Illuminating the 2022 Colorado Legislative Session
For Colorado to remain one of the healthiest economies in the country we need to work together to build brighter childhoods.
Our future workforce, innovators, leaders and community members can only reach their full potential through thoughtful development and investment in services and policies that strengthen families and protect children.
It is essential for elected officials and policy makers to understand how to prevent child maltreatment and listen to parents in every community.
Illuminating Policy Prevents Child Maltreatment
Illuminate Colorado strengthens families, organizations and communities to prevent child maltreatment. Protective factors are conditions or attributes in individuals, families, communities or the larger society that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and mitigate or eliminate risk in families and communities.
Parental Resilience
Social Connections
Concrete Supports in times of Need
Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development
Social & Emotional Competence of Children
2022 Colorado Legislative Progress Toward Prevention
This legislative session, Illuminate crafted a policy agenda highlighting policy priorities that build one or more protective factors known to prevent child maltreatment to ensure Colorado’s policies build brighter childhoods. Below is a summary of progress made toward Illuminating policy during the most recent Colorado Legislative Session.
Primary Prevention
These strategies build protective factors in all families to prevent child maltreatment before it occurs–including addressing systemic barriers to building protective factors across the population.
Policy Priority
Prioritize primary prevention in federal and state budgets by investing in proven services and professional education that support families and keep kids safe.
Promote access to high-quality preschool
- House Bill 22-1295 Department Early Childhood And Universal Preschool Program creates Colorado’s universal preschool program. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this bill.
 |
+ Parental Resilience |
 |
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
 |
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
 |
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Promote access to nurturing and safe child care
- Continued Investment in Illuminating Child Care through HB22-1295: House Bill 1295, which establishes duties of the new Department of Early Childhood, includes a new sunset date for the state funding that supports Illuminating Child Care through 2028. Learn more about Illuminating Child Care.
- House Bill 22-1010 Early Childhood Educator Income Tax Credit creates a refundable income tax credit for credentialed early childhood educators with adjusted gross incomes below certain thresholds and incentivizes early childhood educators to attain higher credentials, which will increase the quality of care.
- Senate Bill 22-213 Child Care Support Programs provides funding for child care programs, including the child care sustainability grant program, the employer-based child care facility grant program, and the early child care and education recruitment and retention grant and scholarship program.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Promote access to evidence-based home visiting programs
- House Bill 22-1289 Health Benefits For Colorado Children and Pregnant Persons draws down federal funds to improve perinatal and postpartum support and requires that priorities for the funds be determined through a stakeholder process–and requires that the stakeholder group considers initiatives that expand home visiting programs. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this bill.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Promote access to safe, engaging after school programs and activities
- Senate Bill 22-064 Neighborhood Youth Organizations lowers the minimum age of a youth member of a neighborhood youth organization (NYO) to 5 years of age and requires programs and services offered by an NYO to be evidence- or research-based, age-appropriate, and foster supportive relationships with peers and adults while offering character and leadership development, academic supports, job skills training, behavioral health supports, health and nutrition services, and other critical resources and services that a community identifies as necessary
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Promote access to medical care and behavioral health service, including family planning
- House Bill 22-1289 Health Benefits For Colorado Children and Pregnant Persons provides full health care coverage for people who are pregnant or up to 12 months postpartum and children who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid and CHP+ if not for their immigration status. It also makes other critical investments in perinatal services across the state, including making breast pumps a covered benefit for all Coloradans who use Medicaid and CHP+ and creating a Special Enrollment Period for pregnancy, which will allow people to sign up for individual market insurance coverage as soon as they find out they are pregnant. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this bill.
- House Bill 22-1329 2022-23 Long Bill (the FY 2022-23 state budget) includes protection for the quality prenatal and postpartum care in Colorado’s Medicaid program and provides funding for stakeholder engagement, including through the Maternity Advisory Council. In order to help drive Medicaid policy changes, this council is made up of individuals who have received perinatal services through Medicaid.
- House Bill 22-1279 Reproductive Health Equity Act declares that every individual has a fundamental right to use or refuse contraception; every pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion; and a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state.
- House Bill 22-1278 Behavioral Health Administration establishes the behavioral health administration (BHA) in the department of human services in pursuit of creating a coordinated, cohesive, and effective behavioral health system in the state.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Promote access to evidence-based programs to prevent child sexual abuse
-
The 2022-2023 state budget, or “Long Bill” includes increased one-time funding ($150,000) for the Colorado Child Abuse Prevention Trust Fund (formerly called the Colorado Children’s Trust Fund) to invest in prevention strategies. We’re hopeful that these resources may go towards child sexual abuse prevention!
