Colorado water institute recreation. The Colorado water institute was created in 1981 and automatically repealed in 2017. The act recreates the institute.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

As a pilot program to promote employer-assisted housing projects in rural areas, for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2019, but prior to January 1, 2023, the bill creates a state income tax credit for a donation a taxpayer makes to a sponsor that is used solely for the costs associated with employer-assisted affordable housing in a rural area. The bill defines "sponsor" to mean the Colorado housing and finance authority, a housing authority operated by a county or municipality, a nonprofit corporation that has been designated as a community development corporation under the federal tax code, or an international, nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization whose mission is concentrated on constructing affordable housing.

The amount of the credit allowed by the bill is 20% of the approved donation amount; except that the aggregate amount of the credit awarded to any one taxpayer is limited to $400 in any one income tax year.

The bill contains additional requirements pertaining to the manner in which the taxpayer submits information to receive the tax credit. The bill also requires periodic reporting of information on the use of the tax credit.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Fiscal Note

Property - rights-of-way and ditches - extent of right-of-way. The act clarifies that a ditch right-of-way, unless expressly inconsistent with the terms upon which the right-of-way was created, includes the right to construct, operate, clean, maintain, repair, and replace the ditch, to improve the efficiency of the ditch, including by lining or piping the ditch, and to enter onto the burdened property for such purposes, with access to the ditch banks, as the exigencies then existing may require, for all reasonable and necessary purposes related to the ditch.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Hard rock mining - mined land reclamation board - reclamation plan - water quality treatment - financial assurance. Current law does not address reliance on perpetual water treatment as the means to minimize impacts to water quality in a reclamation plan for a mining operation. Section 1 of the act requires most reclamation plans to demonstrate, by substantial evidence, a reasonably foreseeable end date for any water quality treatment necessary to ensure compliance with applicable water quality standards.

Current law allows a mining permittee to submit an audited financial statement as proof that the operator has sufficient funds to meet its reclamation liabilities in lieu of a bond or other financial assurance. Section 2 eliminates this self-bonding option and also requires that all reclamation bonds include financial assurances in an amount sufficient to protect water quality, including costs for any necessary treatment and monitoring costs.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Food safety - produce - regulation - continuation under sunset law. The act establishes a state law to implement federal regulations regarding produce safety on farms. To implement this, the act:

• Authorizes the commissioner of agriculture to enter into a cooperative agreement with the United States food and drug administration and seek, accept, and expend federal funds;
• Authorizes the commissioner to cease implementing the state law if the commissioner does not receive adequate federal funding;
• Requires farms that are subject to federal law, selling more than approximately $25,000 of produce annually on average over a 3-year period, to register with the commissioner;
• Requires the commissioner to promulgate rules adopting 21 CFR 112, concerning produce safety, and gives the commissioner rule-making authority to administer the act;
• Authorizes the commissioner to enter farms and farm facilities during regular business hours to implement or enforce the act if the commissioner obtains consent from the farm or an administrative search warrant;
• Authorizes the commissioner to inspect records during regular business hours to implement or enforce the act and to subpoena witnesses and records;
• Authorizes the commissioner to issue cease-and-desist orders;
• Prohibits an officer, employee, or agent of the commissioner from misusing information gained during the course of the person's duties under the act;
• Authorizes the commissioner to impose administrative penalties;
• If requested, requires the commissioner to hold a hearing to issue a cease-and-desist order or impose an administrative penalty, and this process is subject to judicial review;
• Authorizes the commissioner to enforce cease-and-desist orders and administrative penalties in court; and
• Repeals these provisions in 2034, but requires a sunset review before the repeal.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Federal immigration enforcement - no arrest based on civil detainer - no personal information to immigration authorities from probation - advisement before immigration interview. The act allows a law enforcement officer or employee to cooperate or assist federal immigration enforcement authorities in the execution of a warrant issued by a federal judge or magistrate or honoring any writ issued by any state or federal judge concerning the transfer of a prisoner to or from federal custody.

The act prohibits a law enforcement officer from arresting or detaining an individual solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer.

The act prohibits a probation officer or probation department employee from providing an individual's personal information to federal immigration authorities.

If a law enforcement officer is coordinating a telephone or video interview between federal immigration authorities and an individual in jail or another custodial facility, the individual must be advised that:

• The interview is being sought by federal immigration authorities;
• The individual has the right to decline the interview and remain silent;
• The individual has the right to speak to an attorney before submitting to the interview; and
• Anything the individual says may be used against him or her in subsequent proceedings, including in a federal immigration court.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Colorado food - school grant program - nonprofit grant program - appropriation. The act establishes a grant program in the department of education (CDE) to encourage providers that are entitled to federal money for lunches for students (participating providers) to purchase food products from Colorado growers, producers, and processors (Colorado food). The grant program reimburses participating providers for the amount of Colorado food that the provider purchased in the previous school year. The act caps the reimbursements at $500,000 per year.

