S.B. 94-30 Hazardous waste disposal sites - performance audits. States that designated hazardous waste disposal sites shall be subject to a performance audit at least once every 5 years instead of at least once every 3 years. Eliminates the requirement that the department of health conduct such audits with the advice and counsel of the state auditor's office. States that the purpose of such performance audits is to review the systems that provide assurance a site is protecting human health and the environment.
APPROVED by Governor
April 14, 1994
EFFECTIVE April 14, 1994
S.B. 94-45 Public health-related provisions - repeal or extension of termination dates. Repeals the automatic termination date for: A provision that allows non-rural nursing care facilities to use licensed practical nurses, rather than registered nurses, to provide nursing care under limited circumstances; the requirement that students provide evidence of immunization prior to attendance at post-secondary educational institutions; the exemption of certain research personnel from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reporting requirements; and the provision of alcohol and substance abuse treatment services to pregnant women under the medical assistance program. Extends the automatic termination date for continuing education requirements for water and wastewater treatment plant operators to July 1, 1999.
APPROVED by Governor
April 19, 1994
EFFECTIVE April 19, 1994
S.B. 94-94 Water quality control - threat of endangerment of state waters - restraining orders and injunctions - jurisdiction. Allows the division of administration of the department of health to seek a temporary restraining order or preliminary or permanent injunction to prevent a threat of a violation of the water quality laws or regulations which poses an imminent and substantial danger to the beneficial uses of state waters. Provides the violator an opportunity for a hearing before final action by the division. Clarifies that suits shall be brought in the district or county in which the violation or threatened violation occurs.
APPROVED by Governor
April 14, 1994
EFFECTIVE April 14, 1994
S.B. 94-99 Denver health and hospital authority - creation. Creates the Denver health and hospital authority, a body corporate and a political subdivision of the state, for the purpose of: Providing health care for all citizens of Denver; providing emergency medical services to all citizens of Denver and the Rocky Mountain region; performing public health functions; educating the public on health matters; and performing research. Provides for governance of the authority by a 9-member board. Specifies that actions of the board shall require the affirmative vote of the majority of the total membership of the board. Directs the board to annually elect a chairperson from among its membership.
Authorizes the transfer of assets and liabilities of the Denver department of health and hospitals from the city and county of Denver to the authority. Specifies that such transfer shall be conditioned upon the city and the authority entering into a binding agreement for such transfer. Specifies elements to be included in such agreement. Establishes the powers and duties of the authority. Clarifies the relationship between the city and the authority. Specifies that the authority is a public body subject to open meetings and open records laws and has the power, subject to certain limits, to issue bonds and notes. Authorizes city employees to remain within the city personnel system or become employees of the authority. Authorizes the authority to establish and administer its own personnel program. Retains authority of the general assembly to make laws governing the authority.
Authorizes any teaching hospital owned by a county or a city and county to provide professional services to outpatient facilities which are located outside of the geographical confines of the hospital. Permits, rather than requires, charges for such services to be collected by the hospital and placed in a medical practice fund.
APPROVED by Governor
April 19, 1994
EFFECTIVE April 19, 1994
S.B. 94-103 Emergency medical-trauma services - task force to study statewide services. Recognizes that a report on the establishment and development of a statewide trauma system has been submitted to the general assembly, but expresses the need for the further development of a statewide system. Requires a five-member task force to provide further advice on the establishment, implementation, and financing of the system to the emergency medical services division of the department of public health and environment. States that the task force members will serve without compensation. Directs the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate to appoint the members of the task force, and requires the appointments to include at least one member of the house of representatives and one member of the senate.
Repeals the task force, effective July 1, 1995.
APPROVED by Governor
May 22, 1994
EFFECTIVE July 1, 1994
S.B. 94-109 Medical assistance act - nursing facility standards - remedies for violation - nursing home penalty cash fund - created - repeal. Authorizes the department of health to adopt rules and regulations creating remedies, including the imposition of civil money penalties, to be imposed against any nursing facility that violates federal medicaid regulations. Requires the department of health to adopt criteria for determining the amount of such penalties and establishes a penalty range from $100 to $10,000 to be imposed, based on the nature of the violation. Requires penalties to include interest at the statutory rate.
When such a violation constitutes an immediate and serious threat to residents, requires the imposition of a civil money penalty for each day a nursing facility is found to be in violation. Except for violations that constitute an immediate and serious threat to residents, prohibits penalties from being assessed prior to receipt of written notice by a nursing facility. Requires such notice to be provided within 5 days following the last day of the inspection or survey during which the deficiencies which constitute the violation were found. Establishes elements to be included in such notices, including instructions concerning written plans of correction to be submitted by the nursing facility for approval in accordance with criteria established by the department of health. Specifies that any penalty imposed shall continue to be assessed until the department of health verifies that the deficiencies are corrected or until the nursing facility notifies the department that corrections have been made, whichever is earlier. Provides for the suspension of penalties underapproved plans of correction. Requires such penalties to be reinstated at an increased amount and retroactively assessed if the nursing facility has not corrected the violation.
