Currently, an individual aged 17 years or younger (minor) is liable to the state for income tax on earned income. The bill allows a subtraction from federal taxable income of an amount equal to the earned income of a minor. An employer is not required to deduct income tax from the wages of a minor. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill establishes a state income tax credit (credit) for the sale or lease of land, crops, livestock and livestock facilities, farm equipment and machinery, grain storage, irrigation equipment, or water used for agriculture (agricultural assets) to certain agricultural producers for income tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2031. There are 3 different credits that may be earned by a qualified taxpayer. For the sale of an agricultural asset to a beginning farmer or rancher or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher, a qualified taxpayer may earn a credit equal to 5% of the lesser of the sale price or fair market value of the agricultural asset up to a maximum credit of $32,000 for one income tax year. For the lease of an agricultural asset to a beginning farmer or rancher or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher, a qualified taxpayer may earn a credit equal to 10% of the gross rental income in each of the first, second, and third years of the rental agreement, up to a maximum credit of $7,000 for one income tax year. For the lease of an agricultural asset to a beginning farmer or rancher or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher for a period of 20 years or more, a qualified taxpayer may also earn a credit equal to 2% of the gross rental income for each year after the first 3 years of the extended term lease, up to a maximum amount of $2,000 per income tax year. The credit is refundable and may not be carried forward. To claim the credit, a qualified taxpayer must apply to the Colorado agricultural value-added development board (board) for a credit certificate (certificate). The board will evaluate the application and issue a certificate if the taxpayer qualifies for the credit. If a certificate is issued, the qualified taxpayer must attach it to the taxpayer's income tax return and submit it to the department of revenue to claim the credit. The board may issue rules to administer the credit. The aggregate amount of credits issued in one calendar year cannot exceed $2 million. After certificates have been issued for credits that exceed an aggregate of $2 million for all qualified taxpayers during a calendar year, any claims that exceed the amount allowed are placed on a wait list in the order submitted and a certificate is issued for use of the credit in the next income tax year. No more than $2 million in claims shall be placed on the wait list in any given calendar year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill requires that prior to adding a person found responsible for child abuse or neglect (person) to the automated child welfare system (system), a county department of human or social services must provide, within 14 days, a written notice to the person of the opportunity for a hearing to appeal the finding. The written notice must include, among other things: Information about the factual history of the case and detailed information about the appeals process; Information about how the person may obtain, at no cost to the person, a complete copy of the record that will be added to the system, subject to redactions required by law; Information about how the person may request a complete copy of the law enforcement record, if any, of the alleged incident of child abuse or neglect; Information about the office of the child protection ombudsman; and Information about the office of the respondent parents' counsel. When a hearing is requested, the bill requires an administrative law judge to contact the parties to schedule the hearing, which must take place no later than 120 days after the date the person requests a hearing. The bill describes the rights accorded to the person. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2024, but before January 1, 2026, the bill allows a refundable state income tax credit, which is intended to offset the various expenses that licensed teachers often incur throughout an academic year for classroom supplies, professional development costs, supplemental educational materials, field trips, and other items that improve the quality of the educational services that they provide, to a licensed teacher who is employed as a teacher in a public school on a full-time basis for at least one-half of an academic year (eligible teacher) during the income tax year for which the credit is claimed. The amount of the credit is $1,000 for an eligible teacher who is employed for the equivalent of an entire academic year and $500 for a teacher who is employed for one-half of an academic year. Two eligible teachers who file a joint income tax return may each claim the credit.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
If approved by the voters of the state at the 2024 general election, the concurrent resolution will amend the state constitution to create a new annual property tax revenue growth limit (district limit) for each jurisdiction that levies property tax (district). The district limit limits a district's property tax revenue growth for any property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2025, to an amount equal to the sum of: The amount of revenue generated by the district's mill levy for the immediately preceding property tax year (base revenue); plus An amount equal to the base revenue multiplied by a percentage equal to the percentage change allowed for state revenue growth under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) plus 2 percentage points; plus The net dollar amount of district property tax revenue gained from newly taxed property such as new construction and lost from newly untaxed property such as taxable improvements to real property that are destroyed. If the estimated amount of property tax revenue subject to the district limit that will be generated by a district's current mill levy will exceed the district limit, then the mill levy must be reduced so that the amount of property tax revenue generated does not exceed the district limit unless maintenance of the current mill levy is approved: By the voters of the district for a district that has not received voter approval to exceed its TABOR fiscal year spending and property tax revenue limits; or By the governing body of the district for a district that has received such voter approval. Notwithstanding the TABOR voter approval for a mill levy increase above the mill levy for the prior year, if a district's mill levy is reduced as required to comply with the district limit, the district may increase the mill levy to any rate up to the pre-reduction rate without voter approval so long as the increase does not cause the district's property tax revenue to exceed the district limit. (Note: This summary applies to this concurrent resolution as introduced.)
