CO Code § 8-84-301 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 8 - Labor and Industry|Article 84 - Vocational Rehabilitation|Part 3 - Employment First for Persons With Disabilities|§ 8-84-301. Definitions

 As used in this part 3, unless the context otherwise requires:    “Agency partners” means the department, the department of health care policy and financing, the department of education, the department of higher education, the department of human services, the Colorado office of employment first, JFK partners within the department of pediatrics of the university of Colorado school of medicine, and the university of Colorado Anschutz medical campus.    “Career development planning” means a person-centered process that identifies the individual's employment goals and objectives; the services and supports needed to achieve those goals and objectives; the persons, agencies, and providers assigned to assist the individual in attaining the goals; and the obstacles faced by the individual working in competitive integrated employment. Career development planning reflects a presumption that all persons with disabilities are capable of working in a competitive integrated employment setting.    “Competitive integrated employment” means work paid directly by employers at the greater of the state or federal minimum wage or prevailing wage with commensurate benefits, occurring in a typical work setting where the employee with a disability interacts or has the opportunity to interact continuously with coworkers without disabilities, not including supervisory personnel or individuals who are providing services to the employee with a disability, and the employee with a disability has an opportunity for advancement or job mobility, and is engaged, preferably, in full-time work.    “Discovery process” means a process to discover already existing information about a job seeker that is based on information obtained from a person's entire life and not from short instances of job performance. The information is gathered from the job seeker and others to determine the job seeker's interests, skills, and preferences related to potential employment that guide the development of a customized job.    “Employment first” means a framework for change in the provision of services that is centered on the premise that all persons, including persons with significant disabilities, are capable of full participation in competitive integrated employment and community life. Under this framework, in providing publicly funded services, employment in the general workforce is the first and preferred outcome for all working-age persons with disabilities, regardless of the level of disability. Publicly funded agencies and systems align policies, service delivery practices, funding, and reimbursement structures in order to achieve competitive integrated employment.    “Employment first advisory partnership” or “partnership” means the partnership described in section 8-84-303.    “Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities” has the same meaning as “person with an intellectual and developmental disability”as set forth in section 25.5-10-202, C.R.S.    “State employment leadership network” means the joint partnership between the national association of state directors of developmental disabilities services and the institute for community inclusion at the university of Massachusetts Boston or another similar organization that facilitates collaboration with other states to share effective solutions to increase employment outcomes for persons with disabilities.     History. Source: L. 2016: Entire part added,(SB 16-077), ch. 360, p. 1500, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2021: (1) amended,(SB 21-095), ch. 403, p. 2681, § 5, effective September 1.    Cross references:   For the legislative declaration in SB 21-095, see section 1 of chapter 403, Session Laws of Colorado 2021.