Bill Tracker

Education

Healthcare

The bill requires the department of labor and employment to administer an employment services for veterans pilot program. 

Military Affairs

Military Affairs

The bill extends the right to use deadly force against an intruder under certain conditions to include owners, managers, and employees of businesses

General Business

This bill establishes a procedure for a party that obtains a monetary award in court
(judgment creditor) to compel the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) to
disclose employment information contained in its wage and employment database about the other
party (judgment debtor). The bill also modifies rules for debt collection by government agencies.

General Business

The bill requires the director to prepare an intial fiscal impact statement for each initiative submitted to the title board and to further summarize the abstract into a 2-sentence fiscal impact summary.  The director is required to consider the proponents' fiscal impact estimate, which the proponents are strongly encouraged to submit along with the initiative for review and comment.  The bill also requires the designated representatives of the initiative proponents to appear at all review and comment meetings.

Elections

Education

Technology

The bill enacts the Regulatory Reform Act of 2015.  It makes legislative declarations about the importance of businesses with 100 or fewer employees to the Colorado economy and the difficulty these types of businesses have in complying with new administrative rules that are not known or understood by these businesses.  The bill requires a state agency to issue a written warning and engage the business in educational outreach

General Business

Transportation

The bill prohibits an employer from requiring any person, as a condition of employment, to become or remain a member of a labor organization or to pay dues, fees, or other assessments to a labor organization or to a charity or third party in lieu of the labor organization.  Any agreement that violates these prohibitions or the rights of an employee is void.

Employment/Labor

General Business

General Business

General Business

The bill creates a general definition of the term small business
for purposes of Colorado law to apply in situations where a more specific
definition does not exist in the statutes. The definition of small business
created by the bill would not apply to any situation involving a state
program where it is necessary for a state entity to use a different
definition of small business or to apply different standards to the criteria
governing eligibility for assistance to businesses resulting from conditions
on the use of public or private moneys.

Small Business

Transportation

Land Use

Military Affairs

A person commits the crime of first degree criminal trespass if he or she is not a peace officer or other agent of a state or local government agency acting in his or her official capacity and he or she knowingly and intentionally uses an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) to observe, record, transmit, or capture images of another person when the other person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
A person commits harassment if he or she is not a peace officer or other agent of a state or local government agency acting in his or her official capacity and, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another person, he or she uses a UAV to track a person's movements in or about a public place without the person's authorization. The bill amends existing law concerning the retention of passive surveillance records by government agencies to contemplate the retention of records that are obtained through the use of drones.

General Business

Energy

The bill specifies that a local government that bans hydraulic
fracturing of an oil and gas well is liable to the royalty owner for the
value of the lost royalties.

Energy

Energy

State law allows an individual who is domiciled in Colorado to
elect treatment as a nonresident individual for state income tax filing
purposes if the individual is absent from the state for at least 305 days,
excluding from the calculation of days home leave and temporary official
assignments in the United States, of the year, and is stationed outside the
United States for active military service. If the spouse of such an
individual accompanies the individual while the individual is absent from
the United States, the spouse may also elect treatment as a nonresident
individual. The bill extends the same option to elect treatment as a
nonresident individual to an individual domiciled in Colorado who is
stationed outside of the United States for civilian employment by the
United States government and the accompanying spouse of such an
individual.

Military/Tax

General Business

The bill prohibits the collection of an interchange fee, defined as
a fee established by a payment card network for the purpose of
compensating the issuer of a credit or debit card for its involvement in an
electronic payment transaction, on the portion of the total price that
represents taxes imposed by the state or a local government. A 2-year
grace period allows for the continuation of existing contracts and
software that do not separately account for taxes, but the bill applies to all
transactions on and after July 1, 2017.

Tax

The bill creates the economic development working group for
highly distressed rural and urban regions of the state. The working group
consists of:
  • Four members of the general assembly, who are voting
members, appointed by leadership in each house in such a
way to ensure that of the 4 members appointed, 2 represent
rural regions of the state and 2 represent urban regions of
the state;
  • The executive director of the Colorado office of economic
development, or his or her designee, who is the fifth voting
member; and
  • Four other nonvoting members appointed by the legislative
members of the working group and the representative of
the Colorado office of economic development with
consideration for county issues, municipal issues, issues
related to economic development in rural areas, and issues
related to economic development in urban areas.
The working group must select data that is appropriate,
consistently available, timely, and reflective of current reality, which data
will then be used to ascertain the highly distressed rural and urban regions
of the state.
The bill requires the working group to:
  • Establish the regions and post their names and boundaries
on the office's web site;
  • Discuss and evaluate other economic development efforts
in the regions and their best practices;
  • Discuss and evaluate the possibility of creating tax-free
zones or other economic development tools for the regions;
and
  • Make detailed legislative recommendations to the general
assembly in order to quickly improve the economic vitality
of those regions.

