The 2018 Colorado General Assembly Regular Session is Off and Running!

The General Assembly got underway yesterday, January 10, 2018 and 130 bills have already been introduced. We will be keeping on top of issues that affect debt collection and community associations, so make sure to check back regularly for updates.

• HB-1057 was introduced in the house on January 10, 2018. The bill allows a judgment creditor to file a petition in court to compel the Department of Labor and Employment to disclose the name and address of the individual judgment debtor’s current employer(s). Judgment creditors must follow federal requirements for protecting any information disclosed and may not share it with other persons. A civil penalty of $1,000 may be assessed against a judgment creditor who fails to comply with these requirements.
  • This bill could be another tool in the collector’s tool box to help collect on money judgments obtained against individual debtors. We’ll keep you apprised of its progress through the legislative session.
• For those interested in landlord/tenant law, SB-10 was introduced in the senate on January 10, 2018. The bill requires a residential landlord to provide each tenant with a copy of a written rental agreement signed by the parties and to give a tenant a contemporaneous receipt for any payment made in person with cash or money order. For payments not made in person with cash or money order, the landlord must provide a receipt if the tenant requests it. The landlord may provide the tenant with an electronic copy of the agreement or the receipt unless the tenant requests a paper copy.
• SB-56 was introduced in the senate on January 11, 2018. Under current law, a person may file a civil action in county court if the value of the claim is $15,000 or less. The bill increases that limit to $35,000 or less and increases certain civil action filing fees for district courts and county courts.
  • This would impact community associations by allowing more actions to be brought in county court. Although many of our debts do not generally exceed the $15,000 threshold, there are some cases that do, and if the association is not interested in foreclosure of the property (or if that is not an option under the specific case circumstances), then this bill would allow the association to bring the action in county court, where the rules of civil procedure are not quite as structured (and there is not generally motions practice). Costs in county court actions are generally significantly lower than those in district court. We’ll be monitoring the progress of this bill, so check back for updates!
• SB 62 was introduced in the senate on January 11, 2018. The bill would enact the “Snow Removal Service Liability Limitation Act”, which would void provisions of snow removal agreements that require one party to indemnify the other party for damages, hold the other party harmless for damages, and provide for the defense of the other party in a liability lawsuit.This bill would certainly affect contracts that community associations enter into with their snow removal vendors and should be closely watched.

If you have questions or want more information on the legislative session or bills being introduced, please contact us at mail@yourcornerstoneteam.com or 720.279.4351.