The act establishes a separate program in CDE to make a grant to a nonprofit organization to make grants to entities that promote the sale of Colorado food to schools and to eligible providers to encourage the purchase of Colorado food. The nonprofit organization is required to conduct an annual evaluation and report to CDE.

For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $168,942 from the general fund to CDE for the school purchasing programs.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Criminal sentencing - misdemeanors and municipal violations - change maximum penalty from one year to 364 days. Under current law, the maximum sentence for a class 2 misdemeanor, level 2 drug misdemeanor, a misdemeanor without a fixed statutory penalty, and a municipal ordinance violation is one year. The act changes the maximum sentence to 364 days.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

State sales tax exemption for farm equipment - extension - applicability to local sales taxes. Current law exempts cow identification systems and transponders used by a farm dairy to identify and track dairy cows from the state sales and use tax but does not otherwise exempt any equipment or systems used by a farm operation to identify or track food animals. By amending the statutory definition of "farm equipment", the act extends the existing state sales and use tax exemption to include, regardless of purchase price, any visual, electronic identification, or matched pair ear tags and electronic identification readers used to scan ear tags that are used by a farm operation to identify or track food animals, including animals used for food or in the production of food. Under the act the extension of the exemption only applies to a county or municipal sales tax if the county or municipality amends its sales tax ordinance to include the extension of the exemption.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Reinsurance program - creation - payments for high-cost insurance claims - program contingent on federal waiver or funding approval - special fees - premium tax revenues - other funding sources - cash fund created - appropriation - repeal. The act authorizes the commissioner of insurance to apply to the secretary of the United States department of health and human services for a state innovation waiver, federal funding, or both, to allow the state to implement and operate a two-year reinsurance program to assist health insurers in paying high-cost insurance claims. The state cannot implement the program absent waiver or funding approval from the secretary. The program is established as an enterprise for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution so long as the program satisfies enterprise status requirements.

The commissioner is to establish payment parameters at levels to effectuate targeted insurance premium reductions. The payment parameters include:

• The attachment point, above which claims costs are eligible for reinsurance payments;
• The coinsurance rate at which the program will reimburse carriers for claims above the attachment point; and
• The reinsurance cap, above which claims costs are no longer eligible for reinsurance payments from the program.

The commissioner is authorized to assess special fees against hospitals and, under specified circumstances, against health insurers to provide funding for the program. Additionally, the program is to receive money from the following sources to operate the program:

• Federal pass-through funding or other federal funds made available for the program;
• For the 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscal years, an amount of premium tax revenues collected under current law that exceeds the amount collected in calendar year 2019;
• $15 million in 2020 and $40 million in 2021 from the general fund, contingent on the passage of House Bill 19-1245; and
• Any money the general assembly appropriates to the program fund.

The act creates the reinsurance program cash fund and continuously appropriates the money in the fund to the division of insurance to operate the program. The commissioner is also authorized to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources.

The program repeals on September 1, 2023, unless the federal government denies the waiver or funding request, in which case the program repeals upon that denial.

$785,904 is appropriated to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the division of insurance to implement the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Legal investment of public funds - definitions. The act defines a nationally recognized statistical rating organization as a credit rating agency that is registered with the U.S. securities and exchange commission's office of credit ratings and defines a negotiable certificate of deposit as an unsecured noncollateralized obligation of a bank to pay the holder of a negotiable certificate of deposit specified principal, plus interest, upon a particular maturity.

The act also modifies statutes governing the legal investments of public funds as follows:

• Modifies and standardizes the credit rating requirements for securities invested in by public entities;
• Requires money market funds invested in by public funds to have an investment policy or objective that seeks to maintain a stable net asset value of one dollar per share;
• Requires rating requirements to first apply to the security being purchased by a public entity and, if there is no such rating, to then apply to the issuer;
• Clarifies that negotiable certificates of deposit are a legal investment and not deposits subject to the limitation of the "Public Deposit Protection Act";
• Includes the secured overnight financing rate, the federal funds rate, or other reference rates that are similar to the United States dollar London interbank offer rate, the secured overnight financing rate, and the federal funds rate as permissible reference rates; and
• Allows public entities to invest in local government investment pools.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Farm stands - retail sale of goods permitted - compliance with other applicable laws. The act defines "farm stand" to mean a temporary or permanent structure used for the sale and display of agricultural products resulting from agricultural operations that are conducted on the principal use site on which the farm stand is located. The act permits a farm stand to sell and display agricultural products resulting from agricultural operations not conducted on the principal use site to the extent permitted by the applicable local government.