General Business

Beginning January 1, 2016, the bill allows a sales and use tax
refund to the owner, operator, or tenant of a facility that is a qualified data
center or a qualified refurbished data center for the state sales or use tax
paid on information technology equipment (IT equipment) that is used
and maintained in the qualified data center or qualified refurbished data
center for at least one year. The refund also applies to IT equipment that
is purchased to replace or upgrade IT equipment and IT equipment that
is relocated to the state.

Tax

Workforce Development

Under current law, an employee may file an employment discrimination claim and seek compensatory and punitive damages in state court after pursuing administrative relief through the Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD). This bill elim inates punitive damages as a remedy for these state law employment discrimination cases.

Employment/Labor

The bill limits the authority of the department of labor and
employment to conduct audits or investigations to the initial purpose of
the audit or investigation.

Employment/Labor

The bill recreates and reenacts, with amendments, a refund for
state sales and use tax paid by a qualified medical technology or clean
technology taxpayer (qualified taxpayer). A qualified taxpayer is a
business entity that:
  • Employs 35 or fewer full-time employees in Colorado;
  • Is headquartered in Colorado or has more than 50% of its
employees in Colorado; and
  • Conducts research and development of medical technology
or clean technology.
From 2015 through 2019, a qualified taxpayer may claim a refund
for state sales and use tax paid on tangible personal property used in
Colorado directly and predominately in research and development of
medical technology or clean technology. For this purpose, the definition
for clean technology is expanded. The maximum refund a qualified
taxpayer may receive for sales and use tax paid in a calendar year is
$50,000. To receive a refund, a qualified taxpayer must submit an
application to the department of revenue no later than April 1 of the
following year and provide certain information to the department.

Tax

Federal law allows active duty military service members to choose
their state of residency for state income tax purposes. The military income
of a nonresident is not subject to Colorado income tax. A Colorado
resident in the armed forces (resident service person) is currently exempt
from Colorado state income tax only if he or she is stationed outside the
country for 305 or more days per year and elects not to file a tax return or
if he or she is deployed in a war zone. The bill exempts all military
income of a resident service person from Colorado state income tax for
5 tax years commencing with the 2016 income tax year.

Military Affairs

Under current law, premises licensed under the Colorado Liquor
Code as a tavern, hotel and restaurant, brew pub, retail gaming tavern,
or vintner's restaurant may attach to a common consumption area within
an entertainment district established by a local government.
The bill expands the types of licensed premises that may be
included in an entertainment district, allowing beer and wine licensees,
manufacturers that operate sales rooms, and limited wineries to attach to
a common consumption area within an entertainment district.

General Business

Tax

Military Affairs

Under the Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act (act), an
employer that employs at least 50 employees must provide its employees
up to 6 hours in any one-month period, up to 18 hours per academic year,
of leave from work to attend a child's academic activities. The act only
applies to:
  • Parents of children in grades kindergarten through twelfth
grade; and
  • Parent-teacher conferences or meetings related to special
education services, interventions, dropout prevention,
attendance, truancy, or disciplinary issues.
Additionally, the act is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2015.
The bill expands the types of academic activities for which a
parent is entitled to leave from work to allow parents to attend meetings
with school counselors in which the employee's child is directly
participating or academic achievement ceremonies, education nights, or
other activities in which the child is directly participating and that
contribute to the child's academic progress. Additionally, parents are
entitled to take leave for children enrolled in preschool as well as in
kindergarten through twelfth grade.
The bill requires school districts and institute charter schools to
post on their web sites, and include in district-wide or school-wide
communications sent to parents and the community at large, information
about the act and requires the Colorado state advisory council for parent
involvement in education to also provide information to the extent
possible within existing resources. The bill also continues the act
indefinitely.

