HB 23-1009

House Bill 23-1009, also known as the Secondary School Student Substance Use Act, establishes a committee within the Colorado Department of Education to develop methods for identifying students who need help with substance use and connecting them to treatment resources. The bill requires the department to publish a report on these findings and share it with school districts and charter schools. It allocates $49,950 from the general fund to implement this initiative. The governor signed the bill into law on April 26, 2023, and it will take effect on August 7, 2023. This means that starting in early fall, Colorado’s secondary schools will begin implementing new practices to address student substance use issues.

Official Summary

The act creates the secondary school student substance use committee (committee) in the department of education (department) to develop a practice, or identify or modify an existing practice, for secondary schools to implement that identifies students who need substance use treatment, offers a brief intervention, and refers the students to substance use treatment resources. The department is required to publicly publish a report of the committee's findings and submit the report to the superintendent of every school district and chief administrator of every institute charter school that is a secondary school. For the 2023-24 budget year, $49,950 is appropriated from the general fund to the department to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor April 26, 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.)

Votes