Rep. Jeni James Arndt

At the 2020 general election, the voters approved proposition 114, which requires the reintroduction and management of gray wolves. The bill requires all costs for this program to be paid exclusively from the general fund, and this includes any losses of livestock caused by gray wolves. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act: Adjusts how calendar quarter estimates of the tax on insurance premiums are calculated and allows the payment for the first calendar quarter of a year to be adjusted to reflect the claiming of an allowable tax credit or previous estimated payments; Allows a company that has overpaid on its estimated premium tax liability to either apply the overpayment to future estimated payments or claim a refund; Provides that in calculating the amount of a refund, any nonrefundable tax credits claimed by the company are applied to the company's tax liability first, and the amount of the refund cannot exceed the total amount of any additional payments made by the company; Allows a taxpayer to claim a small business recovery tax credit or an affordable housing tax credit against estimated premium tax payments; and Provides for the transfer of small business recovery tax credits among affiliates.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, a cooperative electric association with an electric easement on real property is authorized to install or to allow a commercial broadband supplier to install broadband facilities on the real property, subject to notice and procedural requirements. The bill expands the authorization to also apply to either of the following entities with an electric easement: A generation and transmission cooperative electric association; or The federal western area power administration within the United States department of energy.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Section 1 of the act directs the department of public health and environment (department) to convene stakeholders to inform the department regarding a structure and governing guidance for a recycling market development center to support the development of end-market businesses within the state. Section 1 also directs the department to conduct a literature review of what industry and other states are doing around the country regarding producer responsibility and to create policy and legislative recommendations regarding the feasibility of requiring producers to design, manage, and finance programs for end-of-life management of their products and packaging as a condition of sale. Sections 3, 4, and 5 allow the pollution prevention advisory board (board) to use the recycling resources economic opportunity fund and the front range waste diversion cash fund to reimburse eligible recycling businesses for locally assessed personal property taxes paid in the current tax year in this state on personal property. Section 2 directs the board to establish a formula that it would use in awarding personal property tax reimbursements. Section 6 requires the department, as soon as practicable, to administer a statewide campaign to educate Colorado residents concerning recycling. The department shall ensure the campaign includes: Communications delivered via social media; Television and radio public service announcements; and The placement of written materials in public locations, such as community centers, recreation centers, and shopping centers. In administering the campaign, the department shall consult with municipal governments, county governments, and private agencies that operate recycling programs. The department may contract with one or more public or private entities for the preparation of materials to be used in the campaign. The requirement is repealed, effective September 1, 2021. Section 7 appropriates $985,283 from the recycling resources economic opportunity fund and 2.1 FTE to the department to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

For the purpose of augmenting the amount of revenues in the state general fund, the act requires the state treasurer to make specific transfers to the general fund. On June 30, 2020, the state treasurer is required to transfer $4 million from the petroleum cleanup and redevelopment fund to the petroleum storage tank fund, which total amount will then be transferred to the general fund with 8 transfers of $500,000, beginning on October 15, 2020. On June 30, 2020, the state treasurer is required to transfer the following amounts to the general fund: $2 million from the petroleum cleanup and redevelopment fund; $1 million from the workers' compensation cash fund; $2 million from the unemployment revenue fund; $500,000 from the conveyance safety fund; $1 million from the school safety resource center cash fund; $771,204 from the waste tire market development fund, as it existed prior to its repeal in 2018; $5.6 million from the small communities water and wastewater grant fund; $180,000 from the vital statistics records cash fund; $433,728 from the construction sector fund; $500,000 from the public and private utilities sector fund; $483,535 from the water quality improvement fund; $422,411 from the hazardous waste service fund; $363,243 from the solid waste management fund; $5,372,415 from the waste tire administration, enforcement, market development, and cleanup fund; $1.4 million from the end users fund; $5 million from the off-highway vehicle recreation fund; $2.3 million from the local government permanent fund; and $1.6 million from the marijuana cash fund. On July 1, 2020, the state treasurer is required to transfer the following amounts to the general fund: $1,224,100 from the division of insurance cash fund; $370,795 from the division of banking cash fund; $267,521 from the prescription drug monitoring fund; $130,000 from the state archives and records cash fund; $4,908,395 from an account with the proceeds of sales of real estate that was acquired for military purposes; and $1,007,176 from the highway-rail crossing signalization fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act: Repeals obsolete provisions that allow an income tax credit for contributions to enterprise zone administrators to implement economic development plans; Moves certain cross references that are incorrectly placed in the section that allows for an investment tax credit in enterprise zones; and Fixes an incorrect cross reference in the section that allows a credit for new enterprise zone business employees.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current provisions of the Open Meetings Law (OML), if elected officials use electronic mail to discuss pending legislation or other public business among themselves, the electronic mail constitutes a meeting that is subject to the OML's requirements. The bill substitutes the word "exchange" for the word "use" in describing the type of electronic mail communication that triggers the application of the OML. The bill clarifies existing statutory provisions to specify that electronic mail communication between elected officials that does not relate to the merits or substance of pending legislation or other public business is not a meeting for OML purposes. Under the bill, the type of electronic communication that also does not constitute a meeting for OML purposes includes electronic communication regarding scheduling and availability as well as electronic communication that is sent by an elected official for the purpose of forwarding information, responding to an inquiry from an individual who is not a member of the state or local public body, or posing a question for later discussion by the public body. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill requires the public utilities commission to adopt by rule, no later than July 31, 2021, renewable natural gas programs for large natural gas utilities (those that have at least 200,000 250,000 customer accounts in Colorado) and small natural gas utilities (those that have fewer than 200,000 250,000 customer accounts in Colorado). Municipally owned natural gas utilities may, but need not, participate in a renewable natural gas program. The rules must include reporting requirements and a process for natural gas utilities to fully recover prudently incurred costs associated with the large and small renewable natural gas programs. "Renewable natural gas" is defined to mean any of the following products processed to meet pipeline quality standards or transportation fuel-grade requirements or delivered by an alternative energy carrier : Biogas that is blended with, or substituted for, geologic natural gas; Hydrogen gas derived from renewable energy sources; or Methane gas derived from any combination of biogas; hydrogen gas or carbon oxides derived from renewable energy sources; waste carbon dioxide; coalbed methane resulting from human activity; naturally occurring coalbed deposits; a municipal solid waste landfill; waste tire or municipal solid waste pyrolysis; or biogas recovery from manure management systems and anaerobic digesters ; or the decomposition of organic food waste . If a large natural gas utility's total incremental annual cost to meet the targets of the large renewable natural gas program exceeds 5% 2% of the large natural gas utility's total revenue requirement for a particular year, the large natural gas utility shall not make additional qualified investments under the large renewable natural gas program for that year without approval from the commission. The bill establishes the following portfolio targets for the percentage of gas purchased by large natural gas utilities that is renewable natural gas: By January 1, 2025, at least 5% must be renewable natural gas; By January 1, 2030, at least 10% must be renewable natural gas; and On and after January 1, 2035, at least 15% must be renewable natural gas. Small natural gas utilities may opt in to the small renewable natural gas program as established by the commission by rule. The rule must include tradeable credits and a rate cap limiting the small natural gas utility's costs of procuring renewable natural gas from third parties and qualified investments in renewable natural gas infrastructure. The bill appropriates $83,555 from the fixed utilities cash fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the public utilities commission to implement the bill. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)