicle registration. | 02/09/2010 House Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1107 | Urban Renewal Area Ag Lands | FISCHER / CARROLL M. | Section 3 of the bill prohibits any area that has been designated as an urban renewal area from containing any agricultural land unless: * The agricultural land is a brownfield site as designated by the United States environmental protection agency; * The area containing the agricultural land is at least two-thirds contiguous with urban-level development and at least one-half of the area consists of urban-level development that is determined to constitute a slum or blighted area; * The agricultural land is an enclave within the territorial boundaries of a municipality and the entire perimeter of the enclave has been contiguous with urban-level development for a period of not less than 3 years; * Each public body that levies an ad valorem property tax on the agricultural land agrees in writing to the inclusion of the agricultural land within the urban renewal area; or * The agricultural land was included in an approved urban renewal plan prior to the effective date of the bill. In addition, section 3 of the bill: * Where agricultural land is included within an urban renewal area under the conditions specified in the bill, requires the county assessor to value the agricultural land at its fair market value solely for determining the base amount of taxes to be paid to the public bodies without consideration of the tax increment. Nothing in the bill affects the actual classification of agricultural land for property tax purposes. * Expands the grounds allowing counties to challenge information contained in urban renewal impact reports. * Permits the required agreement to be entered into by or among the municipality and urban renewal authority and county taxing entities in the case of tax increment financing to provide for a waiver of certain requirements under the urban renewal law. Section 4 of the bill requires urban renewal plans to include a legal description of the urban renewal area, including the legal description of any agricultural land proposed for inclusion within the urban renewal area pursuant to the conditions specified in the bill. Section 5 of the bill provides that, not later than 30 days after the municipality has provided the county assessor notice that the urban renewal plan contains tax increment financing provisions, the assessor may provide written notice to the municipality if the assessor believes that agricultural land has been improperly included in the urban renewal area under the conditions specified in the bill. If the notice is not delivered within the 30-day period, the inclusion of the land in the urban renewal area as described in the urban renewal plan shall be incontestable in any suit or proceeding notwithstanding the presence of any cause. If the assessor provides written notice to the municipality within the 30-day period, the municipality may file an action in state district court for an order determining whether the inclusion of the land in the urban renewal area is consistent with one of the conditions specified in the bill and shall have an additional 30 days from the date it receives the notice in which to file the action. If the municipality fails to file such an action within the additional 30-day period, the urban renewal area shall not include the agricultural land. | 04/14/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1119 | SMART Government Act | FERRANDINO / SHAFFER B. | Section 1 of the bill sets forth that the bill shall be known and may be cited as the "State Measurements for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act". Section 2 of the bill requires the joint budget committee (JBC) to consider for recommendation to the general assembly any report approved Merrifield, Middleton, Pace, Pommer, Primavera, Rice, Scanlan, Schafer S., Solano, Todd, Weissmann by the office of state planning and budgeting from a department that suggests improved budgetary efficiency or administrative flexibility through line item consolidation in the annual general appropriation act. Section 2 also requires the JBC to prioritize requests for information in preparing any letter to the governor after passage of the annual general appropriation act. Section 3 of the bill repeals and reenacts provisions requiring departmental presentations to legislative committees of reference (committees). The new provisions mainly make changes to the part of the law that specifies what the presentations must include and, in addition, implement a new performance-based budgeting program to work in cooperation with the committees. The new performance-based budgeting program includes the following: * For the state budget process for the state fiscal year 2012-13, and the state budget process for each fiscal year thereafter, each principal department of the executive branch and the judicial branch of state government (department) must develop a strategic plan. * Like the existing law, each department must make a presentation to the assigned committees. The bill also requires that: * During the legislative session commencing January 2011, the presentation must at least include a presentation regarding the department's progress toward creating a strategic plan. * During the legislative session commencing January 2012, and during each legislative session thereafter, the presentation must at least include a presentation of the department's strategic plan, a review of the department's performance-based goals and performance measures, and a report on the actual outcomes. * During the legislative session commencing January 2012, and during each legislative session thereafter, each committee must assign 2 members, one from each party, as liaisons with their assigned departments regarding the performance-based budgeting process. During the same sessions, the chair of the JBC must also assign one member of the JBC to serve as a liaison to work with the committee liaisons. * Within 30 days after the department presentation, each committee must provide any written recommendations to the department and to the office of state planning and budgeting. Each department may implement the recommendations in the following state fiscal year's strategic plan. If recommendations were not implemented, the department shall provide the committee a written explanation no later than the fifth day of the legislative session of that fiscal year. * Prior to the legislative session commencing in January 2013, the state auditor must conduct a performance audit of one or more specific programs or services in at least 2 departments and must continue to conduct performance audits of one or more specific programs or services in at least 2 departments annually to audit all departments in a 10-year cycle. Performance audits of the programs or services selected for audit may include, but are not limited to, a review of the integrity of the performance measures audited, the accuracy and validity of reported results, and the overall cost and effectiveness of the audited programs or services in achieving legislative intent and the department's performance-based goals. After presenting the performance audit to the legislative audit committee and obtaining permission for the report to be released, the state auditor must present the audit report to the appropriate committee within the first 15 days of the legislative session. The state auditor must also present any other audit reports that he or she deems relevant for the committee of reference's review. * During the legislative session commencing January 2012, and during each legislative session thereafter, each committee must consider the department's strategic plan, its presentation of the plan, and any performance audit and must report to the JBC its recommendations for priorities or any changes. The recommendations made by the committee are limited to the department's November 1 budget request for the upcoming state fiscal year. The JBC may take the committee's recommendations into account in preparing the annual general appropriation act. The JBC must report back to the committees its reasoning for following or not following the committee's recommendations. * Starting December 1, 2012, and each December 1 thereafter, the office of state planning and budgeting must publish an annual performance report. The annual performance report is a summary of each department's strategic plan. The report must be clearly written and easily understood, and limited in length. The report must be distributed to the members of the general assembly to assist members in making decisions related to the annual general appropriation act. Sections 4 and 5 of the bill make adjustments to the duties of the legislative audit committee and the state auditor, respectively, to accommodate the requirements set forth in the bill. Sections 6 and 7 of the bill make conforming amendments. Section 8 of the bill requires the director of the office of state planning and budgeting to require that all state agency budget submissions be distributed in an electronic format. Section 9 of the bill deals with intradepartmental transfers between appropriations. Limits for such types of transfers have not been adjusted since 1994. Section 9 increases the statewide limit from $2 million to $5 million but does not change any other parts of the structured approval process or change limits for specific agencies. Section 9 also eliminates the prohibition from departments using the intradepartmental transfer authority to: * Transfer dollars from a nonpersonal services line item (such as operating) into a personal services line item; * Transfer dollars between personal services line items; and * Transfer dollars from an operating line into a utilities line or lease space line, or between utility line items. Section 10 of the bill deals with the controller's authority to allow, upon approval of the governor, a department to make an expenditure in excess of the amount authorized in an appropriation. Current law limits such excess expenditures to $1 million. Section 10 increases that amount to $3 million. Section 11 of the bill repeals the statutory section requiring the implementation of a zero-base budgeting system for the state. | 06/05/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1126 | Priority-based Budgeting For CO | VAAD / BROPHY | Section 1 of the bill repeals and reenacts provisions requiring departmental presentations to legislative committees of reference (committees). The new provisions change what the presentations must include and, in addition, implement a new priority-based budgeting process. The new priority-based budgeting process, which is a biennial budget process, includes the following: * Beginning with the state budget process for state fiscal years 2011-12 and 2012-13, and for each biennial budget cycle thereafter, each principal department of the executive branch of state government (department) must develop an initial prioritization plan. * Within the first 15 days of the regular legislative session commencing in January 2011, and each legislative session thereafter, each department must present its initial prioritization plan to the committee to which the department was assigned. The initial prioritization plan must include a statement of the department's overall mission and a prioritized list of each of the department's programs with certain information about the programs. * Within 30 days after the presentation by the department, each committee must provide written recommendations to the department regarding the prioritization of the department's programs. Prior to adjournment sine die of the session in which it received written comments, the department must report in writing to the committee regarding the committee's recommendations. * The department must then develop a final prioritization report. Beginning with the legislative session commencing in January 2012, the department must present the report to the joint budget committee, which shall make appropriations based on the final prioritization report. Section 2 repeals the statutory section requiring the implementation of a zero-based budgeting system for the state. | 02/09/2010 House Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1159 | Mitigation For Water Exports | PACE / GIBBS | The bill requires a water judge to consider, in decrees for water rights, leases of water for at least 10 years, or changes of use of water rights that divert at least 1000 acre-feet of consumptive use per year from one water division into another, terms and conditions to ensure that present and prospective beneficial uses of water within the water division from which water would be diverted are not impaired or increased in cost as a result of the transdivision diversion. These requirements will be deemed to have been met if the applicant has reached a mitigation agreement with the water conservation district and conservancy districts from within whose boundaries the waters are proposed for diversion or within whose boundaries water would be purchased for exchange and the terms and conditions of the mitigation agreement are included in the decree. Districts that propose to enter into such a mitigation agreement are required to notify the public of, and hold a public meeting on, the proposed terms of the agreement. | 02/05/2010 House Second Reading Lost | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1160 | Wellness Incentives Rewards Outcomes | RICE & ... / MITCHELL & ... | Current law allows health insurance carriers offering individual health coverage plans and small group plans and the board of directors of the CoverColorado program or carriers providing health benefit plans to CoverColorado participants to offer incentives or rewards to encourage persons covered under the plans to participate in a wellness and prevention program. The incentives or rewards can be based only on participation in a wellness and prevention program and cannot be tied to any particular outcome achieved by participating in the program. The bill repeals the restriction on incentives based on outcomes and allows carriers to base the incentives or rewards on satisfaction of a standard related to a health factor if the incentive or reward under the wellness and prevention program is consistent with the nondiscrimination requirements of the federal "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996". | 05/26/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1172 | Mobile Machinery Specific Ownership Tax | BRADFORD / CADMAN | Section 1 makes stylistic changes to clarify the definition of special mobile machinery. Section 5 deems farm equipment meeting the definition of special mobile machinery to be Class F personal property if the equipment is used for a purpose other than agricultural production. Section 6 prohibits affixing a prorated registration sticker to special mobile machinery unless it is registered, prohibits the operation of such machinery unless it is registered, and grants a credit for taxes paid to the owner who converts a vehicle to special mobile machinery. Section 7 creates a demonstration plate to be used by people who sell special mobile machinery and sets the fee for the plate. A violation of the demonstration plate requirements is a class 2 misdemeanor. Section 8 requires a person who sells special mobile machinery to notify the buyer that the owner should register the machinery. Section 16 authorizes owners to obtain a temporary registration similar to the temporary registration for motor vehicles. The remaining sections of the bill contain conforming amendments. