SB 23-148

Senate Bill 23-148, which has been signed into law and will take effect on August 7, 2023, requires the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to maintain a public database listing buildings that have been used as illegal methamphetamine labs. The department must remove properties from this list five years after they are decontaminated and inform the public about their status. Law enforcement agencies and industrial hygienists must report any such discoveries to the department, and tenants can now void their leases if a property is not properly remediated after being used for illegal drug production. This law also allocates $74,516 from the general fund to help implement these requirements.

Official Summary

The act requires the department of public health and environment (department) to create a public database of buildings that have been used as illegal drug laboratories involving methamphetamine. The department must remove a building from the database 5 years after the property has been decontaminated. The database must notify the public as to whether the property has been decontaminated. A law enforcement agency and an industrial hygienist are required to notify the department upon discovering an illegal drug laboratory that manufactured methamphetamine on residential property. Colorado law creates a warranty of habitability that authorizes a tenant to void a lease if the property is not habitable. The act adds to the warranty a failure to remediate residential property that has been used as an illegal drug laboratory to make methamphetamine. To implement the act, $74,516 is appropriated to the department from the general fund. APPROVED by Governor June 2, 2023 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2023 NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause and takes effect 90 days after sine die. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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