Currently, the 'Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado' provides that certain cancers contracted by firefighters are considered occupational diseases presumed to have been a result of the firefighters' employment. A firefighter's employer or an insurer may rebut this presumption by showing by a preponderance of the medical evidence that the cancer did not occur on the job. The act expands the types of cancer that are considered occupational diseases and strengthens the rebuttable presumption to require an employer to show clear and convincing evidence that the cancer did not occur on the job. The act exempts firefighters who are employed by the state.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Existing law authorizes the general assembly to set compensation levels for employees of the state. Accordingly, the act clarifies that, for the purposes of laws concerning local minimum wages, the term 'employer' means a corporation, a proprietorship, a partnership, a joint venture, a limited liability company, a trust, an association, a political subdivision of the state, an individual, or any other entity that employs an employee. However, 'employer' does not include the state of Colorado to the extent that a state employer has a collective bargaining agreement as to employee wages. Current law states that the governing bodies of municipalities have the power to license, regulate, and tax any lawful occupation, business place, amusement, or place of amusements (occupation or business place) and to fix the amount, terms, and manner of issuing and revoking licenses issued to an occupation or business place. The act clarifies that the state of Colorado is not an occupation or business place subject to such tax. The act requires the office of state planning and budgeting to submit to the joint budget committee, on or before January 4, 2027, a supplemental budget request concerning compensation of state employees during the 2026-27 state fiscal year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The concurrent resolution provides that, within the territorial limits and jurisdiction of an enacting local government, a local ordinance, code, regulation, or other law enacted by a local government supersedes any conflicting state law in the following areas:Permitting of construction, development, or land access;Zoning and planning;Land use decisions;Siting of utilities and infrastructure;Mineral resource areas;Natural hazard areas;Areas containing, or having a significant impact upon, historical, natural, or archaeological resources of statewide importance;Areas around key facilities in which development may have a material effect upon the key facility or the surrounding community;Site selection and construction of major new domestic water and sewage treatment systems and major extensions of existing domestic water and sewage treatment systems; Site selection and development of solid waste disposal sites;Site selection of airports;Site selection of rapid or mass transit terminals, stations, and fixed guideways;Site selection of arterial highways, arterial interchanges, and collector highways;Site selection and construction of major facilities of a public utility;Site selection and development of new communities;Efficient utilization of municipal and industrial water projects;Conduct of nuclear detonations; andThe use of geothermal resources for the commercial production of electricity.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this concurrent resolution as introduced in the second house.)

With certain exceptions, the act prohibits an employer or an employer's agent from demanding, confiscating, retaining, or otherwise requiring an individual who is an employee or an applicant for employment or who is performing work or seeking to perform work for the employer in any capacity, including a migrant worker or seasonal employee, to surrender the individual's government-issued identification card. A person that knowingly violates the act's prohibition commits criminal possession of an identification document, which is a class 2 misdemeanor. A person commits a bias-motivated crime if, with the intent to intimidate or harass another individual, in whole or in part, because of that individual's actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity, the person:Violates the act's prohibitions; orProvides, or threatens to provide, an individual's government-issued identification document to federal immigration authorities, except where required or permitted by state or federal law. Such a bias-motivated crime is a class 1 misdemeanor, and a victim may seek additional remedies available under law.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill requires that an investor-owned electric utility receive a certificate of public convenience and necessity (certificate) from the public utilities commission and obtain all necessary local government land use approvals and permits prior to initiating any condemnation proceedings related to a high-voltage transmission infrastructure project requiring the certificate.The bill does not change existing application and review processes related to the development of transmission projects that have been established by the public utilities commission or a relevant local government.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act implements the recommendation of the Colorado office of policy, research, and regulatory reform in the department of regulatory agencies in its sunset review and report by continuing the regulation of hemodialysis clinics and technicians for 11 years, until September 1, 2037.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)