Lindsey Daugherty

⚠️ ISSUE: Foster youth in Colorado tend to face poorer outcomes compared to other children, including higher rates of homelessness, incarceration, and adverse experiences with the foster care system itself. Without a formalized set of rights, foster youth may not fully understand their entitlements, nor can they easily advocate for their needs, leading to varied experiences and outcomes in the foster care system.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Establishes statutory rights for foster youth, ensuring they are treated with dignity and respect, have access to necessary services, and are protected from discrimination and harassment.

• Requires the Office of the Child’s Representative (OCR) to develop a written notice of rights that county human service departments must distribute to foster youth, enhancing awareness and understanding.

• Clarifies the authority of courts to enforce these rights, ensuring foster youth have legal recourse to uphold their entitlements.

• Rights include freedom from discrimination, access to services and programs, privacy, education, and health care, among others.

• Juvenile courts are restricted from limiting or denying these rights except in extraordinary circumstances, and the Office of the Child Protection Ombudsman (CPO) must annually report on complaints regarding these rights.

🎯 GOAL: Strengthen protections and support for foster youth in Colorado by establishing a comprehensive Bill of Rights in state law and providing mechanisms for notification and enforcement. The initiative aims to ensure that foster youth have clear, consistent access to their rights and services, promoting better outcomes and a smoother transition to adulthood.

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⚠️ ISSUE: The collection, storage, and sale of biometric data, such as DNA, facial mapping, and fingerprints, pose significant privacy risks. Current practices lack transparency and could lead to misuse, nonconsensual sharing, and exploitation of this highly sensitive information, affecting individuals' security and privacy.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Requires companies that collect biometric data to obtain consumer consent, disclose their retention policy, and delete the data within a year

• Prohibits companies from selling biometric data, recognizing its sensitivity and the dangers of treating it as a commodity.

• Allows consumers to access their biometric data held by a company and update/correct it

• Authorizes the Attorney General to make rules protecting biometric data security

🎯 GOAL: Enhance privacy protections for Colorado residents by regulating the handling of biometric data. This bill aims to establish clear guidelines for consent, limit data commodification, ensure data deletion in a timely manner, and improve transparency, ultimately safeguarding individuals against privacy breaches and exploitation.

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⚠️ ISSUE: Workers facing injuries on the job are often constrained by rigid compensation limits and lack flexibility in accepting modified employment that aligns with their medical restrictions. Additionally, current benefit delivery methods do not accommodate modern financial management practices, and certain injuries are not adequately recognized in terms of compensation.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Allows workers to refuse modified employment offers if medical restrictions conflict with job requirements, such as driving restrictions.

• Adds the loss of an ear to the list of injuries eligible for whole person permanent impairment benefits, recognizing the significant impact of such injuries.

• Replaces the two existing limits on temporary and permanent injury benefits with a single, annually adjusted limit of $300,000, simplifying and updating compensation practices.

• Requires workers' compensation insurers to offer direct deposit for benefit payments, providing claimants with faster and more secure access to their funds.

🎯 GOAL: Modernize and enhance the fairness of workers' compensation disability benefits. This bill aims to provide greater flexibility and recognition for injured workers, streamline compensation limits, and improve the efficiency of benefit payments, ultimately supporting workers' recovery and financial stability.

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⚠️ ISSUE: Colorado faces a critical shortage of healthcare professionals, exacerbated by an aging physician workforce and increasing population. State institutions of higher education are poised to address these shortages through significant expansions and renovations to health sciences education programs but require substantial capital investments.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Authorizes state-financed purchase agreements to support four major projects: University of Northern Colorado's College of Osteopathic Medicine, Metropolitan State University of Denver's Health Institute Tower, Colorado State University's Veterinary Health Education Campus, and Trinidad State College's Valley Campus Main Building renovation.

• Provides $41,250,000 in general fund money to an escrow account for the University of Northern Colorado's College of Osteopathic Medicine accreditation, alongside financing for construction and renovation projects at the other institutions.

🎯 GOAL: Bolster Colorado's healthcare workforce by facilitating the expansion and modernization of health sciences education facilities across state institutions. This investment seeks to directly combat the healthcare professional shortage, improve educational infrastructure, and ensure Colorado's capacity to meet future healthcare demands.

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⚠️ ISSUE: Current healthcare practices lead to significant waste of medications, particularly topical medications used in treatments and surgeries. Patients often bear unnecessary costs for new prescriptions for medications that were already paid for and partially used during their care in health facilities.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Allows health facilities to send unused portions of topical medications home with patients upon discharge, ensuring they can continue their care without incurring additional costs.

• Aims to reduce medical waste and healthcare costs by allowing the reuse of medications already dispensed for patient care.

• Supports both physicians in providing comprehensive care and patients in their recovery process by simplifying access to necessary medications.

🎯 GOAL: Improve healthcare efficiency by minimizing waste and reducing costs for patients. This bill seeks to ensure that patients can continue their treatment with the same medications used in their healthcare facility, enhancing patient care and outcomes, particularly in areas with limited access to pharmaceutical services.

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⚠️ ISSUE: The effectiveness and practices of the youth restraint and seclusion working group are under review as its continuation is crucial for ensuring the safety and rights of youth in care facilities. The 2023 sunset report highlighted the need for ongoing evaluation and recommendations to improve regulatory oversight and practices related to restraint and seclusion.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Implements the Department of Regulatory Agencies' recommendation to continue the working group indefinitely.

• Ensures that the group remains active beyond its initial sunset date of September 1, 2024, allowing for continued oversight, guidance, and reform in the practices of restraint and seclusion in youth services.

• Facilitates ongoing review and improvement of policies to better protect the rights and well-being of youth in care settings

🎯 GOAL: Strengthen oversight and improve practices related to the restraint and seclusion of youth in care facilities. By continuing the working group indefinitely, this bill aims to ensure that policies evolve with best practices and that youth are treated with dignity and respect.

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⚠️ ISSUE: Current arbitration processes for out-of-network health insurance claims lack efficiency and can be costly due to handling claims individually. This inefficiency impacts providers and insurers, leading to potential delays and increased administrative burdens.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Introduces a batching process for the arbitration of multiple out-of-network health insurance claims, allowing them to be considered jointly under the same arbitration fee.

• Aligns the arbitration process with federal law, ensuring consistency and transparency in payment determinations.

• Mandates the Commissioner of Insurance to establish rules specifying the required information insurance carriers must submit with the initial payment of a claim, facilitating a smoother arbitration process.

🎯 GOAL: Streamline the arbitration process for out-of-network health insurance claims, reduce administrative costs, and enhance transparency and efficiency in payment determinations between providers and insurers.

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⚠️ ISSUE: Firefighters face heightened risks of heart and circulatory malfunctions due to the stressful and hazardous nature of their work. Current options for providing statutorily required benefits are limited and may not fully support the unique health needs of firefighters.

WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Removes the option for firefighter employers to select accident insurance self-insurance or a self-insurance pool for providing benefits related to heart and circulatory malfunctions.

• Requires firefighter employers to participate in a multiple employer health trust to provide such benefits, ensuring consistent and comprehensive support for affected firefighters.

🎯 GOAL: Enhance the support and benefits provided to firefighters for heart and circulatory malfunctions by requiring participation in a specialized health trust, acknowledging the unique risks they face in their line of duty.

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