The act permits a farm stand to be located on a parcel of any size. The retail sale of goods to the public by a farm stand must include goods or other agricultural products that are grown or produced on the principal use site on which the farm stand is located or may include agricultural products resulting from agricultural operations that are not conducted on the principal use site to the extent permitted by the applicable local government. The act does not prohibit a local government from requiring the operator of a farm stand to obtain a valid license or permit or to comply with any other applicable laws prior to operating the farm stand, but in no way shall such local permitting, licensing, or other applicable legal requirements deny the use of the site as a farm stand.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Colorado food systems advisory council - relocation to Colorado state university - repeal of interagency farm-to-school coordination task force - duties - appropriation. The act relocates the Colorado food systems advisory council (council) from the department of agriculture to Colorado state university and repeals the interagency farm-to-school coordination task force.

The act ends the terms of current members of the council and provides for the appointment of new members. As updated in the act, the council's duties are to:

• Grow local, regional, and statewide food economies within which producers have access to new markets and low-income populations have access to fresh, affordable, and healthy foods. The council will collaborate and coordinate with producers, relevant state and federal educational institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and consumers to connect state and federal agencies and to provide Colorado producers, including fruit and vegetable producers, with viable market opportunities.
• Support the implementation of the recommendations in the Colorado blueprint of food and agriculture project, ensure that the blueprint, or its successor project, is updated as needed, and ensure alignment with other state or local food plans if relevant;
• Conduct research regarding national best practices regarding food and nutrition assistance, direct and intermediated market development, institutional procurement, and farm-to-school programs as well as other priorities determined by the council;
• Collaborate with, serve as a resource to, and receive input from local and regional food policy councils in the state; and
• Explore methods of collecting and assessing statewide data relating to council activities and report the relevant information and data regarding council activities as required by current law.

$100,317 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of higher education to implement the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

The bill requires the university of Colorado school of medicine (school) to provide scholarships to students who:

• Will complete clinical studies in a rural or frontier area in Colorado;
• Have demonstrated financial need; and
• Have committed in writing to living and serving as physicians in rural or frontier areas in Colorado that are also primary care health professional shortage areas for at least 4 years following the completion of their residency training.

The bill requires the school to submit an annual written report to the education committees of the house of representatives and senate concerning the operation of the school's rural track during the preceding academic year.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Fiscal Note

Blockchain technology - study of potential agricultural applications - creation of advisory group - report to general assembly. The act directs the commissioner of agriculture to convene an advisory group to study the potential applications for blockchain technology in agricultural operations and to report to the general assembly by January 15, 2020, with its findings and recommendations for legislation, if any, contingent on the commissioner's receipt of sufficient money through gifts, grants, and donations to fund the study and report. The advisory group is subject to repeal on July 1, 2020.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Full-day kindergarten - funding - appropriation. Before passage of the act, the school finance formula provided funding for half-day kindergarten educational programs plus a small additional amount of supplemental kindergarten funding. The act provides funding through the school finance formula for full-day kindergarten educational programs. A student enrolled in a full-day kindergarten educational program will be funded at the same amount as students enrolled full-time in other grades. A student enrolled in a half-day kindergarten educational program will be funded as a half-day student plus the existing amount of supplemental kindergarten funding.

Before passage of the act, many school districts charged parents of students enrolled in full-day kindergarten a fee to fund the full-day kindergarten educational program. After passage of the act, a school district or a charter school that provides a full-day kindergarten educational program shall not charge fees for attending kindergarten other than those fees that are routinely charged to parents of students enrolled in other grades and are applicable to the kindergarten educational program. However, if the general assembly stops funding kindergarten students as full-time pupils, then a school district or charter school may resume charging a fee or tuition for the unfunded portion of the school day.

Before passage of the act, a school district was authorized to use a half-day preschool position to enroll a child in full-day kindergarten. The act prohibits using a preschool position to enroll a child in full-day kindergarten. A school district that used preschool positions in this manner in the 2018-19 budget year will retain the positions in the 2019-20 budget year and budget years thereafter to the extent the school district fills the positions with preschool students.

The act directs a school district that is not offering a full-day kindergarten educational program as of the 2019-20 school year to submit a plan to the department of education addressing how it could phase in a full-day kindergarten educational program, but a school district is not required to offer a full-day kindergarten educational program.

If a charter school seeks to expand an existing half-day kindergarten educational program to full day, it must notify the charter authorizer and amend the charter contract, if necessary. If the authorizer objects to the program expansion, the charter school and the authorizer must negotiate a change to the charter contract. If the parties cannot agree, the charter school may appeal the issue to the state board of education for a determination. Any renegotiation of the charter school's contract must be limited to the issue of expanding the kindergarten educational program.