Employment/Labor

The bill creates an income tax credit for a limited number of years
for employers doing business in Colorado who hire and retain new
employees for a 12-month period and during that period make payments
directly to a lender on behalf of each new employee for the new
employee's student loan that he or she incurred while earning an approved
degree. An employer who has multiple new employees may seek credits
for each new employee. The bill requires the approved degree to be an
associate or bachelor's degree that represents the completion of a course
of study in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, or a
vocational certificate related to industry, manufacturing, or information
technology from a Colorado institution of higher education. The bill
requires each new employee to be a Colorado resident, work full-time,
and receive a base salary or hourly wages totaling less than $60,000 per
year.
The bill sets up a process whereby the employer seeks preapproval
of a credit through the Colorado office of economic development (office)
and then allows the office to issue credit certificates after the employer
has documented that the requirements of the credit have been met by the
employer.
The bill specifies that the amount of the credit is calculated as 50%
of the payments made directly by the employer to a new employee's
lender, subject to a specified maximum per new employee and a specified
maximum per employer, except that the per employer maximum may be
waived by the Colorado economic development commission. The bill
further limits the number of credits that the office may issue in each
income tax year that the credit is available.

Tax

Workforce Development

three years

Healthcare

General Business

Workforce Development

operating costs of approximately $100,000.

Workforce Development

Workforce Development

Workforce Development

General Business

General Business

Military Affairs

The bill limits the discretion of the director of the division of labor
(director) in creating an exemption to Colorado's regulatory overtime
requirements for employees that are administrative, executive, supervisor,
or professional. The bill sets a minimum salary requirement for the
director to apply the exemption equaling three times the Colorado
minimum wage. For example, at the current minimum wage of $8.23 per
hour, an employee that is an administrative, executive, supervisor, or
professional making less than a weekly salary of $987.60 ($8.23 x 40
hours x 3 = $987.60) could not be exempted from overtime by the
director's rules. Because the Colorado state minimum wage automatically
adjusts for inflation under the Colorado constitution, by linking the
minimum salary for the exemption to apply to minimum wage, that salary
will also adjust with inflation.

General Business

Workforce Development/ Military Affairs

General Business

Center

Tax

The bill modifies statutory provisions governing an urban renewal
authority (URA) in the following respects:
  • Section 1 of the bill modifies the number of commissioners
of a URA. Specifically, the bill deletes the requirement that
a URA have an odd number of commissioners and allows
a URA to have up to 13 commissioners.
  • In all cases where an urban renewal plan (plan) managed
by the URA includes an allocation of property tax
increment generated by the mill levy imposed by one or
more counties, except where the municipality is a city and
county, section 1 of the bill requires one commissioner to
be appointed by agreement of the boards of county
commissioners of each county whose property taxes are
subject to allocation under any such plan. Where any plan
managed by the authority includes an allocation of property
tax increment generated by the mill levy imposed by any
special district or school district, one such commissioner
must also be a board member of a special district whose
property taxes are subject to allocation under any such plan,
selected by agreement of such special districts whose
property taxes are subject to allocation under any such plan,
and one such commissioner must also be an elected
member of a board of education of a school district,
selected by agreement of the school districts whose
property taxes are subject to allocation under any such plan.
This section of the bill also specifies the time by which
such representational appointments must be made and the
terms of such appointments.
  • Section 4 of the bill imposes similar representational
requirements when the governing body of a municipality
designates itself as the URA.
  • Under current law, if the property taxes collected as a result
of the county levy will be used in the plan, the governing
body of the municipality or the URA is required to submit
a report discussing the impact to the county (report).
Section 2 of the bill clarifies that the report is required to
be sent to the board of county commissioners and also to
the governing body of each taxing entity for which the
revenues from its general fund mill levy is proposed to be
allocated under the plan. The report is required to be
developed in consultation with such board as well any such
governing bodies. This section of the bill also extends the
time by which the report must be initially submitted and
requires the report to address impacts on districts in
addition to those of the county

Urban Renewal

Current law allows a military spouse to practice an occupation or profession during the person's first year of residence in Colorado if the person is authorized to practice in another state, there is no basis to
disqualify the person from practice, and the person consents to the jurisdiction of the disciplinary authority of the appropriate agency. The bill expands this practice to all persons during their first year of residence in Colorado.

General Business

This bill limits the finance charge allowed on a credit card issued by a Colorado lender to 12.5% in the Colorado Uniform Consumer Code (UCCC).

