Bill Tracker

The bill allows a person to operate a licensed medical marijuana
business and a licensed retail marijuana business at the same location if
permitted by the local licensing authority and the local jurisdiction where
the businesses are located and subject to requirements regarding
separation of operations.

The bill creates the plant-based medicine policy review panel
(policy review panel). The purpose of the policy review panel is to study
the use of plant-based medicines to support mental health. The policy
review panel operates for one year. The policy review panel shall submit
a report on its findings and policy recommendations to the house of
representatives public and behavioral health and human services

committee and the senate health and human services committee, or any
successor committees; the governor; and the department of human
services.
The bill defines plant-based medicine as a naturally occurring
hallucinogenic plant-based compound. Forms of plant-based medicine
only include psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine, and ibogaine.

Under current law, a marijuana transporter license cannot be
transferred with a change of ownership. The bill removes this prohibition.

The bill prohibits an employer from taking adverse action against
an employee, including an applicant for employment, who engages in the
use of:
  • Medical marijuana on the premises of the employer during
working hours; or

  • Retail or medical marijuana off the premises of the
employer during nonworking hours.
An employer is permitted to impose restrictions on employee use
of medical or retail marijuana under specified circumstances.

Under current law, a licensed medical or retail marijuana business
may receive a responsible vendor designation (designation) if all of its
employees successfully complete an approved course. If the business is
subject to a licensing action, the designation can be considered a
mitigating factor in the licensing action. The bill allows an individual to
receive a designation and provides the same licensing mitigation
protection to that individual in a licensing action. The bill clarifies how
a business receives and maintains a designation and allows a person with

a designation to take that designation with them to a new employer.

The bill creates the behavioral health administration (BHA) in the
department of human services (department) to create a coordinated,
cohesive, and effective behavioral health system in the state. The BHA
will handle most of the behavioral health programs that were previously
handled by the office of behavioral health in the department. The bill
establishes a commissioner as the head of the BHA and authorizes the

commissioner and state board of human services to adopt and amend rules
that previously were promulgated by the executive director of the
department.
By July 1, 2024, the bill requires the BHA to establish:
  • A statewide behavioral health grievance system;
  • A behavioral health performance monitoring system;
  • A comprehensive behavioral health safety net system;
  • Regionally-based behavioral health administrative service
organizations;
  • The BHA as the licensing authority for all behavioral
health entities; and
  • The BHA advisory council to provide feedback to the BHA
on the behavioral health system in the state.
The bill transfers to the department of public health and
environment responsibility for community prevention and early
intervention programs previously administered by the department.
The bill makes extensive conforming amendments.

Concerning the creation of the behavioral health administration, and, in connection therewith, making and reducing an appropriation.

The bill establishes a study to investigate FDA-cleared devices that
are capable of assessing cognitive and physical impairment of motorists

to detect the presence of drugs other than alcohol during roadside sobriety
investigations.
The bill requires the Colorado department of transportation
(department) to issue a request for proposal for a study and report to be
conducted and completed not later than June 1, 2023. The department
shall submit and present a final report with the findings of the study at the
joint transportation committee's State Measurement for Accountable,
Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act hearing and to
the Colorado task force on drunk and impaired driving. The bill sets
requirements and standards for the study.
The study repeals July 1, 2024.

Concerning a study of devices that are based on FDA-cleared technology capable of self-assessing impairment of motorists to detect the presence of drugs other than alcohol during roadside sobriety investigations, and, in connection therewith, making an appropriation.

Concerning the provision for payment of the expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the state of Colorado, and of its agencies and institutions, for and during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, except as otherwise noted.

Joint Budget Committee. When the marijuana tax cash fund
(fund) was initially created, money in the fund was only available to be
appropriated for fiscal years following the fiscal year in which it was
received by the state. In 2020, the general assembly repealed this
restriction, but in 2021, this language was inadvertently added back in by
legislation that made an unrelated conforming amendment. The bill

restores the correct language, which permits the general assembly to
appropriate money from the fund for the same fiscal year in which it is
received.
The bill delays transfers from the fund to the public school capital
construction assistance fund (BEST fund). Instead of transferring $100
million on June 1, 2022, the bill requires the state treasurer to transfer the
following amounts from the fund to the BEST fund:
  • $50 million on June 1, 2022;
  • $30 million on June 1, 2023; and
  • $20 million on June 1, 2024.
The bill also modifies the reserve requirement within the fund.
Instead of limiting appropriations to 93% of the beginning balance in the
fund, it requires the reserve to be 15% of the amount appropriated for the
fiscal year. The bill also specifies that this reserve excludes any money
from the fund that is designated to constitute part of the state emergency
reserve and clarifies how the reserve works.