For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $182,911,699 to the department of education for the state share of total program funding associated with full-day kindergarten programs. The act also appropriates $25,094 to the department of human services for child care licensing and administration.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Income tax - credit for donation of conservation easement - extend repeal of conservation easement oversight commission and easement holder certification program - alternative valuation method - conservation easement working group - disclosure form - access to COMaP. A conservation easement is an agreement in which a property owner agrees to limit the use of his or her land in perpetuity in order to protect one or more specified conservation purposes. The instruments creating the conservation easement are recorded in the public records affecting the ownership of the property. The conservation easement is held by a third party (holder), which monitors the use of the land and ensures that the terms of the agreement are upheld. A state income tax credit is currently allowed for a portion of the value of a donated conservation easement.

The statutes establishing the conservation easement oversight commission and the program to certify conservation easement holders in the division of conservation are currently set to repeal on July 1, 2019. The act extends the repeal dates for each to July 1, 2026. In addition, the act:

• Eliminates a requirement that the board of real estate appraisers establish education and experience requirements for conservation easement appraisers;
• Relocates and modifies certain provisions governing the creation and valuation of conservation easements;
• Allows the division of conservation to use an alternative method acceptable to the division and the conservation easement oversight commission to value a conservation easement;
• Modifies provisions governing a conservation easement working group convened to address specified issues relating to claiming a state income tax credit for the donation of a conservation easement;
• Requires the owner of property who is granting a conservation easement to execute a disclosure form developed by the division of conservation and the conservation easement oversight commission regarding the easement;
• Modifies provisions governing when a conservation easement may be extinguished;
• Prohibits a conservation easement for which a state income tax credit has been allowed from being released, terminated, extinguished, or abandoned by merger, which occurs when the same entity holds both the easement and the land subject to the easement;
• Increases the total amount that may be claimed as an income tax credit for an individual donation of a conservation easement, but limits the amount that may be claimed per year; and
• Makes a $250,000 appropriation to Colorado state university to facilitate the provision of public access to the Colorado ownership, management, and protection (COMaP) service which maintains a database and corresponding map of conservation easements and other protected lands in Colorado.

Additionally, the act makes conforming amendments to certain statutory sections contained in HB 19-1172, which recodifies title 12, Colorado Revised Statutes, to ensure that the provisions of the act will be effective as a result of HB 19-1172 becoming law.

Specifies that certain sections take effect only if House Bill 19-1172 becomes law.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Emergency management - resiliency office - continuation - appropriation. The act continues the Colorado resiliency office, which administers the resiliency and community recovery program as part of the state's disaster recovery and response functions. The requirement that the office be funded solely through grant funding is repealed, making general funds available to pay for the work of the office. The office is repealed effective September 1, 2022, and is scheduled for a sunset review prior to its repeal.

The act appropriates $249,454 to the department of local affairs from the implementation of the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Gambling - betting on sports events - legalization - creation of division of sports betting - rule-making authority - taxation - submission of ballot issue under Taxpayers' Bill of Rights - allocation of tax revenues - appropriation. In 2018, the United States supreme court held in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association , 138 S. Ct. 1461, that a federal law prohibiting states from authorizing sports betting violated the tenth amendment of the United States constitution. States may now authorize sports betting.

The act decriminalizes sports betting in Colorado, effective May 1, 2020, under the following conditions:

• The collection of a tax on the net proceeds of sports betting must be approved by the registered electors of Colorado at the November 2019 general election;
• Sports betting will be regulated by the department of revenue, subject to supervision by the existing limited gaming control commission;
• A limited number of licenses will be issued. Persons or entities currently licensed to conduct limited gaming (i.e., the owners of casinos in Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek) are the only persons or entities eligible to hold a "master license" to conduct sports betting upon paying a license fee and submitting to background checks. A master license entitles the licensee to contract with a licensed "sports betting operator" or a licensed "internet sports betting operator", or both, for the operation of sports betting.
• The conduct of sports betting in Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek is further conditioned on approval by the voters of the respective city in a local election to be held concurrently with the statewide election in November 2019; and
• The state will collect a tax of 10% on the net proceeds of sports betting activity to fund implementation of the state water plan and other public purposes. Of the total amount of tax collected, after first repaying the general fund appropriation for startup and initial operating costs, 6% is set aside annually to compensate the beneficiaries of revenues generated by limited gaming and other wagering activities for any losses attributable to competition from sports betting.

$1,739,015 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of revenue for startup and initial operating costs in the 2019-20 state fiscal year.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Sales and use tax - wholesale sales - agricultural commodities - fertilizer and spray adjuvants. Wholesale sales are not subject to sales and use taxes. The act includes sales of fertilizer and spray adjuvants used in the production of agricultural commodities in the definition of "wholesale sales" for sales and use tax purposes.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Health care cooperatives - consumer protections - consumers negotiating rates.

