Health And Environment - Digest of Bills

Digest of Bills - 2006

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

S.B. 06-114 Air quality - housed commercial swine feeding operations - odor controls - appropriations. Allows wastewater vessels and impoundments used in connection with a housed commercial swine feeding operation to be operated with technologies or practices to capture, recover, incinerate, or otherwise manage odorous gases as an alternative to using a physical cover. Requires a housed commercial swine feeding operation to submit to the department of public health and environment information sufficient to demonstrate that the technologies and practices used are as effective as covers at minimizing odor from the operation.

Requires a housed commercial swine feeding operation to manage odor emissions such that odor emissions from the operation:

● Cannot be detected at or beyond the property boundary after the odorous air has been diluted with 7 volumes of odor-free air; and

● Cannot be detected at any off-site receptor (defined as a home, school, or business) after the odorous air has been diluted with 2 volumes of odor-free air.

Allows the division of administration in the department of public health and environment to delegate enforcement of odor emissions to any county or regional department of health. Establishes a fee to offset the division's direct and indirect costs of enforcement, compliance, and regulation of odor emissions. Creates the housed commercial swine feeding operation fund for the deposit of such fees and for the support of enforcement activities.

Appropriates $52,312 and 0.5 FTE to the department of public health and environment, and $4,834 to the department of law, for the implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 25, 2006

S.B. 06-132 Water pollution control - wastewater treatment grants. Extends, for 5 years, the repeal date of the domestic wastewater treatment grant program to allow the state to enter into contracts with counties on behalf of unincorporated areas for construction of high-priority domestic wastewater treatment projects.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE March 31, 2006

S.B. 06-171 State board of health - transfer of authority. Transfers the authority of the state board of health regarding:

● Drinking water standards, the drinking water project eligibility list, fees for the program regulating the beneficial use of biosolids, and individual sewage disposal systems to the water quality control commission; and

● Solid waste disposal sites to the newly renamed solid and hazardous waste commission.

APPROVED by Governor May 25, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

S.B. 06-208 Health care - blue ribbon commission for health care reform - created - purpose - appointment and representation of members - duties - cash fund created - repeal - appropriation. Creates the blue ribbon commission for health care reform (commission) for the purpose of studying and establishing health care reform models to expand health care coverage and to decrease health care costs for Colorado residents.

Authorizes the appointment to the commission of 8 members who represent consumers, 8 members who represent health insurance purchasers, and 8 members who represent experts and business leaders. Requires the commission to study health care coverage and reform models, seek insight from interested parties and the public, select top proposals for technical analysis, and present a final report to the general assembly. Requires the commission to be administered by a nonpartisan project administrator with the assistance of a project coordinator.

Creates the health care reform cash fund to consist of gifts, grants, donations, and appropriations from the general fund for the purpose of carrying out the functions of the commission. Makes the commission's functions contingent upon the receipt of at least $50,000 in gifts, grants, and donation. Repeals the commission, effective July 1, 2010.

Adjusts appropriations made in the 2005-06 long appropriations bill to the department of health care policy and financing.

APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 2, 2006

H.B. 06-1045 Hospital-acquired infection rates - reporting - advisory committee - annual report - sunset review - appropriation. Requires a hospital to collect data on hospital-acquired infection rates for specified clinical procedures and to routinely submit its hospital-acquired infection data to the national healthcare safety network in accordance with national healthcare safety network requirements and procedures.

Directs the executive director of the department of public health and environment ("department") to appoint an advisory committee to assist the department in the development of the department's oversight of hospital-acquired infections disclosure and the department's methodology for disclosing information collected, including methods and means for release and dissemination.

Compels the department to create an annual report summarizing the reports, comparing infection rates for each individual hospital in the state, discussing findings, making conclusions, and spotting trends. Requires patient confidentiality to be maintained during the reporting. Designates all information and materials obtained and compiled by the department as confidential, not subject to disclosure. Makes failure to comply with the reporting requirement sanctionable. Provides the department with compliance oversight of the reporting.

Subjects the advisory committee to review before July 1, 2016, pursuant to the provisions of the sunset law.

Appropriates $52,626 and 0.6 FTE to the department for allocation to the health facilities and emergency medical services division for the implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 2, 2006

H.B. 06-1054 HIV and AIDS prevention - grant program - fund - tobacco settlement moneys- appropriation. Creates the Colorado HIV and AIDS prevention grant program ("program") in the department of public health and environment to address local community needs in the areas of medically accurate HIV and AIDS prevention and education through a competitive grant process.

