2025

House Bills

HB25-1033 – Medicaid Third Party Liability Payments – signed into law

The bill requires third-party payers to reimburse the department of health care policy and financing (state department) for health-care items and services rendered to a medicaid member regardless of whether prior authorization was obtained.

The bill requires third-party payers to respond to the state department’s inquiry regarding a claim for payment no later than 60 days after receiving the state department’s inquiry. The third party must respond either by paying the claim or issuing a written denial of the claim to the state department.

 

HB25-1034 – Changes to Dangerous Dog Statute – signed into law

In the case of a veterinary health-care worker, dog groomer, humane agency personnel, professional dog handler, or trainer acting in the performance of that person’s professional duties, the bill removes the term “or serious bodily injury” to the list provisions that the statute does not apply to, leaving just “bodily injury”.

 

HB25-1075 – Regulate Speech-Language Pathology Assistants – signed into law

The bill recognizes speech-language pathology assistants (SLPA) and school speech-language pathology assistants (school SLPA) in statute. An SLPA is defined as an individual who has a bachelor’s degree or higher in speech-language pathology, communications disorders and speech sciences, or any other field that includes at least 24 semester hours in speech-language hearing sciences granted by an accredited institution of higher education. Only an individual who practices as an SLPA in accordance with statute or is a school SLPA authorized by the department of education may use the title “speech-language pathology assistant” or other terms that indicate that the individual is an SLPA or a school SLPA.

An SLPA shall practice speech-language pathology only in collaboration with and under the direction and supervision of a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP). The bill establishes requirements and guidelines for an SLP supervising an SLPA.

The bill prohibits an SLPA from engaging in certain speech-language pathology tasks, such as the diagnosis of patients and preparation of a treatment plan. An SLP may be disciplined for failing to properly direct and supervise an SLPA. The bill repeals the regulation of SLPAs on September 1, 2033, subject to sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies.

 

HB25-1152 – Tech Accessibility Liability Contractor  – signed into law

Under current law, certain provisions are required in a public school contract (contract), and if the provisions are omitted from a contract, the law deems that the provisions are automatically included in the contract. The bill clarifies that the list includes that a contractor is required to comply with accessibility standards for an individual with a disability adopted by the office of information technology. The bill adds a provision to the list to require a contractor to indemnify, hold harmless, and assume liability on behalf of a public school contracting entity, the public school, and the public school’s employees and agents, for all remedies for noncompliance with standards that ensure technology accessibility to persons with disabilities.

 

HB25-1210 – Data Reporting Requirements for Kindergarten Through 12th Grade Schools – signed into law

For school districts and the state charter school institute (institute), that are on a performance or improvement plan, the bill allows a local school board or the institute to submit the performance or improvement plan using a format or template that best meets the school district’s or institute’s needs, so long as the included plan addresses statutory requirements the bill requires the department of education (department) to develop a streamlined format for a performance, improvement, priority improvement, or turnaround plan (plan) that consolidates various state, federal, and grant reporting requirements and allows a school district or the institute to attach a locally developed action portion of the plan that addresses action steps, resources, and any other plan components identified in state board of education (state board) rule.

For schools of a school district or district charter schools (district public schools) or institute charter schools, that are on a school performance or improvement plan, the bill allows a local school board, on behalf of a district public school, or the institute, on behalf of an institute charter school, to submit the school performance or improvement plan using a format or template that best meets the district public school’s or institute charter school’s needs, so long as the included plan addresses statutory requirements the bill requires the department to develop a streamlined format for a plan that consolidates various state, federal, and grant reporting requirements and allows a local school board for the district public school, or the institute if the public school is an institute charter school, to attach a locally developed action portion of the plan that addresses action steps, resources, and any other plan components identified in state board rule.

The department shall maintain a centralized system for plan submissions so the department can conduct a statewide analysis in order to determine how to best distribute state resources and supports. On or before August 31, 2025, and regularly thereafter, the department must collect user feedback to assess the extent to which the streamlined format for plans is used, whether it is helpful, and how to use this feedback to improve the centralized system.

 

HB25-1221 – Emily Griffith Associate of Applied Science Degree – signed into law

The bill permits Emily Griffith technical college (college) to offer an associate of applied science degree program (degree program) with approval from the state board for community colleges and occupational education (board). The degree program must include a registered apprenticeship program and certain transferable general education courses.

In considering the college’s request to offer a degree program, the board shall consider student and workforce demand, alignment with registered apprenticeship programs, cost-effectiveness for students and the state, and accreditation and licensing requirements. An approved degree program is eligible to receive federal “Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act” funds.

 

HB25-1242 – Government Transparency Laws – Postponed Indefinitely in committee

Section 1 of the bill repeals provisions in the Colorado open meetings law that specifically apply to the general assembly that were enacted in 2024 by Senate Bill 24-157. Section 2 requires that the database created and maintained by the peace officer standards and training board that includes specified information related to peace officer conduct and discipline be sortable in addition to being searchable and that it be available upon request to any member of the public with only personal information of peace officers redacted at no cost to the requester. Sections 3, 4, and 5 make the following changes to the Colorado open records act (CORA):

