Colorado § 24-33.5-1905 - Research and development.

§ 24-33.5-1905. Research and development.

(1) The university of Colorado at Colorado Springs may partner with a nonprofit organization that supports national, state, and regional cybersecurity initiatives to work to establish a secure environment for research and development, initial operational testing and evaluation, and expedited contracting for production for industrial cyber products and techniques.

(2) In furtherance of subsection (1) of this section, the university of Colorado at Colorado Springs and any nonprofit organization with which the university has a partnership may consider the following:

(a) Creating a business plan to develop a secure facility on the property of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs that provides physical, electronic, proprietary, and administrative security;

(b) Exploring secure facility development and use at other Colorado universities and facilities that may augment the capacity at the university of Colorado at Colorado Springs and enable collaborative activities;

(c) Establishing relationships with appropriate federally funded research and development corporations under the sponsorship of the United States department of defense and the United States department of homeland security as an administrative partner to:

(I) Establish and certify a top secret and special access-certified facility;

(II) Establish cooperative relations with state and federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies responsible for investigating and collecting information related to cyber-based criminal and national security threats;

(III) Act as a conduit for federal and interstate research and development requirements;

(IV) Establish and monitor nondisclosure agreements to protect proprietary intellectual property; and

(V) Process and hold security clearances for authorized Colorado government personnel;

(d) Consider establishing relationships with the existing MITRE national cybersecurity federally funded research and development center; the aerospace corporation federally funded research and development center; or creating a new parallel organization focused on cybersecurity for national defense and homeland security requirements;

(e) Establishing cooperative relationships with Colorado cyber companies and other businesses, local governments, institutions of higher education, and other Colorado organizations with requirements for cybersecurity participation;

(f) Establishing cooperative relations with civilian industrial producers through entities that encourage the interstate sharing of information for cybersecurity;

(g) Linking to local and national military, homeland security, and intelligence community activities to support research and development, rapid test and evaluation, contracting, and production requirements;

(h) Establishing protocols for coordinating and sharing information with state and federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies responsible for investigating and collecting information related to cyber-based criminal and national security threats;

(i) Supporting state and federal law enforcement agencies with their responsibilities to investigate and prosecute threats to and attacks against critical infrastructure;

(j) Encouraging coordination with the United States department of commerce and the national institute of standards and technologies to develop the capability to act as a Colorado in-state center of excellence on cybersecurity advice and national institute of standards and technologies standards;

(k) Studying efforts to protect privacy of personal identifying information maintained within distributed ledger programs, ensuring that programs make all attempts to follow best practices for privacy, and providing advice to all program stakeholders on the requirement to maintain privacy in accordance with required regulatory bodies and governing standards; and

(l) Encouraging the use of distributed ledger technologies, or blockchains, within their proposed curricula for public sector education.

(3) The university of Colorado at Colorado Springs shall participate in activities in furtherance of this section only upon the approval of the board of regents of the university of Colorado, if required by the laws and policies of the board of regents.

(4) Repealed.

Source: L. 2016: Entire part added, (HB 16-1453), ch. 189, p. 670, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2018: IP(2), (2)(h), and (2)(i) amended and (2)(j), (2)(k), (2)(l), and (4) added, (SB 18-086), ch. 319, p. 1916, § 4, effective May 30. L. 2026: (4)(e) added, (HB 26-1371), ch. 281, p. 1564, § 4, effective June 1.

Editor's note: (1) (a) Subsection (4)(e) was amended in HB 26-1371, effective June 1, 2026. For amendments in HB 26-1371 in effect from June 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, see chapter 281, Session Laws of Colorado 2026. (L. 2026, p. 1564.)

(b) Subsection (4)(e) provided for the repeal of subsection (4), effective June 30, 2026. (L. 2026, p. 1564.)