Illuminating the 2021 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.
The Work Continues
There is no rest for the weary because our work pursuing the 2021 Illuminating Policy Agenda never stops.
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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.
2021 Colorado Legislative Progress Toward Prevention
Using a racial equity lens, 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.
Parental Resilience
Social Connections
Concrete Supports in times of Need
Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development
Social & Emotional Competence of Children
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
Policy Solutions
Restore State Funding for Critical Family Services
Funding Restored to the Following Budget Line Items:
- Family Resource Centers (Family Support line item): Increased from original FY20-21 level
- Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program: Increased from original FY20-21 level
- The Colorado Children’s Trust Fund: Maintained at original FY20-21 level
- The Governor’s budget request for evidence-based Home Visiting Programs as well as to maintain Nurse Home Visiting Programs Increased from original FY20-21 level
- The Governor’s budget request to restore the the Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Network Restored and increased from original FY20-21 level
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The Governor’s budget request to restore Child Fatality Prevention System Restored and increased from original FY20-21 level
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Restore Funding for Education about Healthy Child Development
Funding Restored to the Following Budget Line Items:
- General Fund resources for adult education about child sexual abuse prevention through the Colorado Children’s Trust Fund: The work continues. While the general fund resources for child sexual abuse prevention were amended into the House version of the budget, they ultimately were not restored in the final version. However, important changes were made to the functioning and representation in decision making of the Colorado Children’s Trust Fund through HB21-1248 Colorado Children’s Trust Fund Act
- The Governor’s budget request for Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education Restored and increased from original FY20-21 level
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+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Restore Family Planning Spending to Support Educational Attainment and Economic Stability of Families by Supporting the Governor’s Budget Request for Family Planning Services
Funding was restored for the Colorado Family Planning Program to support family planning clinics and remove cost barriers to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). Additional bills were also passed to further support access to family planning, including:
- SB21-009, Reproductive Health Care Program, expands Medicaid to provide contraceptives for undocumented communities in Colorado and requires Medicaid to ensure access to a 12-month supply of contraceptives for all who use Medicaid.
- SB21-025, Family Planning Service For Eligible Individuals, draws down federal dollars in order to expand Medicaid coverage for family planning services to people who lack coverage and are just above the Medicaid eligibility income limit.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
Policy Priority
Strengthen Economic Supports to Families
Policy Solutions
Expand Access to Stable, Quality, and Affordable Child Care, Especially for Infants and Young Children
- HB21-1222, Regulation Of Family Child Care Homes, requires that FCCHs be classified as residences for purposes of licensure and local regulations, which will ultimately support increasing the number of licensed child care slots across the state.
- SB21-201, Stricter Transparency & Enforcement In Child Care, requires CDHS to include the names and locations of cease-and-desist orders that have been issued against child care providers on the department’s publicly accessible child care provider website.
- HB21-1304, Early Childhood System, establishes a new, unified department of early childhood in Colorado.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Expand access to Quality, Affordable and Stable Housing Across Colorado
SB21-173, Rights in Residential Lease Agreements, provides protections for tenants related to late fees, eviction proceedings, and rental agreements.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Fund the Child Tax Credit
HB21-1311, Income Tax, expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and funds the Colorado Child Tax Credit (CTC), among numerous other provisions.
- Increases the Colorado EITC from 15% to 20% of the federal EITC beginning in 2022; Supports working individuals and families with incomes below $57k.
- For 2023 through 2025, increases the Colorado EITC to 25% of the federal EITC (returns to 20% of the federal EITC beginning in 2026).
- Funds the CTC starting in 2022; supports working families with children under the age of six.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
Support Family Financial Security
- SB21-199, Remove Barriers to Certain Public Opportunities, prohibits the requirement of verification of legal presence to be eligible for public benefits, including professional and commercial licenses in Colorado.
- SB21-027, Emergency Supplies For Colorado Babies & Families, provides diapering essentials to low-income Coloradans through diaper distribution centers.
