Month: October 2024

  • 2024 Interim Committee Recap – Part 2

    This is the second of two articles summarizing this year’s interim committee actions. Since the end of the last legislative session several legislative committees held public meetings to discuss topics relevant to Colorado and to recommend legislation to the Legislative Council for approval for introduction in 2025. As mentioned in the first part of this series posted last week, this article contains the summaries of the last five of 10 committees and their recommended legislation. The Legislative Council met on Tuesday, October 15, to review interim committee legislation proposals. Click here to listen to the Legislative Council meeting.

    Cell Phone Connectivity Interim Committee

    The committee met four times and attended two field trips during the interim. It heard presentations from members of the telecommunications industry, including the Wireless Infrastructure Association, the Colorado Telecommunications Association, and the Colorado Communications and Utility Alliance. The committee had four bills drafted and recommended the following three bills to the Legislative Council:

    • Bill A – Single Point of Contact Wireless Services. The bill requires the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in the Department of Public Safety to develop a single point of contact within the division to help ensure statewide coverage of the integrated public alert and warning system for wireless emergency alerts and the emergency alert system, provide technical assistance, and offer recommendations to improve current wireless alert systems in Colorado that address language and access needs.
    • Bill B – Wireless Telephone Infrastructure Deployment Incentives. The bill requires the Colorado broadband office to implement a wireless telephone infrastructure grant program.
    • Bill C – Local Government Permitting Wireless Telecom Facilities. The bill establishes requirements relating to a local government’s approval of an application by a telecommunications provider for the siting and construction of a new wireless telecommunications facility or for the substantial change of an existing wireless telecommunications facility.

    Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems

    The committee met three times during the 2024 interim and heard presentations from the task force and the Behavioral Health Administration. The committee requested five bills to be drafted and recommended all five bills to the Legislative Council for consideration:

    • Bill A – Deflection Supports Justice-Involved Youth. The bill makes changes to the youthful offender system related to housing arrangements and equitable treatment for youthful offenders; rehabilitative treatment and life skills programming; and clinician evaluations, tailored treatment plans, and client managers. It applies the standards for determining competency in juvenile delinquency cases to juveniles who have charges directly filed against them in adult court, juveniles whose cases are transferred to adult court, or juveniles subject to concurrent court jurisdiction. The bill imposes certain limitations on a case management plan’s contents, makes some sentencing requirements, and creates a grant program to provide defection services.
    • Bill B – Behavioral Health Crisis Response Recommendations. The bill requires the a stakeholder group be convened to identify and compile a list of existing resources and model programs that communities throughout Colorado utilize when responding to behavioral health crises and to make the resources and information about the model programs publicly available. It requires the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, the Department of Public Health and Environment, and the Behavioral Health Administration to provide information to the General Assembly regarding the reimbursement shortages and gaps within the continuum of care and the reimbursement and funding options that are available to address the shortages and gaps.
    • Bill C – Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Defense. When a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity is accepted by the court, the bill requires the court, in consultation with others parties, to determine whether a sanity examination requires the defendant to stay overnight for an extended examination and the number of days of the extended examination. It prohibits the court from ordering the defendant into custody in order to conduct the sanity examination and for a defendant from being dressed in prison or jail clothing or for restraints from being visible on the recording. The bill repeals the provision authorizing a narcoanalytic interview of the defendant.
    • Bill D – Complementary Behavioral Health Services in Jails Grant. Under existing law, the Behavioral Health Administration administers the jail-based behavioral health services program. The bill requires the administration to provide funding to jails to administer services that complement a person’s primary course of treatment for a behavioral health disorder to persons in custody in the jail. A jail is required to use the funding to train jail staff to administer complementary behavioral health services and to provide complementary behavioral health services to persons in custody in the jail at no cost to the person. The bill requires the General Assembly to annually appropriate up to $50,000 for the administration of complementary behavioral health services as part of the program.
    • Bill E – Competency in Criminal Justice System Services & Bail. Under existing law, when criminal charges are dismissed against a person receiving inpatient restoration services from the Department of Human Services, the department must stop providing services to the person. The bill permits the department to continue to provide services for up to 90 days after the person’s case is dismissed because the person is incompetent to proceed. It also allows the department to enter into an agreement with an organization to provide permanent supportive housing for a person whose case is dismissed because the person is incompetent to proceed, the person has been referred to the bridges wraparound care program, or has successfully completed a bridges wraparound care program. The bill states that a defendant’s competency status does not affect the defendant’s eligibility for release on bond and is not a basis for a no-bond hold or mental health stay and prohibits a court from considering competency status as a factor in setting or modifying a monetary condition of bond.