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1173 | Waiver Of Late Vehicle Registration Fees | DELGROSSO / RENFROE | The bill specifies that, on and after July 1, 2010, the fee for late registration of a vehicle shall not be imposed for any portion of the calendar month in which a temporary registration number plate, tag, or certificate expires. The bill also authorizes the department of revenue or an authorized agent of the department to waive the fee if the department McNulty, Nikkel, Roberts, Summers, Swalm, Vaad, Waller or authorized agent determines that the failure to timely register the vehicle resulted from extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the vehicle owner. | 03/04/2010 House Committee on Transportation & Energy Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1174 | Reduce Sev Tax Credit To Promote Jobs | FRANGAS / ROMER | Under current law, oil and gas producers and interest owners are permitted to claim a credit against the state severance tax on oil and gas for property taxes paid. Section 2 of the bill reduces the amount of the credit by 50% for a 2-year period beginning on January 1, 2011. Section 3 of the bill requires the additional severance tax revenue paid to the state as a result of the reduction in the amount of the credit to be deposited in the following cash funds: * 90% to the teacher retention cash fund, which is created in section 1 of the bill; and * 10% to the small business credit cash fund, which is created in section 2 of the bill. The department of education must distribute moneys in the teacher retention cash fund to school districts and the state charter school institute for further distribution to public schools to be used for teacher retention. This money will be in addition to any other school funding. The Colorado economic development commission shall use the moneys in the small business credit cash fund for the purpose of increasing the availability of credit to small businesses as part of the Colorado credit reserve program administered by the Colorado housing and finance authority. | 02/09/2010 House Committee on Business Affairs and Labor Postpone Indefinitely | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1177 | Create Colorado Economic Stability Fund | KING S. | The bill creates the Colorado economic stability fund (fund), specifies that the principal of the fund shall consist of general fund moneys transferred to the fund, requires fund interest and income to be credited to the fund, and specifically: * Requires 10% of any increase in the amount of general fund revenues for a fiscal year over the amount of general fund revenues for the prior fiscal year to be transferred to the fund at the end of the fiscal year unless such a transfer would cause the balance of the fund to exceed 15% of the amount of general fund revenues for the fiscal year; * Requires moneys to be transferred from the fund to the general fund at the end of a fiscal year to the extent necessary to prevent the balance of the fund from exceeding 15% of the amount of general fund revenues for the fiscal year. For any given fiscal year, the bill allows the general assembly to appropriate or transfer up to one-half of the moneys in the fund, subject to the following limitations: * The amount of general fund revenues for the immediately preceding fiscal year must have been at least 10% less than the amount of general fund revenues for the next preceding fiscal year. * The general assembly must have declared a state fiscal emergency by adopting a joint resolution approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the members of both houses and the governor. * Moneys transferred or appropriated from the fund may be used only to provide funding for programs that were in existence and receiving state funding prior to the beginning of the fiscal year and that provide vital services determined by the joint budget committee to be necessary to help preserve the public peace, health, or safety. The bill allows the general assembly to appropriate or transfer more than one-half of the moneys in the fund during a fiscal year if the general assembly authorizes such appropriations or transfers by adopting a separate joint resolution approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the members of both houses and the governor. | 02/09/2010 House Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1186 | Let Convenience Stores Sell Malt Liquor | LISTON | Current law contains a separate category of licenses for establishments selling fermented malt beverages with an alcohol content of 3.2% or less by weight (3.2% beer), as distinguished from licenses that permit the sale of other alcohol beverages with higher alcohol content, including regular beer, malt liquor, wine, and spirits. Sections 1 to 5 of the bill would allow the sale of malt liquor in convenience stores, defined as retail businesses of less than 5,000 square feet and offering quick purchases of food, beverages, or gasoline but not a pharmacy, which otherwise would be limited to selling 3.2% beer. It would not, however, allow these establishments to sell other types of alcohol beverages such as wine or spirits. Section 6 of the bill requires the department of revenue to conduct a study and report to the general assembly on the effects of the new licensing program by January 1, 2016. Section 8 allows retail liquor stores of less than 5,000 square feet to sell nonperishable food items. Sections 7 and 9 make technical amendments. | 02/24/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1189 | Elim Sales Tax Exemption For Direct Mail | POMMER / HEATH | Commencing March 1, 2010, the bill eliminates the state sales and use tax exemption for direct mail advertising materials that are distributed in Colorado by any person engaged in the business of providing cooperative direct mail advertising. The bill allows a local government or political subdivision of the state to continue to exempt such direct mail advertising materials from local sales or use tax. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1190 | Suspend Indus Fuel Sales & Use Tax Exemp | POMMER / HEATH | For the period commencing March 1, 2010, and ending June 30, 2012, the bill suspends the exemption from the state sales and use taxes for the storage, use, or consumption of electricity, coal, coke, fuel oil, steam, nuclear fuel, or gas for use in processing, manufacturing, mining, refining, irrigation, building construction, telegraph, telephone, and radio communication, street and railroad transportation services, and all industrial uses and makes conforming amendments to prevent the suspension of the exemption from affecting county, municipal, and other local government or political subdivision sales and use taxes. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1191 | Elim Candy & Soda Sales Tax Exemption | POMMER / HEATH | Effective March 1, 2010, sections 1 and 2 of the bill: * Narrow the existing state sales and use tax exemptions for food so that candy and soft drinks are no longer exempt from the state sales tax and use taxes; * Authorize the department of revenue to promulgate rules that allow sellers of candy and soft drinks to, if necessary, reasonably estimate the amount of sales taxes due on their sales; and * Make conforming amendments to prevent the narrowing of the exemption from affecting county, municipal, and other local government or political subdivision sales and use taxes. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1192 | Sales & Use Tax Of Standardized Software | POMMER / HEATH | The bill repeals a special regulation promulgated by the department of revenue related to the type of software subject to sales or use tax. The bill specifies that standardized software is included in the definition of tangible personal property and defines standardized software. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1193 | Sales Tax Out-of-state Retailers | POMMER / HEATH | Section 1 of the bill relates to current law requiring a retailer to collect sales tax from a person residing in this state only if the retailer has sufficient connections with this state. Commencing March 1, 2010, section 1 articulates a presumption that any out-of-state retailer that has a referral relationship with an affiliate has an obligation to collect sales tax. The bill specifies that the presumption may be rebutted by the out-of-state retailer if the retailer can show that the affiliate with whom the retailer has such a relationship did not engage in active solicitation. The bill defines an affiliate as a person residing in this state that solicits business by means of a public forum in this state. Section 2 specifies that, for purposes of any efforts to collect use tax, the executive director of the department of revenue may issue a subpoena to any out-of-state retailer if the out-of-state retailer refuses to voluntarily furnish specific information when requested and may take the out-of-state retailer's testimony under oath. If the out-of-state retailer fails or refuses to respond to the subpoena and give testimony, the executive director may apply to any judge of the district court of the state of Colorado for an attachment against the out-of-state retailer for contempt. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1194 | Elim Nonessent Articles Sales Tax Exemp | FERRANDINO / HEATH | Effective March 1, 2010, the bill narrows the existing state sales and use tax exemptions for sales to retailers or vendors of food, meals, or beverages of articles, containers, and bags that are to be furnished without separate charge to consumers or users for use with articles of tangible personal property purchased at retail upon which state sales tax is paid so that articles, containers, and bags that are nonessential to the consumer or user are no longer exempt from the state sales and use taxes and makes conforming amendments to prevent the narrowing of the exemption from affecting county, municipal, and other local government or political subdivision sales and use taxes. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1195 | Suspend Ag Sales & Use Tax Exemp | FERRANDINO / HEATH | The bill suspends the exemption from the state sales and use taxes for the sale or storage, use, or consumption of agricultural compounds used in caring for livestock, semen for agricultural and ranching purposes, and pesticides for use in the production of agricultural and livestock products for the period beginning March 1, 2010, and ending June 30, 2013. The bill also prevents the suspension of the exemption from affecting sales or use taxes levied by towns, cities, counties, or other political subdivisions of the state that are based on the state sales or use tax unless a town, city, county, or political subdivision expressly subjects such sale or storage, use, or consumption to its sales or use tax for the specified period at the time of adoption of its initial sales or use tax ordinance or resolution or subsequent amendment to the ordinance or resolution. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1196 | Elim Certain Cars Qualified For Tax Cred | FERRANDINO / HEATH | Current law specifies that motor vehicles that meet certain federal guidelines and have a minimum fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon but less than 40 miles per gallon (category 7 motor vehicles) qualify for a state income tax credit for the purchase of vehicles using alternative fuels for the tax years commencing January 1, 2010, and January 1, 2011. The bill disqualifies category 7 motor vehicles from the state income tax credit for purchases of category 7 motor vehicles made on or after January 1, 2011. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1197 | Reduce Conservation Easement Cap Amount | FERRANDINO / HEATH | Taxpayers are currently allowed to claim a state income tax credit for donating a conservation easement. The amount of the credit is equal to 50% of the fair market value of the easement, with a cap of $375,000. The bill reduces the amount of the cap to $135,000 for donations made on or after January 1, 2011. | 04/29/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1198 | Susp Credit Alternative Minimum Tax | FERRANDINO / HEATH | The bill suspends for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, the credit against the state income tax for an amount equal to 12% of the credit allowed for payment of minimum tax liability under the federal internal revenue code. | 01/29/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1199 | Net Operation Loss Deduction Temp Limit | FERRANDINO / HEATH | Under current law, a corporation may reduce its Colorado taxable income by carrying forward a net operating loss (NOL). There is no annual limit on the amount of NOL that may be carried forward. For each of the next 3 income tax years, the bill limits the amount of NOL that may be carried forward to $250,000. A NOL may be carried forward one additional year for each year that a corporation is prohibited from carrying forward a portion of its NOL because of this limit. | 02/24/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1200 | Enter Zone Inv Tax Credit Deferral | HULLINGHORST / HEATH | Currently, the enterprise zone investment tax credit (credit) allows a taxpayer to claim an income tax credit that is equal to a percentage of the taxpayer's total qualified investment in qualified property during an income tax year, as long as the investment is in property that is used solely and exclusively in an enterprise zone for at least one year. A taxpayer is allowed to claim the credit for the first $5,000 of income tax liability, plus an amount equal to 50% of the taxpayer's tax liability in excess of $5,000, to the extent permitted by the amount of the qualified investment. A taxpayer is allowed to carry forward the credit for 12 income tax years after the year in which the full amount of the credit was unused. For the 2011, 2012, and 2013 income tax years, the bill limits the amount of the credit that a taxpayer may claim to $250,000 and requires that a taxpayer defer claiming any amount of the credit allowed that exceeds $250,000 to the 2014 income tax year. The bill allows a taxpayer that deferred claiming any credit in excess of $250,000 to carry forward the credit for 12 income tax years after the year the credit was originally allowed, plus one additional year for each year that the taxpayer had to defer claiming the credit in excess of $250,000. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose |
Bill HB10-1200 - HULLINGHORST / HEATH Enter Zone Inv Tax Credit Deferral | |
| HB10-1202 | Insurance Coverage Chemo Treatment | PRIMAVERA & ... / TOCHTROP | The bill requires a health benefit plan that covers cancer chemotherapy treatment to provide coverage for prescribed, orally administered anticancer medication at a cost to the patient at the same copayment percentage or relative coinsurance amount as is applied to the cost of other cancer medications. Fischer, Frangas, Gagliardi, Hullinghorst, Kagan, Kefalas, Levy, Looper, Merrifield, Miklosi, Peniston, Pommer, Solano, Soper, Todd, Tyler, Vigil, Weissmann | 04/15/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1208 | Higher Ed Statewide Transfer Agreements | TODD & ... / SHAFFER B. & ... | The bill requires statewide degree transfer agreements (transfer agreements) to transfer associate of arts (AA) degrees and associate of science (AS) degrees from one state institution of higher education (institution) to another. A student who earns an AA or AS degree that is Gardner C., Looper, May, McFadyen, McKinley, McNulty, Merrifield, Middleton, Peniston, Priola, Ryden, Scanlan, Schafer S., Solano, Sonnenberg, Summers, Tipton Kopp, Lundberg, Newell, Penry, Renfroe, Romer, Scheffel, Schultheis, Spence, Steadman, White, Whitehead, Williams the subject of a transfer agreement and who is admitted to a 4-year institution will be enrolled with junior status. However, an institution that admits the student may require the student to complete additional lower-level courses if necessary for the degree program to which the student transfers, so long as the additional credits do not extend the student's time to degree completion beyond that required for a student who begins and completes his or her degree at the institution. By July 1, 2016, the Colorado commission on higher education, collaborating with the institution governing boards and the institution council, will complete at least 14 transfer agreements for degrees recommended by the institution governing boards based on student demand and workforce need. | 05/05/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1211 | Reduce Late Vehicle Registration Penalty | TYLER / WILLIAMS | Effective July 1, 2010, the bill reduces the penalty for late registration of a vehicle without motive power that weighs 2,000 pounds or less from $25 per month up to $100 to $10. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1212 | Req Rules For Late Veh Regis Fee Exemps | RICE / SCHWARTZ | The bill requires the executive director of the department of revenue to promulgate rules that establish circumstances, in addition to circumstances already established in statute, in which a vehicle owner shall be exempted from paying the late fee for late registration of a motor vehicle. The bill requires the rules to apply uniformly throughout the state and to include, but not be limited to, exemptions for: * Acts of God and weather-related delays; * Office closures and furloughs; * Medical hardships, which shall not include financial inability to pay; * Out-of-state lienholders; and * Information technology failures. The bill requires the executive director to consult with the county clerk and recorders in promulgating the rules. | 04/15/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1254 | Assessment High School Graduation Reqmnt | SONNENBERG / BROPHY | The bill requires the state board of education to include in its graduation guidelines a requirement that each student in each public high school in the state, before being permitted to graduate from high school, achieve either: (1) a score at the proficient achievement level or higher on the 10th-grade statewide assessments in reading, writing, and mathematics; or (2) a score on a postsecondary and workforce readiness assessment indicating that the student has attained postsecondary and workforce readiness. Certain students with disabilities and children participating in a nonpublic, home-based educational program are exempt from the requirement. | 02/25/2010 House Committee on Education Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1259 | Conform Annex Act To State Const | NIKKEL / LUNDBERG | The state constitution prohibits an unincorporated area from being annexed to a municipality unless one of the following constitutional annexation requirements first has been met: * The question of annexation has been submitted to the vote of the landowners and the registered electors in the area proposed to be annexed, and the majority of the persons voting on the question have voted for the annexation; * The annexing municipality has received a petition for the annexation of the area signed by persons comprising more than 50% of the landowners in the area and owning more than 50% of the area, excluding public streets and alleys and any land owned by the annexing municipality; or * The area is entirely surrounded by or is solely owned by the annexing municipality. The bill amends the "Municipal Annexation Act of 1965" (act) to conform its provisions to the constitutional annexation requirements. In particular: * Section 1 of the bill amends the legislative declaration in the act to add as a purpose of the act the implementation of the constitutional annexation requirements. * Section 2 of the bill conforms existing definitions in the act to the provisions of the bill. * Section 3 of the bill prohibits an unincorporated area from being annexed to a municipality unless one of the constitutional annexation requirements first has been met. Section 3 also specifies that an area is eligible for annexation if the constitutional annexation requirements have been satisfied in addition to satisfying existing statutory requirements. * Sections 4 and 5 remove obsolete provisions in the act. * Section 6 of the bill specifies that persons comprising more than 50% of the landowners in an area and owning more than 50% of the area may petition the governing body of any municipality for the annexation of the territory. Section 6 also clarifies the requirements affecting a petition for annexation to specify that a petition must contain an allegation that the signers of the petition comprise more than 50% of the landowners in the area and own more than 50% of the area proposed to be annexed, excluding public streets and alleys and any land owned by the annexing municipality. * Section 7 of the bill specifies that the required hearing to establish eligibility for annexation need not be held if the municipality has determined conclusively that the constitutional annexation requirements, in addition to existing statutory requirements, have not been met. * Section 8 of the bill specifies that a finding by the governing body of the annexing municipality that the area proposed for annexation does not comply with the applicable provisions of the constitutional annexation requirements, in addition to existing statutory requirements, shall terminate the annexation proceeding. * Section 9 makes conforming amendments to the act. * Section 10 of the bill clarifies that annexation elections are to be decided by a majority of the landowners and registered electors in the relevant area and not the qualified electors or qualified electors and landowners as under existing law. Other sections of the bill contain changes conforming to this new requirement. * Section 11 of the bill addresses conflicting annexation claims of 2 or more municipalities. In particular, upon the filing of a petition by the second municipality indicating its intent to annex the disputed area, the bill permits the first municipality and the petitioners for the annexation being considered by the first municipality to file a responsive pleading. If either or both of the parties files a responsive pleading, the district court is required to determine whether the annexation being processed by the second municipality complies with the constitutional annexation requirements and the applicable provisions of the act. In the absence of the filing of a responsive pleading or upon a determination that the annexation being processed by the second municipality complies with the constitutional annexation requirements and the applicable provisions of the act, all further proceedings for the annexation of the area claimed by both municipalities are to be held in abeyance pending an election of the landowners and the registered electors within the area for the purpose of determining to which municipality the electors prefer to annex. * Section 12 of the bill specifies that review proceedings instituted under the act shall not extend further than determining whether the annexation complies with the constitutional annexation requirements in addition to whether the governing body has exceeded its jurisdiction or abused its discretion under the provisions of the act. | 05/06/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1263 | Limit Income Tax Benefit For Comp Paid | POMMER / BOYD | For purposes of calculating the state income tax, the bill increases Colorado taxable income by an amount equal to the amount of salary or other compensation over $250,000 paid to an individual that is claimed as a federal deduction by a taxpayer. Merrifield, Miklosi, Primavera, Weissmann The bill also limits the amount of a separate state income tax deduction for wages or salaries, which are disallowed from being claimed as a deduction under federal law, to $250,000 per individual. | 04/30/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1264 | Incent State Employees Suggest Cost Sav | PRIOLA / HEATH | The bill requires the state personnel director, or his or her designee, to create and make publicly available to all state employees an idea application to allow employees to suggest state agency improvements that result in cost savings. The form must be available by October 1, 2010, on the department of personnel's web site. The state personnel director, or his or her designee, is required to create evaluation criteria for the evaluation of the idea application. Any employee may submit an idea application. The availability of the idea application must be advertised on any type of payroll statements issued to employees on or after October 1, 2010. The bill requires the executive director of the employee's state agency (executive director) to respond to the idea application in a timely fashion. The bill also requires the executive director to cause to be completed a projected savings calculation before he or she makes a decision to accept or reject the employee's idea application. The executive director may automatically deny an idea application if it is duplicative of another recently submitted application. The bill creates a state employee incentive fund, which consists of moneys appropriated to the fund by the general assembly. The bill provides for oversight, by the office of state planning and budgeting, of any idea applications that are denied. The bill requires the executive director to identify, where possible, any state laws or regulations that need to be changed to implement the idea. The bill requires the executive director, or his or her designee, to submit a request for legislation to the appropriate committee of reference for any idea application that requires legislation for implementation. For every idea that is implemented, the bill requires that the executive director make a savings realized calculation. The bill requires that the executive director forward the savings realized calculation to the state auditor for review and verification. The bill then requires the state auditor to present a report of the review and verification to the legislative audit committee. The bill specifies that the amount reviewed and verified by the state auditor as the savings realized shall be distributed as follows: * 5%, up to $5,000, of the savings realized as an honorary award to the employee who submitted the idea application; * 25%, up to $25,000, of the savings realized to the state agency that the employee's idea application directly affects; and * The remainder to the general fund. | 05/26/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1266 | Health Ins For Local Gov & Small Bus | FRANGAS | The bill allows certain local governments, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations to offer participation in fully funded state group benefit plans for medical and dental coverages to their employees. The bill: * Specifies that participation in state group benefit plans for medical and dental coverages is voluntary for local government, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations and that local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employees cannot participate in state group benefit plans if their employer has not chosen to offer participation to its employees. * Allows the state personnel director to charge an administrative fee to participating local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employees to cover the state's cost of administering group benefit plans for local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employees. * Precludes participating local governments, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations from offering any other medical and dental benefit coverages to their employees and requires the local governments, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations to agree to participate in state group benefit plans for at least 3 years. * Requires participating local governments, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations to contribute on behalf of their participating employees a minimum amount as determined by the director of the department of personnel (director). * Requires participating local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employees to comply with all rules and procedures adopted by the director. * Allows local governments, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations to determine eligibility of their employees and their dependents for participation in state group benefit plans for medical