Section 1 of the act amends the state public financing cash fund (fund) statute in 2 ways. First, the act removes the limit on the amounts included in the issuance or incurrence of certain financial obligations by the state that the state treasurer credits to the fund. Second, the act modifies the fund so that bond counsel approval is no longer needed before money in the fund is used to reimburse the state treasurer for certain verifiable costs. Section 2 allows the state treasurer to use a security token offering for state capital financing and adopt rules as necessary to do so. Section 3 creates a new special purpose authority: The building urgent infrastructure and leveraging dollars authority (authority). The authority's primary purpose is to finance infrastructure projects that are ready for construction or commencement. As used in this context, an infrastructure project includes the development, construction, repair, improvement, operation, maintenance, decommissioning, or ownership of: A transportation infrastructure project, an infrastructure project in a transit-oriented community, a county courthouse facility, a transportation facility; utility infrastructure; renewable energy infrastructure; recycling infrastructure; energy efficiency infrastructure; an education facility; water infrastructure; information technology capital construction; affordable and accessible housing infrastructure; or digital, social, or other infrastructure related to economic development. The powers of the authority are vested in a 13-member board with the following membership: The state treasurer or the state treasurer's designee; The state architect or the state architect's designee; The chair of the capital development committee of the general assembly or any successor committee; A member of the capital development committee of the general assembly or any successor committee who is the longest serving member on the committee and who is a member of the major political party other than the party of the chair of the committee; A representative of a statewide organization representing counties, appointed by the governor; A representative of a statewide organization representing municipalities, appointed by the governor; The executive director of the Colorado education and cultural facilities authority or their designee; A representative of a statewide organization of general and specialty commercial construction contractors, appointed by the governor; A representative of a statewide employee organization representing building and construction trade workers, appointed by the president of the senate; An individual representing service employees, appointed by the state treasurer; An individual with a background in finance who has experience with pension fund management, appointed by the state treasurer; and An individual with a background in commercial lending representing an institution insured by the federal deposit insurance corporation, appointed by the state treasurer. The state treasurer or the state treasurer's designee serves as the chair of the board and is required to call the first meeting of the board no later than January 1, 2026. Among other powers, the authority may: Make and execute agreements, contracts, and other instruments as necessary to achieve the authority's purposes, including contracting with the officers, personnel, and consultants of the state treasurer to achieve its purposes; Charge to and collect from state agencies and persons fees and charges in connection with the authority's loans or other services; Issue and sell building urgent infrastructure and leveraging dollars bonds, payable solely from the building urgent infrastructure and leveraging dollars bonding fund created within the authority; Invest and deposit money; Finance or participate in the financing of eligible projects or any interest in such a project; except for projects that are within the statutory authority of the Colorado housing and finance authority; and Facilitate the funding of infrastructure projects. The infrastructure and long-term development assistance program (program) is created in the authority to allow the authority to provide financing for eligible projects. The act requires the authority to develop policies and procedures necessary to implement the program. At a minimum, the policies and procedures must specify application criteria, an application process, and a selection process for the authority to determine which eligible projects it will finance or assist in financing through the program. The authority must pay for such financing out of the eligible project revolving fund created in the authority. The act also requires that the authority allow the Colorado educational and cultural facilities authority a right of first refusal for the financing of eligible projects. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act clarifies that, under current law, the department of public health and environment may use up to 10% of appropriated money to administer and manage project grants concerning public water systems and wastewater treatment works in small communities. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of personnel (department), in partnership with the office of new Americans, to conduct or contract to conduct a statewide language access assessment of the readiness of principal departments to meet the language access standards outlined in the language access universal policy (assessment). The assessment covers all principal departments except the department of state, the department of the treasury, and the department of law (principal departments). The assessment must identify: The needs of principal departments to meet the language access standards outlined in the language access universal policy, including requests for guidance, training, and technical assistance; Relevant language access materials from principal departments, including language access plans, position descriptions related to language access, procedures related to language access, and technical assistance or training materials; Information on current language services contracts, expenditures, and funding sources related to language access; The public-facing responsibilities of principal departments, including designating which principal departments and their subcontractors do and do not have frequent contact with linguistically diverse individuals; and Other covered entities that may be subject to the standards outlined in the language access universal policy. The department may enter into an agreement with a third-party entity to conduct all or part of the assessment. The third-party entity must have demonstrated expertise in working with state governments on language access initiatives, such as developing language access policies or plans. At the conclusion of the assessment and not later than December 31, 2026, the department, the office of new Americans, or the third-party entity is required to create a report that summarizes the findings of the assessment and makes recommendations concerning: Improving efficiency, increasing quality of service, reducing cost, avoiding duplicative work, building on