2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 26 - HUMAN SERVICES CODE (§§ 26-1-101 — 26-24-101) › Article 2 - Public Assistance (§§ 26-2-101 — 26-2-1104) › Part 1 - COLORADO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ACT (§§ 26-2-101 — 26-2-145) › Section 26-2-103 - [Effective 7/1/2025] Definitions

As used in this article 2 and article
1
of this title 26, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Applicant" means any individual or family who individually or through a designated representative or someone acting responsibly for him has applied for benefits under the programs of public assistance administered or supervised by the state department pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(1.5)
Repealed.
(2)
"Assistance payments" means financial assistance (other than medical assistance covered by the "Colorado Medical Assistance Act") provided pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the state department and includes pensions, grants, and other money payments to or on behalf of recipients.
(3)
"Blind" means any individual who has not more than ten percent visual acuity in the better eye with correction, or not more than 20/200 central visual acuity in the better eye with correction, or a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than twenty degrees.
(4)
"Dependent child" means:
(a)
A needy child under the age of eighteen who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, the continued absence from the home, the physical or mental incapacity, or the unemployment of a parent, as determined under standards prescribed by the state department through rules and regulations, and who is living with a person related to such child within the fifth degree in a place of residence maintained by one or more of such relatives as his, her, or their own home, and whose relatives or other person liable under the law for the child's support are not able to provide adequate care and support of such child without assistance payments under a program for aid to families with dependent children; or
(b)
A needy child who would meet the requirements of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) except for his removal from a home of a relative specified in said paragraph (a) by a judicial determination that continued residence in such home would be contrary to the best interests of such child, when all of the following conditions are present:
(I)
The placement and care of such child are the responsibility of the state department or a county department;
(II)
Such child has been placed in a foster care home or child care institution as a result of such judicial determination;
(III)
Assistance payments for such child were received under this article in or for the month in which court proceedings leading to such determination were initiated, or such payments would have been received for such month if application had been made therefor, or, in the case of a child who had been living with a relative specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) within six months prior to the month in which such proceedings were initiated, such payments would have been received in or for such month if in such month he had been living with and removed from the home of such relative and application had been made therefor; or
(c)
A person otherwise meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) who is under the age of nineteen years and a full-time student in regular attendance at a secondary school or enrolled in an equivalent level of vocational or technical training designed to train him for gainful employment and who is reasonably expected to complete the program of such secondary school or such technical or vocational training before reaching the age of nineteen.
(5)
"Essential person" means a person who resides with a recipient of assistance payments under a program for aid to the blind or aid to the needy disabled and, pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the state department, is determined to be rendering a service to the recipient which, if the recipient were living alone, would have to be provided for him.
(5.5)
(Deleted by amendment, L. 97, p. 1230, § 14, effective July 1, 1997.)
(5.7)
"Legal immigrant" means an individual who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who was lawfully admitted to the United States by the immigration and naturalization service, or any successor agency, as an actual or prospective permanent resident or whose extended physical presence in the United States is known to and allowed by the immigration and naturalization service, or any successor agency.
(6)
(Deleted by amendment, L. 2006, p. 1504, § 47, effective June 1, 2006.)
(7)
"Public assistance" means assistance payments, food stamps, and social services provided to or on behalf of eligible recipients through programs administered or supervised by the state department, either in cooperation with the federal government or independently without federal aid, pursuant to this article 2. Public assistance includes programs for old age pensions, except for the old age pension health and medical care program, and also includes the Colorado works program, aid to the needy disabled, aid to the blind, child welfare services, food stamps supplementation to households not receiving public assistance found eligible for food stamps under rules adopted by the state board, expenses of treatment to prevent blindness or restore eyesight as defined in section
26-2-121
, and funeral and final disposition expenses as described in section
26-2-129
.
(7.5)
"Qualified alien" shall have the meaning ascribed to that term in section 431 (b) of the federal "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996", Public Law 104-193, as amended.
(8)
"Recipient" means any individual or family who is receiving or has received benefits from the programs of public assistance administered or supervised by the state department pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(9)
"Resident" means any individual who is living, other than temporarily, within the state of Colorado, or a particular county therein, voluntarily and with the intention of making his home there. "Resident" includes any unemancipated child whose parents, or other person entitled to custody, live within such state or county. Temporary absences from such state or county shall not cause an individual to lose his status as a resident if he has an intent to return and has not abandoned his residence.
(10)
"Social security act" means the federal "Social Security Act" and amendments thereto.