and dental coverages. * Establishes the local government, small business, and nonprofit organization group benefit plans fund in the state treasury and specifies that the fund contains the premium account and the administration account. * Specifies that group benefit plan premium costs received by the director for local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employee premiums shall be deposited into the premium account and that expenditures shall be made from the premium account for the payment to carriers of premiums, claims costs, and other administrative fees and costs associated with the group benefit plans for local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employees. * Specifies that moneys credited to or expended from the premium account for payment to carriers who provide fully funded group benefit plans to local government, small business, and nonprofit organization employees do not constitute state fiscal year spending for purposes of the state constitutional limitation on spending. | 04/23/2010 House Committee on Appropriations Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1269 | Workplace Fairness Civil Remedies Act | LEVY / CARROLL M. | Current law does not allow an award of compensatory or punitive damages or attorney fees and costs to a plaintiff who prevails in a lawsuit alleging a discriminatory or unfair employment practice under state law. While federal employment antidiscrimination laws allow such damages and reasonable attorney fees and costs, only employers who employ 15 or Pommer, Solano, Tyler, Weissmann, Carroll T., Frangas, Kagan, Labuda, Pace, Schafer S. more employees are subject to federal law. Moreover, victims of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation are not afforded protections under federal law. Thus, employees who work for employers with fewer than 15 employees or who claim employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation are not allowed compensatory or punitive damages or to recover reasonable attorney fees and costs when they prove a case of employment discrimination. The bill establishes the "Workplace Fairness and Civil Rights and Remedies Act of 2010", which would allow the additional remedies of compensatory and punitive damages in employment discrimination cases brought under state law. These damages would be in addition to the remedies allowed under current law, namely, front pay, back pay, interest on back pay, reinstatement or hiring, and other equitable relief that may be awarded. Compensatory damages are to compensate a plaintiff for other pecuniary losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary losses. If the plaintiff shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant engaged in a discriminatory or unfair employment practice with malice or reckless indifference to the rights of the plaintiff, the plaintiff may recover punitive damages. The bill caps the overall damages, including both compensatory and punitive, if applicable, that may be awarded to a plaintiff, based on the size of the employer defendant, as follows: * For employers with 14 or fewer employees, not more than $25,000; * For employers with between 15 and 100 employees, not more than $50,000; * For employers with between 101 and 200 employees, not more than $100,000; * For employers with between 201 and 500 employees, not more than $200,000; and * For employers with more than 500 employees, not more than $300,000. When a plaintiff claims compensatory or punitive damages in a civil lawsuit, either party to the action is entitled to demand a jury trial. If the case is tried by a jury, the court is not to inform the jury of the damage caps. Additionally, the court may award the prevailing party reasonable attorney fees and costs. In the first year after the bill takes effect, compensatory and punitive damages and reasonable attorney fees and costs would only be available against an employer with 15 or more employees. For actions accruing on or after August 11, 2011, these remedies would be available against any employer, regardless of the number of employees it employs. | 04/15/2010 House Second Reading Lost with Amendments | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1270 | Codify DOR Rule Re Computer Software | MURRAY / SPENCE | The bill codifies into statute the department of revenue's special regulation related to the sales or use tax attributable to sales of computer C., Gerou, Kerr J., King S., Lambert, Liston, Looper, Massey, May, McNulty, Nikkel, Priola, Sonnenberg, Stephens, Summers, Swalm, Tipton, Vaad, Waller software. | 03/09/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1280 | CO Nonprofit Job Growth Income Tax Cred | SUMMERS / ROMER | The bill establishes the Colorado nonprofit job creation incentive tax credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2011, but before January 1, 2017. Upon approval and calculation by a nonprofit intermediary, the bill allows a taxpayer to claim a credit of 25% of any donation made to a qualified nonprofit organization that has applied to the nonprofit intermediary for the ability to solicit donations for purposes of creating nonprofit jobs. The total amount of the credits available in a calendar year is $1 million. The bill allows the nonprofit intermediary to review the applications of nonprofit organizations and determine if the applications meet the necessary qualifications. The bill allows the credit to be carried forward for 7 years but not refunded. The bill establishes the methods for issuing credit certificates as well as the application process. The bill also grants the department of revenue rule-making authority. | 04/09/2010 House Committee on Appropriations Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1318 | Minimum State Aid For School Districts | POMMER / TAPIA | Budget Package Bill. Current law provides all school districts with a minimum amount of state funding (minimum state aid), notwithstanding the state and local shares of total program funding as determined through the "Public School Finance Act of 1994"(act). The bill suspends the minimum state aid requirement for the 2010-11 through 2014-15 budget years. In connection with the suspension, the bill requires the department of education (department) to submit a report to the joint budget committee and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate regarding the estimated fiscal impact of and the potential number of districts that will be impacted by the reinstatement of the minimum state aid requirement in the 2015-16 budget year. If a supplemental appropriation is not made by the general assembly to fully fund the state's share of total program of all districts, including funding for institute charter schools, or if a supplemental appropriation is made to reduce the state's share of the total program of all districts, including funding for institute charter schools, the bill requires the state aid of each district to be reduced by the amount of the required reduction or the amount of state aid, whichever is less, even if, for the 2009-10 budget year or any budget year thereafter, the reduction would result in a district receiving less state aid than the amount of minimum state aid for the applicable budget year. In addition, to offset the direct and indirect administrative costs incurred by the department in implementing the provisions of the act, current law authorizes the total program of each district that receives state aid and the total funding for each institute charter school to be reduced by a certain percentage. The bill allows the state aid of each district to be reduced by the amount of the required reduction or the amount of state aid, whichever is less, even if, for the 2009-10 budget year or any budget year thereafter, the reduction would result in a district receiving less state aid than the amount of minimum state aid for the applicable budget year. | 03/22/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1327 | Cash Fund Transfers Augment General Fund | POMMER / WHITE | Budget Package Bill. For the purpose of augmenting the amount of revenues in the state general fund for the 2009-10 state fiscal year, the state treasurer is required to transfer specified amounts of moneys to the general fund from the following funds: * The employment support fund; * The higher education maintenance and reserve fund; * The motor fleet management fund; * The public safety communications trust fund; * The emergency controlled maintenance account in the capital construction fund; * The waste tire recycling development cash fund; * The processors and end users of waste tires cash fund; * The local government permanent fund; * The Colorado water conservation board construction fund; * The operational account of the severance tax trust fund; * The local government severance tax fund; * The law enforcement assistance fund for the prevention of drunken driving and the enforcement of laws pertaining to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (referred to as the LEAF fund). The transfers from the specified funds will occur on the effective date of the bill. | 04/15/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1328 | New Energy Jobs Creation Act | MIKLOSI / SCHWARTZ | Section 1 of the bill creates the Colorado new energy improvement district (district) as an independent public body corporate and a public instrumentality performing an essential public function, clarifies that, under applicable Colorado supreme court case law, the district is not subject to the provisions of the taxpayer's bill of rights, and specifies the qualifications, manner of appointment, and terms of the board of directors of the district. Section 1 of the bill also specifies that the purpose of the district is to help provide the special benefits of new energy improvements to owners of eligible real property who voluntarily join the district by establishing, developing, financing, and administering a new energy improvement program (program) in counties that have approved the conduct of the program by the district through which the district can provide assistance to any such owner in completing a new energy improvement by providing reimbursement or a direct payment for all or a portion of the cost of completing a new energy improvement and further specifies the powers and duties of the district, including but not limited to the power to: * Develop and implement a process by which an owner of eligible real property may join the district; * Impose special assessments on eligible real property included in the district; and * Issue bonds payable from the special assessments for the purpose of generating the moneys needed to make a reimbursement or a direct payment to district members for all or a portion of the cost of completing new energy improvements. Section 1 of the bill also requires the public utilities commission to: * Determine the extent to which the marketing, promotional, and other efforts of a utility for which the commission has developed demand-side management targets or goals have contributed to energy efficiency improvements funded by the district; and * Allow a utility to count the related energy savings towards compliance with the targets or goals using any method deemed appropriate by the commission. Section 2 of the bill requires the state auditor to conduct or cause to be conducted an annual performance audit and an annual financial audit of the district and the program and prepare and present to the legislative audit committee an annual report and recommendations on each audit conducted. Section 3 of the bill makes a conforming amendment. | 06/11/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1330 | All-payer Health Claims Database | KEFALAS & ... / MORSE | The bill requires the executive director of the department of health Rice, Riesberg, Solano, Tyler, Vigil care policy and financing (executive director) to appoint an advisory committee to make recommendations regarding the creation of a Colorado all-payer health claims database for the purpose of transparent public reporting of health care information. The executive director is required to appoint an administrator to create the database. The administrator, in consultation with the advisory committee, shall create the database if sufficient gifts, grants, and donations are received on or before January 1, 2012, to pay for the creation and maintenance of the database. The executive director shall promulgate rules to create and maintain the database. The data shall be made available to the public, state agencies, and private entities consistent with privacy laws. The advisory committee is scheduled to sunset July 1, 2016. | 05/26/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| HB10-1349 | Re-energize CO Renewable Elec For Parks | FISCHER & ... / SCHWARTZ & ... | Section 1 of the bill directs the governor's energy office or its designee to create an inventory and map of lands under the control of the department of natural resources or other state agencies that have potential to support the development of renewable resource generation projects to meet the electrical energy needs of the division of parks and outdoor recreation. Sections 2 and 3 authorize the executive director of the department of natural resources and the state land board, respectively, to include such lands among those suitable for acquisition or leasing for the purpose of allowing renewable energy generation projects to proceed. Section 1 also creates the re-energize Colorado program, under which the division of parks and outdoor recreation is encouraged to undertake renewable energy generation projects on state land to supply or offset all of its electrical energy needs by the year 2020. Finally, Section 1 authorizes a qualifying retail utility to waive some of the existing statutory limits placed on net metering and customer-sited generation projects for purposes of meeting this goal. Section 4 directs the public utilities commission to give the fullest possible consideration to projects under the re-energize Colorado program, especially where such projects offer good prospects for job creation and local economic growth, when considering the issuance of certificates of public convenience and necessity to utilities. | 06/08/2010 Governor Action - Signed |
Bill HB10-1349 - FISCHER & ... / SCHWARTZ & ... Re-energize CO Renewable Elec For Parks | ||