General Business

General Business

Under current law, the public utilities commission is required to
establish electric resource standards. These standards must set the
minimum percentage of electricity that retail electric service providers in
Colorado must generate or cause to be generated from recycled energy
and renewable energy resources. The bill reduces the minimum
percentage of renewable energy required of investor-owned utilities from
20% to 15% for the years 2015 through 2019 and from 30% to 15% for
the years 2020 and thereafter. The bill also reduces the minimum amounts
for cooperative electric associations from 20% to 15% for the years 2020
and thereafter.

Energy

The bill establishes a private school tuition income tax credit for
income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2016, that allows any
taxpayer to claim a credit when the taxpayer enrolls a dependent qualified
child in a private school or the taxpayer provides a scholarship to a
qualified child for enrollment in a private school and the private school
issues the taxpayer a credit certificate for either enrolling a dependent
qualified child in the private school or providing a scholarship to a
qualified child for enrollment in the private school.
The credit may be carried forward for 3 years but not refunded,
and the department of revenue is granted rule-making authority. The
amount of the credit is:

Education

Current law contains an overall requirement for cooperative electric associations (CEAs) as part of Colorado's renewable energy standard (RES). Specifically, CEA's are required to generate the following percentages of retail electricity sales from eligible, renewable energy resources: C 6 percent for the years 2015 through 2019; and C 10 percent for the years 2020 and after. In addition, CEAs serving more than 100,000 meters and generation and transmission CEA's providing wholesale electricity to other CEAs must meet a 20 percent standard for the years 2020 and after. Current law also contains retail distributed generation (RDG) requirements for all CEAs. Specifically, CEAs serving more than 10,000 meters must supply one percent of their total retail sales through distributed generation (typically rooftop solar), while CEAs serving less than 10,000 meters are required to supply three-fourths of one percent in this fashion. This bill relaxes the overall standard for CEAs by allowing them to count each kilowatt-hour obtained through RDG as three kilowatt-hours for purposes of meeting the standard. In addition, the bill allows CEAs to use generation purchases from community solar gardens (CSGs) to count as RDG, and thus also the overall requirement of using the three-times multiplier. Under current law, only investor-owned utilities may receive credit for generation from community solar gardens toward RES requirements.

Renewable Energy

The bill permits law enforcement to use an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) under the following circumstances:   • When it receives a search warrant authorizing the use prior to the use;  • When it is needed to prevent imminent harm to life or to forestall the imminent escape of a suspect or the
destruction of evidence; and  • When there is a high risk of a terrorist attack determined by the department of homeland security. A law enforcement agency must receive federal aviation administration authority prior to using a drone, and the drone may not exceed 25 pounds.
The bill creates parameters for individual, recreational, civil, and industrial use of drones.

General Business

Employment/Labor

Health Care

The bill directs the staff of the legislative council (staff) to
designate a 5-day period following the introduction of new legislation or
the notice of proposed rule-making during which any person may submit
comments regarding the potential business fiscal impacts of the new
legislation or rule. Upon the expiration of that period, staff is required to
compile the comments into a notice of reported business fiscal impact and
to post each notice on its official web site. Staff is also required to
provide the appropriate department with the notice regarding a proposed
rule.

General Business

General Business

Workforce Development

The bill modifies the definition of public records under the
Colorado Open Records Act to include all writings made, maintained,
or kept by a private organization that receives moneys collected by the
state or a political subdivision of the state at the request of a public
employee or taxpayer and that involve the receipt or expenditure of
moneys by the private organization.

General Business

Water

General Business

General Business

Transportation

Land Use

Whenever a local government adopts or implements an ordinance,
resolution, rule, regulation, or other form of official policy concerning
mineral extraction operations that has the effect of reducing the fair
market value of the owner's mineral interest by at least 60%, the bill
specifies that the owner's interest is deemed to have been taken for a
public use. In such circumstances, the bill allows the owner to obtain
compensation from the local government for the full diminution in the
fair market value of the owner's interest caused by the regulatory
impairment of the local government.

Energy

Employment/Labor

Land Use

Pursuant to the Colorado Employment Security Act, service
performed by an individual for another is deemed to be employment
irrespective of whether the common-law relationship of master and
servant exists, unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the division of
labor in the department of labor and employment (division) that the
individual is free from control and direction in the performance of the
service. The bill removes the requirement that freedom from control and
direction must be shown to the satisfaction of the division.