Policy Priority
Implement Family Friendly Work Policies
Policy Solutions
Establish and Implement a Statewide Paid Family and Medical Leave Program for Individuals to Care for Themselves and Their Families
SB21-251, General Fund Loan Family Medical Leave Program, provides a loan from the general fund to the division of family and medical leave insurance for the purpose of implementing the state’s paid family and medical leave program.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Policy Priority
Promote Safe Storage of Items that Can be Harmful to Children
Policy Solutions
Raise Awareness and Provide Education to Family-Serving Providers, Community Agencies and Community Members on Safe Firearm Storage to Prevent Child Deaths Involving Firearms
- HB21-1106 Safe Storage Of Firearms requires that firearms be responsibly and securely stored when they are not in use to prevent access by unsupervised youth and other unauthorized users.
- HB21-1299 Office Of Gun Violence Prevention establishes an office within the Department of Public Health and Environment to coordinate and promote effective efforts to reduce gun violence–which is required to include public awareness campaigns to educate the general public and parents specifically about laws and existing resources relating to gun violence prevention.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Expand access to Quality, Affordable and Stable Housing Across Colorado
SB21-173, Rights in Residential Lease Agreements, provides protections for tenants related to late fees, eviction proceedings, and rental agreements.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Fund the Child Tax Credit
HB21-1311, Income Tax, expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and funds the Colorado Child Tax Credit (CTC), among numerous other provisions.
- Increases the Colorado EITC from 15% to 20% of the federal EITC beginning in 2022; Supports working individuals and families with incomes below $57k.
- For 2023 through 2025, increases the Colorado EITC to 25% of the federal EITC (returns to 20% of the federal EITC beginning in 2026).
- Funds the CTC starting in 2022; supports working families with children under the age of six.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
Support Family Financial Security
- SB21-199, Remove Barriers to Certain Public Opportunities, prohibits the requirement of verification of legal presence to be eligible for public benefits, including professional and commercial licenses in Colorado.
- SB21-027, Emergency Supplies For Colorado Babies & Families, provides diapering essentials to low-income Coloradans through diaper distribution centers.
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 Support for Families Impacted by Substance Use
Policy Solutions
Ensure Parents and Caregivers have Access to Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Supports Tailored to their Needs by Restoring, Maintaining or Increasing State Funding for Services
- Maintained the Maternal and Child Health Pilot Program as created in 27-82-203 in the state budget and continued through SB21-137 Behavioral Health Recovery Act, Sections 17 & 19.
- Restored the Child Care Services and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Pilot Program line item. This line item means we can ensure more families have real options when it comes to taking care of their behavioral health by making sure that lack of child care isn’t the reason that a pregnant or parenting person can’t access treatment.
- Restored the High Risk Pregnant Women Program line item: This line item ensures that specialized treatment providers can continue to serve pregnant and parenting people and offer them options for tailored, family-focused support outside of the child welfare system.
- Additionally, through SB21-137 Behavioral Health Recovery Act, three million America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will be invested in building Colorado’s capacity to meet the unmet need for specialized and tailored behavioral health services for pregnant and parenting people. Illuminate is proud to have led the advocacy to add these funds to the High-Risk Families Cash Fund as well as to add language to the cash fund’s authorizing statute to be inclusive of and explicitly call out family-centered treatment models as well as existing programs like Prenatal Plus. Learn more about how SB21-137 addresses urgent behavioral health needs here.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Social Connections |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Support the Sustainability and Scope of the Colorado Perinatal Substance Use Data Linkage Project to Ensure Colorado Understands Our Data to Inform Preventative Strategies
SB21-137 Behavioral Health Recovery Act also includes Section 14 which requires the perinatal substance use data linkage project to utilize data from multiple state-administered data sources when examining certain issues related to pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders and their infants. The Perinatal Substance Use Data Linkage Project is a key tool to inform state and local strategies to better support pregnant and postpartum people with substance use disorders and their infants.