| HB10-1350 | Reqmnts For Economic Incentives | PACE / CARROLL M. | The bill requires any entity that receives public moneys for the purpose of economic development to file an annual report, along with a filing fee, to the Colorado economic development commission (commission). The also bill specifies the contents of the report and requires the commission to include any reports received in its annual presentation to the general assembly. If the commission finds, in its discretion, that a recipient of an economic incentive has not complied with the requirements of the incentive, the commission has the authority to recapture any public moneys expended on the economic incentive. | 05/07/2010 Senate Second Reading Lost with Amendments | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1356 | Workers' Comp Policyholder Prot Act 2010 | RYDEN / TOCHTROP | Interim Committee to Study Issues Related to Pinnacol Assurance. If the surplus of Pinnacol Assurance is greater than 800% of risk based capital, this bill requires the board of directors of Pinnacol Assurance to credit to the accounts of Pinnacol Assurance policyholders a dividend to bring the surplus of Pinnacol Assurance to less than 800% of risk based capital. For the prior approval of a pure premium rate filed by a workers' compensation insurance rating agency, this bill would require the insurance commissioner to approve the lowest rate recommended either by the rating organization or by the independent actuary employed by the division of insurance, unless the commissioner explains the rationale or justification for a different rate in the final agency order. The bill requires background material related to a workers' compensation pure premium rate filing to be posted on the division of insurance web site prior to any public hearing. | 04/06/2010 House Committee on Business Affairs and Labor Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1357 | False Claims Act | MCFADYEN & ... / ROMER & ... | The bill makes legislative findings and states legislative intent that the enactment of the bill qualifies the state for federal incentives and that a portion of the state's share of any recovery should be used to increase funding for the university of Colorado health sciences center (health sciences center). The bill authorizes a civil action by the state, a political subdivision, or a private person (relator) against a person who submits a false claim to the state or a political subdivision. It specifies penalties for submitting false claims. The bill establishes procedures if an action is commenced by a relator. It specifies percentages of recoveries that may be awarded as attorney fees. The bill establishes a private right of action against a person who retaliates against a relator because the relator takes lawful action in furtherance of a false claim action. It specifies requirements for a claim of and damages for retaliation against a relator. The bill establishes a statute of limitations for false claims. The bill establishes procedures for the attorney general to serve upon a person a civil investigative demand requiring the person to answer written or oral questions and to produce documents in the person's possession or control. The bill directs the state treasurer to transfer to the health sciences center false claims recovery cash fund 2% of any moneys received by the state due to a false claims action and specifies that moneys in the fund are to be appropriated to the health sciences center. The bill excludes from the transfer money received through an action in which the health sciences center was a defendant. | 05/11/2010 Senate Second Reading Special Order - Lost with Amendments | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1365 | Incent Util Convert Coal To Natural Gas | SOLANO & ... / WHITEHEAD & ... | In order to meet anticipated federal "Clean Air Act" requirements to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants, section 1 of the bill Gerou, Hullinghorst, Kagan, Kerr A., Kerr J., King S., Levy, Liston, Looper, Massey, May, McFadyen, McNulty, Merrifield, Middleton, Miklosi, Peniston, Pommer, Primavera, Rice, Ryden, Scanlan, Schafer S., Stephens, Todd, Tyler, Vaad, Vigil requires all rate-regulated utilities that own or operate coal-fired electric generating units to submit to the public utilities commission (PUC) an emission reduction plan for emissions from those units covering the lesser of 900 megawatts or 50% of the utility's coal-fired electric generating units in Colorado. The plans have to give primary consideration to replacing or repowering coal-fired electric generators with natural gas and to also consider other low-emitting resources, including energy efficiency. The PUC will provide the department of public health and environment (department) an opportunity to comment on the utilities' plans. The department will determine whether certain new or repowered electric generating units proposed under the plans will emit more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour and whether the plans comply with applicable requirements of the federal and state clean air laws. The plans are to be implemented by December 31, 2017. In evaluating the plans, the PUC is to consider the following factors: The pollution reductions to be achieved; the increased use of existing natural gas-fired electric generating capacity; and the plan's effect on economic development, electricity reliability, cost and rate increases, compliance with renewable energy standards, and reliance on energy efficiency or other low-emitting resources. The PUC is to approve, deny, or modify the plans by December 15, 2010. The utilities' actions in complying with the plans are presumed to be prudent actions, the costs of which are recoverable in rates. The air quality control commission will consider incorporating the emissions reductions derived from the plans into the regional haze element of the state implementation plan. Early reductions of greenhouse gas emissions will count as voluntary for purposes of early reduction credits under federal law. Section 2 authorizes the PUC to approve interim rates taking effect no later than 60 days after a rate increase filing. Section 3 directs the PUC to require a utility to rebate rates if a final rate is lower than an interim rate. | 04/19/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1396 | Enterprise Zone Tax Credits | JUDD | Currently, several income tax and sales and use tax credits are available to qualified taxpayers through the "Urban and Rural Enterprise Zone Act" (act). The bill eliminates the credits available through the act as of January 1, 2011. Specifically, the bill limits the following income tax credits Capital letters indicate new material to be added to existing statute. Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute. allowed pursuant to the act to income tax years commencing prior to January 1, 2011: The credit for contributions to enterprise zone administrators to implement economic development plans, the credit for investment in property that is used solely and exclusively in an enterprise zone for at least a year, the credit for an investment made in a qualified job training program, the credit for hiring new business facility employees, the credit for expenditures in research and experimental activities for the purpose of carrying out trade or business, and the credit for an expenditure to rehabilitate a vacant building. In addition, beginning on January 1, 2011, the bill eliminates the sales and use tax exemption for purchases of machinery or machine tools to be used solely and exclusively in an enterprise zone. | 04/28/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1417 | Pay Equity Commission | PENISTON / WILLIAMS | The bill establishes the pay equity commission (commission) within the Colorado department of labor and employment (department). The governor is to appoint 11 members to the commission by August 1, 2010, with representatives of large and small private, for-profit employers, a women's national association, a labor organization, a statewide association of attorneys, higher education, the department, the civil rights division in the department of regulatory agencies, a national organization that serves minority communities and communities of color, and a business association. The commission is charged with the following tasks: * Educating employers in the state about issues or practices that may contribute to pay inequities; * Working with business groups and educational institutions to develop and maintain an inventory of best practices for encouraging equal pay; * Encouraging employers to implement equal pay best practices; * Studying other state models of equal pay practices that achieve pay equity; * Developing a program recognizing employers who pursue pay equity practices; * Conducting outreach and education to employees and employers regarding pay equity; and * Working to establish Colorado as a model employer with regard to pay equity. The commission is required to submit annual reports to the executive director of the department, the business, labor, and technology committee of the senate, and the business affairs and labor committee of the house of representatives (annual reports), detailing the work it has done. The commission may submit recommendations for policy or administrative changes, upon approval of 2/3 of its members, and any such recommendations shall be included in the commission's annual reports. The commission is subject to sunset review, with the repeal of the commission set for July 1, 2015. | 05/25/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HB10-1429 | Legislative Review Of Tax Benefits | WEISSMANN | The bill requires the finance committees of the house of representatives and the senate (joint finance committee) to jointly conduct meetings on an annual basis to review specified state tax benefits and determine whether they should be continued, repealed, or modified. The meetings will be during the legislative session or, if approved by the executive committee of legislative council, during the interim. State tax benefits include credits against and exemptions from the state severance Capital letters indicate new material to be added to existing statute. Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute. tax, gasoline and special fuel tax, alcohol beverage tax, sales and use tax, and income tax. In making their determination regarding a tax benefit, the joint finance committee shall consider: * Any known economic benefits related to the tax benefit; * Whether the tax benefit is accomplishing the purpose for which it was created; * The amount of state and local government tax revenue that is directly lost as a result of the tax benefit; * The fairness of the tax benefit; and * Whether the tax benefit is in the public interest. Legislative council staff will prepare a report on the fiscal impact of each tax benefit prior to the joint finance committee's meetings. The director of legislative council staff will also be responsible for determining which sales and income tax benefits are reviewed in a particular year. The department of revenue shall, to the extent reasonable, provide legislative council staff with aggregated information to assist in the preparation of the report. Any legislation recommended by the joint finance committee to repeal or modify any tax benefit shall not be subject to any introduction deadlines or bill limitations imposed by the rules of the general assembly. | 05/04/2010 House Second Reading Lost with Amendments | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HCR10-1006 | Voter Approval For Tax Policy Changes | MCNULTY / BROPHY | *** No bill summary available *** | 05/04/2010 House Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HCR10-1007 | Transfer Of GOCO Moneys To State Ed Fund | SONNENBERG | *** No bill summary available *** | 05/03/2010 House Committee on Education Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| HR10-1007 | Unemployment Insurance Federal Loan | FRANGAS | *** No bill summary available *** | 04/08/2010 Signed by the Speaker of the House | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-003 | Higher Education Flexibility | MORSE & ... / MIDDLETON & ... | Long-term Fiscal Stability Commission. Section 1. The bill directs the council for a common course number system (council), in conjunction with the state institutions of higher education (institutions) and the guaranteed transfer program, to develop articulation agreements for 5 degree programs before January 1, 2011. After completion of the first 5 articulation agreements, the council will develop additional articulation agreements. Section 2. Under current law, each institution must ensure that no less than two-thirds of the students enrolled at each campus of the institution are in-state students. The bill applies the two-thirds in-state student requirement to the institution as a whole rather than each campus. Under current law, foreign students are included as out-of-state students for purposes of calculating the ratio between in-state and out-of-state students. The bill exempts institutions that meet certain criteria from the requirement that they include foreign students in the calculations for in-state and out-of-state students. Sections 3 and 4. Where, under current law, the department of higher education sets financial aid eligibility requirements, the bill gives institutions that authority. The bill removes the requirement that an institution that is an enterprise dedicate a percentage of its revenues to need-based financial aid if the institution increases tuition. Sections 5-7. Where institutions are currently subject to the state fiscal rules, the bill allows the institutions to adopt their own rules. Section 8. Where institutions are currently subject to information technology rules promulgated by the state chief information security officer, the bill allows the institutions to adopt their own rules. Section 9. Where institutions are required to provide various state entities with financial data, the bill permits an institution to provide only audited financial statements in those cases. Sections 10-14. Under current law, institutions must submit capital construction projects to the Colorado commission on higher education (CCHE) for approval and comply with other statutory provisions regarding capital construction projects. The bill allows the institutions to notify CCHE and the capital development committee of its projects. | 06/09/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-004 | Repeal Late Regis Penalties Of SB09-108 | WHITE | Effective July 1, 2010: * Section 2 of the bill repeals the mandatory late vehicle registration fee of $25 per month up to a maximum of $100 enacted by Senate Bill 09-108 and reinstates the waivable fee of up to $10 that was in effect prior to the enactment of Senate Bill 09-108. * Section 5 of the bill repeals the supplemental unregistered vehicle fine of $25 per month up to a maximum of $100 enacted by Senate Bill 09-108 that is imposed on a person