The Colorado Office of Policy, Research and Regulatory Reform (COPRRR), in the Executive Director’s Office at the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), released the 2024 sunset reports today. The reports have been sent to the Colorado General Assembly and are now available online at coprrr.colorado.gov.
“Sunset reviews keep Colorado on the forefront of regulatory reform,” Patty Salazar, DORA Executive Director said. “We provide the General Assembly with comprehensive and thoughtful recommendations for changes to regulatory and other government programs. Protecting consumers while fostering an inclusive economy and a thriving workforce is now more important than ever.”
This year, COPRRR conducted 16 sunset reviews of programs throughout Colorado state government to identify opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens while upholding consumer protection. Programs reviewed include those housed within DORA, the departments of Public Health and Environment, Public Safety, Human Services, Labor and Employment, Agriculture and Early Childhood.
“While consumer protection is front and center in all that we do, we also seek to find the balance between protecting the public and eliminating unnecessary regulatory burdens,” Brian Tobias, Director of COPRRR said. “Public participation is vital to the sunset process. When conducting sunset reviews, we strive to include as many interested parties as possible, and we encourage the public to contact us directly to participate in any of our reviews.
Report highlights include:
- Continuing professional regulation: Professions, such as dental hygienists, dental therapists, dentists, outfitters and health care practitioners, who provide care for workers’ compensation related injuries, were up for sunset review, and each of the reviews recommends continuing the regulation of these professions.
- Continuing business regulation: Licensure of commodity handlers, community integrated health care service agencies and farm products dealers and also underwent sunset review, and the sunset reviews found continued regulation was necessary to protect the public.
- Continue funding programs: A sunset review of the Rural Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program determined that continuing the program is necessary to protect public health. This program provides funding for preventative substance abuse services for youth in rural counties and detoxification and treatment services for youth and adults.
- Continuing other programs or functions: A sunset review examined the HOA Information and Resource Center and recommends continuation of its services, which include providing information related to homeowners’ associations (HOAs) for HOA members, HOA governing boards and community association managers, receiving and tracking complaints and responding to general inquiries. Another sunset review recommended continuing the Identity Theft and Financial Fraud Deterrence Act and the Fraud Investigators Unit, which assist state and local law enforcement investigations of financial fraud and identity-theft related crimes. The sunset review of the Motorcycle Operator Safety Training program, which oversees motorcycle safety training for Coloradans seeking a motorcycle endorsement on their driver’s license, recommended continuation. The Primary Care Payment Reform Collaborative sunset review recommended continuation of the Collaborative, which develops recommendations relating to alternative payment models and the ways in which they may be utilized in Colorado to further communication and value among payers, health care providers, and patients.
- Recommended for sunset: The Behavioral Health Entity Implementation and Advisory Committee no longer meets and will already have been repealed when the General Assembly convenes for the 2025 legislative session. The sunset review of this committee recommends allowing it to remain sunsetted. As the Commodity Metals Theft Task Force (Task Force) has aided the Chief of the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) in gaining a sufficient amount of expertise and relationships to combat commodity metal theft independent of the task force, the sunset review recommends the General Assembly sunset the Task Force. The Title Insurance Commission is also recommended for sunset, as it has made no recommendations in the previous seven years.
The complete sunset reports and a schedule of future sunset reviews are available online at coprrr.colorado.gov.