Bill Tracker

The bill creates the state apprenticeship agency (SAA) in the
department of labor and employment (department) as a type 1 agency.
The executive director of the department is required to appoint a director
of the SAA (director). The purpose of the SAA is to:
  • Serve as the primary point of contact with the United States
department of labor's office of apprenticeship concerning

apprentices and registered apprenticeship programs; and
  • Oversee apprenticeship programs, including registration,
required standards for registration, quality assurance, the
promotion of apprenticeships, and the provision of
technical assistance.
The director shall establish the state apprenticeship council (SAC)
and an interagency advisory committee on apprenticeship (IAC). The
governor and the director appoint the members of the SAC and the IAC.
The SAC is charged with overseeing registered apprenticeship programs
for the building and construction trades in this state and ensuring
compliance with state and federal laws and standards. The IAC is charged
with the same responsibilities for all other apprenticeships not in the
building and construction trades.
The bill requires the SAA to accept applications for registration of
apprenticeship programs beginning July 1, 2023. The SAA may deregister
an apprenticeship program for noncompliance with the requirements in
the bill. The SAA shall conduct a hearing upon request of the SAC or the
IAC regarding issues of noncompliance and deregistration.
The director of the SAA is authorized to promulgate rules to
implement the state apprenticeship registration program.

The bill creates a statutory basis to allow a private employer to
give preference to a veteran of the armed forces or the National Guard
and the spouse of a disabled veteran or a service member killed in the line
of duty when hiring a new employee, as long as the veteran or the spouse
is as qualified as other applicants for employment. The bill allows a

private employer's veterans' preference employment policy to also include
the preferential hiring of veterans who have been discharged from active
duty within the last 10 years, as determined by the discharge date. The bill
clarifies that a private employer that adopts a program that gives
preferences to veterans or their spouses is not committing a
discriminatory or unfair labor practice.

The bill amends the definition of sexual orientation and adds
definitions of the terms gender expression and gender identity. The
bill also adds the terms gender expression and gender identity to
statutes prohibiting discrimination against members of a protected class,
including statutes prohibiting discriminatory practices in the following

areas:
  • Membership of the Colorado civil rights commission;
  • Employment practices;
  • Housing practices;
  • Places of public accommodation;
  • Publications that advertise places of public
accommodation;
  • Consumer credit transactions;
  • Selection of patients by direct primary health care
providers;
  • Sales of cemetery plots;
  • Membership in labor organizations;
  • Colorado labor for public works projects;
  • Issuance or renewal of automobile insurance policies;
  • The provision of funeral services and crematory services;
  • Eligibility for jury service;
  • Issuance of licenses to practice law;
  • The juvenile diversion program;
  • Access to services for youth in foster care;
  • Enrollment in a charter school, institute charter school,
public school, or pilot school;
  • Local school boards' written policies regarding
employment, promotion, and dismissal;
  • The assignment or transfer of a public school teacher;
  • Leasing portions of the grounds of or improvements on the
grounds of the Colorado state university - Pueblo and the
Colorado school of mines;
  • Enrollment or classification of students at private
occupational schools;
  • Training provided to peace officers concerning the
prohibition against profiling;
  • Criminal justice data collection;
  • Employment in the state personnel system;
  • The availability of services for the prevention and
treatment of sexually transmitted infections;
  • Membership of the health equity commission;
  • The availability of family planning services;
  • Requirements for managed care programs participating in
the state medicaid program and the children's basic health
plan;
  • The treatment of and access to services by individuals in
facilities providing substance use disorder treatment
programs;
  • Employment practices of county departments of human or
social services involving the selection, retention, and
promotion of employees;
  • Practices of the Colorado housing and finance authority in
making or committing to make a housing facility loan;
  • The imposition of occupancy requirements on charitable
property for which the owner is claiming an exemption
from property taxes based on the charitable use of the
property;
  • The determination of whether expenses paid at or to a club
that has a policy to restrict membership are tax deductible;
and
  • Practices of transportation network companies in providing
services to the public.

The bill creates the stimulus investments in reskilling, upskilling,
and next-skilling workers program (program) as an initiative of the state
work force development council (state council) to facilitate training for

unemployed and underemployed workers in the state during times of
substantial unemployment, defined as a statewide unemployment rate that
exceeds 4%. The bill appropriates $25 million for the program and directs
the state council to use the money to support individuals in need of:
  • Reskilling, which supports unemployed and
underemployed workers to change industries in order to
return to work or obtain more appropriate work based on
their skills;
  • Upskilling, which assists workers in increasing skill levels
to retain or advance in their employment; or
  • Next-skilling, which supports workers in developing
future-ready skills necessary for employment in the
twenty-first century.
The state council, in collaboration with the department of labor
and employment, is directed to allocate funding to local work force
development areas and to develop a grant program to award grants to
other partners to provide reskilling, upskilling, and next-skilling supports
to eligible individuals for up to 13 months.
Starting in 2022, as part of the Colorado talent report, the state
council is directed to report on the activities and outcomes resulting from
the program. The program repeals on June 30, 2024.

The bill eliminates the requirement that the department of
education and each division, board, or agency of the department of
regulatory agencies verify the lawful presence of each applicant before
issuing or renewing a license.
The bill also specifies that lawful presence is not required of any

applicant for any license, certificate, or registration. The bill affirmatively
states that the bill is a state law within the meaning of the federal law that
gives states authority to provide for eligibility for state and local public
benefits to persons who are unlawfully residing in the United States.

For purposes of addressing discriminatory or unfair employment
practices pursuant to Colorado's anti-discrimination laws, the bill:
  • 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;
  • 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;
  • 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.

The bill provides injured workers control over the selection of the
primary treating physician in workers' compensation cases, allowing them
to choose from any level I or level II accredited physician through the
division of workers' compensation. The bill creates the mechanism by
which the injured worker may select the treating physician, and requires
the employer or insurer to choose the physician when an injured worker

is unable or unwilling to select the treating physician.