Bill Tracker

Creates a statutory bill of rights for Foster Youth & requires county departments to notify foster children & youth above five years old with written notification of their rights, as developed by the Office of the Child’s Representative. 

Commissioners requested amendments to ensure and better understand the interaction between these rights for foster youth with the ability of foster parents to parent and provide some protections to counties if/when a service is unavailable for a child; however, amendments were not secured due to political dynamics.

Currently, the state has a pilot program for Crisis Resolution Teams, which will expire in 2026; this bill removes that expiration and continues the program indefinitely.  The bill lays out the requirements of the program; services required to be provided by contracted providers; and requires the state to conduct a feasibility study to expand the program statewide, which is due in 2025. 

Crisis Resolution is an integral component of a System of Care.

The bill was unable to garner the funding necessary to provide for the pilot program, the bill prescribed.

For individuals with limited English proficiency, the bill codifies language access for any services provided by a county human services department and throughout the court process

Result of the Child Welfare Interim Committee.

CCI secured amendments that will ensure the bill is consistent with federal law.

In response to the ongoing high acuity placement-crisis, the bill develops a System of Care for Medicaid children with complex behavioral health needs; a training academy and quality care standards for residential child care providers and provides funding for additional qualified residential treatment providers. 

Result of the Child Welfare Interim Committee & budget request from Governor Polis.  CCI worked with bill sponsors to provide for transparency and accountability for the creation of the system of care in the form of a leadership team, implementation team, and a quarterly report to the Joint Budget Committee.  County Commissioners and human services directors are required to participate on both teams.  

Requires an audit of risk & safety assessment tools used by Child Welfare professionals and requires various considerations for the presence of domestic violence and the collection of demographic information.  It also requires it be disclosed that calls into the Child Abuse & Neglect hotline are recorded.

Result of the Child Welfare Interim Committee.

If adopted, the bill would have made various changes to the process for the local and state Child Fatality Prevention Review Teams, including notifying parents/guardians of the review and providing them with an opportunity to be heard, have an attorney present and dispute findings.

While Commissioners are sympathetic to the situation that yielded this bill, the Child Fatality Prevention Review teams intend to identify and prevent systemic problems that yielded a child fatality and never to reprimand parents. Commissioners find the current process highly effective; are concerned about re-traumatizing parents during the review; and changes will politicize the review team.

Clean up bill from SB23-075, which protected various criminal justice records that referenced a child witness to a crime.  However, in implementing the bill Judicial Department has turned off necessary access to records, including county attorneys.

CCI has secured amendments so that access to criminal justice records will be restored for county attorneys. 

The bill would have required that county departments share a written notice within 14 days of the finding to individuals following a finding of child abuse or neglect with information regarding the incident/finding, appeals process, and consequences of the finding. In addition, makes various requirements regarding the appeals process, including the right to an attorney. 

CCI requested amendments to provide greater clarity that the state department will be required to redact records upon request of the person appealing the request. However, the bill was unable to garner funding. 

The majority of the bill is related to rights of justice-engaged students as it relates to their education and makes further requirements of schools and the Department of Education (CDE) to support justice-engaged students. 

The bill allows judges to consider a justice-engaged students school schedule when determining the commitment of the individual. 

CCI secured an amendment to strike a section that would expand the role of child welfare from a primary focus of addressing child abuse in families to requiring counties to intervene in families that aren’t identified as having safety concerns. 

However, Commissioners were also concerned with the section of the bill that would allow a judge to delay commitment for the individual’s school schedule.  This is concerning because when a justice involved youth has been detained (pre-adjudication) they utilize a detention bed; the juvenile continues to utilize a detention bed until their commitment period begins.  However, Colorado has a statutory cap on the number of juvenile detention beds (215 beds, pursuant to SB21-071).  Colorado is regularly hoovering around the juvenile detention bed cap.  Commissioners are concerned that delays to commitment will result in further pressure on the detention bed cap.  When juveniles are released from detention or cannot access detention beds, it is the responsibility of county departments of human services to identify an appropriate, safe placement for the juvenile.  The bill sponsors were ultimately unwilling to remove this provision, but did allow it to be permissive for the Judge.

The bill seeks to improve the accessibility of the Colorado Childcare Assistance Program (CCAP) in various ways, including – limiting the application and redetermination process to only include items required to determine eligibility and other simplifications to the application process; improves eligibility requirements for families, in accordance with federal rules; allow counties to utilize grant/slot-based contracts for underserved populations; allow outpatient, substance use disorder treatment as an eligible activity; and require county performance contracts to provide quality customer service to clients.

CCI was able to secure amendments to remove various provisions that counties feared would limit the number of families served by CCAP.  Many of these provisions also would have driven significant fiscal impact and would have jeopardized the bill. 

The bill modifies existing statute regarding eligibility to Medicaid for individuals in need of long-term services and supports. This change to statute will allow Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) to pursue a federal waiver to allow for presumptive eligibility for this population.

Given the unprecedented caseload and workload of the county eligibility caseworkers, CCI would like to ensure that workload impacts are thoughtfully considered by Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) as they pursue this waiver. CCI is requesting amendments that will require HCPF to conduct stakeholder engagement with counties and prepare a report to the legislature summarizing anticipated workload impacts and anticipated costs.

Rather than amend the bill, HCPF has sent a letter to CCI to outline their plan for stakeholder engagement, including the inclusion of counties.  HCPF also says that workload impacts will be captured in future county administration funding models, pursuant to SB22-235.