-
Senate Bill 22-207 Prevention Of Title IX Misconduct In Public Schools creates a Title IX regulation study in the Department of Education, which must include an examination of best practices for prevention, notification, training, and responding to sex-based discrimination and harassment in public schools and the gaps between state and federal law regarding Title IX.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Want to dig deeper on investing in proven services and professional education that support families and keep kids safe?
Learn more about legislation related to preschool, child care, home visiting, family resource centers, medical and behavioral health, and child sexual abuse prevention programs from this session from our friends at:
Policy Priority
Strengthen Economic Supports to Families
Expand access to Quality, Affordable and Stable Housing
- House Bill 22-1304 State Grants Investments Local Affordable Housing creates the following state grant programs:
-
- The local investments in transformational affordable housing grant program, administered by the Division of Housing (DOH) in the Department of Local Affairs; and
- The infrastructure and strong communities grant program, administered by the Division of Local Government (DLG)
-
- House Bill 22-1329 2022-23 Long Bill (the FY 2022-23 state budget) secures $500 thousand to provide additional legal assistance for Colorado families going through the eviction process.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
Expand access to Quality, Affordable, Convenient, and Culturally-Appropriate Food (including through WIC, SNAP, and federal child nutrition programs)
-
House Bill 22-1414 Healthy Meals for All Public School Students refers a question to Colorado voters in the fall to provide funding that will ensure that our state’s students have long-term access to school meals by limiting state income tax deductions for people earning more than $300,000 a year. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this policy concept.
-
House Bill 22-1380 Critical Services For Low-income Households creates a community food access program in the Colorado Department of Agriculture to improve access to and lower prices for healthy foods in low-income and underserved areas of the state by supporting small grocery retailers with one-time grants of $25,000. This will help grocery retailers improve infrastructure and their technological capabilities to make fresh, healthy food more accessible to low-income and underserved communities.
-
House Bill 22-1364 Food Pantry Assistance Grant Program extends funding to food banks and food pantries to provide food to their communities and to purchase necessary equipment to support their charitable food infrastructure and administration for one year.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
Expand access to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- House Bill 22-1259 Modifications To Colorado Works Program makes critical improvements to the Colorado Works program (our state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program), including increasing the amount of Basic Cash Assistance (BCA) provided to families, establishing a cost of living adjustment to the BCA, and improving the way the program works for families. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this bill.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
Support Family Financial Security
- House Bill 22-1055 Sales Tax Exemption Essential Hygiene Products creates a state sales tax exemption commencing January 1, 2023, for all sales, storage, use, and consumption of incontinence products and diapers and period products. The bill further provides that local statutory taxing jurisdictions may choose to adopt either or both exemptions by express inclusion in their sales and use tax ordinance or resolution. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this bill.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
Want to dig deeper on family economic security?
Learn more about legislation related to housing, homelesseness, food access, and economic supports from this session from our friends at:
- Bell Policy Center
- Colorado Center on Law & Policy
- Colorado Children’s Campaign
- Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
- Don’t miss the chance to register for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless Legislative Session Wrap-Up Coffee Chat coming up on Thursday, May 26th!
- Colorado Fiscal Institute
- Hunger Free Colorado
- Raise Colorado
Or TAKE ACTION! Get involved in the campaign efforts to encourage Coloradans to vote ‘yes’ on the ballot initiative created by HB1414.
Policy Priority
Implement Family Friendly Work Policies
Expand Paid Family and Medical Leave Policies
- House Bill 22-1133 Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund is one of the next steps in the implementation of Colorado’s paid family leave program. It helps to establish funding mechanisms for state employee coverage that the state is required to pay under the new program.
- House Bill 22-1305 Paid Family Medical Leave Premium Reduction reduces the premium paid by employers for the state’s paid family and medical leave program, starting January 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023, from nine-tenths of 1% of wages per employee to eighty-one hundredths of 1% of wages per employee, and requires the state treasurer to transfer $57.5 million from the general fund to the family and medical leave insurance fund.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
Want to dig deeper on family-friendly work policies?
Learn more about legislation related to family-friendly work policies from our friends at:
Secondary Prevention
These strategies build protective factors in families in high stress situations to prevent child maltreatment before it occurs–including addressing systemic barriers to strengthening families in high stress situations.
