Colo. paint fee, new plumbing requirements, become law

Photo: Paint buckets (iStockphoto)Home improvements will eventually cost more with two new Colorado laws.

One law will add a fee to household paint beginning next year to fund safer paint disposal programs. The other will ban new plumbing devices that aren't water-efficient beginning on September 2016.

They are among 116 bills the Colorado Legislature passed this year that take effect Wednesday.

Other new legislation imposes penalties on the sale and distribution of designer drugs, like synthetic marijuana. And businesses will get a tax credit on personal property, such as computers and furniture.

Another law will require real-estate sellers to inform buyers if the property they're purchasing includes a separate mineral estate that belongs to an energy developer.

Lawmakers also reorganized a school safety hotline called Safe2Tell to be under the Department of Law.