Rep. Julie McCluskie

For the 2020-21 and 2021-22 state fiscal years only, the act allows the Auraria board to make payments on certain existing bonds for auxiliary facilities from other sources, including money contributed by constituent institutions and from money appropriated to the board by the general assembly.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The 2020 general appropriation act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction projects. The capital construction fund and cash funds portions of the appropriation are increased.The 2019 general appropriation act is amended to reflect the correct the name of the capitol annex repair and renovation project, under the department of personnel.The 2016 general appropriation act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction projects under the department of higher education. The cash funds portion of the appropriation is decreased.The 2011 general appropriation act is amended to extend the total amount appropriated for superfund sites cleanup under the department of public health and environment to June 30, 2021.The capital construction appropriation in House Bill 18-1006, concerning modifications to the newborn screening program administered by the department of public health and environment is amended to increase the amount appropriated for use by the laboratory services division.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The controlled maintenance trust fund is designated as part of the state emergency reserve under TABOR, and the governor has twice ordered money from the trust fund to be transferred to the disaster emergency fund to be used for response activities related to COVID-19. The bill requires the state treasurer to transfer $100 million from the general fund to the controlled maintenance trust fund. For this fiscal year, this money will be available to the governor to transfer to the disaster emergency fund for public health and emergency response expenses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act establishes triannual meetings, which take place in March, August, and December, whereby members of the executive committee of the legislative council and the joint budget committee (committees) are able to receive information from the executive branch related to a disaster if the governor has declared a disaster emergency since the 1st day of the month for the last required meeting. During the meeting, the governor or his or her designee must appear before the committees to provide information of a comprehensive nature and respond to questions from the committees with respect to the disaster emergency. The governor and any state agency is also required to promptly give notice to the general assembly of the promulgation of any executive order or other order by the governor or the agency, as applicable, issued in connection with the disaster emergency. The office of state planning and budgeting is required to provide quarterly reports to the joint budget committee about the expenditures from the disaster emergency fund (fund) and to post the reports on the office's website. The office is also required to prepare quarterly reports of federal funds that the state receives and spends. The state auditor is required to conduct or cause to be conducted a performance audit of the fund that is completed on December 1, 2022. Thereafter, the state auditor is required to conduct a biennial financial audit of the fund for the 2 most recently completed fiscal years. The act extends the repeal date for the authority to transfer spending authority between line items in specified circumstances from September 1, 2020, to September 1, 2025, and similarly extends the repeal date for the provision permitting overexpenditures in excess of the amount authorized by an item of appropriation in limited circumstances, including for medicaid programs. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

A service retiree of any division of the public employees' retirement association (PERA) is allowed to work for a PERA employer for limited periods and to receive a salary without reduction in benefits under certain circumstances. Boards of cooperative services (BOCES) provide special education services to the school districts they serve. Almost all of these school districts are in rural parts of the state and it is difficult for BOCES to find qualified people to serve as special service providers in these areas. BOCES could address this issue by hiring service retirees, but PERA's employment-after-retirement provisions, including the limitation on the number of days in a calendar year that a service retiree may work for a PERA employer without a reduction in benefits, make it difficult to do so. The act modifies the PERA employment-after-retirement provisions for certain retirees hired by a BOCES if: The BOCES hires the service retiree to provide services in 2 or more rural school districts as determined by the department of education based on the geographic size of the school district and the distance of the school district from the nearest large, urbanized area; The BOCES hires the service retiree for the purpose of providing special services to students enrolled by the districts served by the BOCES; and The BOCES determines that there is a critical shortage of special service providers and that the service retiree has specific experience, skills, or qualifications that would benefit the districts that the BOCES serves. A service retiree who is a special service provider and who is hired by a BOCES may receive salary without a reduction in benefits for any length of employment in a calendar year if the service retiree has not worked for any PERA employer during the month of the effective date of retirement. The act requires a BOCES that hires the service retiree to provide full payment of all PERA employer contributions, disbursements, and working retiree contributions. In addition, the BOCES is required to pay an additional amount equal to 2% of the retiree's salary to PERA. A service retiree may not receive salary without reduction in benefits and without limitation in a calendar year for more than 5 consecutive years, and all BOCES combined are prohibited from hiring more than a total of 40 people over 5 years pursuant to the extension in PERA's employment-after-retirement limitations. PERA is required to submit a report to the general assembly regarding specified aspects of the extension of PERA's employment-after-retirement limitations. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act delays the effective date of the "Colorado Electronic Preservation of Abandoned Estate Planning Documents Act" until January 1, 2023. Appropriations for fiscal year 2020-21 related to the "Colorado Electronic Preservation of Abandoned Estate Planning Documents Act" to the judicial department for: Information technology infrastructure is decreased by $125,230, and Trial court programs is decreased by $28,147.