Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer

The 2025 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated to the department of the treasury. The general fund portion of the appropriation is decreased and the cash funds portion is increased.     The 2024 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated to the department of the treasury. The general fund portion of the appropriation is increased.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The 2025 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction information technology projects. The capital construction fund, cash funds, and federal funds portions of the appropriation are increased.     The 2024 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction information technology projects. The capital construction fund and federal funds portions of the appropriation are decreased.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The 2025 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction projects. The cash funds portion of the appropriation is increased.     The 2024 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated for capital construction projects. The cash funds portion of the appropriation is increased.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The 2025 general appropriations act is amended to balance and make adjustments to the total amount appropriated to the department of transportation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under the fourth-year innovation pilot program (program), each year the general assembly appropriates an amount to the department of education (department) for the department to distribute to local education providers from which an eligible graduate graduated early. The act:Discontinues the requirement to appropriate money for distribution to eligible local education providers for eligible graduates who graduate during the 2025-26 school year; andRequires the department to prorate the amount distributed from the appropriation, if any.     Under the program, an eligible graduate may receive funding for tuition, fees, books, transportation, and other costs of attendance associated with their postsecondary program if, among other requirements, the eligible graduate commences their postsecondary program within 18 months after graduating early. The act requires an eligible graduate who graduates early in the 2025-26 school year to commence their postsecondary program by December 31, 2026.     Under current law, the department of higher education is required to submit a final program evaluation report, including the impacts and outcomes of the program on the student cohorts that participated in the program and recommended next steps for the program. The act repeals this requirement.     The act reduces an appropriation to the department of higher education for the 2025-26 budget year by $30,958.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act discontinues the annual transfers from the state education fund to the Colorado teacher of the year fund for the Colorado teacher of the year program and to the early literacy fund for specified purposes in support of the 'Colorado READ Act'. The Colorado teacher of the year fund and the early literacy fund are repealed, effective September 1, 2027.     The act permits the general assembly to appropriate money from the state education fund for the Colorado teacher of the year program and requires the general assembly to annually appropriate at least $34 million from the state education fund for the same specified purposes in support of the 'Colorado READ Act'.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Under current law, the controller may allow any state department, institution, or agency of the state, including any institution of higher education, to make an expenditure in excess of the amount authorized by an item of appropriation for the fiscal year if certain conditions are satisfied. One of those conditions is that the overexpenditure is necessary due to unforeseen circumstances arising while the general assembly is not meeting in a regular or special session. The act modifies that condition to also allow an overexpenditure when it is necessary due to a lapse in a federal appropriation that the joint budget committee determines is reasonably likely to occur while the general assembly is not meeting in regular or special session during which such overexpenditure can be legislatively addressed.     The act also makes a conforming amendment to the process by which the general assembly can remove the spending restriction that the controller attaches to an overexpenditure. If a supplemental appropriation is enacted for the overexpenditure or a portion of it:The controller's spending restriction is released in full; andThe department, institution, or agency of the state's overexpenditure authority ends.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Compared to what was anticipated when appropriations were established in the 2025 regular legislative session for the 2025-26 budget year, the general assembly finds that for the 2025-26 budget year the actual funded pupil count and the at-risk pupil count are lower than anticipated; the local share of total program funding is higher than anticipated; and therefore, the general assembly intends to decrease the state share of districts' total program funding by $103,472,508 for the 2025-26 budget year.     Under current law, there are 2 total program formulas to finance public schools, commonly referred to as the old formula and the new formula. For the 2025-26 budget year, a district's total program is the greater of:The district's total program amount for the 2024-25 budget year; orThe amount calculated for the 2025-26 budget year under the old formula plus an amount equal to 15% of the difference between the amounts calculated between the old formula and the new formula.     The act clarifies that for the 2025-26 budget year, if the calculation under the new formula is less than the calculation under the old formula, then that district's total program for the 2025-26 budget year is the greater of:The district's total program amount for the 2024-25 budget year; orThe amount calculated for the 2025-26 budget year under the old formula.     The act reduces appropriations to the department of education for the 2025-26 budget year by $103,472,508.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act transfers $3,646,420 from the general fund to the information technology capital account of the capital construction fund on April 1, 2026.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals the existing requirement that a paper certificate of title be used for specific vehicle transactions, thereby allowing the use of a certificate of title in an electronic format in all circumstances. Any party to a vehicle transaction may request either a paper or electronic version of a certificate of title.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)