Bill Tracker

An executive branch agency of state government considering adopting rules shall establish a representative group of participants with an interest in the subject of the rule-making to submit views or otherwise participate in conferences or to participate in the rule-making hearing on the proposals under consideration. If the agency convenes a representative group prior to issuing a notice of proposed rule-making, the agency shall include the group participants in the notice of the actual rule-making hearing.

If an agency proposes a rule to increase fees or fines, at the time of giving notice of proposed rule-making under the State Administrative Procedure Act or within 10 days following the adoption of an emergency or temporary rule that increases fees or fines, the agency shall send a written or electronic notification to each member of the general assembly notifying the members about the proposed rule or about the adoption of an emergency rule and specifying the amount of the increase in the fees or fines.

Principal departments of state government shall submit a departmental regulatory agenda each November 1 to the legislative council staff for distribution to the applicable oversight committee of reference of the general assembly. The departmental regulatory agenda shall include:

• A list of new rules or revisions to existing rules that thedepartment expects to propose during the next calendar year;
• The statutory or other basis for adoption of the proposed rules;
• The purpose of the proposed rules;
• The contemplated schedule for adoption of the rules;
• An identification and listing of persons or parties that may be affected positively or negatively by the rules; and
• An update and brief summary of all permanent and temporaryrules actually adopted since the previous departmental regulatory agenda was filed.
Each principal department shall present its departmental regulatory agenda to the applicable oversight committee of reference of the general assembly during the departmental presentations on strategic plans and performance-based budgeting held during the first 15 days of the

legislative session.

Under current law, persons proposing the regulation of a currently unregulated professional or occupational group must submit the proposal to the department of regulatory agencies (department), and the department normally must conduct a sunrise review and analysis of, and issue a sunrise report and recommendations on, the proposed regulation within 120 days after the proposal was submitted. However, the department need not conduct a sunrise review of a proposal if the department finds that:

• The proposed regulatory scheme would regulate less than 250 people;
• The department previously reviewed the same professional or occupational group and determines it would not change its recommendations contained in the prior review;
• A majority of states regulate the same profession or occupation; or
• The unregulated profession or occupation poses an imminent threat to public health, safety, or welfare, in which case the department is to promptly notify the proponents and the general assembly and recommend regulation of the profession or occupation.

When the department declines to conduct a review, current law requires the department to notify the proponents and the general assembly of its decision, and the proponents may pursue legislation to regulate the profession or occupation during the next 2 regular legislative sessions of the general assembly or, if the notice is issued during a regular legislative session, legislation may be presented during that legislative session as well.

The bill modifies the sunrise review process for analyzing proposals to regulate an unregulated professional or occupational group submitted on or after July 1, 2012, as follows:

• Requires regulation proponents to submit a proposal by December 1 of any given year in order to obtain a review and report by October 15 of the following year;
• Requires the department to issue sunrise reports no later than October 15 on proposals submitted by December 1 of the prior year;
• Eliminates the ability of the department to decline to review a proposal in all cases except when the department finds the profession or occupation poses an imminent threat, or has previously reviewed the same proposal, issued a report less than 36 months before the current proposal was submitted, and finds that its conclusions would be the same as in the initial report, in which case the department may reissue its original report by October 15 of the year following the year in which the proposal was submitted;
• When the department declines a sunrise review because it finds the profession or occupation poses an imminent threat, the department must notify the legislative council of the general assembly of its finding and the basis for its finding, and requires the legislative council to conduct a hearing to examine the department's findings and determine whether it concurs; and
• If a report is issued or reissued or an imminent threat finding is made and concurred in by the legislative council during a legislative session, eliminates the ability of proponents to pursue legislation to regulate the profession or occupation during that same legislative session.

The changes to the sunrise process do not affect proposals to regulate a profession or occupation that are submitted prior to July 1, 2012.

Under current law, the authority of the board of county commissioners (board) of Pueblo county to operate, either itself or through a contractor, a local access to health care pilot program in the county expires on July 1, 2012. The bill extends the repeal date for the pilot program and the board's authority for another 5 years, through July 1, 2017.