Employment

The bill requires all providers of retail electric service in Colorado,
including municipal utilities and cooperative electric associations, to
develop a grid modernization plan outlining how the provider, over a
10-year period, proposes to make measurable progress toward the
following grid modernization objectives:
  • Optimizing demand-side management;
  • Optimizing supply-side management;
  • Achieving advanced metering functionality within 5 years;
  • Increasing electric grid reliability by improving integration
capabilities for distributed resources; and
  • Achieving advanced metering infrastructure functionality
within 5 years.

Energy

The bill makes the following modifications to the Urban Renewal
Law (URL):
  • Section 1 of the bill increases the maximum number of
allowable commissioners on an urban renewal authority
from 11 to 13. The bill specifies that one commissioner on
the authority may, if the county so chooses, be appointed by
the board of county commissioners of the county within the
territorial boundaries of which the urban renewal area is
located. The bill specifies additional procedures if the
urban renewal area is located within the boundaries of
more than one county. The bill specifies additional
requirements governing the appointment of this
commissioner position.
  • In the case of the special fund established for the collection
of taxes to implement tax increment financing by the
authority, section 2 of the bill requires all moneys
remaining in the fund that have not previously been rebated
and that originated as property tax increment generated
based on the mill levy of a taxing body within the
boundaries of the urban renewal area to be repaid to each
taxing body, other than the municipality, based on the pro
rata share of the total mill levy attributable to each taxing
body's mill levy in the last year in which property taxes
were divided. Any funds remaining in the special fund not
generated by property tax increment are excluded from any
such repayment requirement.
  • Section 3 of the bill allows a commissioner of the authority
to be appointed by the board of county commissioners
where the governing body of the municipality is the
authority.

Land Use

Under current law, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) administers the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment (ASCENT) program. The CDE designates the number of participants in the program based on certain student qualifications and on recommendations received from a local education provider (LEP). ASCENT students are counted in the enrollment numbers for a participating LEP; these students are also counted by the institution of higher education for purposes of resident enrollment requirements, and to access stipends from the College Opportunity Fund. Funding to LEPs for ASCENT students is provided in the annual School Finance Act.

Education

For 5 income tax years beginning in 2015, there is an income tax
credit to reimburse a qualifying taxpayer for personal property taxes paid
in Colorado for which the taxpayer does not already receive a state or
federal income tax benefit. To qualify for the credit, a taxpayer must have
$15,000 or less worth of personal property on which property taxes are
paid in Colorado during an income tax year commencing in 2015, or have
less than an inflation-adjusted amount for each income tax year thereafter
(property cap).
The bill increases the property cap for 2015 from $15,000 to
$25,000, and the property cap for the next 4 income tax years will grow
by inflation from this amount.

Tax

The bill states that when the governing documents of a common
interest community require mediation or arbitration of a construction
defect claim and the requirement is later amended or removed, mediation
or arbitration is still required for a construction defect claim. These
provisions are in section 2 of the bill. Section 2 also specifies that the
mediation or arbitration must take place in the judicial district in which
the community is located and that the arbitrator must:
  • Be a neutral third party;
  • Make certain disclosures before being selected; and
  • Be selected as specified in the common interest
community's governing documents or, if not so specified,
in accordance with the uniform arbitration act.

Land Use

Energy and Environment

The resolution establishes a new 2-election process for an initiative
petition to amend the state constitution. After the petition and necessary
signatures are filed with the secretary of state, an authorization question
for the measure is submitted to the voters at the next general election. The
authorization question asks voters whether there should be an election to
consider the proposed amendment to the constitution. Prior to the election
for the authorization question, the nonpartisan research staff of the
general assembly (staff) is required to prepare a blue book for the
measure that is the basis of the question.
If the voters approve the authorization question, then, and not
otherwise, the measure is submitted to the voters for their approval or
rejection at the odd-year election held in the next November. During the
year following an approved authorization question, staff is required to
conduct at least one public hearing about the related measure in each
congressional district.
The new procedure does not apply to an initiated constitutional
amendment that only repeals a provision of any amendment to the
constitution that was adopted prior to 2015.

Elections

The concurrent resolution incrementally increases the statewide
minimum wage from the current amount of $8.23 to $12.50 from January
1, 2017, to January 1, 2020, as follows:
  • January 1, 2017 - $9.50;
  • January 1, 2018 - $10.50;
  • January 1, 2019 - $11.50;
  • January 1, 2020 - $12.50.

General Business