Authorizes the department of health to recommend the imposition of civil money penalties to the department of social services. Authorizes the department of social services to assess, enforce, and collect such penalties for credit to the nursing home penalty cash fund and creates such fund. Vests joint authority for administering the fund in the department of health and the department of social services; except that final authority over the administration of the fund is vested in the department of social services. Requires the department of social services to promulgate rules and regulations regarding the administration of the fund. Establishes circumstances under which moneys in the fund may be distributed.
Repeals all remedies effective July 1, 1997.
APPROVED by Governor
May 25, 1994
EFFECTIVE May 25, 1994
S.B. 94-139 Environmental self-evaluation - environmental audit reports - admissibility in evidence - privilege against providing testimony - voluntary disclosure of violations - presumption against imposition of penalties. Provides that any environmental audit report prepared as the a result of a voluntary self-evaluation to determine compliance with environmental laws is privileged and is not admissible as evidence in any legal action or administrative proceeding and is not subject to discovery. Creates a privilege against compelling the testimony of persons who were involved with the performance of a voluntary self-evaluation or the preparation of an environmental audit report.
Establishes an exception to the inadmissibility or prohibition against discovery of an environmental audit report or to the privilege against providing testimony if there is a waiver of the privilege or if a court or administrative law judge, after an in camera review, determines that: there was noncompliance with environmental laws and efforts to achieve compliance were not initiated promptly; compelling circumstances exist; the privilege is being asserted for a fraudulent purpose or to avoid disclosure in an ongoing or imminent proceeding or in a proceeding for which written notification was provided; or there is a clear, present, and immediate danger to the public health or the environment in areas outside of the facility. Excepts from the privilege: documents or information that is legally required to be developed, maintained, or reported; documents or information required to be available or furnished to a regulatory agency; information obtained by observation, sampling, or monitoring; information obtained through an independent source; documents existing prior to the environmental self-evaluation; documents prepared subsequent to the voluntary self-evaluation; and information developed or maintained in the course of regularly conducted business activity or regular practice.
Authorizes a court or administrative law judge to allow limited access to an environmental audit report for the purposes of an in camera review. Provides that any person improperly divulging or disseminating the information in an environmental audit report is liable for damages caused by the divulgence or dissemination. Provides that any public entity, public employee, or public official improperly divulging or disseminating the information in an environmental audit report is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor, may be found in contempt of court, and may be assessed a fine not to exceed $10,000. Places the burden of proving a prima facie case for the self-evaluation privilege on the person or entity asserting the privilege. Places the burden of proving the nonexistence of the privilege on the party seeking disclosure of an environmental audit report.
Establishes a rebuttable presumption against the imposition of any administrative or civil penalties or any criminal penalties for negligent acts if a person or entity makes a voluntary disclosure of an environmental violation to a division or an agency within the department of health. Allows the presumption to be rebutted by a showing that the disclosure was not voluntary. Requires that the disclosure be made promptly and arise out of a voluntary self-evaluation, that the noncompliance be corrected within 2 years, unless the time period is extended, and that the person or entity cooperate with the appropriate division or agency. Excludes a person or entity from the elimination of penalties if the person or entity has committed a pattern of continuous or repeated violations within the 3-year period prior to disclosure.
Applies only to voluntary self-evaluations that are performed and voluntary disclosures that are made on or before June 30, 1999.
APPROVED by Governor
June 1, 1994
EFFECTIVE June 1, 1994
S.B. 94-151 Environmental laws - enforcement - agency statements of general applicability and future effect - requirement to publish. Requires that any agency policy or guidance, including any amendments or revisions, relating to enforcement or administration of state environmental laws governing air quality control, water quality control, hazardous waste, or solid waste be reduced to writing and published. Requires that 3 copies are to be filed with the state librarian for the state publications depository and distribution center and that copies be made available to the public upon request. Requires each affected state agency to maintain a current index of all such policies, guidance, and interpretive rules and to make such index available to the public at cost.
Specifies that no such policy or guidance shall have the force and effect of a rule unless it has been promulgated in accordance with the "State Administrative Procedure Act" and any other statute applicable to the affected agency. Authorizes any such policy or guidance to be brought to the attention of the relevant division director and thereafter to the relevant commission for review to determine whether such policy or guidance is consistent with applicable statutes and regulations and is appropriate for the relevant commission to undertake rule-making with respect to the subject matter of the policy or guidance.