For debts less than $5,000, the bill specifies that if any person to whom money is owed refuses to accept payment in the form of United States currency or coin, the person owing the money, at that person's option, may deduct from the amount owed, or demand from the person to whom the money is owed, a sum covering the cost of obtaining a medium of exchange acceptable to the person to whom the money is owed.

The bill requires the director of research of legislative council to provide a regulator navigator to the public. The regulator navigator will provide the public with easy access to information about any state, local, or federal government rule or regulation, including the name and telephone number of the person to contact or the correct web site link regarding the rule or regulation at issue. The regulator navigator is not expected to be a problem solver, but is expected to be an expert in providing the public with quality contact information for the appropriate state, local, or federal government agency.

The bill creates the state board of dietitians, consisting of 3 licensed dietitians and 2 members of the public, to oversee the regulation of dietitians. Dietitians must be licensed. To get a license, an applicant must have a baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate degree with a major course of study in human nutrition, nutrition education, public health nutrition, food and nutrition, dietetics, or food systems management or an equivalent major course of study as approved by the board, including a practice experience component in dietetics of not less than 1,200 hours, and have successfully completed the examination for dietitians administered by the commission on dietetic registration. A dietitian from a state that has analogous requirements can be licensed by endorsement, and provisional permits, valid for one year and renewable a single time for 6 months, are also available for dietitians from such states.

Standard disciplinary and procedural provisions are included. The regulation of dietitians sunsets in 2019.

Committee on Legal Services. Based on the findings and recommendations of the committee on legal services, the bill extends all state agency rules and regulations that were adopted or amended on or after November 1, 2010, and before November 1, 2011, with the exception of the rules and regulations specifically listed in the bill. Those specified rules and regulations will expire as scheduled in the "State Administrative Procedure Act" on May 15, 2012, on the grounds that the rules and regulations either conflict with statute or lack or exceed statutory authority.

The chair of the agriculture, livestock, and natural resources committee in the house of representatives and the chair of the agriculture, natural resources, and energy committee in the senate will appoint 7 members to the industrial hemp remediation pilot program committee (committee). The committee will establish an industrial hemp remediation pilot program (pilot program) to study how soils and water may be made more pristine and healthy by phytoremediation, removal of contaminants, and rejuvenation through the growth of industrial hemp. The committee consists of members with various scientific backgrounds and with knowledge about the growth of industrial hemp. The growth of industrial hemp is prohibited until the commissioner of agriculture (commissioner) approves the site chosen by the committee, the security measures that have been put in place by the committee at the pilot program location, and the cleanup plan for the site at the conclusion of the pilot program. The committee will make a final report of its findings and submit the report to the commissioner. The committee may accept gifts, grants, and donations for the pilot program. The pilot program is repealed on July 1, 2022.

The bill allows a person with a currently valid license, certificate, or registration in good standing from another state to practice his or her profession in this state for up to one year before the person has to meet the licensing, certification, or registration requirements in Colorado. For the person to be eligible to practice in this state, he or she shall have no other basis for disqualification from practice other than the lack of a license, certificate, or registration and shall apply for a license, certificate, or registration within 30 days after engaging in practice in Colorado.

Joint Budget Committee. The bill makes the following changes to the "Nonadmitted Insurance Act" to comply with requirements of the federal "Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010", commonly referred to as "NRRA":

• Adds definitions of the terms "affiliate", "affiliated group","control", "federal act", "home state", "independently procured insurance", "multistate risk", "nonadmitted insurance", and "person";
• Authorizes the division of insurance to collect insurancepremium tax on surplus lines insurance more frequently than once per year;
• Subjects surplus lines insurance procured without a brokerto taxation as the sale of this type of insurance rather than as unauthorized insurance, as is the case under current law; and
• Requires the collection of insurance premium tax onsurplus lines insurance at the full rate except for multistate policies where the risk involves states with which Colorado has entered into a compact or multistate tax-sharing agreement to share the tax, in which case the premium tax rates will be determined according to the terms of those arrangements.