Creates the HIV and AIDS prevention grant program advisory committee ("advisory committee") and specifies that the program shall be overseen by the advisory committee. Specifies the make up of the advisory committee. Clarifies that the grants administered under the program shall be subject only to the program restrictions and shall not be subject to the same restrictions as grants provided with federal moneys. Requires the state board of health, upon recommendations of the advisory committee, to adopt rules regarding the program and specifies what the rules shall include. Addresses conflicts of interest and limits administrative expenditures for the program.

Establishes the AIDS and HIV prevention fund.

Specifies that the program shall receive 2% of the total amount of tobacco settlement moneys annually received by the state, not to exceed $2,000,000 in any fiscal year. Appropriates $1,584,448 in fiscal year 2006-07 from the tobacco litigation settlement cash fund to the fund to implement the program.

APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 6, 2006

H.B. 06-1074 Waste tire recycling development fee. Extends the waste tire recycling development fee and the processors and end users of waste tires cash fund until July 1, 2012. Allows moneys in the waste tire recycling development cash fund that remain at the end of any fiscal year to be spent without further appropriation. Requires that the advanced technology fund, funded by the waste tire recycling development fee, be used to finance research, development, and technology transfer with regard to waste diversion and recycling strategies, including those pertaining to waste tires.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1103 Nursing facilities - assisted living residences - contract provisions. States that any contract clause or lease provision that results in or requires forfeiture of rent following the one-month period after a person residing in a nursing home facility, including a skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, or assisted living facility, moves due to a medical condition or dies during the term of the contract or lease shall be deemed against public policy and shall be void. Requires that the provisions of any contract or written agreement regarding forfeiture appear on the front page of the contract or agreement in no less than 12-point bold-faced type.

States that a contract or written agreement that requires forfeiture of rent within the one-month period in which the patient moves due to a medical condition or dies does not violate the act. Directs the facility to return to the patient or the patient's estate any rent paid in excess of one month's rent after the patient moved due to a medical condition or died. Allows such facilities to assess daily rental charges under certain circumstances after a patient moves due to a medical condition or dies.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE January 1, 2007

H.B. 06-1154 State registrar of vital statistics - heirloom certificates - appropriation. Directs the office of the state registrar of vital statistics to issue heirloom birth certificates and marriage certificates. Requires that heirloom birth and marriage certificates have the same status as evidence as that of original birth and marriage certificates. For each sale of an heirloom birth or marriage certificate, credits $10 to the infant immunization fund or the Colorado domestic abuse program fund, respectively, and credits the remainder of such moneys to the vital statistics records cash fund.

Appropriates $24,400 to the department of public health and environment for implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1175 Air quality - secondhand tobacco smoke - "Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act" - exemptions - enforcement. Enacts the "Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act" (act). Makes legislative findings and declares that the purpose of the act is to preserve and improve the health, comfort, and environment of the people of this state by limiting exposure to tobacco smoke.

Specifies that, to reduce the levels of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, smoking shall not be permitted in any indoor enclosed area or the main entryway to such area, including, but not limited to: Public meeting places; elevators; government-owned or -operated means of mass transportation, including, but not limited to, buses, vans, and trains; taxicabs and limousines; grocery stores; gymnasiums; jury waiting and deliberation rooms; courtrooms; child day care facilities; health care facilities, including hospitals, health care clinics, doctor's offices, and other health care related facilities; any place of employment not exempted; food service establishments; bars; limited gaming facilities; indoor sports arenas; restrooms, lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in public and private buildings, condominiums, other multiple-unit residential facilities, hotels, and motels; at least 75% of the sleeping quarters within a hotel or motel that are rented to guests; bowling alleys; billiard or pool halls; retirement facilities, public housing facilities, and nursing homes, not including a resident's private residence quarters; public buildings; auditoria; theaters; museums; libraries; public schools, nonpublic schools, and other educational and vocational institutions; and facilities in which games of chance are conducted. In the case of employers who own facilities exempted from this act, requires those employers to provide a smoke-free work area for every employee requesting not to have to breathe environmental tobacco smoke, and establishes that every employee has a right to work in an area free of environmental tobacco smoke.