The act modernizes laws authorizing health care cooperatives in the state to incorporate consumer protections such as coverage for preexisting conditions and to encourage consumers to help control health care costs by negotiating rates on a collective basis directly with providers. The act authorizes the commissioner of insurance to apply for a federal waiver as necessary to implement the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Educators in rural areas - financial incentives. Before passage of the act, the department of higher education (department) annually awarded up to 40 stipends of not more than $2,800 to students enrolled in teacher preparation programs who agreed to teach in a rural school or rural school district. The act removes the limit on the number of stipends and increases the stipend amount to $4,000.

Before the act, the department also annually awarded up to 60 stipends to educators in rural schools and rural school districts who were seeking certain certifications. The act removes the limit on the number of stipends.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Commercial driver's licenses - interstate commerce - 18 to 21 years of age. The act authorizes the department of revenue to adopt rules authorizing a person who is at least 18 years of age but under 21 years of age to be licensed to drive a commercial vehicle in interstate commerce if the person holds a commercial driver's license and operation of a commercial vehicle in interstate commerce by a person in that age range is permitted under federal law.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Early childhood leadership commission - infant and family child care strategic action plan. The act requires the department of human services (department), in consultation with the early childhood leadership commission (commission) and various stakeholders, to draft a strategic action plan addressing the declining availability of family child care homes and infant child care.

The act requires the department to submit the completed strategic action plan to the commission; the state board of human services; the joint budget committee; the health and human services and education committees of the senate, or any successor committees; and the public health care and human services and education committees of the house of representatives, or any successor committees, no later than December 1, 2019.

The act anticipates the department will receive $50,688 in federal funds to implement this act for the 2019-20 state fiscal year.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

The bill creates the rural development grant program to be administered by the Colorado office of economic development. The grants are to be awarded to early stage rural businesses that are primary employers in a rural area with the potential to export goods or services outside of the rural area. The businesses must be at the seed stage of capital financing, have raised less than five hundred thousand dollars of third-party capital, and are able to provide nonstate matching funding equal to at least one-third of the grant award. The grants may be used for developing prototypes, proof of business concepts, or proof of business models. The grants are funded from the general fund and are limited to no more than $150,000 per early stage rural business per year.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Fiscal Note

Driver's licenses and other identification documents - persons not lawfully present - appropriation. The act requires the department of revenue to issue identification documents, such as driver's licenses, at 10 or more offices geographically distributed throughout the state. The new offices are phased in, so that the department will have 8 offices open by January 1, 2020, and 10 offices open by July 1, 2020.

$1,737,800 is appropriated to the department of revenue from the licensing services cash fund to implement the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Regulation of public livestock markets - continuation under sunset law - licensure. The automatic termination date of the regulation of public livestock markets is extended until 2034 pursuant to sunset law.

Section 3 repeals a requirement that an applicant for a license prove financial stability, business integrity, and fiduciary responsibility and to provide a statement of assets and liability.

Section 4 repeals a requirement that a licensed livestock market meet several size and premises standards. Section 4 replaces this with a requirement that a premises have adequate facilities necessary to operate a public livestock market.

Sections 5 and 6 repeal provisions that imply that the state board of stock inspection commissioners regulate the sanitation of public livestock markets.

Section 7 clarifies that the veterinarian who inspects livestock at a public livestock market is not employed by the department of agriculture and that livestock is inspected, not examined, for clinical signs of injury or disease. Section 7 also requires the veterinarian to be accredited.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act - grounds for discipline - waiting period after license revocation - fines - mandatory sterilization - continuation under sunset law - appropriation. The act implements some of the recommendations of the department of regulatory agencies' sunset review and report on the Colorado "Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act" as follows:

• Adds as grounds for discipline, a conviction of a local, state, or federal offense involving the theft, importation, capture, neglect, or abuse of an animal;
• Extends the commissioner of agriculture's authority to discipline a licensee or deny a license to an applicant for crimes involving animal cruelty to cases where a licensee or applicant has entered a plea of no contest;
• Extends the 2-year waiting period that a licensee whose license has been revoked must wait before applying for a new license to a principal, officer, director, manager, or any other person who has substantial control or authority over the daily operations of the entity, regardless of the reason for the revocation; and
• Requires the state treasurer to credit all fines to the general fund.

The act removes the option of an animal shelter or pet animal rescue to release a dog or cat to a prospective owner with a fee and a signed agreement to have the animal sterilized within 90 days after the date of release and prohibits the animal's release unless the animal has been sterilized by a licensed veterinarian. The commissioner of agriculture may grant an exemption to a facility in an area with limited access to licensed veterinarians.

The automatic termination date of the licensing of pet animal facilities by the department of agriculture is extended until September 1, 2026, pursuant to the provisions of the sunset law.