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act amends the requirements for the imposition, collection, and uses of the emergency telephone charge imposed by local 911 governing bodies. Current law imposes a statutory cap on the amount of the emergency telephone charge that may be imposed by local governing bodies. The act allows the public utilities commission (commission) to establish the authorized threshold amount for the charge on an annual basis. A local governing body may impose the charge in an amount up to the authorized threshold. If a governing body determines it needs to impose a higher charge to fund 911 operations in its jurisdiction, it must seek the approval of the commission. The procedures for the collection and remittance of the emergency telephone charge by telecommunication service suppliers are amended. The act provides procedures for local bodies to assess overdue or unpaid remittances, imposes a time limitation for local governing bodies to do so, and creates a process for the service supplier and local governing body to extend that time period. Local governing bodies may audit the collections of service suppliers, and may impose interest and penalties on late remittances. A new 911 surcharge (surcharge) is established as a collection for local governing bodies. The amount of the surcharge is established each year by the commission based on the needs of the local governing bodies. Service suppliers must collect the surcharge from service users and remit the money to the commission. The commission is required to transmit the money collected to local governing bodies within 60 days, using a formula based on the number of concurrent sessions maintained in the governing bodies' jurisdictions. The existing "prepaid wireless E911 charge" is renamed the "prepaid wireless 911". Under current law, the amount of the charge is set in statute. The act requires the commission to establish the amount of the charge based on the average amount of the emergency telephone charges imposed by local governing bodies and the amount of the surcharge. Governing bodies may use the money collected from the 3 charges for costs associated with the lease, purchase, installation, and planning for equipment, facilities, hardware, and software used to receive and dispatch 911 calls, charges of basic emergency service providers, costs related to the provision and operation of emergency telephone service and emergency notification service, membership fees for state or national industry organizations supporting 911, and other costs directly related to the continued operation of the emergency telephone service ad emergency notification service. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 2020 general election for the following tax changes: To increase the statutory per cigarette tax from 1 cent to 6.5 cents until July 1, 2024, then to 8 cents until July 1, 2027, and thereafter to 10 cents; To increase the statutory tobacco products tax from 20% of the manufacturer's list price (MLP) to 30% of MLP until July 1, 2024, then to 36% of MLP until July 1, 2027, and to 42% thereafter of MLP for tobacco products; To create a tax on nicotine products that is equal to 50% of MLP until July 1, 2024, then 56% of MLP until July 1, 2027, and thereafter 62% of MLP, which is the same tax as the total tax levied on most tobacco products, including the tax from Amendment 35, with the increase; To establish a tax rate for cigarettes, tobacco products, and nicotine products that are modified risk tobacco products approved by the United States department of health and human services that is 50% of the statutory tax rate; To establish a minimum tax for tobacco products that are moist snuff; To expand the cigarette and tobacco products taxes to include delivery sales made by a seller outside of the state directly to a consumer; and To create an inventory tax on cigarettes that is imposed on all stamped cigarettes and unaffixed stamps in a wholesaler or wholesale subcontractor's possession or control at the time of a tax increase that takes place after January 1, 2022. If voters approve the ballot measure, then the state will have the authority to impose these taxes and the rest of the act will be effective. The act also establishes a minimum price for cigarettes that is equal to $7 for a pack and $70 for a carton until July 1, 2024, and $7.50 for a pack and $75 for a carton on and after July 1, 2024, and civil penalties imposed for any person who sells cigarettes for less than the minimum amount. A portion of the sales tax revenue that is estimated to be attributable to the minimum price requirement is transferred from the general fund to the newly created preschool programs cash fund, from which the general assembly may appropriate money to a designated department to be used for an array of preschool education purposes. The new nicotine products tax is modeled after the tobacco products tax. Nicotine products are products that contain nicotine and that are ingested into the body, which at this time is typically through vaping with an electronic cigarette. The excise tax is levied on the sale, use, consumption, handling, or distribution of all nicotine products in the state, and it is imposed on a distributor at the time the product is brought into the state, made here, or shipped or transported to retailers in the state, or the wholesaler or distributor makes a delivery sale. If a distributor fails to pay the tax, then any person or entity in possession of the nicotine products is liable for the tax. To be a distributor of nicotine products, a person must have a license. The license costs $10 per year and requires that the distributor must have a tax license and comply with all of the laws relating to the collection of the tax. Distributors are required to file electronic quarterly returns. Licensees are required to maintain certain records, and retailers are likewise required to maintain records about nicotine products they purchase from a licensed distributor. The department of revenue may share the names and addresses of persons who purchased nicotine products for resale with the department of public health and environment and county and district public health agencies. To account for the fully phased-in increased taxes per cigarette, the discount percentage on cigarette stamps that a cigarette wholesaler may retain for its collection costs is reduced from 4% to .4% and the similar discount for a tobacco products distributor is reduced from 3.33% to 1.6%. A nicotine products distributor will be permitted to retain 1.1% of the taxes collected. The revenue from the new nicotine products tax, the inventory tax, and the additional cigarette and tobacco products taxes is deposited in the old age pension fund and then credited to the general fund in accordance with the state constitution. The state treasurer is required to transfer an amount equal to the total new tax revenue from the general fund to the 2020 tax holding fund (holding fund). For fiscal years beginning prior to July 1, 2023, the bulk of the money in the holding fund will be transferred to the state education fund, and thereafter, to the preschool programs cash fund. In addition, the state treasurer is required to transfer varying amounts of money in different fiscal years from the holding fund to the following funds: The tobacco tax cash fund; The general fund; The housing development grant fund; The eviction legal defense fund; The newly created rural schools cash fund, which will in turn be distributed to small and large rural school districts based on funded pupil counts; and The tobacco education programs fund. The state auditor is required to annually conduct a financial audit of the use of the new tax revenue. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The broadband deployment board (board) awards grants for the provision of broadband service in unserved areas of the state, which are areas deemed to have insufficient broadband service. The act authorizes but does not require an applicant seeking grant money from the board to submit to the board a written certification from the local entity with jurisdiction over the area that the applicant proposes to serve, certifying that the area is an unserved area. A local entity that is requested to provide written certification may not do so without first holding a hearing on the matter after providing notice of the hearing, including notice to any incumbent provider. The board is required to give substantial weight to a local entity's written certification that an area is an unserved area. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the alternative pilot programs to divert individuals with mental health conditions may operate in up to 4 judicial districts. The act allows the programs to be expanded into 5 or more judicial districts to increase the number of participants. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)