who is convicted of a misdemeanor for knowingly failing to register a vehicle within 90 days of becoming a Colorado resident. Sections 1, 3, 4, and 6 of the bill make conforming amendments. | 03/10/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-011 | Workers' Comp Conflicts Of Interest | CARROLL M. / MIKLOSI | Interim Committee to Study Issues Related to Pinnacol Assurance. Section 1 of the bill requires a physician who has been proposed by the division of workers' compensation (division) in the department of labor and employment to perform an independent medical examination (IME) of an injured worker to disclose any business, employment, financial, or advisory relationship with an insurer or self-insured employer if a party requests the information. Section 1 gives a party to the IME process the right to obtain and review the information regarding any physicians proposed to conduct the IME prior to making a determination to eliminate one of the proposed physicians as an examiner. Section 1 also directs the director of the division to adopt rules as necessary to implement the disclosure requirements. Section 2 of the bill prohibits the payment of a financial incentive by an insurer, self-insured employer, or health care provider to deny or delay a workers' compensation claim, or to deny or delay medical care or payment for medical treatment for any such claim. Section 2 declares that a violation of its provisions constitutes bad faith and an unfair or deceptive practice in the business of insurance and subjects the person committing the violation to penalties under the unfair or deceptive insurance practices statutes, which may be up to $3,000 per violation, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of $30,000, or, in the case of knowing violations, up to $30,000 per violation, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of $750,000 annually. Section 2 also subjects persons violating its provisions to penalties under the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado". Section 3 prohibits a treating physician from communicating with the insurer or employer of an injured worker unless the injured worker is present or the communication is in writing and is provided to the injured worker. Section 4 specifies that contractual provisions that establish a reversionary interest in an insurer for indemnity benefits are void as against public policy. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-012 | Workers' Comp Benefits Knowing Penalty | TOCHTROP / PACE | Interim Committee to Study Issues Related to Pinnacol Assurance. Increases the penalty for violating the workers' compensation laws from up to $500 to up to $1,000. Changes the mental state from "willfully" to "knowingly" in the statute that penalizes denying workers' compensation medical benefits, delaying payment of medical benefits for more than 30 days, or stopping payments. Allows the director of the division of workers' compensation or an administrative law judge to apportion the penalties, in whole or part, among the aggrieved party, the medical services provider, and the workers' compensation cash fund. | 05/26/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-013 | Workers' Compensation Accountability | HODGE / RYDEN | Interim Committee to Study Issues Related to Pinnacol Assurance. Section 1 of the bill requires workers' compensation insurers to survey a limited number of injured workers at the close of each claim. Section 1 also requires the insurers to report the results of the surveys to the division of workers' compensation (division) in the department of labor and employment, and requires the division to post the survey results on the division's web site. Finally, section 1 prohibits an employer or insurer from taking disciplinary action or otherwise retaliating against an injured worker or his or her dependents for completing a survey. Section 2 of the bill requires the chief executive officer of Pinnacol Assurance to submit an annual report to the governor and committees of the general assembly reporting on the business operations, resources, and liabilities of the Pinnacol Assurance fund. Section 3 of the bill requires the division to post on the division's web site the procedure for an injured worker to follow to file a complaint with the division regarding any issue over which the director or his or her designee has authority to pursue, settle, or enforce. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-028 | Work Share Program | HEATH / PACE | Section 1 of the bill directs the director of the division of employment and training in the department of labor and employment (director) to establish a work share program allowing for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to employees of a particular work unit whose work hours have been reduced at least 10% but not more than 40%. In order to be eligible for payment of benefits, an employer must submit a work share plan (plan) to the director for approval. The plan must apply to at least 10% of the employees in the affected unit. The plan must meet specific requirements in order to be approved by the director. Employees must also meet specific eligibility requirements in order to be eligible for the payment of benefits. The bill allows for modifications to a plan if conditions of the employer change. The bill also specifies that the benefits payable under the work share program are not in addition to the total maximum allowable regular unemployment benefits in a benefit year. Sections 2 through 4 of the bill make conforming amendments. | 06/09/2010 Governor Action - Signed | Oppose | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-029 | Create Efficiencies In State & Local Gov | PENRY / CURRY | The bill creates efficiencies and cost savings in state and local government by: * Eliminating all duties of the office of the executive director of the department of local affairs and directing those duties and appropriations to the lieutenant governor; * Implementing a 2-year statewide hiring freeze that will require the governor or his or her designee to sign off on all new hires. All new hires must meet the test of being critical to protecting the life, health, or safety of Colorado residents. The governor shall provide the general assembly a monthly report of each new hire made in that month. * Eliminating all bonuses paid to any state employee for 2 years; * Reducing the personnel budget of the governor's office, the executive directors' offices, and the directors of each principal department's offices to 2005-06 fiscal year levels; * Reducing by 3% the number of all full-time equivalent state employees paid in whole or in part with general fund dollars within 5 years; * Requiring the governor to report in writing to the general assembly by April 1, 2010, regarding the consolidation of existing boards and commissions; * Authorizing the governor to repeal the Colorado commission on higher education and to direct any necessary responsibilities and appropriations to the lieutenant governor; * Requiring the governor to report in writing to the general assembly by April 1, 2010, regarding which agencies and departments perform similar or redundant functions and should be consolidated; * Limiting the governor's energy office to spending no more than 10% of its total budget on personnel; * Requiring that all executive branch expenditures on professional organization dues and memberships be made from gifts, grants, or donations and not from any general fund or cash fund appropriation, except from cash funds established for the purpose of receiving gifts, grants, and donations; * Requiring the state school board to strongly encourage school districts to create boards of cooperative services where feasible for the purpose of enabling 2 or more school districts to cooperate in furnishing services authorized by law and for consolidating central administrative services; * Requiring that all actions performed by an existing or newly created board of cooperative services that result in cost savings to the member school districts, as compared to the cost of the school districts performing the same actions individually, to be calculated, and requiring each member school district to remit to the state general fund an amount equal to 50% of the savings realized by the member school district. However, such amount shall not exceed the amount the member school district received as its state share of total program funding for the applicable budget year. * Requiring the governor to reduce by 10% the pay of all full-time equivalent state employees earning $125,000 or more annually, except employees of state institutions of higher education; * Requiring the controller to transfer from the general fund to the newly created general fund overflow reserve fund an amount that he or she calculates to be the equivalent of the total amount of general fund moneys appropriated in all bills that are vetoed by the governor, including any general fund line item appropriation in the general appropriation act that is line-item vetoed by the governor; * Removing the requirement that motor vehicles have a front license plate. | 05/03/2010 Senate Third Reading Lost | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-044 | Repeal Late Regis Penalties Of SB09-108 | LUNDBERG / LAMBERT | Effective July 1, 2010: * Section 2 of the bill repeals the mandatory late vehicle registration fee of $25 per month up to a maximum of $100 enacted by Senate Bill 09-108 and reinstates the waivable fee of up to $10 that was in effect prior to the enactment of Senate Bill 09-108. * Section 5 of the bill repeals the supplemental unregistered vehicle fine of $25 per month up to a maximum of $100 enacted by Senate Bill 09-108 that is imposed on a person who is convicted of a misdemeanor for knowingly failing to register a vehicle within 90 days of becoming a Colorado resident. Sections 1, 3, 4, and 6 of the bill make conforming amendments. | 03/10/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-050 | Contract Renewal For K-12 Teachers | SPENCE | The bill increases from 3 to 5 years the required length of continuous employment that a probationary teacher shall have before being classified as a nonprobationary teacher. Once a teacher is classified as a nonprobationary teacher, he or she shall be given a 5-year contract that shall be renewed every 5 years thereafter if the teacher receives a satisfactory final cumulative written evaluation report at the end of the 5-year period. If the board of education of the employing school district is not going to renew the nonprobationary teacher's contract, the board will provide written notice to the teacher and provide him or her with the reasons why the contract is not being renewed. The bill makes conforming amendments. | 05/10/2010 Senate Committee on Education Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-052 | Alter Designated Groundwater Basin Area | BROPHY / CURRY | Under current law, the groundwater commission (commission) may alter periodically the areas contained in a designated groundwater basin. This bill will allow the commission to revise the boundaries of a designated groundwater basin to omit previously included areas only if the revision would not exclude any wells for which conditional or final permits have been issued. | 03/31/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-057 | Nonmotorized Veh Late Registration Fee | CADMAN | Effective July 1, 2010, for nonmotorized vehicles only, the bill repeals the mandatory late vehicle registration fee of $25 per month up to a maximum of $100 enacted by Senate Bill 09-108 and reinstates the waivable fee of up to $10 that was in effect prior to the enactment of Senate Bill 09-108. | 03/10/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-069 | Transfer K-12 Ed Spending Sav To HUTF | BROPHY / SONNENBERG | For the state fiscal years 2001-02 through 2010-11, the state constitution requires that the statewide base per pupil funding and total state funding for all categorical programs must grow annually by at least the rate of inflation plus an additional one percentage point. The constitution removes the requirement for the additional one percentage point for the state fiscal year 2011-12 and each fiscal year thereafter. The bill requires the amount calculated as the savings realized by not having to increase the statewide base per pupil funding and total state funding for all categorical programs by the additional one percentage point to be transferred to the highway users tax fund (HUTF) for the state fiscal year 2011-12. The bill then requires transfers to be made for the state fiscal years 2012-13 through 2020-21 to the HUTF in an amount equal to the previous state fiscal year's transfer plus an amount calculated as one percent of the statewide base per pupil funding and total state funding for all categorical programs. | 02/01/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-074 | PUC Electric Util Encourage Natural Gas | PENRY | The bill declares that there exists a perverse disincentive against investor-owned electric utilities' use of natural gas for fuel, as opposed to coal, and that this disincentive should be corrected by allowing all or part of a utility's long-term supply contract for Colorado natural gas to be accounted for as a capital cost, on which the utility is permitted to make a prescribed rate of return through customer charges. The bill directs the public utilities commission (PUC) to convene a rule-making proceeding to determine how much of the cost of these long-term natural gas supply contracts may be capitalized. It limits the amount capitalized to the equivalent of the supply contract costs approved for the Comanche III coal-fired plant, and requires the PUC to begin its rule-making by July 1, 2010. | 03/11/2010 Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-085 | Exempt Personal Prop Tax Pilot Program | SCHEFFEL / PRIOLA | The bill establishes a pilot program to reimburse 5 participating counties for revenue lost as a result of a business personal property tax exemption. To qualify as a participating county, a county must: * Enact an ordinance to eliminate the business personal property tax for 5 years; and * Have a population that is greater than 20,000 but less than 500,000. The state will reimburse a participating county for lost property tax revenue for 4 of the 5 years that the exemption is in place. The first year the reimbursement will be 100% of the lost property tax revenue, and that percentage will be reduced by 25% in each of the next 4 years. After the 5 years of the county business personal property tax exemptions, legislative council staff will undertake a study to determine whether the exemptions