HB 26-1145

House Bill 26-1145, also known as the Mobile Home Park Water Quality Act, requires Colorado's water quality control division to test and address water issues in mobile home parks that could affect residents' health and welfare. The bill ensures park owners inform their residents about any water-quality-related notices and prohibits them from passing on remediation costs to residents. It allows the division to issue orders for further testing or remedial actions, impose penalties up to $5,000 per month for noncompliance, and enforce these requirements through cease-and-desist orders. Since it has been signed into law, mobile home park owners in Colorado must now comply with these regulations to ensure their residents have safe water quality.

Official Summary

The water quality control division (division) administers a program to test for and remediate water quality issues for mobile home parks (program). The program tests for water quality issues that pose a risk to not only health or safety but also the welfare of park residents. The act authorizes the division to require remediation of welfare-related water quality violations.     One of the requirements of the program is for the park owner to certify that the park owner has made certain water-quality-related notices to park residents. The act authorizes the division to issue an order requiring the park owner to comply with the park resident notice certification requirement.     Under the program, the park owner is prohibited from imposing the cost of compliance with certain remediation-related requirements on park residents. The act authorizes a park owner who is also a park resident to bear this cost.     The program authorizes the division to issue orders requiring the park owner to perform additional water testing, perform temporary measures necessary to address acute health risks, make additional reports to the division, create a remediation plan, implement a remediation plan, or respond to the division in connection with a remediation plan. The act clarifies that a park owner may ask for a hearing only regarding the orders that concern remediation plans.     The act also clarifies that:The division has authority to enforce the requirements of the program; andThe division has authority to issue cease-and-desist orders to address violations related to the program, regardless of whether the issues are related to water quality violations.     The act also provides that:An additional monthly penalty of up to $5,000 for a continuing violation may be imposed for the first 30 days of noncompliance; andA park owner is not entitled to an administrative hearing to contest an imposed civil penalty but may seek judicial review.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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