Creates three new programs in the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), while consulting with the Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) for local governments to develop child care facilities, including technical assistance, community planning, and capital projects.

The bill requires the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to create a Hazardous Chemical Notification Website & Communications Committee.  

As introduced, county commissioners were concerned about this bill causing “notification fatigue” and negatively impacting emergency and public health communications.  

The bill creates the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office (CDOO) within the Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) concerning disability issues in Colorado. The bill transfers various duties from the existing Colorado Disability Funding Committee to the CDOO, including programs to assist persons in obtaining disability benefits.

Previously, county departments of human services were eligible to participate in an Aid to the Needy & Disabled (AND) Navigator program; however, that program will be eliminated this summer.  An amendment was adopted in committee, at the request of CCI, that will allow counties to be eligible to apply to programs that assist persons in obtaining disability benefits programs, so long as the county has an agreement with an organization that is composed of persons with a demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of recipients with disabilities.

The bill requires Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) and the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) to apply for a federal certified community behavioral health clinic demonstration planning grant, which is required to be developed in collaboration with stakeholders, including county representatives. In developing the grant application, the state must demonstrate that the planning grant is in the best interest of the state, as defined by various provisions in the bill.   If the state is awarded the grant, then the department must comply with all necessary guidelines.

At the request of CCI, an amendment was adopted to strike requirements for the BHA to promulgate rules to certify community behavioral health clinics. 

The bill creates the Asbestos & Lead Paint Abatement Pilot Grant Program, which will be funded by diverting existing revenue from fines and penalties.  Rural local governments will be eligible recipients to offset costs associated with the abatement of asbestos and lead paint in housing, commercial buildings, and other development projects.

Requires that county Veterans Services Officers (VSO) be certified by the state and accredited by the Federal Veterans Administration, in order to file claims on behalf of veterans.  In addition, the Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (DMVA) will establish a new hourly rate for qualified VSO’s.

At the request of CCI, an amendment was adopted to require the DMVA to form a work group, including three county commissioners appointed by CCI, to develop the hourly rate.

Requires Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) to promulgate rules that will reduce the burden for kin certification, in compliance with federal rules. It also creates a new non-certified kin type to be eligible for financial supports & assistance. 

At the request of CCI, an amendment was added to include a report of workload impacts to counties, as a result of the legislation, so that future child welfare funding models are adequate. 

The bill was amended during its first committee hearing to only prohibit the sale of flavored cigarettes, flavored tobacco products and/or flavored nicotine products and removed references from the introduced bill regarding the distribution of such products.

The bill requires that a funding adequacy study be completed by August 2024 and every three years following to inform the appropriate funding level for senior services.

CCI Priority

Tasks the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) to develop a system of care to serve as the single point of access to address the behavioral health needs of children and youth in Colorado, initially for Medicaid and un-insured, but in the future to include commercial-insurance.  To do so, the bill requires the formation of a Leadership Team and Implementation Team, with an implementation plan due by January 15, 2026, informed by both a capacity assessment and cost/utilization analysis. 

Fact sheet: https://ccionline.org/download/SB24-059-Childrens-System-of-Care-Fact-Sheet-April-2024.pdf

While SB59 was defeated, very similar accountability and transparency measures were adopted into HB24-1038, as it creates a similar but far more limited System of Care; including the Leadership Team, Implementation Team, and reporting to the Joint Budget Committee.

The bill enacts a new version of the “Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children” (ICPC), which governs states when children are sent out of state for placement. 

The new compact should yield improved accountability and enforceability amongst states. However, the compact will not be in place until 35 states have adopted the updated compact.  By adopting the compact now, it guarantees that Colorado will assist in the implementation of the ICPC.

The bill repeals the “Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act” and enacts the “Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act”, as drafted by the uniform law commission.

CCI successfully secured amendments to address remaining county concerns. While the bill would not have been effective or needed funding for two years, legislators were concerned about adopting the bill without sufficient funding in place, so the bill was postponed indefinitely.  However, staff expects proponents to secure funding and introduce the bill again in the 2025 Session. 

The bill requires the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) to promulgate rules for a new licensure type for “Host Homes”.

The bill defines a “Host Home” as a private home that volunteers to host youth in need of temporary placement that is associated with a host home program with the purpose of providing a safe, temporary, and welcoming space to allow the youth time to repair the youth's relationship with the youth's parent or legal guardian or make decisions regarding other long-term housing options with the support of a host home operator

The bill requires caseworkers, supervisors, and directors to demonstrate competence in diversity, equity, & inclusion principles as part of the child welfare training academy.  The bill also requires the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) existing annual diversity, equity, and inclusion annual report to include: data regarding disproportionality in the child welfare system; needs for additional data collection on disproportionality; and progress updates on data collection improvements and further needs.  In addition, future child welfare allocations must consider resources to improving equitable outcomes.

This bill is a result of a white paper put forward by the Colorado Human Services Directors Association & CCI to the Child Welfare Interim Committee this summer.  While the white paper was not developed into one of the Child Welfare Interim Committee bills, one of the committee members is running independently of the committee. 

Under current law, county departments may collect child support payments from child welfare families, proportionate to the families ability to pay.  Recently, federal rules were adopted that instructed child welfare agencies to modify state rules to only collect these payments if/when appropriate. 

SB202 makes statutory updates that county departments will only pursue child support payments “if appropriate” and the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) will promulgate rules on when it is appropriate to pursue these payments.

Because of the changes at the federal level and best practices in child welfare, most county departments are already complying with this change.