    Pension Review Commission and Pension Review Subcommittee

    The Pension Review Commission met three times during the 2024 interim. It heard presentations from the Fire and Police Pension Association; the Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA); PNYX Group, a contractor engaged by the Pension Review Subcommittee to conduct an independent review of assumptions used to model PERA’s financial situation; and Segal Group regarding PERA’s signal light reporting for the hybrid defined benefit plan. In addition, the commission heard proposals for legislation from the Subcommittee. The Subcommittee met three times during the 2024 interim.  It heard presentations PERA, the Association, and the PNYX Group regarding the details of its draft and final reports; and the Segal Group and AON regarding various aspects of PERA. The Subcommittee also discussed proposed legislation for the Commission’s consideration and discussed its annual reports to the General Assembly and the citizens of Colorado. The commission requested that three bills be drafted and recommended the two following bills to the Legislative Council for introduction:

    • Bill A – Income Tax Credit for PERA Retirees. The bill creates a refundable income tax credit that is available for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2025, but prior to January 1, 2027, for a qualifying PERA retiree, which means a full-time Colorado resident individual who is 65 years of age or older at the end of the 2025 or 2026 income tax year and has an annual federal adjusted gross income of no more than $38,000 as a single filer or $76,000 as a joint filer.
    • Bill B – PERA Risk-Reduction Measures.  The bill requires the PERA board to conduct or cause to be conducted an actuarial study of PERA and a periodic actuarial audit of PERA every 4 years and aligns the timing of the study and the audit. In addition, the bill requires the state auditor to commission an independent review of the periodic actuarial audit by experts other than those already working on behalf of PERA. The bill specifies items that the experts commissioned to conduct the independent review are required to analyze.

    Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Tax Policy & Task Force

    The committee met three times during the interim. It heard presentations on the insurance premium tax from the Division of Insurance, the alternative transportation tax credit from the Department of Revenue and the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, the business personal property tax from the Division of Property Taxation and the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and various other tax expenditures from the Office of the State Auditor. The committee requested ten bills for drafting and recommended the following five bills to the Legislative Council:

    • Bill A – Adjusting Certain Tax Expenditures. The bill modifies ten tax expenditures. The bill disallows the income tax credit for unsalable alcohol after December 31, 2025. The bill allows a taxpayer to deduct 1%, rather than 2%, of the taxable gallons of fuel removed from a fuel terminal for purposes of the tax imposed on gasoline and special fuel. The bill extends two income tax credits by extending the income tax credit for a purchaser who installs an energy storage system in a residential dwelling through income tax years commencing before January 1, 2027, and the reducing emissions from lawn equipment income tax credit through income tax years commencing before January 1, 2029. The bill amends a definition of “agricultural compounds” that is incorporated into the definition of “wholesale sale” used for purposes of the sales and use tax statutes. The bill also identifies the purposes of the insolvency assessments paid insurance premium tax credit, the state refund income tax deduction, the dyed special fuels and off-road fuel tax excise tax exemption, the off-road fuel use refund, and the wholesale sales exemption from sales tax and identifies how to measure if those purposes are met.
    • Bill B – Senior Housing Income Tax Credit Extension. The bill extends a refundable income tax credit that is available for the income tax years commencing on January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2024, so that the credit is also available for the income tax years commencing on January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026.
    • Bill C – Modification Long-Term Care Insurance Income Tax Credit. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2025, the bill both: increases the amount of federal taxable income a taxpayer may have and still qualify for the state income tax credit for purchasing long-term care insurance and annually adjusts that federal taxable income amount for inflation; and doubles the amount of the credit a taxpayer may claim and, for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2026, annually adjusts the credit amount for inflation.
    • Bill D – Income Tax Expenditures for Service Members. The bill changes how income tax expenditures benefit individuals engaged in military service. Beginning with income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2027, it eliminates the state income tax subtraction for an amount equal to any compensation received for active duty service in the armed forces of the United States by an individual who has reacquired residency in the state to the extent that the compensation is included in federal taxable income. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2027, but before January 1, 2032, the bill allows a refundable income tax credit as a form of tuition assistance to an actively serving member of the Colorado National Guard who is eligible for tuition assistance under an existing statutorily-authorized program administered by the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs.
    • Bill E – State Tax Expenditure & Grant Database. The bill creates an online database managed by the Department of Revenue that includes information on all qualifying state tax expenditures and state grant opportunities. The database must be created by December 31, 2026, and must be reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