• Specifies the manner in which service of requests for public records must be made;
• Requires that a requester of public records submit with the request an affidavit of service, which creates a rebuttable presumption of the date that service is made;
• Clarifies that any rules made by a custodian for the inspection of public records cannot increase any costs charged to a requester and cannot expand the date and time for inspection of public records;
• Removes the requirement that a requester must request that the custodian notify the requester that requested public records are in active use, in storage, or otherwise not readily available;
• Clarifies that computation of time for response periods is in accordance with the generally applicable law for computation of time and does not include the day that service is made;
• Permits computation of time for a request that was mailed to begin on the third day after the date of mailing;
• Changes the reasonable time to respond to a request for public records from 3 working days to 5 days;
• For a custodian to not be required to produce a digital public record in a searchable or sortable format, requires documentary evidence that producing the record in that format would violate the terms of a copyright or licensing agreement or documentary evidence, including an opinion from legal counsel, that producing the record in that format would result in the release of a third party’s proprietary information;
• Although a custodian is allowed to deny inspection of a personnel file, allows inspection of any writings that reflect or discuss the exercise of official government functions by any public employee subject to certain permissible redactions;
• Allows for the first 5 hours of time expended in connection with the research and retrieval of public records to be free of charge to the requester;
• Caps the amount of the hourly fee that can be imposed for research and retrieval of public records to $25;
• Allows a $50 fee to be imposed for attorney review which is limited to review of requested public records for attorney-client privileged communication; and
• Invalidates any fee imposed by a custodian if the custodian does not provide information in writing to the requester concerning an estimate of time to be expended and fees to be charged in connection with responding to the request.

Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9 make the following changes to the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA):

• Adds to the definition of “official record” any incident report or other record of an interaction between any on-duty peace officer and any member of the public;
• Modifies the provisions on the response period to state that a custodian shall respond to a request for criminal justice records 3 days after the day the request is received unless extenuating circumstances apply, in which case the 3-day response period may be extended for a period not to exceed 10 days. The extenuating circumstances set forth in CORA are the extenuating circumstances applicable for requests under the CCJRA.
• Requires that records in a completed internal investigation be available for public inspection within 21 days of a request being submitted and whether or not the investigation involved a member of the public;
• Removes the court’s discretion and the requirement that the court find that improper denial of records is arbitrary or capricious to award court costs and attorney fees; and
• Applies the same parameters as those established under CORA for search and retrieval and attorney fees.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

 

Senate Bills

SB25-083 – Limitations on Restrictive Employment Agreement – signed into law

Under current law, there is an exemption from the general prohibition against covenants not to compete. The exemption allows for a covenant not to compete under specified conditions governing an individual who earns an amount of annualized cash compensation equivalent to or greater than the threshold amount for highly compensated workers. The bill excludes from the highly compensated worker exemption a covenant not to compete that restricts the practice of medicine, the practice of advanced practice registered nursing, or the practice of dentistry in this state.

Under current law, there is also an exemption from the general prohibition against covenants not to solicit customers (nonsolicitation covenant) that allows for a nonsolicitation covenant governing an individual who earns an amount of annualized cash compensation equivalent to or greater than 60% of the threshold amount for highly compensated workers if the nonsolicitation covenant is no broader than reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate interest in protecting trade secrets. The bill also excludes from the highly compensated worker exemption for nonsolicitation covenants a covenant not to compete that restricts the practice of medicine, the practice of advanced practice registered nursing, or the practice of dentistry.

A covenant not to compete governing an individual who has a minority ownership share of a business and who received their ownership share in the business as equity compensation or otherwise in connection with services rendered is permissible if the covenant’s duration in years does not exceed a number calculated by the total consideration received by the individual from the sale divided by the average annualized cash compensation received by the individual from the business, including income received on account of the individual’s ownership interest during the preceding 2 years or during the period of time that the individual was affiliated with the business, whichever period of time is shorter.

Provisions in a covenant not to compete that allow an employer to recover the following expenses are permitted by the bill, if the employer’s recovery of the expense decreases proportionally over the course of not more than 3 years subsequent to the beginning of an individual’s employment:

• Relocation expenses paid by the employer on behalf of an individual;
• A signing bonus or other remuneration paid by the employer to an individual to induce the individual to relocate or, in the case of a health-care provider, to establish a health-care practice in a specified geographic area;
• Recruiting expenses paid by the employer to recruit a health-care provider; or
• Marketing expenses paid by the employer to market an individual health-care provider.

The bill prohibits a covenant that prevents or materially restricts a health-care provider from disclosing to a patient to whom the health-care provider was providing consultation or treatment before the health-care provider’s departure from a medical practice the following information:

• The health-care provider’s continuing practice of medicine;
• The health-care provider’s new professional contact information; or
• The patient’s right to choose a medical provider.

 

SB25-147 – Modify Board Management Public Employees’ Retirement Association– signed into law

Concerning modifications to the management of the public employees’ retirement association by the board of trustees, and, in connection therewith, defining the board as a local public body for purposes of the open meetings law, establishing term limits for members of the board, clarifying that the board must conduct its meetings according to the open meetings law as a local public body, requiring the board to post certain meeting-related and financial information of the association on the association’s website, and clarifying the authority of the board to manage and administer the association.

 

SB25-193 – Sunset Primary Care Payment Reform Collaborative– signed into law

Sunset Process – Senate Health and Human Services Committee. In 2019, the division of insurance within the department of regulatory agencies (department) established the primary care payment reform collaborative (collaborative) to, among other things, advise in the development of affordability standards and targets for carrier investments in primary care, identify barriers to the adoption of alternative payment models by health-care providers and insurers, and develop recommendations to address barriers.

The bill implements the recommendations of the department’s sunset review and report by:

• Continuing the collaborative for 7 years, until September 1, 2032; and
• Scheduling the next sunset review to take place pursuant to the sunset review structure for advisory committees.

In addition, the bill clarifies that the collaborative is required to ensure the development and consideration of alternative payment models that are responsive to the needs of primary care delivery in pediatrics and that the commissioner is required to invite pediatric primary care providers to participate in the collaborative.