(11)
(a)
"Social services" means services and payments for services available, directly or indirectly, through the staff of the state department of human services and county departments of human or social services or through state designated agencies, where applicable, for the benefit of eligible persons. The services are provided pursuant to rules adopted by the state board. "Social services" may include day care, homemaker services, foster care, and other services to individuals or families for the purpose of attaining or retaining capabilities for maximum self-care, self-support, and personal independence and services to families or members of families for the purpose of preserving, rehabilitating, reuniting, or strengthening the family. At such time as Title XX of the social security act becomes effective with respect to federal reimbursements, "social services" may include child care services, protective services for children and adults, services for children and adults in foster care, services related to the management and maintenance of the home, day care services for adults, transportation services, training and related services, employment services, information, referral, and counseling services, the preparation and delivery of meals, health support services, and appropriate combinations of services designed to meet the special needs of children, persons who are elderly, persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, persons who are blind, persons with behavioral or mental health disorders, persons with a physical disability, and persons with substance use disorders.
(b)
"Social services" does not include medicaid services unless those services are delegated to the state department. "Social services" does not include medical services covered by the old age pension health and medical care program or the children's basic health plan. "Social services" does not include child care assistance provided through the Colorado child care assistance program pursuant to part 1 of article
4
of title
26.5
.
(12) and (13)
Repealed.
(14)
(a)
"Total disability", for the purpose of providing public assistance to persons not receiving federal financial benefits pursuant to Title XVI of the social security act, means a physical or mental impairment which is disabling and which, because of other factors such as age, training, experience, and social setting, substantially precludes the person having such disability from engaging in a useful occupation as a homemaker or as a wage earner in any employment which exists in the community for which he has competence.
(b)
For the purpose of the state-funded supplement to persons receiving federal financial benefits pursuant to Title XVI of the social security act, federal definitions promulgated pursuant to the said Title XVI shall apply.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 76,§ 31, eff. 7/1/2025.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 123, § 92, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2021 Ch. 83, § 49, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2021 Ch. 123, § 27, eff. 9/7/2021.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 263, § 216, eff. 5/25/2017.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 50, § 15, eff. 3/16/2017.
L. 73: R&RE, p. 1178, § 2. C.R.S. 1963: § 119-3-3. L. 75: (11) amended, p. 898, § 1, effective June 26; (6) amended, p. 889, § 4, effective July 28. L. 77: (6) amended, p. 1343, § 1, effective May 26; (1.5), (12), and (13) added, p. 1339, § 2, effective July 1. L. 79: (7) amended, p. 1086, § 11, effective July 1. L. 82: (4)(c) amended, p. 426, § 1, effective July 1. L. 84: (4)(a) amended, p. 793, § 1, effective 3/1/1985. L. 85: (13) amended, p. 348, § 2, effective April 5. L. 89, 1st Ex. Sess.: (1.5), (12), and (13) amended and (5.5) added, p. 38, § 4, effective July 25. L. 90: (4)(a) amended, p. 1358, § 1, effective October 1. L. 91: (11) amended, p. 1896, § 7, effective July 1. L. 93: (11) amended, p. 1665, § 74, effective July 1. L. 94: (4)(a) amended, p. 451, § 1, effective March 29; (11) amended, p. 2703, § 260, effective July 1. L. 97: (5.5) and (7) amended, p. 1230, § 14, effective July 1; (5.7) and (7.5) added, p. 1251, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2003: (7) and (11) amended, p. 2585, § 8, effective July 1. L. 2006: (6) amended and (14) added, p. 1504, § 47, effective June 1; (11) amended, p. 1996, § 26, effective July 1. L. 2011: (5.7) amended, (HB 11-1303), ch. 1169, p. 1169, § 71, effective August 10; (7) and (11)(b) amended, (SB 11-210), ch. 722, p. 722, § 10, effective 7/15/2012. L. 2017: IP and (11)(a) amended, (HB 17 -1046), ch. 160, p. 160, § 15, effective March 16; (11)(a) amended, (SB 17-242), ch. 1332, p. 1332, § 216, effective May 25. L. 2021: (7) amended, (SB 21-006), ch. 497, p. 497, § 27, effective September 7; (1) amended and (1.3) and (5.3) added, (HB 21 -1187), ch. 344, p. 344, § 49, effective 7/1/2024.
(1) Title XX of the social security act became effective with respect to federal reimbursements on October 1, 1975.
(2) Subsection (12)(b) provided for the repeal of subsection (12), effective January 1, 1990. (See L. 89, 1st Ex. Sess., p. 38.) Subsections (1.5)(b) and (13)(b) provided for the repeal of subsections (1.5) and (13), respectively, effective October 1, 1992. (See L. 89, 1st Ex. Sess., p. 38.)
(3) Section 31(2) of chapter 123 (SB 21-006), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that the act changing this section applies to final dispositions of human remains or human fetuses made on or after September 7, 2021.
2024 Ch. 76, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
2021 Ch. 123, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.
(1) (a) For the legislative declaration contained in the 1994 act amending subsection (11), see section 1 of chapter 345, Session Laws of Colorado 1994. (b) For the legislative declaration in SB 17-242, see section 1 of chapter 263, Session Laws of Colorado 2017. (2) For the "Colorado Medical Assistance Act", see articles 4 , 5 , and 6 of title 25.5 .