Rep. Julie McCluskie

The act authorizes a board of county commissioners to establish an incentive program to offer limited county property tax credits or rebates to participants in a program designed to directly improve an area of specific local concern related to the use of real property in the county. An "area of specific local concern" is defined in the act as a use of real property in the county that is determined by the board of county commissioners to be diminishing or unavailable based on verifiable data and which use the board of county commissioners finds and declares necessary for the preservation of the health, safety, or welfare of the residents of the county, including as to matters of equity, access to housing, and access to education. An "area of specific local concern" does not include a use of real property in a county that harms or may reasonably be expected to harm a disproportionately impacted community or prevents or may reasonably be expected to prevent meeting minimum greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and deadlines. An incentive program must be established by resolution or ordinance adopted by a board of county commissioners at a public hearing, which resolution or ordinance must include the board's findings and determinations regarding the specific area of local concern and specific criteria for the qualification of program participants. The county must provide notice of the hearing, including specified information regarding the incentive program, to the clerk of each municipality that is wholly or partly located in the county and that may be impacted by the incentive program. Each such municipality must be allowed to submit written comments and provide testimony at the hearing. Incentive programs must be evaluated on an annual basis and may be renewed only if determined to be effective. An incentive program must be uniformly applied among all owners of the same class of real or commercial property. The act also authorizes municipalities to establish an incentive program offering limited municipal property tax credits or rebates to participants in a program designed to directly improve an area of specific local concern related to the use of real property in the municipality. A municipal incentive program is subject to the same substantive and procedural requirements as a county program, including the requirement to provide notice of the public hearing regarding the incentive program, and an opportunity to submit written comments and provide testimony at such hearing, to each county that includes all or any portion of the municipality and that may be impacted by the incentive program. APPROVED by Governor March 15, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under the Colorado open meetings law (COML), any meeting of a body of the general assembly at which the adoption of any proposed policy, position, resolution, rule, regulation, or formal action occurs or at which a majority or quorum of a body of the general assembly is in attendance or expected to be in attendance can only be held after full and timely notice to the public. In addition, the COML requires that minutes of the meeting be taken and promptly recorded. The act makes several changes and clarifications concerning the application of the COML to the general assembly and its members. Specifically, the act provides that, for purposes of applying the notice and minutes provisions under the COML, a quorum of a state public body of the general assembly must be contemporaneous. Additionally, the act establishes that written communications, electronic or otherwise, exchanged between members of the general assembly are not subject to the COML but any records of the communications are subject to disclosure to the extent required by the "Colorado Open Records Act". The act also defines "public business", for purposes of the application of the COML to the general assembly, as introduced legislation, proposed legislation, if a draft of the proposed legislation prepared by the office of legislative legal services is being discussed by a quorum of a statutory committee or committee of reference during a regular or special legislative session or by a quorum of any type of interim committee, or other matters before a statutory committee, any type of interim committee, or a committee of reference. Introduced legislation and proposed legislation includes a bill, resolution, and memorial. However, "public business" does not include matters that are by nature interpersonal, administrative, or logistical or that concern personnel, planning, process, training, or operations, as long as the merits or substance of matters that are expressly defined as being public business are not discussed. Additionally, in 2024, 2025, and 2026, the executive committee of the legislative council shall consider at a meeting the application of the COML to the general assembly, and there must be the opportunity for public comment to be received in connection with the meeting. On or after January 1, 2027, such a meeting shall be held upon the request of a member of the executive committee of the legislative council. APPROVED by Governor March 12, 2024 EFFECTIVE March 12, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Valuation changes. For the 2023 property tax year, section 1 of the act reduces the valuation for assessment (valuation) for multi-family residential real property and all other residential real property from the already temporarily reduced 2023 rate of 6.765% of the amount equal to the actual value minus the lesser of $15,000 or the amount that causes the valuation to be $1,000 to 6.7% of the amount equal to the actual value minus the lesser of $55,000 or the amount that causes the valuation to be $1,000. Reimbursement of local governments. The state is currently required to reimburse (backfill) local governmental entities for property tax revenue lost as a result of reductions in valuation enacted in 2022. The act maintains this 2022 backfill mechanism for those property tax reductions. Section 2 provides an additional backfill mechanism to backfill local governmental entities for property tax revenue lost as a result of the additional reductions in valuation enacted in the act. Section 2 requires the state to backfill the following local governmental entities a total of $54,000,000 for the total amount of property tax revenue lost by those local governmental entities as a result of the reductions in valuation in the act in the same manner as the 2022 backfill mechanism, except that: Ambulance districts, fire districts, and health districts are reimbursed entirely; Local governmental entities for which the assessed value of property in the local governmental entity increased by 15% or more between the 2022 and 2023 property tax years are not reimbursed at all; and The executive director of the department of local affairs and the property tax administrator shall determine, in a manner that is equitable with the amounts that fire districts are reimbursed, the amount that local governmental entities that provide fire protection services are reimbursed. Section 2 also modifies both backfill mechanisms by: Specifying that the amount of revenue lost for a property tax year is based on a local governmental entity's mill levy for the 2022 property tax year, excluding specified mills; Clarifying how local governmental entities, which are defined in the act, are treated if their boundaries are in more than one county for purposes of the backfill; and Requiring the state treasurer to reduce a backfill to a local government entity as necessary to prevent the local governmental entity from exceeding its constitutional fiscal year spending limit. Transfer to the state public school fund. Section 2 requires the state treasurer to transfer $146 million from the general fund to the state education fund to offset school district property tax revenue reductions. Local government budget deadlines. Sections 4 to 6 modify provisions in the "Local Government Budget Law of Colorado" for the 2024 fiscal year to account for impacts on a local government's budget due to changes to the assessed valuation of property within the local government's boundaries. Delinquent property tax payments. Section 14 waives the accrual of interest on delinquent property tax payments for the first payment of property taxes for the 2023 property tax year if a payment is made within 10 days after the mailing by the county treasurer of the property taxpayer's tax statement or notification of an electronic statement. Property tax deadlines. Sections 3 and 9 to 13 delay deadlines as necessary due to the valuation changes for the 2023 property tax year. APPROVED by Governor November 20, 2023 EFFECTIVE November 20, 2023(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)