The bill requires a consumer reporting agency, upon written
request from a consumer, to disclose to each consumer whose report
contains information from criminal justice records:

  • Each source from which the agency compiled the
information; and
  • The date on which the information was requested.
Currently, there is a process that allows for automatic sealing of
criminal justice records for certain drug offenses. The bill extends that
automatic sealing to all of the offenses, including civil infractions, that
allow the defendant to petition the court for sealing criminal justice
records that are not subject to the victims rights act. The bill streamlines
the automatic record sealing process. The bill requires the state court
administrator to produce an annual report regarding automatic record
sealing.
The bill makes it an unfair employment practice to discharge or
refuse to promote a person based solely on the contents of a sealed
criminal record and makes it an unfair housing practice to refuse to show,
sell, transfer, rent, or lease housing based on the contents of a sealed
criminal record.
The bill requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to produce
an annual report regarding record sealing.
The bill makes clarifying and organizational changes to the record
sealing statutes.

Effective January 1, 2023, the bill requires that, prior to selling or
offering for sale any kratom product, each kratom processor must register
with the department of revenue (department) and disclose certain
information regarding each of the kratom processor's kratom products.
The bill also:
  • Establishes the minimum requirements for kratom
products;
  • Prohibits the sale of kratom products to individuals under

18 years of age;
  • Requires a kratom processor to notify the department
within 7 days after being notified that an adverse effect
report was made with the federal food and drug
administration regarding any of the kratom processor's
kratom products; and
  • Authorizes the department to investigate adverse effect
reports to determine whether a kratom processor has
violated any of the standards specified in the bill.
The executive director of the department is required to adopt rules
to administer and enforce the bill.

The bill requires future contracts for the seed-to-sale tracking
system to be awarded pursuant to a transparent, online, and dynamically
competitive process. The bill requires the state licensing authority to
produce an annual report regarding its enforcement activities. The report
must include:
  • The number of underage compliance checks performed in

the previous calendar year;
  • The number of underage sale violations in the previous
calendar year, including the name of the license violator,
how many violations were the result of underage
compliance checks or tips, and the sanction or sanctions
imposed for each violation; and
  • A description of the black or gray market enforcement
activities that the state licensing authority engaged in,
including the dates of the activities, any violations found,
and the result of those violations if known.
The bill requires the state licensing authority to produce an annual
report regarding licensing violations. The report must be organized by
month, include the name of the violator and the violation location, and
identify the violation and the sanction or sanctions imposed and if the
sanction is a license revocation or voluntary surrender of a license and the
reason for the revocation or voluntary surrender.
The state licensing authority shall maintain a free searchable
database on its website related to compliance check records and minor in
possession of marijuana records and an online method for submitting an
anonymous tip related to licensing violations.
The bill requires the state licensing authority to conduct at least 2
compliance checks a year at each medical and retail marijuana center.
The bill requires regulatory penalties related to underage sales to
be based on the number of violations and any injury or death that
occurred as a result of the violation.
The bill requires the state licensing authority to promulgate rules
regarding:
  • Product recalls, including a requirement for the issuance of
a health and safety advisory when a product is recalled that
includes the name of the product, the timing of when the
consumer would receive the advisory, the places where the
product was sold, the time period when the product was for
sale, the requested actions that the state licensing authority
may direct to a seller, cultivator, or manufacturer, and any
other additional information that would assist the public;
and
  • Timelines and deadlines for notifying a licensee of an
alleged violation; a licensee's response to an alleged
violation; and a licensee's compliance with any sanction
imposed, which must require, in the case of an uncontested
violation, that the licensee has 90 days to comply with the
sanction.
The bill directs that when the state licensing authority convenes a
work group, task force, or other group to assist in developing rules or
policies that involve public health and consumer safety, the state licensing
authority shall make every reasonable attempt to have broad
representation from non-marijuana industry parties on the work group,
task force, or other group. The bill requires the state licensing authority
to provide any written materials received from a member of the group or
task force to all members of the group or task force within 7 days after
receipt of the material; except that any proprietary information must be
redacted from the material.
The bill requires that when the state licensing authority reports a
voluntary surrender of a license that is the result of a settlement or
agreement with the licensing authority, the report shall designate the
action as voluntary surrender - licensing violation settlement.