stimulated economic growth. Staff will prepare a report of the findings to be delivered to legislative committees. | 02/17/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-086 | Phased-in Fully Depreciated Prop Exempt | SCHEFFEL / PRIOLA | The bill exempts a percentage of all business personal property that is fully depreciated beginning in the 2011 property tax year. The exemption percentage starts at 25% and increases every 4 years until the property is entirely exempt beginning with the 2023 property tax year. The bill also clarifies that the new exemption shall apply before an existing exemption, which is on a per personal property schedule basis. | 02/17/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-095 | Restore AIR Program Laws Repeal SB09-003 | RENFROE / VAAD | (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.) The bill repeals the substantive provisions of Senate Bill 09-003, thus restoring the laws regarding the automobile inspection and readjustment program (AIR program) and designation of collector's items motor vehicles to the manner in which they existed as of May 2009. Specifically, the bill: * Moves Larimer and Weld counties from the enhanced emissions program of the AIR program back to the basic emissions program of the AIR program; * Restores the geographical boundaries of the counties included in the AIR program to those in existence prior to the passage of Senate Bill 09-003; * Withdraws from the air quality control commission (commission) in the department of public health and environment (department) the authorization to review and adjust the boundaries of the AIR program area; * Reinstates the definition of "collector's items" to mean a motor vehicle at least 25 years old; * Resets from 1975 to 1959 the latest model year at which a collector's item motor vehicle is excluded from the emissions testing process; * Restores the ability of the commission, upon recommendation from the division of administration in the department, to exempt from the requirement that certification of emissions control be obtained in order to register a collector's item motor vehicle of model year 1970 or older; and * Repeals the provision of Senate Bill 09-003 that prevents a collector's item motor vehicle from being registered as such after being sold or transferred to a new owner. | 02/10/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-112 | Workers' Compensation Ins Rate Setting | KOPP / SWALM | The bill modifies 3 areas of current law regarding rate setting for workers' compensation insurance. First, under current law, when an insured employer agrees to pay a deductible as part of its workers' compensation insurance policy, the carrier is allowed to determine the amount of offset to apply to the insured employer's premium based on the deductible. Section 1 of the bill requires the carrier to give the insured employer credit against the premium for the full amount of the deductible. With regard to rate filings by workers' compensation rating organizations, section 2 of the bill makes the complete recommendations and supporting materials of the rating organization and the independent actuary employed by the commissioner of insurance (commissioner), including any rationale for rate changes, available to the public. Finally, section 3 of the bill requires the commissioner to use a competitive bid process when selecting and licensing rating organizations for workers' compensation rates that are effective on or after January 1, 2012. | 03/31/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-114 | Taxpayer Transparency Act Of 2010 | CARROLL M. / WEISSMANN | The bill extends the application of the "Colorado Open Records Act" (CORA) to all writings made, maintained, or kept by any entity that receives public moneys or performs a governmental or other public function and that relate to the receipt of the public moneys or the performance of that function. Each contract for the performance of a governmental or other public function entered into on or after the effective date of the bill shall specify that the records and files relating to the costs or any performance measures under the contract that are made, maintained, or kept by any entity that is a party to the contract shall be open for public inspection in accordance with CORA. This does not require a private entity to make any materials available for inspection that do not relate to the contract for the performance of a governmental or other public function. | 05/12/2010 House Consideration of First Conference Committee Report result was to Adopt Committee Report - Not Repass | Oppose |
Bill SB10-114 - CARROLL M. / WEISSMANN Taxpayer Transparency Act Of 2010
Bill SB10-114 - CARROLL M. / WEISSMANN Taxpayer Transparency Act Of 2010 | |
| SB10-127 | Collect Loans From Collateral First | CADMAN / FRANGAS | The bill prohibits a creditor of a consumer loan and a credit union, savings and loan association, state bank, industrial bank, or mortgage lender from attempting to collect its debt from a debtor's personal liability under a secured loan that is in default unless the lender has first attempted to collect its debt from the collateral and the proceeds from the collateral are insufficient to fully repay the sum of the outstanding loan balance and the lender's allowable costs of collection, if any. | 02/15/2010 Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Technology Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-133 | Income Tax Credit For Rehiring Employees | HEATH & ... / RICE | The bill establishes an income tax credit to incentivize Colorado businesses to rehire laid-off workers sooner. The tax credit is available for the income tax year commencing January 1, 2011, only. A qualified taxpayer may claim a credit for each employee the taxpayer rehires, so long as the taxpayer submits an affidavit stating that: * Each employee worked for the taxpayer for a full year prior to being laid off, was laid off by the taxpayer in 2009, and is not a new employee but is a former employee who has been rehired; * The employee has been retained by the taxpayer for one full year since the date of rehire; and * Without the credit allowed in the bill the taxpayer would not have rehired the employee by the date he or she was rehired. The credit may be carried forward for a 5-year period but not refunded. The bill also grants the department of revenue rule-making authority to administer and enforce the credit. | 05/05/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-158 | Creative Industries Division In OED | NEWELL / RICE | Lundberg, Morse, Romer, Sandoval, Schwartz, Spence, Steadman, Tapia, Tochtrop, White, Whitehead, Williams [Drafting note: This bill reorganizes existing provisions of statutory law for purposes of clarity. Section and subsection numbers and paragraph letters have changed, but no substantive amendments to the operative provisions have been made except where indicated by capitalized or stricken type. Where section and subsection numbers and paragraph letters have changed, the prior designations are indicated by bold, bracketed type.] Currently, the office of film, television, and media, the state council on the arts, and the art in public places program are all established within the Colorado office of economic development but are not placed in the same location in statute. The bill creates a creative industries division (division) within the Colorado office of economic development and reorganizes the statutory provisions that create the office of film, television, and media (office), the state council on the arts, and the art in public places program (program) into a new part. The bill renames the state council on the arts as the council on creative industries (council) and authorizes the council to establish policies for the council, the office, and the program. The bill specifies that the director of the council shall be the director of the division. In addition, the bill requires the director of the Colorado office of economic development to make funding recommendations to the governor and the general assembly for the operation of the council, the program, and the office. The bill directs the general assembly to make annual appropriations to the division, in such form as the general assembly deems appropriate, for the operation of the council, the office, and the program. | 05/18/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-162 | Modifications To Enterprise Zone Act | HEATH / HULLINGHORST & ... | The "Urban and Rural Enterprise Zone Act" (act) specifies limitations on the population of an area that may be included in an enterprise zone but does not include a standard method of calculating the population. The bill specifies that the population of an enterprise zone shall be calculated using data from the most recent federal decennial census at the county, municipal, or block levels and that the calculations that require the use of block level data shall include the entire population of each block in which the enterprise zone is included. In addition, the bill increases the population limitation for an urban enterprise zone from 80,000 to 115,000 people and increases the limitation for a rural enterprise zone from 100,000 to 150,000 people to account for population growth that has occurred since 1986 when the population limits were established and to account for new standardized methodology. Currently, the state auditor is required to use 6 broad economic indicators when evaluating the effectiveness of the act in an audit. The current factors are too broad to be utilized to determine the impact of an enterprise zone. The bill eliminates the requirement that the state auditor use the 6 indicators and instead creates a new pre-certification process that a taxpayer is required to follow if the taxpayer intends to claim an enterprise zone income tax credit pursuant to the act in order to demonstrate that the act has an impact on the taxpayers' decisions. Currently, a taxpayer's business may earn an income tax credit pursuant to the act by: * Being located in the enterprise zone; and * Performing an activity that is eligible for an enterprise zone income tax credit, regardless of whether the availability of the income tax credit had any demonstrable impact on the taxpayer's decision to start, relocate, or expand the business in the enterprise zone. The bill requires a taxpayer to complete a pre-certification process prior to beginning and completing any activity for which a taxpayer intends to claim an income tax credit pursuant to the act to ensure that the income tax credits allowed pursuant to the act have an impact on taxpayers' business decisions. The bill directs the department of revenue (department) to include a section for the pre-certification data on the enterprise zone income tax credit certification forms that the department currently uses. Currently, some enterprise zone administrators charge a fee to programs, projects, and organizations (contribution projects) that have been approved by the Colorado economic development commission (commission). Current statute does not provide any authority or limitation regarding the fees, and, consequently, the fee policies vary from one enterprise zone to another. The bill requires each enterprise zone administrator that charges fees to create a policy regarding the fees and to submit the policy to the commission for approval. The commission must review each policy submitted by an enterprise zone administrator. The bill directs the Colorado office of economic development (office) to work with the commission and the department to develop the capability, if there is no fiscal impact, to allow taxpayers that intend to claim one or more income tax credits pursuant to the act to submit pre-certification forms, certification forms, and required reporting information in an electronic format. The bill requires the department to aggregate and report data collected regarding tax credits claimed pursuant to the act, categorized by the date that the tax credit was authorized, the specific tax credit allowed pursuant to the act that each taxpayer was authorized to claim, and the total amount of the tax credits claimed for each tax credit allowed pursuant to the act. The bill requires the department to submit the data to the office on an annual basis. | 06/09/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-164 | Blue Print For A Leaner Government Act | KOPP / STEPHENS | The bill requires the legislative audit committee to appoint a task force (LAC task force) to review executive branch departments and make recommendations related to the executive branch departments' programs in order to identify redundancies, abuse, fraud, and cost savings and to specify other efficiency measures. The LAC task force must report to the legislative audit committee by August 5, 2011, and the legislative audit committee must then recommend to the general assembly such legislation regarding the findings and recommendations of the LAC task force as may be necessary. The bill also requires the committee on legal services to appoint a task force (COLS task force) to review the state's regulatory system and make recommendations related to regulatory advantages or disadvantages, the number of businesses current regulated, and the cost of regulatory compliance. The COLS task force must report to the committee on legal services by August 5, 2011, and the committee on legal services must then recommend to the general assembly such legislation regarding the findings and recommendations of the COLS task force as may be necessary. | 02/17/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-168 | Taxpayer Protection Act Of 2010 | PENRY / LAMBERT | The bill requires the governor to reduce state expenditures for the current state fiscal year and the next state fiscal year as follows: * For the current state fiscal year, the governor must reduce state personnel expenditures by $17.8 million (.24% of Spence 2009-10 general fund appropriations in the general appropriation bill); * For the next state fiscal year, the governor must reduce total state expenditures by $306.5 million (4.39% of the governor's general fund budget request). These reductions will be made through cuts to state personnel expenditures and to any nonessential state programs, with priority given to the former type of cut. If the governor reduces personnel expenditures from a cash fund, an amount equal to such reduction shall be transferred from the cash fund to the general fund. The bill reduces the judicial branch and legislative agency expenditures and per diem payments for members of the general assembly by .24% for the current state fiscal year and by 4.39% for the next state fiscal year. The