§ 26-2-103 — Definitions

Colorado § 26-2-103

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 26: Human
• Art.: Public Assistance

Text

As used in this article 2 and article 1 of this title 26,
unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Activities of daily living means the basic self-care activities, including
eating, bathing, dressing, transferring from bed to chair, bowel and bladder control,
and independent ambulation.

(1.3) Applicant means any individual or family who individually or through a
designated representative or someone acting responsibly for the individual or
family has applied for benefits under the programs of public assistance
administered or supervised by the state department pursuant to this article 2.

(1.5) Repealed.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.

(5.3) Instrumental activities of daily living means home management and
independent living activities such as cooking, cleaning, using a telephone, shopping,
doing laundry, providing transportation, and managing money.

(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.

Legislative History

Source: 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 March 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. 264, p. 1169, � 71, effective August 10; (7) and (11)(b) amended, (SB 11-210), ch. 187, p. 722, � 10, effective July 15, 2012. L. 2017: IP and (11)(a) amended, (HB 17-1046), ch. 50, p. 160, � 15, effective March 16; (11)(a) amended, (SB 17-242), ch. 263, p. 1332, � 216, effective May 25. L. 2021: (7) amended, (SB 21-006), ch. 123, p. 497, � 27, effective September 7; (1) amended and (1.3) and (5.3) added, (HB 21-1187), ch. 83, p. 344, � 49, effective July 1, 2024. L. 2022: (11)(b) amended, (HB 22-1295), ch. 123, p. 856, � 92, effective July 1. L. 2024: (11)(b) amended, (HB 24-1399), ch. 76, p. 259, � 31, effective July 1, 2025.