Advocacy
We monitor state-level issues and legislation on behalf of our members and engage if we believe there may be positive or negative impacts to our industry in Colorado as a result. Those issues we think our members would be interested in are listed below.
Colorado Legislation
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This bill creates a State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) in the Department of Labor and Unemployment as a type one agency. The SAA will serve as the primary contact for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship and oversee apprenticeship programs including registration, required standards for registration, quality assurance, the promotion of apprenticeships and the provision of technical assistance. The bill requires the SAA to accept applications for registration of apprenticeship programs beginning July 1, 2023.
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This bill establishes limitations on and student protections for online instruction by school districts and charter schools.
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The bill requires the owner or operator of a carpooling service internet application (internet application) to register annually with the department of transportation. Owners or operators are also required to disclose to users of the internet application that carpooling service companies are not regulated by the state; that the state does not conduct medical examinations, vehicle inspections, or insurance verification in relation to the provision of carpooling service; and that background checks on drivers might not be conducted. The bill also requires that the amount that can be charged to a user through the internet application be reasonably calculated to cover the direct and indirect costs of providing carpooling service and limits the number of passengers that a driver providing carpooling service through the internet application may transport at any one time.
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The bill requires a governmental entity to establish an electronic filing option by January 1, 2022, for each document required or allowed to be filed with the governmental entity. A governmental entity includes each principal department of the state and each county, and any agency, department, board, or division thereof.
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This bill modifies the membership and duties of the Broadband Deployment Board in the Department of Regulatory Agencies. It also directs the Broadband Deployment Board to establish an annual Request for Proposals process to address critically unserved areas of the state, as identified by the OIT, and to award 75 percent of grant funding to proposals serving these areas. “Critically unserved” is defined to mean a household or area that lies outside municipal boundaries and lacks access to at least one provider of non-satellite, broadband service delivered at measurable speeds of at least 10 megabits per second downstream and one megabit per second upstream.
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With some exceptions, current law restricts local governments from offering internet service to their residents without first meeting certain requirements and getting voter approval. This bill clarifies that a school district providing internet services to school-owned networks for teachers and students to access remote learning is not restricted by current law.
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The bill requires a digital electronic equipment manufacturer to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or similar information, to independent repair providers and owners of the manufacturer’s equipment to allow an independent repair provider or owner to conduct diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services. A manufacturer’s failure to comply with the requirement is an unfair or deceptive trade practice. Manufacturers need not divulge any trade secrets to independent repair providers and owners. The bill does not apply to motor vehicle manufacturers or dealers acting in that capacity, powersports vehicle manufacturers or dealers acting in that capacity, or medical devices.
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The bill prohibits a third-party food delivery service from selling food and beverages from a restaurant without an agreement with the restaurant, and reducing the compensation rate to a delivery driver or withholding gratuities from a restaurant or driver. It will increase state expenditures on an ongoing basis
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Included in this supplemental is a one time $10M infusion into the Advanced Industries program.
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Amends the definition of “broadband network“ to increase downstream and upstream speed requirements and adds a definition of “critically unserved”, which means a household or area that lacks access to at least one provider of nonsatellite broadband service delivered at measurable speeds of at least 10 megabits per second downstream and one megabit per second upstream. Reduces the membership of the broadband deployment board (board) in the department of regulatory agencies from 16 members to 9 members. The board is required to develop a reimbursement program to reimburse certain households for up to $600 per year for broadband service. The board is also required to develop a request for proposal process through which the board will solicit bids for proposed projects to serve areas of the state that the office of information technology has determined lack access to broadband service at measurable speeds of at least 10 megabits per second downstream and one megabit per second upstream. Each year, the board is required to reserve at least 50% of the money from the high cost support mechanism that is allocated for broadband deployment to award grants to proposed projects solicited through the request for proposal process. It limits the notice and comment period for a local entity’s review of an application from 60 days to 30 days and removes provisions requiring the board to apply for specific types of federal funding because the board has completed those applications.