Section 1 of the bill creates an online database managed by the department of personnel that includes information on all grant opportunities that are funded by state money or administered by the state. The database must be created by December 31, 2025, and reviewed and updated on an annual basis. Section 2 creates the grant assistance to rural communities program. This program, administered by the department of local affairs, provides assistance in accessing state grants to entities in rural communities, which are defined as counties with populations of fewer than 25,000 residents and municipalities with populations of fewer than 10,000 residents that do not border another municipality with a population of 10,000 residents or more. The bill directs the department to designate at least one full-time equivalent employee, who resides in a rural community or whose principal place of employment is in a rural community, to implement the program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
Section 1 of the act creates a series of requirements related to accessory dwelling units. Section 1 establishes unique requirements for subject jurisdictions and for qualifying as an accessory dwelling unit supportive jurisdiction (supportive jurisdiction). As established in section 1, a subject jurisdiction is either: A municipality that has a population of 1,000 or more and that is within the area of a metropolitan planning organization; or The portion of a county that is both within a census designated place with a population of forty thousand or more, as reported in the most recent decennial census, and within the area of a metropolitan planning organization. Section 1 requires a subject jurisdiction, on or after June 30, 2025, to allow, subject to an administrative approval process, one accessory dwelling unit as an accessory use to a single-unit detached dwelling in any part of the subject jurisdiction where the subject jurisdiction allows single-unit detached dwellings. Section 1 also prohibits, on or after June 30, 2025, subject jurisdictions from enacting or enforcing certain local laws or otherwise acting in certain ways that would restrict the construction or conversion of an accessory dwelling unit. In order to qualify as a supportive jurisdiction, a local government must submit a report on or before June 30, 2025, to the department of local affairs (department) demonstrating that the local government: Has complied with the accessory dwelling unit requirements section 1 imposes on subject jurisdictions as a subject jurisdiction or, if the local government is not a subject jurisdiction, as if the local government were a subject jurisdiction; and Has implemented one or more specified strategies to encourage and facilitate the construction or conversion of accessory dwelling units. Section 1 also creates the accessory dwelling unit fee reduction and encouragement grant program within the department. The purpose of this grant program is for the department to provide grants to supportive jurisdictions for offsetting costs incurred in connection with developing pre-approved accessory dwelling unit plans, providing technical assistance to persons converting or constructing accessory dwelling units, or waiving, reducing, or providing financial assistance for accessory dwelling unit associated fees and other required costs. In addition to providing grants, the department is required to develop a toolkit to support local governments in encouraging accessory dwelling unit construction. Section 1 requires the state treasurer to transfer $5 million to the accessory dwelling unit fee reduction and encouragement grant program fund created for purposes of implementing the grant program. Section 2 requires the department to create, and for local governments to consider and adopt, model public safety code requirements related to geographic or climatic conditions for factory-built structures, including those structures that would be considered accessory dwelling units. Section 3 grants the Colorado economic development commission the power to expend $8 million to contract with the Colorado housing and finance authority to operate and establish the following programs to benefit low- to moderate-income residents of supportive jurisdictions: An accessory dwelling unit credit enhancement program that supports lenders offering affordable loans to eligible low- and moderate-income borrowers for the construction or conversion of accessory dwelling units; A program that allows for the buying down of interest rates on loans made to eligible low- and moderate-income borrowers in connection with the construction or conversion of accessory dwelling units; A program that offers down payment assistance in connection with accessory dwelling units, principal reduction on loans to eligible low- and moderate-income borrowers made in connection with accessory dwelling units, or both; and A program through which the Colorado housing and finance authority offers loans, revolving lines of credit, or grants to eligible non-profits, public housing authorities, and community development financial institutions to make direct loans or grants to support the construction or conversion of accessory dwelling units for low- and moderate-income borrowers or tenants. Section 4 directs the state treasurer to transfer $8 million from the general fund to the Colorado economic development fund for the purpose of the contracting described in section 3. Section 5 prohibits a subject jurisdiction's planned unit development resolution or ordinance for a planned unit development from restricting the permitting of an accessory dwelling unit more than the local law that applies to accessory dwelling units outside of the planned unit development. Section 6 states, subject to a reasonable restriction exception, that any prohibition on accessory dwelling units or the implementation of restrictive design or dimension standards by a unit owners' association in a supportive jurisdiction is void as a matter of public policy. Section 7 makes appropriations to the department, the division of local government within the department, and the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology for the purpose of implementing the act. APPROVED by Governor May 13, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 13, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act establishes a category of local government: A transit-oriented community. As defined in the act, a transit-oriented community is either a