Colorado § 25.5-10-214 - Community residential home - licenses - rules.

§ 25.5-10-214. Community residential home - licenses - rules.

(1) The department of public health and environment and the state department shall implement a system of joint licensure and certification of community residential homes. Individual residential services and supports provided by the state department do not require licensure by the department of public health and environment. An individual residential services and supports setting must be treated as residential property in the application of local regulations, including zoning, land use development, fire and life safety, sanitation, and building codes. Local governing authorities shall not impose additional regulations on an individual residential services and supports setting that do not apply to other residential properties.

(2) (a) The department of public health and environment and the state department shall develop standards for the licensure and certification of community residential homes. The standards shall include health, life, and fire safety, as well as standards to ensure the effective delivery of services and supports to residents; except that any community residential home must comply with local codes.

(b) (I) The state department or the state board of health, as appropriate, shall adopt the standards by rule and shall specify the responsibilities of each department in the program. Surveys undertaken to ensure compliance with these standards shall, as appropriate, be undertaken as joint surveys by the departments.

(II) If a service agency operates a community residential home and provides personal care services, as defined in section 25-27.5-102, C.R.S., the department of public health and environment or the state department, as appropriate, is responsible for surveying those services provided by the service agency, which survey shall be conducted simultaneously with the survey of the community residential home.

(3) Any community residential home applying for a license or certification on or after January 1, 1986, shall accommodate at least four but no more than eight persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. All licenses and certificates issued by the department of public health and environment or the state department shall bear the date of issuance and shall be valid for not more than a twenty-four-month period.

(4) The issuance, suspension, revocation, modification, renewal, or denial of a license or certification shall be governed by the provisions of section 24-4-104, C.R.S. The failure of a community residential home to comply with the provisions of this article and the rules promulgated thereunder, or any local fire, safety, and health codes shall be sufficient grounds for the department of public health and environment or the state department to deny, suspend, revoke, or modify the community residential home's license or certification.

(5) The state department and the state board of health shall promulgate such rules as are necessary to implement this section, pursuant to the provisions specified in article 4 of title 24, C.R.S. The rules shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following:

(a) Requirements concerning the distance between the location of community residential homes and factors to be considered in waiving such requirements for existing community residential homes;

(b) Procedures to secure the health and safety of persons receiving services or supports residing in a community residential home in the event the community residential home closes or its license is denied, suspended, or revoked pursuant to this section; and

(c) Prohibiting the cultivation, use, or consumption of retail marijuana on the premises of a community residential home.

Source: L. 2013: Entire article added with relocations, (HB 13-1314), ch. 323, p. 1765, § 1, effective March 1, 2014. L. 2026: (1) amended, (HB 26-1147), ch. 352, p. 2131, § 4, effective June 3.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 27-10.5-109 as it existed prior to 2013.

(2) Subsection (5)(c) was numbered as § 27-10.5-109 (6)(d) in Senate Bill 13-283 (see L. 2013, p. 1896). That provision was harmonized with subsection (5)(c) as it appears in House Bill 13-1314, effective March 1, 2014.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 26-1147, see section 1 of chapter 352, Session Laws of Colorado 2026.

ANNOTATION

Applied in Adams County Ass'n for Retarded Citizens, Inc. v. City of Westminster, 196 Colo. 79, 580 P.2d 1246 (1978) (decided under former law).