Colorado § 26.5-5-309 - Licenses - rules - definition - appropriation.

§ 26.5-5-309. Licenses - rules - definition - appropriation.

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this part 3, a person shall not operate an agency or facility defined in this part 3 without first being licensed by the department to operate or maintain the agency or facility and paying the prescribed fee. A license issued by the department is permanent unless otherwise revoked or suspended pursuant to section 26.5-5-317.

(2) The department may issue a provisional license once for a period of six months to an applicant for an original license, permitting the applicant to operate a family child care home or child care center if the applicant is temporarily unable to conform to all standards required under this part 3, upon proof by the applicant that the applicant is attempting to conform to the standards or to comply with any other requirements. The applicant has the right to appeal any standard that the applicant believes presents an undue hardship or has been applied too stringently by the department. Upon the filing of an appeal, the department shall proceed in the manner prescribed for licensee appeals in section 26.5-5-314 (5).

(3) (a) The department shall not issue a license for a child care center until the facilities to be operated or maintained by the applicant or licensee are approved by the department of public health and environment as conforming to the sanitary standards prescribed by said department pursuant to section 25-1.5-101 (1)(h) and unless the facilities conform to fire prevention and protection requirements of local fire departments in the locality of the facility or, in lieu thereof, of the division of labor standards and statistics in the department of labor and employment.

(b) (I) A child care center that provides child care exclusively to school-age children and operates on the property of a school district, district charter school, or institute charter school may satisfy any fire or radon inspection requirement required by law by providing a copy of a satisfactory fire or radon inspection report of the property of a school district, district charter school, or institute charter school where the child care is provided if the fire or radon inspection report was completed within the preceding twelve months. The department shall not require a duplicate fire or radon inspection if a satisfactory fire or radon inspection report of the property was completed within the preceding twelve months.

(II) A child care center that provides child care exclusively to school-age children and operates on the property of a school district, district charter school, or institute charter school may satisfy any staff training or minimum square footage of floor space per child requirements required by law by providing to the department documented evidence of compliance with substantially similar requirements imposed by the Colorado department of education; except that, if the requirements or monitoring of those requirements imposed by the Colorado department of education do not meet any applicable requirements of any federal grants-in-aid administered by the department, the department shall require the child care center to meet any applicable minimum requirements of the federal grants-in-aid.

(4) (a) (I) The department shall not issue a license to operate a family child care home or a child care center if the applicant for the license, an affiliate of the applicant, a person employed by the applicant, or a person who resides with the applicant at the facility has been convicted of:

(A) Child abuse, as specified in section 18-6-401;

(B) A crime of violence, as defined in section 18-1.3-406;

(C) Any offenses involving unlawful sexual behavior, as defined in section 16-22-102 (9);

(D) Any felony, the underlying factual basis of which has been found by the court on the record to include an act of domestic violence, as defined in section 18-6-800.3;

(E) Any felony involving physical assault or battery;

(E.5) Any felony involving a drug-related offense within the five years preceding the date of application for a license;

(F) A pattern of misdemeanor convictions, as defined by department rule, within the ten years immediately preceding the date of submission of the application;

(G) Any offense in any other state, the elements of which are substantially similar to the elements of any one of the offenses described in subsections (4)(a)(I)(A) to (4)(a)(I)(F) of this section.

(II) As used in this subsection (4)(a), "convicted" means a conviction by a jury or by a court and also includes a deferred judgment and sentence agreement, a deferred prosecution agreement, a deferred adjudication agreement, an adjudication, and a plea of guilty or nolo contendere.

(b) The department shall determine the convictions identified in subsection (4)(a) of this section according to the records of the Colorado bureau of investigation, the Colorado state courts data access system at the state judicial department, or any other source, as set forth in section 26.5-5-316 (1)(a)(II). A certified copy of the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction of such conviction, deferred judgment and sentence agreement, deferred prosecution agreement, or deferred adjudication agreement is prima facie evidence of the conviction or agreement. The department shall not issue a license to operate a family child care home or a child care center if the department has a certified court order from another state indicating that the person applying for the license has been convicted of child abuse or any unlawful sexual offense against a child under a law of any other state or the United States, or the department has a certified court order from another state that the person applying for the license has entered into a deferred judgment or deferred prosecution agreement in another state as to child abuse or any sexual offense against a child.

(5) The department shall not issue a license to operate an agency or facility defined in this part 3 if the person applying for the license or an affiliate of the applicant, a person employed by the applicant, or a person who resides with the applicant at the facility, has been determined to be insane or mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction and a court has entered, pursuant to part 3 or part 4 of article 14 of title 15 or section 27-65-110 (4) or 27-65-127, an order specifically finding that the mental incompetency or insanity is of such a degree that the applicant is incapable of operating a family child care home or child care center. The record of the determination and entry of the order are conclusive evidence of the determination.

(6) The department and the department of education shall streamline all paperwork that licensed early care and education programs and early childhood educators must complete to meet child care licensing and early childhood educator credentialing compliance requirements. The state agencies shall identify ways to share information and reports across the agencies to reduce the administrative and paperwork burden on early care and education programs and educators. The streamlining process must include a systems scan of programs and initiatives, identification of overlapping reporting requirements, and ways to reduce the administrative and paperwork burden on programs and educators.

(7) (a) The department shall, to the extent practicable, provide essential resources in prevalent languages to help child care providers and prospective providers complete the necessary paperwork to meet child care licensing compliance requirements. The department shall review existing resources and ensure that the English versions are written in plain language to facilitate the translation of these resources into prevalent languages. The department may provide essential resources in additional languages as needed in order to meet the needs of Colorado communities, subject to available appropriations.

(b) The department shall, to the extent practicable, engage in outreach and maintain communications in prevalent languages with local stakeholders who provide, are considering providing, or advocate on behalf of those providing licensed early care and education programs to foster a more culturally and linguistically diverse provider population.

(c) The department shall provide services in prevalent languages to individuals seeking to open or otherwise participate in the operation of an early childhood program or facility licensed by the department.

(d) and (e) Repealed.

(8) On or before July 1, 2027, the department shall adopt rules establishing how a child care center shall demonstrate compliance with the requirements concerning the testing for the presence of lead in drinking water described in part 9 of article 8 of title 25.

Source: L. 2022: Entire article added with relocations, (HB 22-1295), ch. 123, p. 737, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2023: (4)(a)(I)(E) and (4)(b) amended and (4)(a)(I)(E.5) added, (HB 23-1235), ch. 434, p. 2549, § 14, effective June 7; (5) amended, (HB 23-1301), ch. 303, p. 1836, § 63, effective August 7. L. 2024: (7) added, (HB 24-1009), ch. 472, p. 3319, § 4, effective June 6. L. 2026: (8) added, (HB 26-1391), ch. 196, p. 1136, § 9, effective May 28; (3)(b) amended, (HB 26-1282), ch. 294, p. 1616, § 2, effective July 1.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 26-6-104 as it existed prior to 2022.

(2) Subsections (7)(d)(II) and (7)(e)(II) provided for the repeal of subsections (7)(d) and (7)(e), respectively, effective June 20, 2026. (See L. 2024, p. 3319.)

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 24-1009, see section 1 of chapter 472, Session Laws of Colorado 2024. For the legislative declaration in HB 26-1282, see section 1 of chapter 294, Session Laws of Colorado 2026.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For note, "Licensing of Occupations and Professions in Colorado", see 35 Dicta 235 (1958).