    Transportation Legislation Review Committee

    The Transportation Legislation Review Committee had an ambitious interim that included three meetings and a one-day site tour during which it toured ten sites, including several mobility hubs and other projects and facilities that are part of the state surface transportation system. The committee heard presentations from a wide variety of agencies and groups including state transportation agencies, transportation authorities and districts that provide transportation infrastructure and services, and other diverse groups such as the American Automobile Association, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 101, Bicycle Colorado, the Colorado Association of the Chiefs of Police, the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, the Colorado Task Force on Drunk and Impaired Driving, the Cross Disability Coalition, the Denver Regional Council of Governments,  Greater Denver Transit, Green Latinos, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Petroleum Marketers Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Regional Air Quality Council, and the Utah Transit Authority. The committee recommended the following five bills to the Legislative Council:

    • Bill A – Increase Transportation Mode Choice Reduce Emissions. The bill concerns measures to increase transportation mode choices in order to reduce emissions. It establishes deadlines by which the Department of Transportation must present a statewide mode choice assessment, adopt rules establishing mode choice targets for 2030 to 2050, and present triannual reports regarding the mode choice targets to the transportation legislation review committee. It also specifies that certain entities required to prepare mode choice implementation plan include certain information about the mode choice targets, a multimodal transportation gaps summary, and an analysis of certain projected greenhouse gas emissions.
    • Bill B – Motor Vehicle Regulation Administration. The bill prohibits as vehicular document piracy the making, distributing, advertising, selling, promoting, completing, altering, or producing of a document that simulates or closely resembles an official document related to the administration of the motor vehicle or identification statutes without the express written permission of the Department of Revenue. It makes the “Uniform Power of Attorney Act” apply to the motor vehicle statutes, repeals the requirement that a service-connected disability be permanent in order for a veteran to be eligible to register a motor vehicle without paying fees, and repeals certain license plates. The bill makes changes to the statutes regarding driver’s licenses and identification documents.
    • Bill C – Local Funding for Vulnerable Road User Protection. The bill authorizes a county, city and county, or municipality or a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights exempt enterprise created by a city, city and county, or municipality to generate additional fee-based funding for local transportation system strategies that improve safety for vulnerable road users. The fees must be based on vehicle weight and may also be based on vehicle fuel-efficiency and must be reasonably calculated based on the impacts to vulnerable road users caused by the fee payers and the costs of remediating those impacts. Fee revenue may only be expended for local transportation system strategies that improve safety for vulnerable road users.
    • Bill D – Railroad Investigative Report Confidentiality. The bill repeals a requirement that investigative reports of railroads made for the public utilities commission be kept confidential and replaces that requirement with a grant of rule-making authority to make ongoing investigations and security information confidential. The confidentiality rules must not make final reports of investigations confidential and must require the timely release of information if public knowledge of the information would protect the public safety, health, or welfare.
    • Bill E – Paratransit Services. Paratransit services are defined as complementary parallel transit services for individuals with disabilities who are unable to utilize regular or fixed route transit services for some or all of their transit needs. The bill requires any political subdivision of the state, public entity, or nonprofit corporation that provides paratransit services in the state: to establish, in coordination with local public entities providing emergency services, a plan to communicate information and provide paratransit services during emergencies; to ensure that fare collection technology for paratransit services is comparable to that offered for regular or fixed route services; and, before reducing the service area for paratransit services, to consult with affected community members and conduct an impact analysis. It creates a task force to study and make recommendations regarding the standardization of and best practices for paratransit services in the state.