Policy Priority
Ensure and expand tailored, non-stigmatizing, and culturally responsive support for families where needed
Expand support for families impacted by behavioral health, including both parental and pediatric
- House Bill 22-1278 Behavioral Health Administration establishes the behavioral health administration (BHA) in the department of human services in pursuit of creating a coordinated, cohesive, and effective behavioral health system in the state.
- House Bill 22-1369 Children’s Mental Health Programs directs the department of early childhood to contract with a Colorado-based nonprofit entity to provide children’s mental health programs.
- Senate Bill 22-147 Behavioral Health Care Services for Children provides funding for schools to increase the number of health professionals, allowing more schools and districts to provide behavioral health services for all students.
- House Bill 22-1214 Behavioral Health Crisis Response System requires crisis system facilities and programs, including crisis walk-in centers and mobile crisis programs, to meet minimum standards to provide mental health and substance use disorder services and clarifies that crisis system facilities and programs shall provide behavioral health services to individuals experiencing a substance use disorder crisis.
- House Bill 22-1302 Health-care Practice Transformation creates the primary care and behavioral health statewide integration grant program in the department of health care policy and financing to provide grants to primary care clinics for implementation of evidence-based clinical integration care models.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
 |
+ Social Connections |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Expand support for families impacted by intellectual and developmental disabilities, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
- Efforts are happening at the federal level through the FASD Respect Act. See “The Work Continues” below!
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Social Connections |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Want to dig deeper?
Learn more about legislation related to behavioral health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and intimate partner violence from our friends at:
Tertiary Prevention
This strategy builds protective factors in families to prevent recurrence of child maltreatment–including addressing systemic barriers to healing & recovery.
Policy Priority
Ensure Communities Identify and Support Children and Families When Abuse and Neglect has Occurred
Ensure equitable access to services to support healing and recovery
- House Bill 22-1240 Mandatory Reporters establishes a Mandatory Reporter Task Force charged with analyzing best practices and recommending changes to training requirements and reporting procedures and analyzing the effectiveness of mandatory reporting and its relationship with systemic issues, including the disproportionate impact of mandatory reporting on under-resourced communities, communities of color, and persons with disabilities. Learn more about why Illuminate supported this bill.
|
+ Parental Resilience |
|
+ Social Connections |
|
+ Concrete Supports in Times of Need |
|
+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
|
+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Want to dig even deeper?
Learn more about legislation related to tertiary prevention from our friends at:
The Work Continues
Advancing systemic improvements and policy change requires year-long collaboration. Below are just a few areas that require immediate attention to advance the 2022 Illuminating Agenda.
We will all need to:
Engage in stakeholder opportunities as part of implementation of bills that passed this session, especially:
-
- The stakeholder process required by House Bill 22-1289 Health Benefits For Colorado Children and Pregnant Persons to determine priorities for drawing down federal funds to improve perinatal and postpartum support
- The Mandatory Reporting Task Force established by House Bill 22-1240 Mandatory Reporters to analyzing best practices and recommending changes to training requirements and reporting procedures and analyzing the effectiveness of mandatory reporting and its relationship with systemic issues
Get involved in the campaign efforts to encourage Coloradans to vote ‘yes’ on the ballot question referred to voters by House Bill 22-1414 Healthy Meals for All Public School Students to provide long-term funding that will ensure that our state’s students have long-term access to school meals by limiting state income tax deductions for people earning more than $300,000 a year.
Continue to advocate for primary prevention in federal and state budgets by investing in proven services and professional education that support families and keep kids safe–especially for preschool, child care, evidence-based home visiting programs, family resource centers, afterschool programs, medical and behavioral health care, and child sexual abuse prevention programs
-
- This includes advocating federally for increased investments in proven child maltreatment prevention programs and services through MIECHV, CBCAP, and CAPTA
Continue to advocate for family economic security–especially access to housing, food, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), and tax credits
Continue to advocate for family friendly work policies, including livable wages for Colorado families.
Continue to advocate for expanded support for families impacted by intellectual and developmental disabilities, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
-
- This includes advocating federally alongside our national partners at FASD United to advance Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) research, prevention, and services at the federal level through the FASD Respect Act
Continue to advocate for expanded support for families impacted by intimate partner violence
Continue to advocate for equitable access to services to support healing and recovery
Wondering how a policy prevents child maltreatment?
To learn more about each policy priority and how we can help you strengthen families in your community, contact us.