$123,007 is appropriated to the department of agriculture from the general fund to implement the act along with a 1.6 FTE.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Oil and gas operations - air quality regulation - local government authority - oil and gas conservation commission - composition - authority - financial assurance requirements - pooling - appropriation. The act prioritizes the protection of public safety, health, welfare, and the environment in the regulation of the oil and gas industry by modifying the oil and gas statutes and by clarifying, reinforcing, or establishing various aspects of local governments' regulatory authority over the surface impacts of oil and gas development.

Current law specifies that local governments have so-called "House Bill 1041" powers, which are a type of land use authority over oil and gas mineral extraction areas, only if the Colorado oil and gas conservation commission (commission) has identified a specific area for designation. Sections 1 and 2 of the act repeal that limitation.

Section 3 directs the air quality control commission to review its rules to consider whether to adopt more stringent rules and to adopt rules to minimize emissions of methane and other hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen.

Section 4 clarifies that local governments have land use authority to regulate the siting of oil and gas locations to minimize adverse impacts to public safety, health, welfare, and the environment and to regulate land use and surface impacts, including the ability to inspect oil and gas facilities; impose fines for leaks, spills, and emissions; and impose fees on operators or owners to cover the reasonably foreseeable direct and indirect costs of permitting and regulation and the costs of any monitoring and inspection program necessary to address the impacts of development and enforce local governmental requirements. Section 4 also allows a local government or oil and gas operator to request the director of the commission to convene a technical review board to evaluate the effect of the local government's preliminary or final determination on the operator's application.

Section 5 repeals an exemption for oil and gas production from counties' authority to regulate noise.

The remaining substantive sections of the act amend the "Oil and Gas Conservation Act" (Act). The legislative declaration for the Act states that it is in the public interest to "foster" the development of oil and gas resources in a manner "consistent" with the protection of public health, safety, and welfare, including protection of the environment and wildlife resources; this has been construed to impose a balancing test between fostering oil and gas development and protecting public health, safety, and welfare. Section 6 states that the public interest is to "regulate" oil and gas development to "protect" those values.

Currently, the Act defines "waste" to include a diminution in the quantity of oil or gas that ultimately may be produced. Section 7 excludes from that definition the nonproduction of oil or gas as necessary to protect public health, safety, welfare, the environment, or wildlife resources. Section 7 also repeals the requirement that the commission take into consideration cost-effectiveness and technical feasibility with regard to actions and decisions taken to minimize adverse impacts and repeals the limitation of the term "minimize adverse impacts" to wildlife resources.

The 9-member commission currently includes the executive directors of the departments of natural resources and public health and environment as ex officio members, 3 members who must have substantial experience in the oil and gas industry, and one member who must have training or experience in environmental or wildlife protection. Section 8 reduces the number of industry members to one and requires one member with training or substantial experience in wildlife protection; one member with training or substantial experience in environmental protection; one member with training or substantial experience in soil conservation or reclamation or technical expertise relevant to the issues considered by the commission; one member who is an active agricultural producer or a royalty owner; and one member with training or substantial experience in public health. This version of the commission is repealed on the earlier of July 1, 2020, or the date on which 3 specific rules promulgated by the commission have become effective. On that date, section 9, which creates a professional 5-member commission (along with the 2 ex officio executive directors), becomes effective.

Section 10 requires the director of the commission to hire up to 2 deputy directors. Upon receipt of a request for a technical review, the director is required to appoint technical review board members.

The Act currently specifies that the commission has exclusive authority relating to the conservation of oil or gas. Section 11 clarifies that nothing in the Act alters, impairs, or negates the authority of:

• The air quality control commission to regulate the air pollution associated with oil and gas operations;
• The water quality control commission to regulate the discharge of water pollutants from oil and gas operations;
• The state board of health to regulate the disposal of naturally occurring radioactive materials and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials from oil and gas operations;
• The solid and hazardous waste commission to regulate the disposal of hazardous waste and exploration and production waste from oil and gas operations; or
• A local government to regulate land use related to oil and gas operations, including specifically the siting of an oil and gas location.

Currently, an operator first gets a permit from the commission to drill one or more wells within a drilling unit, which is located within a defined area, and then notifies the applicable local government of the proposed development and seeks any necessary local government approval. Section 12 requires operators to file, with the application for a permit to drill, either: Proof that the operator has already filed an application with the affected local government to approve the siting of the proposed oil and gas location and of the local government's disposition of the application; or proof that the affected local government does not regulate the siting of oil and gas locations. Section 12 also specifies that, until the commission has promulgated rules regarding 3 specific topics and the rules have become effective, the director may delay the final determination regarding a permit if the director, following a public comment period, determines that the permit requires additional analysis to ensure the protection of public health, safety, and welfare or the environment or requires additional local government or other state agency consultation.

