Rep. Julie McCluskie

Current law prohibits the operation of a motorboat by a person who is less than 16 years of age; except that, a person who is at least 14 years of age but less than 16 years of age may operate a motorboat if the person has completed a boating safety course approved by the division of parks and wildlife and possesses a boating safety certificate issued by the boating safety course provider. The bill raises the minimum age requirement from 16 to 18 years of age and retains the existing exceptions for certain persons who are at least 14 years of age.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, provides for the payment of expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the state of Colorado, and of its agencies and institutions. The grand total for the operating budget is set at $37,736,904,638. The general funds portion of the appropriation is set at $10,446,821,790; the general fund exempt portion is set at $3,212,346,213; the cash funds portion is set at $9,971,918,141; the reappropriated funds portion is set at $2,356,087,392; and federal funds portion is set at $11,749,731,102. The grand total for the state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, for capital construction projects is set at $491,102,435.The capital construction fund portion is set at $5,246,375; the cash funds portion is set at $484,090,730; and the federal funds portion is set at $1,765,330. The grand total for the state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, for information technology projects is set at $146,428,435. The capital construction fund portion is set at $109,102,442; the cash funds portion is set at $17,186,989; and the federal funds portion is set at $20,139,004. The 2021 general appropriation act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated to the departments of education, health care policy and financing, higher education, law, and public safety. The 2021 general appropriation act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction projects. Appropriations were made in several bills during the 2021 legislative session as further amended to extend the appropriation for unexpended amounts to the 2022-23 fiscal year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law allows the clerk of the court to retain 5% of the drug offender surcharge and the rural alcohol and substance abuse surcharge for the administration of the disbursement of the surcharges. The retained 5% of both surcharges are kept on a balance sheet account and expenses are identified to offset this revenue. To simplify the process by which this 5% of surcharge revenue is retained, section 2 of the act requires that the revenue be deposited directly into the judicial stabilization cash fund instead. Under current law, the courts' collections investigator program is funded by the fines collection cash fund and the judicial collection enhancement fund. To eliminate the inefficiency of administering 2 cash funds, section 1 eliminates the fines collection cash fund and requires all fines previously required to be deposited in that fund to instead be deposited in the judicial collection enhancement cash fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On July 1, 2022, the act transfers: $350,394,004 from the general fund to the affordable housing and home ownership cash fund; $350,394,004 from the affordable housing and home ownership cash fund to the revenue loss restoration cash fund; $4,639,443 from the general fund to the capital construction fund; $122,225,865 from the general fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund; and $500,000 from the general fund exempt account of the general fund to the capital construction fund. The state treasurer and the state controller transferred $110,000,000 from the general fund to the controlled maintenance trust fund to be appropriated in the 2022-23 state fiscal year for controlled maintenance budget requests prioritized by the office of the state architect as level one and level two priority projects. The act eliminates the requirement that the transferred money be appropriated for the 2022-23 state fiscal year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Senate Bill 21-291 transferred $40 million of "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" (ARPA) money from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to the Colorado economic development fund and directed the office of economic development and international trade (OEDIT) to use $10 million of the money transferred to incentivize small businesses to locate in rural Colorado and for the location neutral employment incentive program. To ensure that the use of the $10 million complies with ARPA requirements, the act instead directs OEDIT to use the money to incentivize or support businesses in rural Colorado or to undertake any other economic development activity in rural Colorado that is authorized by specified current law in response to the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The state treasurer is required to transfer $24,131,390 from the revenue loss restoration cash fund to the judicial department information technology cash fund on July 1, 2022. The money transferred to the judicial department information technology cash fund is subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly to the judicial department for information technology infrastructure upgrades from the 2022-23 fiscal year through the 2024-25 fiscal year. The judicial department is required to expend or encumber the money transferred to the judicial department information technology cash fund prior to December 31, 2024. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act directs the department of health care policy and financing (department) to do the following, with respect to nursing facility providers (nursing facilities): Issue additional supplemental payments as directed for the 2021-22 state fiscal year; Establish reporting and result tracking requirements necessary to administer additional supplemental funding; Pursue federal matching funds to reduce the state share of costs to the maximum amount possible; and Engage with stakeholders to produce a report including ways to improve methodology, practices regarding care and services to compassionate release individuals from the department of corrections, and funding for nursing facilities. The department shall submit the report to the joint budget committee and committees of the general assembly on or before November 1, 2022. The act grants the department authority to promulgate rules as necessary for implementation of the payments and their supporting requirements. The supplemental payments and their supporting requirements are repealed, effective July 1, 2023. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $17,000,500 is appropriated to the department of health care policy and financing for use by medical services premiums based on the assumption that the department will receive federal funds to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, only nursing facilities that are within a locality that has increased its local minimum wage are eligible to receive annual supplemental payments to increase the minimum wage for nursing facility employees up to the minimum wage set by the locality. The act changes the definition of "eligible nursing facility provider" and makes other conforming changes to allow any Colorado nursing facility that meets the defined criteria to be eligible to receive wage enhancement supplemental payments, as defined in the act, to increase the minimum wage for nursing facility employees to at least $15 per hour. The act appropriates $2,389,627 from federal funds in the general fund to the department of health care policy and financing for medical and long-term care services for medicaid eligible individuals. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The licensing services cash fund (fund) consists mainly of fees charged for the issuance of drivers' licenses, driving permits, and state identification cards. The department of revenue (department) uses the fund primarily to fund the issuance of those documents. The Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account (DRIVES account) of the highway users tax fund consists mainly of vehicle title and registration fees and specific ownership tax transaction fees. The department uses the DRIVES account for the development and operation of the department's driver and motor vehicles services software platform commonly known as Colorado DRIVES. Effective July 1, 2022, the act merges the fund into the DRIVES account, which involves: Repealing the fund and requiring all money in the fund to be credited to the DRIVES account; Requiring all fees that had been credited to the fund to instead be credited to the DRIVES account; and Requiring all functions that had been funded from the fund to instead be funded from the DRIVES account. The act also requires DRIVES account investment earnings to be credited to the account. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

When the marijuana tax cash fund (fund) was initially created, money in the fund was only available to be appropriated for fiscal years following the fiscal year in which it was received by the state. In 2020, the general assembly repealed this restriction, but in 2021, the restriction was inadvertently reinstated by legislation that made an unrelated conforming amendment. The act corrects this error, which permits the general assembly to appropriate money from the fund for the same fiscal year in which it is received. The reserve requirement for the fund is established as 15% of the amount appropriated for a fiscal year, instead of 93% of the beginning balance in the fund. This reserve excludes any money from the fund that is designated to constitute part of the state emergency reserve. The act also delays a portion of a statutory transfer from the fund to the public school capital construction assistance fund (BEST fund). A transfer of $100 million on June 1, 2022, is reduced to $50 million, and the state treasurer is required to transfer $30 million and $20 million from the fund to the BEST fund in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 state fiscal years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)