Provides that any obligation to submit payment of any monetary penalty arising from an enforcement action concerning a matter under review by the relevant commission shall be stayed until completion of the review. States that such review does not constitute an adjudication of any facts of a specific enforcement action and that the failure to request a review shall not be considered in any permit appeal or enforcement action.
Specifies that this law can be implemented by the affected agencies within existing appropriations.
APPROVED by Governor
May 25, 1994
EFFECTIVE July 1, 1994
S.B. 94-180 Air quality - visibility impairment reasonable attribution studies - requirements - cost. Establishes requirements for visibility impairment reasonable attribution studies conducted for purposes of the Colorado prevention of significant deterioration program for air quality. Requires any remedy selection to include relevant economic impact data. States that the cost of such a study shall not be required to be paid by the department of health.
APPROVED by Governor
May 31, 1994
EFFECTIVE May 31, 1994
S.B. 94-186 Naturally occurring radioactive materials - disposal - regulatory authority. Deletes the current January 1, 1994, deadline for the state board of health to adopt regulations concerning the disposal of naturally occurring radioactive materials, instead granting the board permissive authority to adopt regulations at any time after the federal Environmental Protection Agency promulgates regulations on that subject.
APPROVED by Governor
April 19, 1994
EFFECTIVE April 19, 1994
S.B. 94-188 Alcohol and drug abuse counselors - certification - criminal justice programs - appropriation. Authorizes the division of alcohol and drug abuse currently located in the department of health and scheduled to be relocated to the new department of human services to certify alcohol and drug abuse counselors working in programs sponsored by agencies dealing with the parole and probation systems and adult and juvenile community corrections systems.
Appropriates $3,500 from the alcohol counselor certification fund to the department of human services for allocation to the alcohol and drug abuse division for the implementation of the act.
APPROVED by Governor
May 22, 1994
EFFECTIVE May 22, 1994
S.B. 94-211 Poison control services - transfer of appropriation. Shifts the responsibility for providing statewide poison control information services from the department of health to the department of health care policy and financing. Maintains the existing poison control center structure until July 1, 1995. Thereafter, requires the provision of such services to be by means of a statewide toll-free telephone network contracted for and overseen by a board.
Creates the statewide poison control oversight board in the department of health care policy and financing, the members of which are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. States that the board is to be comprised of the following members: A member who is involved in the provision of hospital emergency care services, a member with expertise in public health, a designee of the chancellor of the university of Colorado health sciences center, the executive director of the department of health care policy and financing or such director's designee, and three members from the public at large, one of whom has personally utilized the services of the poison control center or has a family member who has utilized such services. Specifies that each congressional district in the state shall be represented by at least one board member. Allows for the reimbursement of the board members' actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties.
Lists the following powers and duties of the poison control oversight board: To solicit, receive, and review bids for the provision of poison control services and the dissemination of poison control information by means of a toll-free telephone network; to contract with private, nonprofit or public entities for the provision of such statewide poison control services; to contract to provide poison control services to the citizens of other states; and to contract for performance or financial audits at the board's discretion. Specifies that the board shall exercise its powers and duties as if the same were transferred by a type 2 transfer. Requires the board to submit an annual report to the members of the joint budget committee and to the members of the general assembly. Requires physicians to release medical information to poison control service providers to assist in the diagnosis or treatment of a patient in a medical emergency.
Transfers $1,148,034 from the appropriation made in the general appropriation act to the department of health, division of emergency medical services, to the department of health care policy and financing for the implementation of the act.
APPROVED by Governor
May 31,
1994
PORTIONS EFFECTIVE July 1, 1994; July 1, 1995
S.B. 94-217 Air quality - control program fees - coordinated efficiency task force - visibility protection - evaluations of federal activities in Class I areas - visibility and air quality related values policy task force - creation - appropriations. Increases the fee paid by permitted stationary sources of air pollution for fiscal years 1994-95 and thereafter to $14.98 per ton of regulated pollutant reported and specifies that such fee may be increased by the executive director of the department of public health and environment for fiscal year 1996-97 by an amount equal to the annual authorized increase in direct personnel salary costs for the regulation of stationary sources as incorporated and enacted in the annual general appropriation act for fiscal year 1996-97. Authorizes the collection of a late payment fee of 1% per month to be assessed in certain circumstances. Requires creation of a coordinated efficiency task force to study methods to control costs of regulation of stationary sources of air pollution.
Requires the air quality control commission and the air pollution control division in the division of administration of the department of public health and environment to make determinations related to federal efforts to control activities affecting visibility and publicly report on such determinations. Creates a visibility protection legislative review committee.