Pursuant to commission rule, an operator may submit a statewide blanket financial assurance of $60,000 for fewer than 100 wells or $100,000 for 100 or more wells. Section 12 directs the commission to adopt rules that require financial assurance sufficient to provide adequate coverage for all applicable requirements of the Act. Current law allows the commission to set numerous fees used to administer the Act and sets a $200 or $100 cap on the fees. Section 12 eliminates the caps and requires the commission to set a permit application fee in an amount sufficient to recover the commission's reasonably foreseeable direct and indirect costs in conducting the analysis necessary to assure that permitted operations will be conducted in compliance with all applicable requirements of the Act.

Current law gives the commission the authority to regulate oil and gas operations so as to prevent and mitigate "significant" adverse environmental impacts to the extent necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare, taking into consideration cost-effectiveness and technical feasibility. Section 12 requires the commission to protect and minimize adverse impacts to public health, safety, and welfare, the environment, and wildlife resources and protect against adverse environmental impacts on any air, water, soil, or biological resource resulting from oil and gas operations. Section 12 also requires the commission to adopt rules that require alternate location analyses for oil and gas facilities that are proposed to be located near populated areas and that evaluate and address the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development. Finally, section 12 directs the commission to promulgate rules to:

• Ensure proper wellbore integrity of all oil and gas production wells, including the use of nondestructive testing of weld joints and requiring certification of several categories of oil and gas workers;
• Allow public disclosure of flowline information and to evaluate and determine when a deactivated flowline must be inspected before being reactivated; and
• Evaluate and determine when inactive, temporarily abandoned, and shut-in wells must be inspected before being put into production or used for injection.

Section 13 modifies the commission's administrative procedures, including by taking into account determinations made by administrative law judges.

Current law authorizes "forced" or "statutory" pooling, a process by which "any interested person", typically an operator who has at least one lease or royalty interest, may apply to the commission for an order to pool oil and gas resources located within a particularly identified drilling unit. After giving notice to interested parties and holding a hearing, the commission can adopt a pooling order to require an owner of oil and gas resources within the drilling unit who has not consented to the application (nonconsenting owner) to allow the operator to produce the oil and gas within the drilling unit notwithstanding the owner's lack of consent. Section 14 requires that the owners of more than 45% of the mineral interests to be pooled must have joined in the application for a pooling order and that the application include either: Proof that the applicant has already filed an application with the affected local government to approve the siting of the proposed oil and gas facilities and of the local government's disposition of the application; or proof that the affected local government does not regulate the siting of oil and gas facilities. Section 14 also specifies that the operator cannot use the surface owned by a nonconsenting owner without permission from the nonconsenting owner.

Current law also sets the royalty that a nonconsenting owner is entitled to receive at 12.5% of the full royalty rate until the consenting owners have been fully reimbursed (out of the remaining 87.5% of the nonconsenting owner's royalty) for their costs. Section 14 raises a nonconsenting owner's royalty rate during this pay-back period from 12.5% to 13% for gas and 16% for oil and makes corresponding reductions of the portions of the nonconsenting owner's royalty from which the consenting owners' costs are paid.

Current law requires the commission to ensure that the 2-year average of the unobligated portion of the oil and gas conservation and environmental response fund does not exceed $6 million and that there is an adequate balance in the environmental response account in the fund to address environmental response needs. Section 15 directs the commission to ensure that the unobligated portion of the fund does not exceed 50% of total appropriations from the fund for the upcoming fiscal year and that there is an adequate balance in the account to support the operations of the commission and to address environmental response needs.

Section 16 specifies that for permit-specific conditions for wildlife habitat protection, the commission is required to consult with and obtain consent from a surface owner only if the permit-specific conditions directly impact the affected surface owner's property or use of that property.

Section 17 amends preemption law by specifying that both state agencies and local governments have authority to regulate oil and gas operations and establishes that local government requirements may be more protective or stricter than state requirements.

Section 18 appropriates $851,010 to the department of natural resources to implement the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Commissioner of agriculture - agricultural chemical management plans - expansion to include surface water - appropriation. Under current law, the commissioner of agriculture is responsible for the management of the use of agricultural chemicals to protect groundwater, and the commissioner adopts rules establishing agricultural management plans for this purpose. The act expands the scope of the commissioner's agricultural management plans to include the protection of state waters, which includes surface and subsurface waters.

The act appropriates $239,592 to the department of agriculture from the plant health, pest control, and environmental protection cash fund to implement the act, of which $21,875 is reappropriated to the department of public health and environment and $1,000 is reappropriated to the department of personnel.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Paid family and medical leave - study - task force created - appropriation. The act creates a study of the implementation of a paid family and medical leave program in the state by:

• Requiring the department of labor and employment to contract with experts in the field of paid family and medical leave to report on the establishment of a paid family and medical leave program for employees in the state;
• Requiring the department to request information from third parties that may be willing to administer all or part of a paid family and medical leave program;
• Creating the family and medical leave implementation task force, which is responsible for recommending a plan to implement a paid family and medical leave program for the state; and
• Requiring an actuarial study of the final plan recommended by the task force.