The bill expands the medical marijuana research grant program by:
  • Providing grant funding for research intended to ascertain
the safety of medical marijuana products; and
  • Encouraging the state board of health to prioritize grants to
research the safety of medical marijuana products and the
safety of administering medical marijuana for

posttraumatic stress disorder.
The bill requires the state treasurer to transfer $3 million from the
general fund to the health research subaccount in the medical marijuana
cash fund for the purpose of providing research grants and administering
the grant program.

The bill allows a medical marijuana cultivation facility licensee to
transfer medical marijuana to a retail marijuana cultivation facility
licensee and the retail marijuana cultivation facility licensee to receive the
marijuana and change the designation of the marijuana from medical to
retail.

The bill clarifies that the retail marijuana cultivation facility
licensee is required to pay any retail marijuana excise tax.

Section 2 of the bill prohibits:
  • The manufacture, sale, offering for sale, storage, or
delivery of an adult use cannabis product that is not
manufactured by a person licensed under the Colorado
Marijuana Code (license holder);

  • The manufacture, sale, offering for sale, storage, or
delivery of a product containing industrial hemp that is for
human consumption and that is not food, a cosmetic, a
dietary supplement, a food additive, an herb, or an
over-the-counter drug that contains industrial hemp; and
  • The manufacture, sale, offering for sale, storage, or
delivery of an industrial hemp product that was not
manufactured by a registered wholesale food manufacturer.
Section 3 imposes a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for:
  • Manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, storing, or
delivering an adult use cannabis product that is not
manufactured by a license holder; and
  • Violating a permit requirement for industrial hemp
products established by rule.
These penalties are credited to the the wholesale food manufacturing and
storage protection cash fund.
Section 4 prohibits a political subdivision of Colorado from
promulgating or enforcing additional duties for or standards for food
safety applicable to premises or places where industrial hemp products
are held for distribution, produced, manufactured, packed, processed,
prepared, treated, packaged, or transported.
Current law authorizes the department of public health and
environment (department) to require permits for manufacturing food that
may be contaminated so that it is injurious to health. The department may
establish standards for the permits and manufacturing. Section 5:
  • Adds dietary supplements, food additives, cosmetics, and
industrial hemp products to this provision;
  • Adds that an ingredient that is injurious to health also
authorizes the department to require a permit.
Section 6 requires a political subdivision of Colorado to get
department approval to perform food safety inspections at facilities used
to store, manufacture, produce, pack, process, treat, package, or transport
industrial hemp products.
Current law declares industrial hemp products not adulterated
unless the product violates certain provisions. Section 7 adds that an
industrial hemp product is deemed adulterated if the product is an adult
use cannabis product and is not manufactured by a license holder. Section
7 authorizes a wholesale food manufacturing facility to sell, produce, or
possess products containing artificially derived cannabinoids only if:
  • The facility is registered;
  • The product is an industrial hemp product;
  • The product is not intoxicating; and
  • Prior to distribution and sale, the manufacturing facility has
provided the marijuana enforcement division (division)
samples and information concerning the product.
Section 9 authorizes the division to promulgate rules, with the
technical assistance of the department, to define the amount of one or
more tetrahydrocannabinols that results in the designation of a product as
an adult use cannabis product. Section 9 also requires the division to
promulgate rules to regulate the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of
adult use cannabis products as retail marijuana products.
Section 10 prohibits a retail marijuana store from offering for sale
or accepting an adult use cannabis product that was not properly
designated as and transferred to it by a licensed retail marijuana products
manufacturer or accelerator manufacturer.
Section 11 prohibits a retail marijuana manufacturer from
transferring an adult use cannabis product unless the person holds the
appropriate license under the Colorado Marijuana Code.
Section 12 makes it a deceptive trade practice to violate the
provisions of the bill that apply to hemp, cannabis, or anything made from
hemp or cannabis.