Colorado § 24-33.5-822 - County sheriff - local government - local emergency planning committee - memorandum of understanding with volunteer organizations.

§ 24-33.5-822. County sheriff - local government - local emergency planning committee - memorandum of understanding with volunteer organizations.

(1) Any county sheriff, the director of any local government, any local emergency planning committee, or any state agency may develop and enter into a memorandum of understanding with one or more volunteer organizations, including but not limited to the Colorado rangers, to assist the county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency in providing services as required.

(2) A memorandum of understanding between a county sheriff, a local government, a local emergency planning committee, or a state agency and a volunteer organization may include the following information:

(a) The circumstances under which the county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency may request the services of the volunteer organization;

(b) The circumstances under which the volunteer organization may accept or refuse the request for assistance by the county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency;

(c) The party that will be responsible for any costs incurred by the volunteer organization in the course of assisting the county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency;

(d) The specific training or certification required for volunteers who are members of the volunteer organization to be authorized to assist the county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency;

(e) The duration of the memorandum of understanding;

(f) Provisions for amending the memorandum of understanding; and

(g) Any other information deemed necessary by the county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency or by the volunteer organization.

(3) If national or statewide training and certification standards exist for a certain organization or certain type of volunteer, the existing standards shall be used in a memorandum of understanding created pursuant to this section.

(4) The most current version of the state of Colorado intergovernmental agreement for emergency management may be used as the memorandum of understanding pursuant to this section.

(5) A member of the Colorado rangers and any other volunteer organization lending assistance to a county sheriff, local government, local emergency planning committee, or state agency pursuant to this section is an authorized volunteer for the purposes of article 10 of this title 24.

(6) The executive director of the department of public safety created in section 24-33.5-103, the director of the Colorado bureau of investigation created in section 24-33.5-401, the executive director of the department of corrections created in section 24-1-128.5, the division of emergency management created by part 21 of this article 33.5, the division of homeland security created in section 24-33.5-1603, and a county sheriff, police chief, town marshal, or any other law enforcement organization certified pursuant to the provisions of article 2.5 of title 16, that enters into an intergovernmental agreement or mutual aid agreement with the Colorado rangers law enforcement shared reserve or a Colorado ranger is solely responsible for, and in direct control of, the performance of any Colorado ranger, including incurring any and all liabilities for misconduct of the Colorado ranger, and is responsible for addressing any misconduct as if the Colorado ranger was a full-time employee of the organization.

Source: L. 2012: Entire part RC&RE with relocations, (HB 12-1283), ch. 240, p. 1095, § 10, effective July 1; (1), (2)(a), (2)(b), (2)(c), and (2)(d) amended and (5) and (6) added, (SB 12-072), ch. 57, pp. 207, 208, §§ 2, 4, effective August 8. L. 2025: (6) amended, (HB 25-1181), ch. 36, p. 180, § 4, effective March 26; (1) and (5) amended, (SB 25-300), ch. 428, p. 2449, § 33, effective August 6.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 24-32-2222 as it existed prior to 2012.

(2) Amendments to section 24-32-2222 (1), (2)(a), (2)(b), (2)(c), (2)(d), (5), and (6) by Senate Bill 12-072 were harmonized with House Bill 12-1283 and relocated to this section.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in the 2012 act amending subsections (1), (2)(a), (2)(b), (2)(c), and (2)(d) and adding subsections (5) and (6), see section 1 of chapter 57, Session Laws of Colorado 2012.