existing best practices, and minimizing administrative burden with respect to the provision of linguistically accessible government services and programs to linguistically diverse individuals; Addressing gaps and improving meaningful service through changes to language access services, practices, and procedures; Evaluating potential technological options for increasing language access, such as artificial intelligence; and Determining what infrastructure is needed to ensure full and sustainable implementation of the standards outlined in the language access universal policy. The department must also maintain a community of practice to focus on implementing the language access universal policy with ongoing observation of best practices in the principal departments. The department must include a summary of the report and assessment in its January 2027 presentation to legislative oversight committees required by the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act". For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, $100,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the department for use by the Colorado equity office for personal services. Any money not expended by July 1, 2026, is further appropriated to the Colorado equity office through December 31, 2026. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes the legislative council to approve agreements between the director of research of the legislative council and nonpartisan organizations to place nonpartisan legislative policy fellows (fellows) in the legislative council staff. The act also specifies the types of work that fellows may do, requires the director of research to retain supervisory authority over fellows, including over the terms and conditions of the fellowship, and requires any work product produced by a fellow during the fellowship to remain the property of the general assembly during and after the conclusion of the fellowship. The legislative council is prohibited from approving any agreement between the director of research of the legislative council and a nonpartisan organization that is registered as a lobbyist with the secretary of state to place a fellow in the legislative council staff. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act authorizes a county, special district, or school district to negotiate property tax relief with a taxpayer that establishes or expands a "qualified communication services facility", which is a facility or other real or personal property used in the provision of fixed broadband or mobile broadband internet access service, if the facility will serve an unserved or underserved area of the county, special district, or school district. The act sets limits and standards for the tax relief. The act also amends the legislative declaration for the statute establishing a sales tax refund for rural broadband service providers by: Stating that requirements to pay sales and use tax on federal-funded and state-funded broadband deployment reduce the efficacy and impact of the federal and state deployment grant money; Noting that wireless telecommunications technologies rely on forms of broadband infrastructure like fiber and landline networks and are, therefore, interconnected to broadband; and Including a tax preference performance statement for the sales tax refund indicating that a purpose of the sales tax refund is to incentivize private sector investment in broadband infrastructure.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law limits to 10 years the time a school district can lease district property not needed for its purposes. The act allows a school district to lease district property for any term of years for purposes of a solar field, energy storage system, or affordable housing. If a board of education of a school district leases or rents property for the purposes of an affordable housing project, the board of education shall develop a policy that defines affordable housing for the project. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
With regard to the family and medical leave insurance program (program), the act extends the duration of paid family and medical leave, up to an additional 12 weeks, for a parent who has a child receiving inpatient care in a neonatal intensive care unit. The act also changes the premiums financing the program benefits by extending the current premium amount, 0.9% of wages per employee, through 2025 and setting the premium amount for the 2026 calendar year at 0.88% of wages per employee. For each subsequent calendar year, the director of the division of family and medical leave insurance (director) is required set the premium on or before September 1 of the preceding year, in a manner such that: At the end of the year, the balance of the family and medical leave insurance fund (fund) is not less than 6 months' worth of projected expenditures from the fund required for performance of the functions and duties of the director; The volatility of the premium rate is minimized; and The premium amount does not exceed 1.2% of wages per employee.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law gives a trial court judge 91 days from the day a conviction enters in a criminal case to order restitution, which is the monetary loss a victim suffers due to a defendant's criminal conduct, in a criminal case. The act grants the prosecuting attorney 63 days to submit restitution information to the trial court judge following a conviction if the information is not available on the day a conviction enters, and then grants the trial court judge an additional 63 days following the submission of restitution information to order restitution after it receives the information from the prosecuting attorney. The act applies to defendants sentenced on or after the act's effective date. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
For state fiscal year 2025-26, the act appropriates $5,000,000 from the species conservation trust fund in the state treasury for various wildlife conservation programs directed at conserving candidate native species that have been listed as threatened or endangered under state or federal law or are species that are likely to become candidate species, as determined by the United States fish and wildlife service, as follows: $2,480,000 for the upper Colorado river endangered fish recovery program; $20,000 for selenium management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and control; $1,250,000 for native terrestrial wildlife conservation; and $1,250,000 for native aquatic wildlife conservation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes a sales and use tax exemption for contractors and subcontractors that purchase, store, use, or consume construction and building materials for use in the building, erection, alteration, or repair of structures owned and used by a regional transportation authority (authority) to house authority employees or contractors. The act authorizes an authority or an authority's board to build, erect, alter, or repair such structures for the purpose of housing employees or contractors of an authority. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)