local government that: Is either entirely or partially within a metropolitan planning organization; Has a population of 4,000 or more; and Contains at least 75 acres of certain transit-related areas; or If the local government is a county, contains either a part of: A transit station area that is both in an unincorporated part of the county and within one-half mile of a station that serves a commuter rail service or light rail service; or A transit corridor area that both is in an unincorporated part of the county and is fully encompassed by one or more municipalities. The act requires a transit-oriented community to meet its housing opportunity goal. A housing opportunity goal is a zoning capacity goal determined based on an average zoned housing density of 40 dwelling units per acre multiplied by the number of acres of transit-related areas within a transit-oriented community. On or before September 30, 2024, the department of local affairs (department) shall develop a map that identifies the transit-related areas necessary for the calculation of a housing opportunity goal and the various reports required by the act. To accomplish its housing opportunity goal, a transit-oriented community shall ensure that the zoning capacity within certain areas of the transit-oriented community meets or exceeds the transit-oriented community's housing opportunity goal. The main category of area that the act requires a transit-oriented community to increase the zoning capacity of to meet the transit-oriented community's housing opportunity goal is a transit center. In order to qualify as a transit center, an area must: Be composed of zoning districts that uniformly allow a net housing density of at least 15 units per acre; Identify the effective net housing density for the area by accounting for dimensional or other restrictions used to regulate density in the area, accounting for minimum parking requirements, and assuming an average housing unit size; Not include any area where local law exclusively restricts housing occupancy based on age or other factors; Have an administrative approval process for multifamily residential property development on parcels that are 5 acres or less in size; and Be located wholly or partially within a transit area or optional transit area and not extend more than one-quarter mile from the edge of a transit area or optional transit area. In addition to designating an area as a transit center for purposes of meeting a housing opportunity goal, the act allows local governments to designate areas as neighborhood centers for that purpose. The act requires transit-oriented communities to submit a series of reports to the department regarding the calculation, satisfaction, and implementation of a transit-oriented community's housing opportunity goal. The act requires a transit-oriented community to submit the following to the department: On or before June 30, 2025, a preliminary transit-oriented community assessment report to the department that includes the transit-oriented community's housing opportunity goal, the data and method used to calculate that housing opportunity goal, and the areas within the transit-oriented community that may need to be zoned to accomplish that housing opportunity goal; On or before December 31, 2026, an identification of the affordability strategies from the standard and long-term affordability strategies menus in the act that the transit-oriented community will implement; On or before December 31, 2026, an identification of the displacement mitigation strategies from the long-term displacement mitigation strategies menus in the act that the transit-oriented community will implement; and On or before December 31, 2026, a housing opportunity goal report for the department's review and approval that demonstrates that the transit-oriented community has met its housing opportunity goal and complied with the affordability and displacement mitigation requirements of the act. Additionally, on or before December 31, 2026, a transit-oriented community may notify the department that the transit-oriented community has an insufficient water supply to accomplish its housing opportunity goal, and the transit-oriented community may make a corresponding request for the department to modify the transit-oriented community's housing opportunity goal. If the department approves a transit-oriented community's housing opportunity goal report on or before December 31, 2027, the department shall designate the transit-oriented community as a certified transit-oriented community. A certified transit-oriented community is the only eligible entity for the transit-oriented communities infrastructure fund grant program (grant program) created within the department. The purpose of the grant program is to assist transit-oriented communities in upgrading infrastructure within transit centers and neighborhood centers. In administering the grant program, the department shall prioritize grant applicants based on the information in the reports described in the act. Grants from the grant program are awarded from money in the transit-oriented communities infrastructure fund (fund). The fund consists of gifts, grants, and donations along with money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund and money in the account described in the act. The fund is continuously appropriated. On July 1, 2024, the state treasurer shall transfer $35 million from the general fund to the fund. Section 2 prohibits a planned unit development resolution or ordinance that is adopted on or after the effective date of the act and that applies within a transit center or neighborhood center from restricting the development of housing more than the local law that applies to that transit center or neighborhood center. Section 3 requires a local government, when requiring a real property owner to dedicate real property to the public, to provide a private property owner the option of paying a fee, rather than dedicating the private real property to the public, if the real property does not meet local government standards for dedication. Section 4 makes any restriction by a unit owners' association within a transit center or neighborhood center on the development of housing that is adopted on or after the effective date of the act and is beyond the local law that applies to that transit center or neighborhood center void as a matter of public policy. Section 5 requires the department of transportation to conduct a study that identifies both: Policy barriers