The school security disbursement program (program), which was repealed in 2021, is recreated and reenacted in the department of public safety (department) to provide funding for school districts, district charter schools, institute charter schools, boards of cooperative services, and eligible nonprofit organizations (eligible entities) to implement school security improvements to prevent incidents of school violence. Eligible entities may apply for a disbursement by submitting an application to the department. An eligible entity that receives a disbursement may use the money for one or more of the following purposes: Capital construction that improves the security of a public school facility or public school vehicle; Training in student threat assessment for school staff; In collaboration with local law enforcement agencies, providing the training for peace officers on interactions with students at school; School emergency response training for school staff; Programs to help students become more resilient in meeting the daily challenges they face without resorting to violence against themselves or others; Developing and providing training programs, curricula, and seminars related to school safety incident response; and Developing best practices and protocols related to school safety incident response. The department is required to review the applications received from eligible entities and, subject to available appropriations, to disburse money to applicants that satisfy the application requirements from money credited to the school security disbursement cash fund. The department is required to give priority to applicants that commit to providing matching money for the amount of the disbursement received. Each disbursement recipient is required to report to the department concerning its use of the money, and the department is required to annually provide a summary of the reports to specified committees of the general assembly. The program is repealed, effective July 1, 2032. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The "SALT Parity Act" was enacted in 2021 and, for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022, it allowed pass-through entities to elect to pay state income tax at the entity level, which allows the entity to claim an unlimited deduction at the federal level for state and local taxes paid. While this election reduces federal taxable income for the pass-through entity, it does not reduce or increase Colorado taxable income under current law based on additions and subtractions (deductions) to the state income tax. The act converts the state income tax deductions created to keep state revenue neutrality into a tax credit and makes provisions of the "SALT Parity Act" retroactive to January 1, 2018. An S corporation or a partnership must make the retroactive election on or after September 1, 2023, but before July 1, 2024, in a composite amended tax return for all of the years for which the election is made that is filed on behalf of the S corporation or partnership and the electing pass-through entity owners. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the bill creates the timber industry workforce development program (internship program) in the Colorado state forest service (forest service) to provide incentives to timber businesses to hire interns through partial reimbursement of the costs to such businesses of hiring interns. Not later than January 1, 2023, the forest service is required to promulgate policies, procedures, and guidelines for administering the internship program. The bill specifies minimum components of the policies, procedures, and guidelines. Subject to available appropriations, the forest service may reimburse a qualified timber business an amount not to exceed 50% of the actual cost to the business to employ the intern. The actual cost includes the wages paid to the intern, a reasonable allocation of fixed overhead expenses, and all incidental costs directly related to the internship. Based on the annual appropriation for the internship program, the forest service shall determine how many internships may be approved, the amount of reimbursement per internship, and whether a timber business may be reimbursed for more than one intern in the same fiscal year. However, no timber business may be reimbursed for more than 3 internships in the same fiscal year. Under current law, for fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2008, but prior to the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2020, and for fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2021, but prior to the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2026, all sales, storage, and use of wood from salvaged trees in Colorado that were killed or infested by mountain pine beetles or spruce beetles, including but not limited to products such as lumber, furniture built from the salvaged trees, and wood chips or wood pellets generated from the salvaged trees, are exempt from the state sales and use tax. For fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2022, but prior to the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2026, section 2 extends this exemption to include all sales, storage, and use of wood harvested in Colorado that is sold on a retail basis, including but not limited to products such as lumber, furniture built from such wood, wood chips or wood pellets generated from such wood, and wood from salvaged trees in Colorado that were killed or infested by mountain pine beetles or spruce beetles. For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2021, but prior to January 1, 2027, section 3 allows a timber business doing business in Colorado to claim a credit against the state income tax for 20% of the costs incurred by the taxpayer in purchasing mechanized equipment, certain vehicles, and equipment infrastructure used in the production of wood products, not to exceed $10,000 for the aggregate of all such qualifying items purchased in any one income tax year. The bill specifies additional requirements concerning the administration of the tax credit.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