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Under current law, a cooperative electric association with an electric easement on real property is authorized to install or to allow a commercial broadband supplier to install broadband facilities on the real property, subject to notice and procedural requirements. The bill expands the authorization to also apply to either of the following entities with an electric easement: A generation and transmission cooperative electric association; or The federal western area power administration within the United States department of energy
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In 2019, the legislature approved the Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot, which took an important step toward providing school districts flexibility to provide students more opportunities to learn outside of the classroom. The pilot was limited to five school districts in 2020. This bill seeks to expand this successful program so that more districts and students can benefit from career connected learning with an expanded focus on the following: The bill requires that schools and districts demonstrate specific intention and effort to better serve students farthest from opportunity. The state will prioritize applicants with strong equity plans. The bill encourages districts to offer high quality pathways for students, including registered or unregistered apprenticeships, internships, technical training or bootcamps through an industry provider, teacher training opportunities, concurrent enrollment, and industry certificates. The bill also starts as a pilot, by allowing up to five school districts the ability to provide funding to free and reduced lunch qualifying students who graduate early. Allows early graduates the opportunity to pursue a meaningful postsecondary credential or workforce training at the institution of their choosing in what would have been their fourth year of high school via the funding they receive. In addition to tuition, funding can also cover indirect costs like transportation and textbooks.
CTA Interest – Watching
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The career development success program provides financial incentives for participating school districts and participating charter schools to encourage pupils enrolled in grades 9 through 12 to enroll in and successfully complete qualified industry-credential programs; qualified internship, residency, or construction industry pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship programs; and qualified advanced placement courses (programs and courses). The bill amends the list of qualified programs by removing residency programs and expanding pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs to include any industry program, not just construction industry programs. The bill expands the definition of a qualified industry-credential program to include a career and technical education program that, upon completion, results in an industry-recognized credential with labor market value aligned with a high-skill, high-wage, in-demand job.
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The bill creates the digital communications division (division) and the digital communications commission (commission) within the department of regulatory agencies. On an annual basis and for a reasonable fee determined by the commission, the division shall register digital communications platforms, which are certain communications-oriented online businesses, such as social media platforms or media-sharing platforms, that conduct business in Colorado or own or operate services that are offered to Colorado residents. A digital communications platform that fails to register with the division commits a class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 for each day that the violation continues.
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Current law prohibits the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) from entering into a contract with a statewide portal integrator unless the statewide portal integrator was chosen pursuant to a Request for Proposals (RFP) process. The bill authorizes SIPA to use other competitive procurement methods
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For purposes of addressing discriminatory or unfair employment practices pursuant to Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws, the bill:
Expands the definition of “employee” to include individuals in domestic service; individuals who perform a service for a price, including independent contractors, subcontractors, and their employees; and individuals who offer services or labor without pay; Adds new definitions of “caregiver”, “care recipient”, “child”, “minor child”, “harassment”, “hostile work environment”, and “independent contractor”;Allows an employment discrimination claim to be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in the county or district where the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred and allows an individual to file a civil action, without otherwise exhausting administrative proceedings and remedies, as long as the individual either files a charge with the Colorado civil rights commission (commission) or serves a written demand for the relief on the individual’s employer and allows the employer 14 days to respond; Adds protections from discriminatory or unfair employment practices for individuals based on their “marital status” or “caregiver status”; Specifies that it is a discriminatory or unfair employment practice for an employer to fail to initiate an investigation of a complaint or fail to take prompt remedial action if appropriate; Prohibits certain preemployment medical examinations, imposes limitations on inquiries and examinations about an employee’s disability during employment, and specifies that violations of these prohibitions and limitations constitute discriminatory or unfair employment practices; Expands the time limit to file a charge with the commission from 6 months to 300 days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred; Repeals the limits on remedies in cases involving age discrimination; and Limits the ability of an employer to require confidentiality of claims once a charge is filed with the commission.
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The bill creates personal data privacy rights and applies to legal entities that conduct business or produce products or services that are intentionally targeted to Colorado residents and that either: Control or process personal data of more than 100,000 consumers per calendar year; or Derive revenue from the sale of personal data and control or process the personal data of at least 25,000 consumers; and Does not apply to personal data governed by listed state and federal laws, listed activities, and employment records.
Consumers have the right to opt out of the processing of their personal data; access, correct, or delete the data; or obtain a portable copy of the data. The bill defines a “controller” as a person that, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. A “processor” means a person that processes personal data on behalf of a controller.
The bill specifies how controllers must fulfill duties regarding consumers’ assertion of their rights, transparency, purpose specification, data minimization, avoiding secondary use, care, avoiding unlawful discrimination, and sensitive data; requires controllers to conduct a data protection assessment for each of their processing activities involving personal data that present a heightened risk of harm to consumers, such as processing for purposes of targeted advertising or processing sensitive data; and may be enforced only by the attorney general or district attorneys.
Tech Day at the Colorado Capitol
Tech Day at the Capitol is an event for tech companies in Colorado to represent the state’s tech industry and connect with policy makers to educate and inform them on your company or organization and the role you play in the overall Colorado tech ecosystem. Attendees receive the latest updates and have the opportunity to showcase their company and technology to our state leaders.