  • 2024 Interim Committee Recap – Part 1

    Several legislative committees held public meetings since the end of the last legislative session to discuss topics relevant to Colorado and to recommend legislation to the Legislative Council committee for approval for introduction in 2025. This is the first of two articles summarizing this interim’s committee actions. In this article we’re providing summaries of five of 10 committees and their recommended legislation.  The Legislative Council met on Tuesday, October 15, to review interim committee legislation proposals. Click here to listen to the Legislative Council meeting.

    American Indian Affairs Interim Study Committee

    The committee met four times during the interim and heard presentations from the Southern Ute Tribe; the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; the Denver American Indian Commission; the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission of Colorado; the Department of Law; the Department of Natural Resources; the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs; the Office of the Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives; and American Indian community stakeholders. The meetings included public testimony and discussions related to the challenges faced by American Indian communities, including the topics concerning health disparities, judicial concerns, the Indian Child Welfare Act, water matters, and access to public services. The committee requested the drafting of six bills and recommended the following three bills to the Legislative Council:

    • Bill A – American Indian Affairs Interim Committee. The bill creates the American Indian Affairs Interim Committee with the purpose to examine issues and challenges that impact American Indian Tribal Nations. It allows the committee to meet up to six times and to recommend up to five bills during each interim. The bill also requires the committee to submit a report to the Executive Committee of the Legislative Council summarizing the work of the Committee during the preceding five years.
    • Bill B – Recognition of Tribal Court Orders. Current law does not expressly allow for the state to recognize arrest warrants or commitment orders issued by a Tribal court of a federally recognized Tribe with a reservation within the exterior boundaries of the state (Tribal court). The bill clarifies that a state court shall give full faith and credit to an arrest warrant issued by a Tribal court. Upon issuance of a Tribal court arrest warrant, a peace officer in the state may apprehend the person identified in the Tribal warrant. The bill clarifies that any commitment order entered by a Tribal court that concerns a person under the Tribal court’s jurisdiction is recognized to the same extent as a commitment order entered by a state court, including health-care provider communications.
    • Bill C – Protect Wild Bison. The bill classifies bison as big game wildlife unless the bison is livestock. This classification means that hunting or taking one is illegal unless authorized by rule of the Parks and Wildlife Commission.

    Wildfire Matters Review Committee

    The committee met five times during the 2024 interim. It heard testimony and otherwise received information from the Colorado Forest Health Council, the Colorado State Forest Service, the Department of Natural Resources, the Division of Fire Prevention and Control in the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Public Health and Environment, the Colorado Fire Commission, the Division of Insurance in the Department of Regulatory Agencies, local government representatives, and private industry stakeholders. The committee initially requested the drafting of ten bills and recommended the following five bills to the Legislative Council for consideration:

