Rep. Andy Boesenecker

The act creates the behavioral and mental health excise tax cash fund that is designated to hold money received from the firearm and ammunition excise tax (Proposition KK) for certain behavioral health-related purposes. Current law requires $8 million that is received from Proposition KK to be transferred to the behavioral and mental health cash fund. The act requires this money to instead be transferred to the behavioral and mental health excise tax cash fund. The act requires the state treasurer to transfer the Proposition KK money in the behavioral and mental health cash fund to the behavioral and mental health excise tax cash fund. Current law repeals the behavioral and mental health cash fund on July 1, 2032. The act changes the repeal date to July 1, 2027. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act authorizes the department of health care policy and financing (department) to seek federal authorization to determine a member's eligibility for reenrollment without checking federally approved electronic data sources or requesting additional information if the member's income consists solely of social security income or another source of stable income or assets or if the member's income or assets have not changed since the initial verification during the application process. The act requires the department to modify the questions asked by medical professionals when verifying a member's need for long-term services and supports and allows a treating licensed medical professional who has a bona fide physician-patient relationship with a member to sign the documentation necessary to verify a member's need for long-term services and supports. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act implements the legislative recommendations of the child support commission by: Updating the child support guidelines schedule; Updating the monthly incomes eligible for a reduced low-income adjustment; and Replacing the current parenting time credit with a formula that provides parents credit for all overnights spent with that parent. The act appropriates $137,250 to the office of the governor for use by the office of information technology to provide information technology services to the department of human services. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For persons required to report child abuse or neglect, the act: Requires reports to be submitted as soon as possible, but within 24 hours, after receiving information of child abuse or neglect; Provides that reports are not required if the person: Receives the information outside of the person's professional capacity that would require a report; or Is connected to an attorney representing a party involved in a suspected child abuse or neglect case that would require a report under current law; Removes victim's advocates from the list of professions required to report child abuse or neglect; Prohibits reports based on a family's race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or disability; and Prohibits the delegation of the duty to report to a person who does not have firsthand knowledge of the suspected child abuse or neglect. For entities that employ a mandatory reporter, the act: Authorizes the entity to develop protocols for making the report if the protocols comply with state law and regulations; and Prohibits representatives of the entity from deterring or impeding a person from filing a report. The act requires a county department of human or social services (county department) to assign a referral identification number to each report of child abuse or neglect. If a mandatory reporter contacts the child abuse reporting hotline system (hotline) or a county department about a suspected child abuse or neglect report and the hotline or department gives the mandatory reporter the referral identification number of a related report that was previously filed, the mandatory reporter is deemed to have satisfied the reporting requirements. The act appropriates $5,375 to the state department of human services for training. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act codifies the federal "Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978" into state law as the "Colorado Indian Child Welfare Act" (CO-ICWA) and provides additional protections for Indian children and children known or determined to be Indian children under state law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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.)

The act creates 2 income tax subtractions for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2027, but before January 1, 2038. The first subtraction is for an amount equal to state capital gains that are realized by a taxpayer, who is the owner of a qualified business, during the taxable year for the conversion by an increment of at least 20% ownership to a qualified employee-owned business. The taxpayers that are eligible for this subtraction are the same taxpayers that would be eligible for the tax credit for conversion costs for employee business ownership. The total amount of capital gains that a taxpayer may subtract is set by and may be annually adjusted by the Colorado office of economic development (office), and is required to be posted on the office's website. The second subtraction is allowed to worker-owned cooperatives in an amount equal to the worker-owned cooperative's federal taxable income for the tax year not to exceed $1 million. The act also makes changes to the tax credit for conversion or expansion costs for employee business ownership (credit), which has been available through income tax year 2026. The act extends the credit through income tax years commencing in 2031. The act also specifies that the aggregate amount of credits that can be claimed for each income tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2032, is $3 million. The act also increases the percentage of conversion or expansion costs that are eligible to be claimed for the credit from 50% to 75% beginning in tax year 2026 while maintaining the existing dollar caps for the different methods of conversion. Additionally, the act revises several definitions to expand eligibility for the credit and allows for qualified support entities, which are businesses or nonprofit organizations that provide services to businesses that qualify under the credit so that those businesses can convert or expand to employee ownership, to be eligible to receive the credit for up to 75% of the costs incurred for providing such support, not to exceed $167,000, including for staff salaries and benefits, marketing and outreach, and consulting and technical assistance. Support costs exclude any costs that are considered conversion or expansion costs that can be claimed in the credit for employee business ownership. (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.)