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+ Parental Resilience |
Ensure Equitable Screening and Connection to Behavior Health Resources in Prenatal and Postpartum Care
- SB21-137 Behavioral Health Recovery Act, Section 9, aligns Medicaid reimbursement for screening for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders in accordance with the HRSA guidelines.
- SB21-193, Protection Of Pregnant People In Perinatal Period, requires that people exiting the criminal justice system in the postpartum period be connected to community health care providers.
- SB21-194, Maternal Health Providers, extends Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage to 12-months postpartum, among many other provisions.
- HB21-1130, Expand Transition Specialist Program, redefines “high-risk individual” to allow more individuals to access program services.
- HB21-1021, Peer Support Professionals Behavioral Health, authorizes Medicaid reimbursement of recovery support services organizations for permissible claims for peer support services.
- HB21-1097, Establish Behavioral Health Administration, creates a single state agency to lead, promote, and administer the state’s behavioral health priorities.
- HB21-1276, Prevention Of Substance Use Disorders, includes many provisions including insurance coverage of alternatives to opioids, support for benzodiazepine provider education, continuation of the 7-day limit on opioids, guidance around benzodiazepine prescribing, and more.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Concrete Supports |
Policy Priority
Ensure and Expand Support for Families Impacted by Intimate Partner Violence
Policy Solutions
Ensure Professionals Have the Knowledge and Resources to Identify and Support Children and Families Impacted by Intimate Partner Violence to Prevent Child Maltreatment
- HB21-1099, Policies And Procedures to Identify Domestic Abuse, establishes a task force that will develop a statutory definition of “domestic abuse” within the Colorado Children’s Code.
- HB21-1228, Domestic Violence Training Court Personnel, increases and clarifies domestic violence training requirements for court personnel who are regularly involved in cases related to domestic matters, including child and family investigators, parenting responsibility evaluators, and legal representatives of children.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Social Connections |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Tertiary Prevention
These strategies build 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
Policy Solutions
Ensure Adults Have the Knowledge and Resources to Identify and Support Children and Families Where Abuse and Neglect has Occurred
- HB21-1069, Enforcement Of Sexual Exploitation of a Child, modernizes criminal statute regarding child sexual exploitation to reflect access and viewing due to evolving technology, including accounting for live streaming platforms.
- HB21-1320, Sunset Sex Offender Management Board, authorizes the SOMB, unchanged, until September 1, 2023. A stakeholder process is anticipated to create future bill recommendations.
- SB21-017, Sexual Contact By An Educator, updates hiring practices and ongoing duties of both charter schools and public schools to support information sharing with the Department of Education regarding whether a potential hiree or previous employee has been dismissed by or has resigned from a school as a result of an allegation of unlawful sexual behavior or an allegation of a sexual act involving a student who is 18 years of age or older. The bill additionally creates a class 1 misdemeanor, abuse of public trust by an educator, for limited and specific cases of educator sexual contact with students over the age of 18.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Social Connections |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Ensure Families Where Abuse and Neglect Has Occurred Have Equitable Access to Services to Support Healing and Recovery.
- SB21-073, Civil Action Statute of Limitations Sexual Assault, removes the statute of limitations and other restrictions on bringing a civil claim based on sexual misconduct, allowing child and adult survivors time to heal so that they may access the civil legal system and monetary resources to thrive into adulthood after surviving sexual abuse.
- SB21-088, the Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act, creates a new civil cause of action for any person sexually abused in Colorado while participating in a youth program as a child, ensuring that all survivors of child sexual abuse, including those who have delayed disclosing abuse into adulthood, have the opportunity to hold culpable and complicit individuals and organizations accountable.
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+ Parental Resilience |
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+ Social Connections |
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+ Concrete Supports |
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+ Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development |
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+ Social and Emotional Competence of Children |
Wondering how a policy prevents child maltreatment?
The Illuminate Colorado 2021 policy agenda highlights policies that build one or more protective factors in Colorado.
To learn more about each policy priority and how we can help you can strengthen families in your community, contact us.