    • Bill A – Applying Artificial Intelligence to Predict, Prevent, or Assist in Fighting Wildfires. The bill requires the General Assembly to appropriate money to the Division of Fire Prevention and Control to study and develop applications of artificial intelligence that predict, mitigate, or assist in fighting wildfires. These applications must, at a minimum, produce data that can be incorporated into maps displaying classification of vegetation and wildfire fuel; predictions regarding the likelihood of wildfire ignition potential in a particular area following observed lightning events; the perimeter of an ongoing wildfire; and predictions regarding the locations and area to which an ongoing wildfire may spread.
    • Bill B – Limited Liability for Landowners Who Allow Emergency Access to Property. The bill provides immunity from civil liability for damage or injury to persons or property, other than that which arises from gross negligence or willful misconduct, to a landowner who allows access to the landowner’s property for entry and exit in connection with an emergency.
    • Bill C – Workforce Development in Natural Resources. The bill authorizes the Colorado Cooperative Extension Service to expand and implement outreach programs and initiatives to youth and young adults, in partnership with the forest health industry, local school districts, the Colorado State Forest Service, the Division of Fire Safety and Control in the Department of Public Safety, and others. The outreach programs and initiatives are intended to increase awareness and opportunities in the areas of forestry, wildland fire, and natural resources and, in future years, may include expanding 4-H programs, facilitating career and workforce readiness and entry into forest health careers. The Extension shall make annual reports and is authorized to provide need-based grants to fire service governing bodies and volunteer fire departments to fund ongoing training and create a statewide outreach program to promote fire service careers.
    • Bill D – Updating the Wildfire Information and Resource Center Website. The Division of Fire Prevention and Control is currently required to host the Wildfire Information and Resource Center website and to provide information regarding active wildfires on the website. The bill requires the website to include hyperlinks to websites that display emergency information and wildfire updates for each county in Colorado and requires the division to coordinate with county governments in order to provide the hyperlinks.
    • Bill E – Support to Increase Prescribed Burns. The bill creates the Prescribed Fire Claims Cash Fund in the state treasury, requires the treasurer to transfer $1 million to the fund, and requires the Division of Fire Prevention and Control to use the money to pay claims related to costs or damages that result from prescribed burns. It also expands the definition of a “certified burner” in the state to include an individual who has not completed the Colorado division’s training and certification program but who meets reciprocity requirements and possesses a valid Colorado certification number.

    Representative Hugh McKean Colorado Youth Advisory Council Review Committee

    The committee met three times during the interim and heard presentations from its student members about ADA-compliant school facilities, health literacy, school transportation, solar energy, youth representation on the Environmental Justice Advisory Board, community engagement on environmental matters, food waste, and opioid antagonists. The committee requested drafts of six bills and recommended the following three bills to the Legislative Council:

    • Bill A – Create Youth Health Literacy Oversight Panel. The bill creates a youth health literacy oversight panel in the Department of Public Health and Environment to identify deficits in youth health literacy and recommend improvements. The panel must recommend revisions to the elementary and secondary education standards, which the State Board of Education must in turn consider. The panel must also develop or revise a range of youth health literacy resources and submit an annual report to the General Assembly describing its work, along with related data and trends.
    • Bill B – Food Waste Reduction in Public Schools. The bill encourages local education providers to adopt policies to reduce food waste in public school cafeterias and food preparation facilities. Policies may include composting and share tables that permit students to return whole food or beverage items for redistribution to other students or local nonprofits. The bill requires the Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise to consider incentivizing public schools to develop effective composting or share table programs. The bill extends limited immunity from civil and criminal liability to schools and school personnel who supervise food and beverage redistribution.
    • Bill C – Youth Involvement in Environmental Justice. The bill adds two youth members—one voting, one nonvoting—to the Environmental Justice Advisory Board in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The bill also requires the Colorado Energy Office to develop and post on its website best practices for the adoption and financing of clean energy resources in schools. The office must periodically update the best practices and post the updates on its website.

    Sales and Use Task Simplification Task Force

    The task force met four times during the interim. It heard presentations from the Department of Revenue, the Colorado Municipal League, local government representatives, and private industry stakeholders. The meetings included public testimony and discussions relating to the electronic Sales and Use Tax Simplification System (SUTS), the state sales tax on rooms and accommodations, state-administered local lodging taxes, municipal use tax coordination efforts, and state and local sales and use tax audit processes. The task force made five bill requests and recommended two bills to the Legislative Council for introduction as follows:

    • Bill A – Local Government Tax Audit Confidentiality Standards. The bill prohibits a third-party auditor who conducts a sales or use tax investigation on behalf of a local taxing jurisdiction from divulging any information obtained from the investigation, or from any document, report, or return filed in connection with the local sales or use tax, except in certain limited circumstances, including disclosure to:
      • An official, employee, hearing officer, attorney, or other public agent of the local taxing jurisdiction who is authorized to receive such information;A requesting taxpayer, or the taxpayer’s authorized agent, of the taxpayer’s own tax filing;The Department of Revenue (department) for purposes of statistical analysis and publication as authorized by current law; andThe department and the Federal Internal Revenue Service as necessary and pertinent to a taxpayer’s compliance or failure to comply with state or federal tax law.
      • Violation of the prohibition on disclosure is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine. The bill also modifies the state-level confidentiality statute for the protection of taxpayer information to clarify that certain information may be shared governmental entities, as needed, consistent with current law.
    • Bill B – Online Search of Sales and Use Tax. The bill modifies the state-level confidentiality statute for the protection of taxpayer information to authorize and instruct the executive director of the department to allow every sales and use tax license and every sales and use tax exemption certificate to be made searchable by the name and identification number of the licensee or the certificate holder. 

    Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee

    The Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee, which is actually a year-round committee, met four times during the interim and heard presentations concerning orphaned mines and acid drainage, avian flu, raw milk, energy building codes in agricultural properties, foreign ownership of agricultural land, revegetation, tap fees, zebra mussels, and gray wolf reintroduction. The committee had 15 bills drafted and recommended the following eight bills to the Legislative Council:

    • Bill A – Remove Gendered Language from Title 35. The bill substitutes gender-neutral language for gendered language in title 35 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. The bill also updates archaic language in title 35.
    • Bill B – Wildlife Damaged Protection of Personal Information. Under current law, a person may file a claim with the Division of Parks and Wildlife for compensation for damages to property caused by wildlife, and the division must review and investigate that claim. The bill changes current law by requiring that the personal information of a claimant received by the division through the claim procedures and proactive nonlethal measures is kept confidential and not disclosed pursuant to the “Colorado Open Records Act”.
    • Bill C – Mining Reclamation & Interstate Compact. The bill amends the “Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act” and the “Colorado Land Reclamation Act for the Extraction of Construction Materials” to contemplate the expedited issuance of reclamation-only permits to persons desiring to conduct reclamation-only operations after July 1, 2025, on less than five acres and to update restrictions and requirements concerning the posting and forfeiture of financial warranties relating to mine reclamation projects. The Office of Mined Land Reclamation may not issue a reclamation-only permit to a designated mining operation. The bill also enacts the “Interstate Mining Compact” and ratifies Colorado’s membership in the associated Interstate Mining Commission.
    • Bill D – Agriculture Building Exempt from Energy Use Requirements. Under current law, owners of certain large buildings (covered buildings) are required to annually collect and report each covered building’s energy use to the Colorado Energy Office. The bill clarifies that agricultural buildings are not covered buildings, and, therefore, owners of agricultural buildings are exempt from the energy use collecting and reporting requirements. The bill defines an agricultural building as a building or structure used to house agricultural implements, hay, unprocessed grain, poultry, livestock, or other agricultural products or inputs.
    • Bill E – Ranch Property Tax Clarifications. The bill broadens the definition of “ranch” for purposes of property taxation to include a parcel of land used for grazing or raising livestock for the primary purpose of obtaining a monetary profit rather than a parcel of land used only for grazing livestock for the primary purpose of obtaining a monetary profit. The bill also eliminates the limited definition of “livestock” included in the definition of “ranch” and replaces it with the general definition of “livestock” used for property tax purposes that includes all animals.
    • Bill F – Backflow Prevention Devices Requirements. Backflow is the reverse flow of water, fluid, or gas caused by back pressure or back siphonage. Under current law, individuals who are engaged in the business of installing, removing, inspecting, testing, or repairing backflow prevention devices are subject to the licensure requirements for plumbers, except when the individuals are installing or testing a stand-alone fire suppression sprinkler system. The bill exempts individuals engaged in the business of inspecting, testing, or repairing backflow prevention devices from licensure requirements but retains the licensure requirements for individuals engaged in the installation or removal of the devices.
    • Bill G – Future of Severance Taxes & Water Funding Task Force. The bill creates the Future of Severance Taxes and Water Funding Task Force. The Department of Natural Resources is required to contract and work with a third party to conduct a study on severance taxes and water funding and develop recommendations for ways to continue funding water needs in the face of decreasing severance tax revenue. The third party must submit a final report, which incorporates the input of the task force, to the Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee.
    • Bill H – Continue Wildlife Habitat Stamp Program. Individuals applying for hunting or fishing licenses in Colorado must also purchase a Colorado wildlife habitat stamp. The Division of Parks and Wildlife in the Department of Natural Resources uses the money collected from the stamp for the benefit of wildlife habitat or access to wildlife habitat in the state. The stamp program is scheduled to repeal, subject to a sunset review by the Department of Regulatory Agencies, in 2027. The bill continues the program indefinitely.
  • What Happens to a Statute Declared to be Unconstitutional?