and opportunities within the department of transportation including an examination of policies within the state access code, roadway design standards, and the treatment of pedestrian and bicycle crossings. The study must examine the impact of these policies on neighborhood centers and transit centers; and The portions of state highway that pass through locally-identified transit centers and neighborhood centers that are appropriate for context-sensitive design, complete streets. In addition to the $35 million appropriated to the fund, section 7 makes 2 appropriations. First, section 7 appropriates $183,138 to the governor for use by the Colorado energy office to implement the act. Second, section 7 appropriates $70,000 to the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information services for the department. APPROVED by Governor May 13, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 13, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The General Assembly enacted House Bill 24-1421, a state fiscal year 2024-25 budget package bill that modified funding for certain grant programs administered by the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety, with a safety clause but without a specified effective date, making the bill take effect before the end of state fiscal year 2023-24. However, to avoid a temporary lapse in spending authority from multiple cash funds during state fiscal year 2023-24 while preserving its own timely implementation, House Bill 24-1421 needed to instead take effect on July 1, 2024, the first day of state fiscal year 2024-25. The act amends the Session Laws of Colorado to add a July 1, 2024, effective date clause to House Bill 24-1421 and thereby mitigate this problem. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 10, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2025, but before January 1, 2035, section 1 of the act creates a refundable state income tax credit (tax credit) that an employer may claim if the employer employs an apprentice for at least 6 months during an income tax year and either has a registered apprenticeship program or is an employer-partner of a registered apprenticeship program. The amount of the tax credit is up to $6,300 for 6 months of employment plus up to $1,050 for each additional month of employment, for a maximum of up to $12,600 per apprentice per income tax year. An employer may not claim a credit for: More than 10 apprentices per income tax year; The same apprentice for more than 24 consecutive months; and An apprentice for months when the apprentice did not receive wages from the employer. To claim a tax credit, an employer must submit an application for the reservation of the tax credit and an application to receive an income tax credit certificate to the state apprenticeship agency (SAA) in the department of labor and employment (department). The SAA shall review the applications for specified criteria to determine whether the employer qualifies for the tax credit and tax credit certificate. An employer issued a tax credit certificate must file the certificate with the employer's state income tax return. The SAA is required to submit certain information and reports, as applicable, regarding the tax credit to the state auditor and the department of revenue. The SAA must also conduct outreach and provide technical assistance to small businesses concerning awareness of and application for the tax credit. Section 2 ends the state income tax credit for qualified investments made in a qualified school-to-career program for income tax years after December 31, 2024. Section 4 creates the scale-up grant program in the department to start new registered apprenticeship programs or expand existing programs in Colorado. The scale-up grant program awards grants from the money in the scale-up grant fund, which is created in the act. Eligible grant recipients include employers or entities that operate an apprenticeship program and that: Plan to develop and register a new registered apprenticeship program; or Currently offer a registered apprenticeship program and plan to expand it. The act requires the department to collect specified data regarding the scale-up grant program and submit a report to specified committees of the general assembly. Section 4 also creates the qualified apprenticeship intermediary grant program in the department to support entities that demonstrate expertise in connecting employers or apprenticeship program participants to registered apprenticeship programs or in convening stakeholders to develop registered apprenticeship programs. The SAA must post a list of the types of entities eligible to apply to the grant program on the SAA's website. The qualified apprenticeship intermediary grant program awards grants from the money in the qualified apprenticeship intermediary grant fund, which is created in the act. An eligible grant recipient must be a qualified apprenticeship intermediary. The act requires the department to collect specified data regarding the qualified apprenticeship intermediary grant program and submit a report to specified committees of the general assembly. On July 1, 2024, the state treasurer shall transfer from the general fund $2 million to the scale-up grant fund and $2 million to the qualified apprenticeship intermediary grant fund. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the following amounts are appropriated to the department for use by the office of future of work to implement the act: $103,515 from the general fund; $666,666 from the scale-up grant fund; and $666,667 from the qualified apprenticeship intermediary grant fund. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 10, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act removes an automatic repeal to permit businesses licensed to sell alcohol beverages at retail by the drink to deliver these beverages or to allow the customer to take these beverages from the licensed premises after July 1, 2025. A hotel and restaurant licensee or tavern licensee is prohibited from allowing takeout and delivery of alcohol beverages in a sealed manufacturer's container without the assistance of the license holder's employee, unless the license holder is a lodging establishment. APPROVED by Governor May 10, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The length of the bill summary for this bill requires it to be published on a separate page here: https://leg.colorado.gov/hb24-1030-bill-summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