bill specifies that the general assembly shall not reduce the amount of the homestead property tax exemption for qualifying senior citizens for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2010. Beginning March 1, 2010, the bill also raises the amount that a retail vendor may retain each month when collecting and remitting state sales tax revenues back to 3.33%. | 03/03/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SB10-174 | Promote Geothermal Energy Development | SCHWARTZ / MASSEY & ... | Section 5 of the bill defines "direct use" as the utilization of geothermal resources for commercial, residential, agricultural, public facilities, or other energy needs other than the commercial production of electricity. Sections 1 and 2 of the bill allow municipalities and counties to designate geothermal development as an activity of state interest under House Bill 74-1041, except for the direct use of such resources. Sections 3 and 4 allocate federal mineral lease revenues derived from geothermal resource development to the geothermal resource leasing fund and authorize the executive director of the department of local affairs to distribute the revenues: * To state agencies, school districts, and political subdivisions of the state affected by the development and production of geothermal resources primarily for use by such entities in planning for and providing facilities and services necessitated by such development and production; and * Secondarily to such entities, in consultation with the governor's energy office, for the promotion of the development of geothermal energy resources. Section 6 specifies that the property right to the following types of geothermal resources are an incident of the ownership of the overlying surface: * Nontributary groundwater; and * Not nontributary groundwater. Section 7 adopts the reasonable accommodation doctrine regarding relations between surface owners and geothermal resource developers. Section 8 specifies that a permit from the state engineer is not required for the direct use of a horizontal, closed-loop geoexchange system that does not use a geothermal fluid, as established by the state engineer by rule. Section 9 specifies that "material injury" includes an alteration in the temperature of water only if the alteration adversely affects a valid, prior geothermal right. Sections 10 through 12 require geothermal energy facilities to be valued for the purpose of property taxation in the same manner in which wind or solar energy facilities are valued. | 04/30/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-178 | Fair Workers' Comp Provider Reviews | HODGE & ... / GEROU & ... | The bill creates the "Provider Review and Disclosure Act". The act requires workers' compensation insurers to include quality and patient data in performance initiatives. The act also requires such initiatives to be based on objective data that is available to affected providers. The act requires credentialing, quality, and service reviews to be based on objective criteria that are applied consistently. The act provides due process for health care providers, including disclosure of the processes followed, the provider's rights, and an appeal process to challenge results and decisions relating to performance initiatives. | 05/26/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-184 | I-70 Mountain Corridor Trans Demand Mgmt | ROMER & ... / SCANLAN & ... | The bill: * Authorizes the high-performance transportation enterprise to enter into a transportation demand management contract with the department of transportation to relieve traffic congestion during peak travel times in a specified portion of the interstate 70 mountain corridor by providing and operating reversible highway lanes within that portion of the corridor; * Specifies that, if a feasibility study of a moveable barrier system on interstate 70 is completed and demonstrates that such a system is viable and that life safety issues can be addressed, a transportation demand management contract shall establish, at a minimum, the goal of beginning the provision and operation of reversible highway lanes no later than January 1, 2011; and * Further specifies that a transportation demand management contract may authorize the high-performance transportation enterprise to enter into single-fiscal year or multiple-fiscal year operating lease agreements or capital lease or lease-purchase agreements with a private contractor as needed to provide and operate the reversible highway lanes. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-187 | Workers' Comp Act Various Provisions | TOCHTROP / RIESBERG | The bill makes various changes to the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado" (act). Section 1 excludes medicaid and other indigent health care programs from the purview of health insurance plans, the cost of which is factored into a calculation of wages under the act. Section 2 adds a compensable cost under the act by requiring a court to award all reasonable costs (not including attorney fees) to a claimant when medical maintenance benefits that have been recommended by an authorized treating physician but are unpaid and contested are: * Admitted fewer than 20 days before the date of the hearing; or * Ordered after the application for hearing on the benefits is filed. Section 3 clarifies that the phrase "at the time of injury", with respect to calculation of a worker's average weekly wage, means the wages the worker was earning on the date of the worker's accident. Section 4 eliminates permanent partial disability from the types of disabilities for which payments must be reduced under the act in order to offset benefits payable under the federal "Old-age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Amendments of 1965" (federal act). This section also repeals the requirement that employees apply for benefits under the federal act upon request by the insurer or employer. Section 5 describes some circumstances under which a temporarily disabled employee's rejection of an offer of modified employment does not constitute employee responsibility for termination of employment. Section 6 replaces loss of an eye by enucleation on the schedule of specific permanent medical impairment injuries with loss of a tooth, and sets the compensation period for such loss at 6 weeks. Section 7 requires the director of the division of workers' compensation (director) in the department of labor and employment to annually adjust, based on his or her annual adjustments to the computation of average weekly wages, the amount of compensation for combined temporary disability payments and permanent partial disability payments. This section takes effect January 1, 2011. Section 8 forbids the director or an administrative law judge from conditioning a lump sum payment on the claimant's waiver of his or her right to pursue permanent total disability payments. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-191 | Principal And Teacher Effectiveness | JOHNSTON & ... / SCANLAN & ... | The bill creates a strategy based on educator effectiveness to develop greater opportunities for educators and enhance education for students throughout Colorado. Section 1 makes legislative findings. Section 2 adds definitions. Section 3 requires the state board of education (state board) to work with the governor's council for educator effectiveness (council), as created by executive order, to promulgate rules concerning a system to evaluate the effectiveness of educators (system). Section 4 repeals the state licensed personnel performance evaluation council. Section 5 references the council and lists additional duties for the council. Among those duties are developing recommendations for the state board regarding teacher evaluations and granting and revoking nonprobationary status. The council is also charged with developing a set of guidelines for establishing levels of effectiveness for different categories of educators, making recommendations regarding career ladders for teachers and principals, and making recommendations concerning a state plan for the equitable distribution of highly effective teachers and principals. If the council fails to make recommendations to the state board by December 31, 2010, the state board shall, on or before March 1, 2011, promulgate rules concerning any of the items concerning which the council was charged to make recommendations. Section 6 requires a school district board of education or board of cooperative services to meet or exceed the guidelines established by the state board when creating its performance evaluation system. Standards are provided for a school district board of education to use when evaluating principals. Sections 7 and 10 redefine a probationary teacher as a teacher who has not completed 3 consecutive years of demonstrated effectiveness or a nonprobationary teacher who has had 2 consecutive years of demonstrated ineffectiveness, as defined by rule of the state board. Sections 8 and 11 require teacher placement by mutual consent of the teacher and the receiving school. Each teacher employment contract shall contain a provision stating that the teacher may be assigned to a particular school only upon the consent of the receiving school. If a teacher is unable to secure a position after 2 hiring cycles, he or she will be placed on unpaid leave without benefits until he or she earns a position, at which time his or her benefits and years of experience will be reinstated. Section 9 allows demonstrated effectiveness to be a factor in cancelling employment contracts when there is a justifiable decrease in the number of teaching positions. | 05/20/2010 Governor Action - Signed |
Bill SB10-191 - JOHNSTON & ... / SCANLAN & ... Principal And Teacher Effectiveness | ||
| SB10-202 | Savings Accounts For Job Retraining | WHITEHEAD / KERR A. | Under current law, anyone may open a college savings account (account) through a college savings plan for any beneficiary. The bill specifies that any adult may open an account for the benefit of himself or herself in furtherance of the adult's own postsecondary educational and job retraining goals (adult learner). The authority that administers the college savings plan (authority) is directed to: * Promote the use of accounts by adult learners and to Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute. develop and implement procedures to allow an employer to make a matching contribution to an adult learner's account for any contribution made by the adult learner; * Develop procedures to provide college planning and preparation for adult learners through college in Colorado; and * Develop procedures for coordinating with the department of labor and employment to make information regarding accounts for adult learners available to potential participants. The authority is directed to work with the financial institutions that manage the accounts to determine the savings options that would be most beneficial to adult learners, and the financial institutions are directed to develop and implement a plan to expand the promotion of the college savings program to encourage adults to open accounts and participate as adult learners. Any employer matching contribution to an account for an adult learner is subtracted from federal taxable income. The job retraining cash fund is created in the state treasury and an amount from the fund shall be annually transferred to the general fund for specified state fiscal years to assist in defraying the cost to the state of people contributing to an account for an adult learner. The moneys in the fund shall consist of a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the loan assets of the authority. | 06/09/2010 Governor Action - Signed | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SB10-205 | Sch Dist Bonded Indebtedness Elections | BACON / SCANLAN & ... | State law currently authorizes school districts to ask the eligible Capital letters indicate new material to be added to existing statute. Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute. electors in their districts for approval to issue bonded indebtedness and specifies the purposes for which a district may issue such bonded indebtedness. The bill creates a new purpose for which a district may issue bonded indebtedness. Specifically, it allows a district to ask its eligible electors for permission to issue bonded indebtedness to pay the costs that may be paid from the district's general fund, but only if Amendment 61, concerning state and local debt limitations, is adopted by the voters at the November 2010 general election and the eligible electors of the district approve a question to create debt for such purpose at the November 2010 general election or a subsequent election. | 05/27/2010 Governor Action - Signed |
Bill SB10-205 - BACON / SCANLAN & ... Sch Dist Bonded Indebtedness Elections | ||
| SB10-206 | Distrib Of State Share Of Ltd Gaming Rev | WHITE / SCANLAN | The bill removes the triggers and exceptions related to the Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute. distributions commencing with the state fiscal year 2010-11 and every state fiscal year thereafter of the 50% of the limited gaming fund allocated to the state general fund or such other fund as the general assembly provides as specified in section 9 (5) (b) (II) of article XVIII of the state constitution that the general assembly has allocated to the Colorado travel and tourism promotion fund, state council on the arts cash fund, new jobs incentives cash fund, Colorado office of film, television, and media operational account cash fund, innovative higher education research fund, and the clean energy fund. The bill also removes several obsolete provisions. | 05/05/2010 House Committee on Finance Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SCR10-001 | Fiscal Policy Constitutional Commission | HEATH / FERRANDINO | *** No bill summary available *** | 05/11/2010 Senate Third Reading Lost | Monitor | NOT ON CALENDAR | |
| SCR10-003 | Ballot Initiatives To Amend Constitution | TAPIA / COURT | *** No bill summary available *** | 05/12/2010 House Committee on State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SCR10-007 | Sales & Use Tax Of Tangible Pers Prop | LUNDBERG | *** No bill summary available *** | 05/03/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SCR10-008 | Clarification Of Tax & Fee In TABOR | BROPHY / MCNULTY | *** No bill summary available *** | 05/03/2010 Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs Postpone Indefinitely | NOT ON CALENDAR | ||
| SJR10-002 | Request For Comprehensive Tax Study | HEATH / COURT | *** No bill summary available *** | 01/27/2010 Signed by the Speaker of the House | Support | NOT ON CALENDAR |