In 2021, the general assembly enacted legislation, SB 21-262, concerning transparency for special districts, that, among other things, required the disclosure of property tax information to purchasers of newly constructed residences within the boundaries of metropolitan districts. As part of this required disclosure, SB 21-262 required the owner of the property to provide to the seller a copy of the most current county assessor's property tax certificate. The county assessors do not issue tax certificates. The tax certificate is issued by the county treasurer. The act corrects this incorrect statutory reference by requiring that each owner of real property that sells real property that includes a newly constructed residence, concurrently with or prior to the execution of a contract to sell the property, provide to the purchaser of the property a copy of the most current certificate of taxes due or tax statement issued by the county treasurer that is applicable to the property as an estimate of the sum of additional mill levies levied by other taxing entities that overlap the property in which the newly constructed residence is located. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill: Requires the state treasurer to transfer $1.1 billion from the general fund to the unemployment compensation fund (fund) to restore the balance of the fund to the fund's pre-pandemic level; and Requires the director of the division of unemployment insurance to repay the federal government for $1.014 billion of advances received from the federal government in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill creates the Colorado critical infrastructure resiliency initiative and the Colorado resilient infrastructure board (board). The board consists of 10 members, 9 of whom are appointed by the executive director of the department of public safety. The board is required to: Provide oversight of Colorado's infrastructure enhancement program; Identify electric grid, water, oil and natural gas, and telecommunications infrastructure needs and provide recommendations on infrastructure improvements; Oversee efforts to prevent or reduce the severity of damage to the electric grid due to a natural disaster or human-caused emergency; Monitor and implement best practices for critical infrastructure protection; Ensure compliance of the state's publicly owned or commercially owned utilities associated with the state's power, oil and natural gas, water, and telecommunications sectors; Attempt to secure funding from various sources; Coordinate with the Colorado electric transmission authority; and Assess the capacity and availability of existing resources for resiliency of critical infrastructure sectors. The board is required to report its findings to the general assembly no later than 30 days after the general assembly convenes in the 2025 legislative session and no later than 30 days after the general assembly convenes in the regular legislative session in subsequent years. The board is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2027. Before the repeal, the board is subject to sunset review by the department of regulatory agencies. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The act strikes references to the federal food and drug administration in the health insurance code and replaces the references with the term "FDA", which is defined for the entire code to mean the federal food and drug administration. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act allows local education providers, upon entering into an agreement with an individual or entity that offers hunter education courses certified by the division of parks and wildlife (division), to provide a hunter education course (course) to all seventh graders. The act does not preclude a local education provider from offering hunter education courses as an elective course in any other grade. The course must satisfy the requirements of a hunter education course certified by the division; except that hands-on activities are not required. The course must be taught by a division-certified instructor. A parent or legal guardian must provide permission for a student to participate in any hands-on activities that are offered as part of the course. A hunter education course shall only allow the possession of inert firearms and dummy rounds on the grounds of any elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The act defines local education providers to mean school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative services that enroll students in seventh grade. The parks and wildlife commission may accept completion of a course toward meeting the requirements of a hunter education certificate. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
In order to enable the streamlining of the imposition, collection, and administration of sales and use taxes imposed by local taxing jurisdictions on retail sales made by retailers that have a state standard retail license and either do not have physical presence within a local taxing jurisdiction or have only incidental physical presence within a local taxing jurisdiction through the streamlining of application requirements for and elimination of fees for local general business licenses, the act requires the department of revenue (department) to require sufficient information to be collected from such a retailer, when the retailer applies for or renews a state standard retail business license through the state's electronic sales and use tax simplification system (SUTS) or by other means or at any other time to the extent necessary, and made available to local taxing jurisdictions to ensure that concerns of local taxing jurisdictions, including but not limited to concerns relating to administrative efficiency, retailer compliance, and collection of sales and use tax revenue, are addressed. The department is required to consult with local taxing jurisdictions when determining what information to collect and how to make the information collected available to local taxing jurisdictions. The department is also required to consult with retailers and to address any reasonable concerns that they may have. The department is required to accomplish these tasks expeditiously so that no later than July 1, 2023, and sooner if feasible, a retailer that has a state standard retail license and either does not have physical presence within a local taxing jurisdiction or has only incidental physical presence can make retail sales within the local taxing jurisdiction without having to obtain a general business license from the local taxing jurisdiction. On and after July 1, 2022, a local taxing jurisdiction is prohibited from charging a fee for a local general business license to a retailer that has a state standard retail license, makes retail sales within the local taxing jurisdiction, and either does not have physical presence within the local taxing jurisdiction or has only incidental physical presence within the local taxing jurisdiction. On and after July 1, 2023, a local taxing jurisdiction is prohibited from requiring such a retailer to apply separately to the local taxing jurisdiction for a general business license. A local taxing jurisdiction must automatically issue a general business license to such a retailer unless the local taxing jurisdiction has previously revoked a general business license held by the retailer for a violation of its local code. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $2,100 is appropriated to the department for use by the taxation services division to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act repeals the municipal bond supervision advisory board. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)