To implement the act, $165,487 is appropriated to the department of labor and employment and $17,004 is appropriated to the department of public health and environment. Both appropriations are from the general fund.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

State water plan - grant program - appropriations. Section 1 of the act:

• Creates the water plan implementation grant program (program); and
• Specifies criteria for expenditures by the Colorado water conservation board (board) for the program.

The act appropriates:

• $8.3 million from the general fund to the department of natural resources (department) for use by the board to finance grants; and
• $1.7 million from the general fund to the department for use by the board for stakeholder outreach and technical analysis to develop a water resources demand management program.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Industrial hemp - alignment with federal law - state plan of regulation. In 2018, the federal government enacted the "Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018" (federal act), which removed hemp from schedule I of the federal "Controlled Substances Act". The federal act requires the United States department of agriculture (USDA) to develop a plan for the regulation of hemp and authorizes each state to seek approval from the USDA to have primary regulatory authority over hemp production within the state by preparing and submitting a state plan of regulation to the secretary of the USDA.

The act updates the laws governing Colorado's industrial hemp regulatory program to align with the federal act and to put the department of agriculture in a position to prepare and submit a state plan to the secretary of the USDA.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Colorado water conservation board construction fund - project and loan authorizations - appropriations - transfers. The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund (fund) to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects:

• Continuation of the satellite monitoring system operation and maintenance, $380,000 (section 1 of the act);
• Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2);
• Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $175,000 (section 3);
• Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $150,000 (section 4);
• Continuation of instream flow engineering support services, $250,000 (section 5);
• Acquisition of LIDAR data, $200,000 (section 6); and
• Technical assistance grants for beneficiaries of the federal "Colorado River Storage Project Act", $200,000 (section 7).

The state treasurer will make the following transfers from the fund:

• Up to $2,000,000 on July 1, 2019, to the litigation fund (section 8); and
• $2,500,000 on June 30, 2019, to the water supply reserve fund (section 9).

Section 10 appropriates $17,500,000 from the fund to the CWCB for continuing implementation of the state water plan as follows:

• Up to $4,000,000 to support watershed health goals;
• Up to $3,000,000 to facilitate the development of additional storage, artificial recharge into aquifers, and dredging existing reservoirs;
• Up to $1,000,000 for agricultural projects;
• Up to $1,000,000 for grant funding to implement long-term strategies for conservation, land use, and drought planning;
• Up to $500,000 for grants for water education, outreach, and innovation efforts;
• Up to $1,500,000 for environmental and recreational projects;
• Up to $1,000,000 to provide continued funding for the alternative agricultural grant program; and
• Up to $5,500,000 to fund updates to basin implementation plans, improve basin data collection and metrics for tracking state water plan implementation, and for use of the data for future updates of the state water plan.

Section 11 authorizes the CWCB to make loans up to $15,150,000 from the fund for the Walker recharge project, a water supply retiming effort that uses the alluvial aquifer of the South Platte river to increase irrigation opportunities for agricultural production.

Current law:

• Makes money appropriated for use in Republican river matters available until June 30, 2019; section 12 extends availability until the money is fully expended;
• Authorizes and directs the state treasurer to transfer $200,000 from the fund to the feasibility study small grant fund; section 13 makes this an annual obligation on July 1 of each year and increases the transfer cap to $500,000 in order to restore the unencumbered balance in the fund up to $500,000; and
• Creates the flood and drought response fund; section 14 authorizes and directs the state treasurer to annually transfer money on July 1 of each year from the fund to the flood and drought response fund to restore the unencumbered balance in the flood and drought response fund to $500,000.

Section 15 changes a continuing annual transfer established in statute of $10 million from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the fund for implementation of the state water plan to a single transfer of $10 million on July 1, 2019.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note

Industrial hemp - regulation of industrial hemp products - increased wholesale food manufacturer fee - stakeholder process - local regulation. Section 1 of the act sets the annual registration fee that a wholesale food manufacturer that produces an industrial hemp product is required to pay to the department of public health and environment at $300, regardless of the manufacturer's gross annual sales. Section 1 also authorizes the department to convene a stakeholder work group to study the regulation of industrial hemp products.

Sections 2 and 3 authorize local governments to charge a local licensing fee and adopt ordinances or resolutions regulating businesses engaged in the storage, extraction, processing, or manufacturing of industrial hemp or industrial hemp products if the ordinances or resolutions do not conflict with state law.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Fiscal Note