The bill requires clinical laboratories and physicians that provide anatomic pathology services to submit claims for payment for pathology services only to the patient; the insurance carrier; the hospital or clinic that ordered the service, or the referring laboratory, unless the laboratory is from a physician's office or group practice that does not perform the professional component of the anatomic pathology service; or a governmental agency on behalf of the recipient of services.

Licensed health care practitioners are prohibited from charging for anatomic pathology services unless the services were personally delivered by the practitioner or under the direct supervision of the practitioner. Laboratories that refer to another physician or laboratory for consultation or histologic processing are exempt from the personal delivery and direct supervision requirement, unless the laboratory that makes the referral does not perform the professional component of the service.

The term "anatomic pathology services" is defined to include histopathology or surgical pathology, cytopathology, hematology, subcellular pathology or molecular pathology, and blood-banking services performed by pathologists.

The bill clarifies that an intermediary between a health insurance carrier and health care provider is a "person or entity" for purposes of complying with health care contract disclosure requirements.

Each health care provider who provides outpatient health care or treatment is required to disclose to a patient the right to request the nondiscounted charge for the care or treatment and, upon request, make that information available before the scheduling of care or treatment.

Each health insurance carrier shall:

• Provide notice to covered persons advising them of therelationship with the third-party administrator, the policyholder, and the insurance carrier;
• Disclose to the covered person all charges, fees, andcommissions paid to the third-party administrator; and
• Prohibit a third-party administrator from altering a healthcare provider's charges or adding charges to any of the insurance claims submitted by a health care provider.

Each carrier must disclose to each covered person any charges for administrative costs that are in addition to the charges for the care or services provided by the health care provider.

The bill makes technical corrections to the law concerning the contractual relationship with a third-party intermediary. Current law uses the term "intermediary" when the proper entity is "third-party administrator".

The bill prohibits an agency from promulgating a rule creating a state mandate on a local government unless:

• The state mandate is specifically required by federal or state law;
• The agency consults with local governments prior to promulgation of the rule; and
• The state provides the funding necessary for the direct costs incurred by the local government in complying with the state mandate.
For each proposed rule that includes a state mandate, prior to filing a notice of proposed rule-making with the secretary of state, an agency is required to provide information to the director of the office of state planning and budgeting relating to the rule and contact with local governments. The agency is prohibited from conducting a public hearing on the proposed rule unless it receives a written notice that the information complies with the law. The agency must include the information and the director's notice in the agency rule-making record and provide copies of them to the executive committee of the legislative council.

An agency is also required to develop a process to actively solicit the input of elected officials and other representatives of local governments into the development of proposed rules affecting a local government.

The bill permits an agency to adopt a temporary or emergency rule without complying with these new requirements, but such compliance is required in order for the rule to become permanent.

The bill creates an additional rule review process for rules adopted on or after November 1, 2011, that are determined by the staff of the committee on legal services (the office of legislative legal services) to be related to legislation enacted during any legislative session, regular or special, commencing on or after January 1, 2011. The rules are to be reviewed by a committee of reference of the general assembly. The legislative council staff determines what committee of reference appears to be the most appropriate based on the principal departments assigned to each committee of reference as specified in legislative rule. The committees of reference must review all assigned rules no later than the 45th day of the legislative session. Each committee of reference may establish its own procedures for the review, but the bill sets forth minimum requirements for at least one public meeting. The bill allows the committees of reference to disapprove a rule for any reason, but provides the committees of reference some minimum considerations.

The bill requires that the committees of reference recommend to the general assembly a bill regarding the committee's determinations related to the expiration or postponement of the expiration of rules assigned to and reviewed by the committee of reference.

The bill also requires the posting of a completed cost-benefit analysis on the official web sites of the agencies completing the cost-benefit analysis and the official web site of the department of regulatory agencies.