Appropriates $823,086 from the stationary sources control fund to the department of public health and environment for allocation to the air quality control division for the implementation of the act. Of such sum, appropriates $45,680 to the department of law for the implementation of the act. Of such sum, appropriates $53,208 out of indirect cost recoveries to the department of public health and environment for allocation to the division of administration and support for implementing periodic review of administrative practices and procedures to improve efficiency and effectiveness of programs of the department, with emphasis on regulatory programs seeking fee increases. States that the general assembly has determined that the provisions of this act can be implemented by the legislative department within existing appropriations.
APPROVED by Governor
May 25, 1994
EFFECTIVE May 25, 1994
H.B. 94-1078 Newborns who test positive for metabolic disorders - follow-up and referral services - increase in newborn screening fee - appropriation. Creates an alternative source of funding for follow-up care to newborns who test positive for metabolic disorders. Expresses the general assembly's intent to continue the provision of follow-up and referral services after federal funding for the services was discontinued. Requires the department of health, prior to July 1, 1994, or the department of public health and environment, on and after July 1, 1994, to increase the newborn screening fee a maximum of $5 in order to cover the costs associated with the provision of follow-up and referral services to families with a newborn child who tests positive for a metabolic disorder.
Appropriates $233,000 to the department of public health and environment for the implementation of the act.
APPROVED by Governor
April 28, 1994
EFFECTIVE April 28, 1994
H.B. 94-1136 Smoking - control in legislative buildings. Prohibits smoking in all legislative buildings. Notwithstanding the prohibition, authorizes the legislative council to designate areas in legislative buildings where smoking is permitted and directs the legislative council to establish a smoking policy for office space. Requires signs to be posted designating nonsmoking and smoking areas. Requires the legislative council to consider proposals to redesignate any designated smoking area.
Clarifies that the senate and the house of representatives each has the exclusive authority to adopt rules or joint rules, or both, governing the control or limitation of smoking in their respective chambers, antechambers, committee rooms, and office space assigned to and occupied by legislators.
APPROVED by Governor
June 2, 1994
EFFECTIVE June 2, 1994?
H.B. 94-1264 Air quality - operating permits - procedure for determining net emissions increase - permitting requirement for prevention of significant deterioration program - nonattainment area new source review - authorization of synthetic minor sources - public reporting of alleged violations of air pollution laws. Requires the air quality control commission to establish a process consistent with federal requirements for determining whether a net significant emissions increase occurs at a source of air pollution for purposes of applying the permitting requirements of the prevention of significant deterioration program or the nonattainment area new source review program.
In the "Colorado Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act", broadens the definition of "synthetic minor source" of air pollution. Specifies that the air quality control commission shall authorize synthetic minor sources of air pollution by the issuance of construction permits or other regulations and that such provisions shall be implemented expeditiously to assure that sources are able to qualify as synthetic minor sources in a timely manner to avoid the costs of the operating permit program.
Establishes a procedure for members of the public to report any suspected violation of the air pollution laws to the air pollution control division. Authorizes the division to investigate such an alleged violation and directs the division to report the result of any such investigation to the person alleging the violation. Allows any such person who is dissatisfied with the division's response to petition the commission for a review, including an informal hearing.
APPROVED by Governor
May 25, 1994
EFFECTIVE May 25, 1994
H.B. 94-1299 Hazardous waste - voluntary cleanup and redevelopment for real property - appropriation. Enacts the "Voluntary Cleanup and Redevelopment Act". Permits property owners to submit applications for approval of voluntary cleanup plans or petitions for approval of no action determinations to the department of public health and environment. Specifies standards under which the department of public health and environment shall review such applications and petitions. Provides time limits for conducting such reviews and requirements for approval.
Provides that the program shall not apply to real property listed or proposed for listing on the national priorities list of "superfund" sites established under the federal "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980"; property subject to an order or agreement with the water quality control division; a facility which has a permit or interim status for the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste; or properties subject to corrective action under orders or agreements pursuant to Colorado statutes on hazardous substances or underground storage tanks or the federal "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976".
Prohibits any person, financial institution, or other entity financing a commercial real estate transaction from requiring a purchaser to participate in the voluntary program created by this act and provides that no regulatory agency of Colorado state government may require evidence of participation in the program to be a component of standard real estate loan documentation.
Provides for funding the program by assessing filing fees to cover the costs of reviews of applications for voluntary cleanup plans and petitions for no action determination. Such a filing fee shall not exceed $2000.
Specifies that voluntary cleanup plans and no action determinations are not enforceable against property owners, but permits the department of public health and environment to enforce other environmental laws against property owners if violations of those laws have occurred. Requires the department to reduce or eliminate the penalties assessed for violations based on voluntary disclosures in applications for voluntary cleanup plans and petitions for no action determination.
Repeals the provisions of this act July 1, 1999.
Appropriates $72,723 and 1.2 FTE from the hazardous substance response fund to the department of health for the implementation of this act.
APPROVED by Governor
June 2, 1994
EFFECTIVE July 1, 1994
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