Business taxes, computer spam top new Colo. laws

By Steven K. Paulson
The Associated Press
DENVER — About 30,000 small businesses will be off the hook for business personal property taxes as an exemption is increased from $2,500 to $7,000 over the next five years, under a new state law taking effect Tuesday.

Insurance brokers will be required to tell their customers how much commission they make on each policy they sell, under a measure from Broomfield Democratic Rep. Dianne Primavera that’s another new law going into effect today.

Those new laws are among 175 passed this year by lawmakers that have a provision that allows 90 days for voters to challenge them, an option never exercised.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said many of the new laws are aimed at helping families. “We’re making energy more renewable, child care more affordable and the insurance industry more accountable,” Romanoff said.

Among the new laws:

• A measure that increases the odds of catching e-mail spammers by providing state enforcement authority similar to federal authority against unwanted e-mails. Colorado consumers will now be able to take complaints to local authorities.
  
• A new law that allows 900,000 more Coloradans to participate in the burgeoning renewable energy market by allowing them to generate homegrown energy from wind turbines and rooftop solar panels and still stay on the grid. That measure, carried in the Senate by Longmont Democrat Brandon Shaffer, also gives customers credit when their meter runs backward from their production of wind and solar power.
• A bill from Boulder Democratic Sen. Ron Tupa that’s designed to lower the cost of textbooks, helping students and parents save hundreds of dollars each year, requiring publishers to list updates.
  
• Lawmakers also passed a bill that requires insurance companies to pay double damages if they don’t pay what they owe when they owe it.
  

Republicans also claimed credit for their new laws, including one that requires the state to determine whether it is in the best interest of taxpayers to bid on a toll highway when it is offered for sale or for lease.

Another GOP measure, from Berthoud Rep. Kevin Lundberg, establishes a pine beetle-mitigation fund within the Colorado State Forest Service to remove the bark beetle and start to clear infested wood, using only voluntary contributions from the public.

“In these tough economic times, the people of Colorado need real solutions to challenges, not expensive proposals that burden taxpayers’ budgets,” said House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker. “Our economy can’t take more taxes and fees or strict mandates that hurt our business climate.”

Legislators representing parts of Boulder, southwest Weld and southern Larimer counties sponsored more than 30 of the 175 new laws taking effect today, including:

• Silverthorne Democratic Sen. Dan Gibbs’ measure requiring the State Board of Education and the State Charter School Institute to enact rules making sure beverages sold or dispensed in schools meet minimum health and nutrition standards.
  
• A measure from Boulder Democratic Rep. Claire Levy and Broomfield Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell allowing the Regional Transportation District to issue tax-exempt private activity bonds to finance transportation facilities that’ll be owned or used by private entities.
• Larimer County Republican Sen. Steve Johnson’s measure to make a special state license plate available to vehicle owners who invest in energy-efficiency home improvements. Levy carried the bill in the House.
• Boulder Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer’s measure creating an experimental “navigator” program to assist individuals and families on waiting lists for government developmental disabilities programs.
• Louisville Democratic Rep. Paul Weissmann’s measure requiring certification and background checks of substitute workers providing temporary care in state-licensed family child-care homes.
• Boulder Democratic Rep. Alice Madden’s measure to eliminate charges for an estimated 13,665 kindergarten-through-secondnd grade students whose families now pay reduced prices for those children’s lunches under the federal National School Lunch Act program’s family eligibility guidelines.
• Mead Republican Rep. Glenn Vaad’s measure repealing a previous state law requiring the governor to consider appointing an applicant with expertise in aviation or mass transportation to the 11-member Colorado Transportation Commission.
• Berthoud Republican Rep. Kevin Lundberg’s measure requiring the state Department of Labor and Employment, in DOLA’s quarterly electronic news publication, to notify employers of federal laws against hiring or continuing to employ illegal aliens. That notice also is to include information about the federal Electronic Verification Program.
• Longmont Democratic Sen. Brandon Shaffer’s measure making Colorado National Guard members eligible for in-state college tuition assistance even if they haven’t lived here the full 12 months that previously was necessary to qualify for that stipend.
• Boulder Democratic Sen. Ron Tupa’s measure reducing the blood-alcohol-content level, from 0.10 to 0.08, at which someone can be charged with “boating under the influence.”
• Broomfield Democratic Rep. Dianne Primavera’s measure repealing a previous state law that had required the Department of Revenue to establish fees for parking placards for persons with disabilities. The courts had held that earlier law violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
  

Times-Call staff writer John Fryar contributed to this report.