Makes exceptions to the general prohibitions on smoking for private homes, residences, and automobiles; limousines under private hire; hotel or motel rooms if the total percentage of the hotel or motel rooms in which smoking is permitted does not exceed 25%; retail tobacco businesses; cigar-tobacco bars; the enclosed smoking areas of a municipally operated international airport; the outdoor area of any business; a place of employment that is not open to the public and is under the control of an employer that employs 3 or fewer employees; nonresidential buildings on a farm or ranch with less than $500,000 gross annual income; and licensed casinos.

Permits the owner or manager of any place to post, at such owner's or manager's discretion, signs prohibiting smoking or providing smoking and nonsmoking areas, which posting will have the effect of including such areas within the places where smoking is prohibited or restricted under the act.

Permits local authorities to enact smoking regulations that cover the same subject matter as the provisions of the act. Specifies that no local regulations can be less stringent than the act, except in defining the smoke-free radius around the doorway of a building, which, unless otherwise specified, shall be 15 feet. Allows enforcement of such local regulations through the municipal courts or their equivalent in any city, city and county, or town.

Makes violation of the act a class 2 petty offense punishable by a fine not to exceed $200 for a first violation within a calendar year, a fine not to exceed $300 for a second violation within a calendar year, and a fine not to exceed $500 for each additional violation within a calendar year. Deems each day of a continuing violation a separate violation of the act. Allocates 75% of the revenue from any fines collected to the city, city and county, or town in which a violation occurs and 25% to the general fund of the state.

APPROVED by Governor March 27, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1177 Air pollution control - continuation of asbestos program under sunset law.Extends the automatic termination date of the asbestos control program in the department of public health and environment until July 1, 2013, pursuant to the provisions of the sunset law. Authorizes examinations for air monitoring specialists. Prohibits conflicts of interest between the identification and abatement of asbestos for all asbestos abatement projects. Allows air monitoring specialists and applicants for recertification to contest certification determinations. Establishes testing and certification renewal cycles administratively, not to exceed 5 years. Repeals obsolete provisions. Updates the citations to certain rules.

APPROVED by Governor March 27, 2006
EFFECTIVE March 27, 2006

H.B. 06-1265 Air quality control commission - lead-based paint abatement. Requires each person who performs for compensation a renovation of target housing to provide a lead hazard information pamphlet to the owner and occupant of such housing prior to commencing the renovation.

APPROVED by Governor March 27, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1278 Hospital report card - hospital information system - assistance from hospital association. Creates a comprehensive hospital information system that collects, compiles, coordinates, and analyzes hospital data. Requires the executive director of the department of public health and environment ("executive director") to select a duly constituted association of hospitals and to rely upon the assistance and advice of the selected association to implement the act. Allows the executive director to reject or revoke acceptance of the association. If the association is rejected or has acceptance revoked, creates the Colorado commission for hospital statistics. Requires the executive director to establish the Colorado hospital report card that consists of public disclosure of the collected hospital data. Imposes an apportioned fee on hospitals to fund the report card.

For the 2006-07 fiscal year, appropriates $31,541 and 0.5 FTE to the department of public health and environment, for allocation to the health facilities and emergency medical services division for implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1309 Air quality - changes in federal law - anti-backsliding. If a change in federal law causes a state air quality rule or standard to no longer be required by or to become otherwise more stringent than federal law, allows the air quality control commission to retain such rule or standard if it is already part of the state implementation plan or other federally-approved program and to promulgate a rule or standard to be submitted as a federally-approved program to the extent that the rule or standard prevents the change in federal law from causing an increase in emissions over current levels or a violation of a standard. Exempts agricultural, horticultural, and floricultural emission sources from any such rule or standard except to the extent necessary to require the use of oxygenated biofuels in the wintertime. Prevents state air quality law from being more stringent that federal law with regard to emissions from historic steam locomotives.

VETOED by Governor April 24, 2006

H.B. 06-1337 Water quality - violations - penalties - rules. Establishes criteria to be considered when civil penalties for violation of water quality control provisions are assessed, including:

● The potential damage from the violation;

● The violator's compliance history;

● Whether the violation was intentional, reckless, or negligent;

● The impact upon or threat to the public health or environment as a result of the violation;

● The duration of the violation; and

● The economic benefit realized by the violator as a result of the violation.