    Editor’s note: This article was last posted April 7, 2022 and has been updated as needed.

    by Jennifer Gilroy and Michele Brown

    Several years ago, a librarian at the Sturm College of Law (at the University of Denver) called our office to ask what happens to a statute when an appellate court declares it unconstitutional. Perhaps he figured the Revisor of Statutes would simply and unceremoniously strike it from the books. Or maybe he thought that the legislature would automatically know and run a bill to repeal the offending provision of law. But it doesn’t exactly work that way. In fact, Colorado has several “unconstitutional” laws still on the books.

    To understand the reason for this phenomenon, it’s necessary to go back to basic 8th grade American Government class. State government, like the federal government, is split into three branches: The executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch. One cannot do the work of the others. While the executive branch may enforce the law and the judicial branch interpret the law, only the legislative branch may write the law or, in this case, repeal it. Therefore, despite the fact that the highest court in the land may have determined that a Colorado statute (or a section of the state constitution) is unconstitutional, only the legislature may take the statute off the books by bill. The constitution may be amended—even if the amendment is to remove a provision declared to be unconstitutional—only if the change is approved by a majority of voters voting on a ballot measure or on a measure referred to the voters by the General Assembly. The court cannot require the repeal.

    Legislators in the Colorado General Assembly may introduce only five bills during each regular legislative session. (See Joint Rule 24 (b)(1)(A)). As a result, many legislators who have so many things they want to accomplish during their brief, term-limited tenure at the state capitol may not want to “spend” one of their five bills on a housekeeping matter, as it were. Are you starting to see why some of these laws linger on the books long after they should? In fact, in Colorado dozens of statutory and constitutional provisions that courts have held to be unconstitutional still remain on the books.

    How does the average reader of our laws, then, know whether a statute or constitutional provision is really “good law”? The General Assembly’s legal staff in the Office of Legislative Legal Services vigilantly reads all of the appellate opinions issued by the Colorado Court of Appeals, the Colorado Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court looking for opinions construing Colorado’s law and, in particular, opinions declaring any provision of Colorado law unconstitutional. The Office’s legislative lawyers and legislative editors write brief summaries of every court’s holding that interprets a provision of Colorado law. These “annotations,” as they are called, are then published in the official Colorado Revised Statutes (also found online) immediately following the section of law that is the subject of the court’s ruling.

    If the court has actually determined that the provision of law is unconstitutional, the Legal Services staff will include a special editor’s note, which the reader will see immediately following the source note at the end of the section of law. The editor’s note notifies the reader that this provision has been held to be unconstitutional and provides the citation to the case so construing the law. The staff will also include an editor’s note if, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court has determined another state’s statute to be unconstitutional and that state’s statute is substantially similar to a Colorado statute. [For an example, see the editor’s note regarding an Arizona statute after §18-1.3-1201]

    But, unless it’s reported in the news, how does a legislator know that one of Colorado’s laws has been found to be unconstitutional? Well, in addition to writing annotations and editor’s notes regarding the court’s holding, the Legal Services staff also provides the members of the state legislature with a quarterly report of recent judicial opinions of note. The Notice of Judicial Opinions provides the members with information about recently issued appellate court opinions construing Colorado law and, if any opinion addresses the constitutionality of a state law, it is highlighted in the report. Through this report, members of the legislature are notified that an appellate court has determined that a law on the books is unconstitutional and is therefore “ripe” for repeal. Finally, Legal Services staff also tweets about significant court rulings when they are released.

    The decision whether to sponsor a bill to repeal an unconstitutional law is ultimately the decision of each individual legislator. Nevertheless, so long as an unconstitutional law remains on the books, the editor’s notes and the annotations will notify the reader of the court’s decision and, by extension, the status of the law.