Short Takes will offer a quick look at bills in process at the Colorado General Assembly.

HEALTH CARE SERVICES RESERVE CORPS

The House Committee on Health and Insurance Wednesday moved along a bill that could create the Colorado Health Care Services Reserve Corps.

House Bill 1005 is sponsored by Reps. Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, and Dr. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton. Mullica is a registered nurse; Caraveo is a pediatrician.

The bill won a 7-4 vote from the committee and next heads to House Appropriations, given its requested general fund support of $31,825. 

If approved, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment would create a state-level task force made up of experts in licensing, medical professionals, hospital administrators and cross-training facilitators. That task force would create a program in which medical professionals could cross-train to be able to serve the state in an emergency or disaster and receive student loan relief for their service.

The task force would make recommendations on:

• The types of medical professionals who would participate in the reserve corps program;
• The types of emergencies and disasters where the corps could provide assistance;
• Liability protections;
• The types of training needed;
• How to ensure the corps would be available in rural Colorado;
• Costs of the program; and
• How the reserve corps would be deployed.

“To say this past year has been challenging wouldn’t come close to telling the whole story,” Mullica said in a statement Wednesday. “Thousands of health workers have faced an enormous burden while many providers have struggled to find ways to help. To build back stronger in the face of new and more dangerous emergencies, we have to make sure that our health care workforce is prepared to meet the next crisis.” 

Caraveo noted that while she’s intubated young children and treated respiratory illnesses, she’s not cross-trained in adult or emergency medicine. “We have so many people who are ready to serve, and with the right training and resources, they would be more than willing to step up and help Colorado respond to the next crisis we face.”

The statement added that thousands of nurses are retiring each year, and estimates predict a national physician shortage of more than 120,000 doctors by 2032. Colorado has nearly 120 designated health professional shortage areas.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES TO GO

Colorado allowed to-go alcoholic beverages during the pandemic and now the state is one step closer to keeping the take-out drinks around permanently.

Lawmakers introduced House Bill 1027 on Feb. 16 that would allow to-go alcoholic beverages indefinitely.

“What we’ve seen is that this is a tremendous lifeline for restaurants after COVID sent them reeling,” said Republican Rep. Colin Larson, R-Ken Caryl, who sponsored the bill along with Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon. 

Larson said the shift to permitting to-go drinks is not only supported by restaurants, but is popular with customers too.

“If we extend permanently it can be a business plan for restaurants going forward and provide them certainty,” Larson said.

Critics of the bill include liquor stores that fear the competition in alcohol sales, Larson said.

Gov. Jared Polis ordered the authorization of take out alcohol at restaurants last March as the state ordered restaurants to close their dining rooms amid the pandemic. A year-long authorization of the practice came from state lawmakers last summer as part of COVID relief legislation.

Businesses offering the to-go beverages must be licensed to sell alcohol on-site and keep records of their sales off the premises.

The current allowance on to-go drinks, set to run out on July 1, dictates the drinks be sold in securely closed containers, and if alcohol delivery workers must be age 21 or older. The measure doesn’t repeal Colorado restrictions on public consumption of alcohol, including open container rules.

The bill has been assigned to the Business Affairs and Labor committee.