Creates the water quality improvement fund (fund) to be used to:

● Improve the water quality in the community or water body impacted by the violation;

● Provide grants to disadvantaged communities for storm water projects or to assist with planning, design, construction, or repair of domestic wastewater treatment works; or

● Provide the nonfederal match funding for nonpoint source projects under the federal clean water act.

Requires the division of administration in the department of public health and environment to provide a full accounting of all projects funded with moneys from the fund in an annual report.

Allows the division to institute a civil or administrative action to impose and collect penalties. Subjects the final decision of the commission to judicial review.

APPROVED by Governor May 26, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 26, 2006

H.B. 06-1363 Colorado student delinquency prevention program - created - funding - criminal surcharge - appropriation. Creates the Colorado student delinquency prevention program ("program"), within the Tony Grampsas youth services program, to provide funding for before-and-after school programs for youth enrolled in kindergarten through grade 8. Describes the types of before-and-after school programs that qualify for funding. Directs the Tony Grampsas youth services board ("board") to award the grants. Specifies that an entity may be eligible to receive funding through the program regardless of whether the entity serves children who are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch.

Creates the Colorado student delinquency prevention program fund ("fund"). Identifies the source of moneys for the fund as gifts, grants, and donations and 82% of the moneys collected from the juvenile crime prevention surcharge. Specifies that grants awarded through the program shall be paid from moneys appropriated from the fund and from 30% of the amount annually appropriated to the Tony Grampsas youth services program. Requires the board to award at least 15% of the amount annually available to the program to entities operating in underserved communities.

Creates the juvenile crime prevention surcharge ("surcharge") of $75 to be collected from each adult and juvenile convicted of or adjudicated for a felony or misdemeanor. Specifies that, of the moneys collected from the surcharge, 5% are allocated to the clerk of the court for administrative costs, 82% are allocated to the fund, and 13% are allocated to the juvenile diversion cash fund. Requires the court to waive the surcharge if the defendant's annual income does not exceed 150% of the poverty level, allows the court to waive the surcharge if the court determines the defendant is indigent or otherwise unable to pay, and otherwise prohibits the court from waiving the surcharge.

Creates the judicial surcharge administration fund. Specifies that the judicial surcharge administration fund consists of 5% of the juvenile crime prevention surcharge.

For the 2006-07 fiscal year, appropriates $116,904 from the judicial surcharge administration fund to the judicial department for implementation of the surcharge; appropriates from the juvenile diversion cash fund to the department of public safety for allocation to the division of criminal justice $303,952 for the juvenile diversion program; and appropriates $1,917,233 from the Colorado student delinquency prevention program fund to the department of public health and environment for allocation to the prevention services division for implementation of the program.

VETOED by Governor June 2, 2006

H.B. 06-1392 Alcohol and drug abuse - regulation of treatment facilities. Clarifies that the division of alcohol and drug abuse in the department of human services has the authority to regulate private treatment facilities that do not receive public funds but dispense controlled substances for the purpose of treating persons with drug abuse problems. States that no person shall operate a public or private treatment facility that treats persons for drug abuse, and that either receives public funds or dispenses controlled substances, or both, without approval from the division of alcohol and drug abuse. Clarifies that the standards apply to treatment facilities that receive any public funds, not just state funds.

APPROVED by Governor May 17, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 17, 2006

H.B. 06-1410 Health disparities grant program - fund creation - distribution - appropriations. Creates the health disparities grant program fund to be administered by the department of public health and environment. Requires that 15% of the moneys transferred to the prevention, early detection, and treatment fund shall be transferred to the health disparities grant program fund.

For the 2005-06 fiscal year, decreases the appropriation from the prevention, early detection, and treatment fund to the department of public health and environment, prevention services division by $5,570,400 and 0.2 FTE and appropriates the amount to the department of public health and environment, administration and support, for the health disparities grant program.

For the 2006-07 fiscal year, appropriates $8,615,207 and 0.5 FTE to the department of public health and environment, support services division, special programs for the health disparities grant program. Makes the following adjustments to the long bill for the 2006-07 fiscal year: Decreases the appropriation to administration and support, special programs, health disparities grant program, for personal services, by $30,000 and 0.5 FTE; decreases the appropriation to the administration and support, special programs, health disparities grant program, for health disparities grants by $4,331,450; decreases the appropriation to the prevention services division, prevention programs, for prevention, early detection, and treatment grants by $4,253,157.

APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 6, 2006