The "Colorado Road and Community Safety Act" authorizes the issuance of a driver's license or identification card to an individual who is not lawfully present in the United States if the individual meets certain requirements. The act changes these requirements by: Repealing the requirement that the applicant have filed a Colorado resident income tax return; Repealing the requirement that the applicant demonstrate residency in the state for the immediately preceding 2 years; Repealing the requirement that the applicant provide a documented social security number or individual taxpayer identification number; and Allowing an applicant to present a passport, consular identification card, or military identification document from the applicant's country of origin that is unexpired or expired less than 10 years before the date of the applicant's application for a driver's license or identification document. The act authorizes the use of exceptions processing, which is a hearing to determine whether an applicant possesses evidence sufficient to prove the applicant qualifies for an identification document, for identification document applicants who are not lawfully present in the United States. The department will promulgate rules concerning exceptions processing and the use of documents issued by an agent or agency of the United States government to prove a person qualifies for a Colorado identification document. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $122,855 to the department of revenue from the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account in the highway users tax fund, $14,355 of which is reappropriated to the governor's office for use by the office of information technology. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE March 31, 2025(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act requires the state personnel director to establish a "step pay" structure that provides consistent salary increases for employees instead of permitting merit pay. The act provides an exception for employees of the office of the state auditor. The act also repeals the requirement that employees of the division of worker's compensation and the division of labor standards and statistics in the department of labor and employment be paid on a monthly basis. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires local taxing jurisdictions that impose a local lodging tax or a sales or use tax on building or construction materials that integrate such taxes into building permits (applicable sales or use tax) to file with the executive director of the department of revenue (executive director) a copy of the resolution or ordinance, and any amendments thereto, imposing such taxes and, if not included in the resolution, ordinance or amendments and certain additional information related to each type of tax. For local lodging taxes, the act requires local taxing jurisdictions to report the rate of the tax, the types of lodging the tax applies to, the number of days after which a stay may be exempt from the tax, and the amount of tax that may be retained by the collector of the tax in exchange for timely filing. For the applicable sales or use tax, the act requires local taxation jurisdictions to report the rate and calculation, what information is included on building permits, the timing for remittance of the tax, and whether the tax is imposed on asphalt equipment, storage of equipment, or services. By no later than July 1, 2025, and by no later than January 1 and July 1 of each year thereafter, the executive director must publish the information in the local taxing jurisdiction's reports relating to the local lodging tax and applicable sales or use tax. The act also modifies the scope of the sales and use tax simplification task force (task force) to include simplification of local lodging tax systems and requires that, in the 2024 interim, the task force shall receive testimony and proposals related to the feasibility and implementation of an electronic system for the collection and remittance of local lodging taxes in the same manner or in a manner similar to the electronic sales and use tax simplification system. The task force may propose legislation for the 2025 legislative session to implement or create such an electronic portal. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 4, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the employee ownership office (office), which was originally created administratively by the governor in 2020 as a statutory entity within the office of economic development (OED). The act also creates a refundable income tax credit for income tax years 2025 to 2029 for up to 50% of specified costs incurred by new employee-owned businesses, not to exceed $50,000. New employee-owned businesses are defined as businesses that have been employee-owned for 7 or fewer years. The tax credit is administered by the office, which may allocate up to $1.5 million in tax credits per year. The office is required to include information on the effectiveness of the tax credit in OED's annual report to the general assembly. The act also creates the employee ownership cash fund, which is to be used by the office for the administration of the tax credit and consists of fees collected from applications for the tax credit. The tax credit and cash fund are repealed on January 1, 2035. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $145,847 is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the governor for use for the employee ownership office. APPROVED by Governor June 4, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 20 of article X of the state constitution (TABOR) defines "fiscal year spending" as not including "collections for another government". Although TABOR does not define "collections for another government", the TABOR implementing statutes do. The definition of "collections for another government" in the implementing statutes specifically limits such collections to revenue collected by the state for the benefit of another government that is collected pursuant to the authority of the other government. The act clarifies the definition of "collections for another government" set forth in the TABOR implementing statutes for purposes of the TABOR limitation on state fiscal year spending. For state fiscal years commencing on or after July 1, 2023, "collections for another government" means any revenue that is collected by the state for the benefit and use of a government other than the state, passed through to that government for the benefit of and use by that government, and collected pursuant to: The authority of the government for whose benefit the state collects the revenue; The authority of the state and apportioned to another government in connection with that government forgoing the imposition of certain taxes and collecting the corresponding tax revenue; or A constitutional requirement that the state collect the revenue for the benefit of another government. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act implements the legislative recommendations of the fraudulent filings working group as identified in the working group's February 2023 report. These recommendations make the following changes: On and after July 1, 2025, a registered agent who is an individual and not a business entity is required to hold a valid Colorado driver's license, state identification, or otherwise verify the individual's residency status; A registered agent that is a business entity is required to be in good standing in the Colorado business registry; A registered agent is prohibited from using a United States or commercial post office box as the registered agent's address; The secretary of state is authorized to change a business entity's status to delinquent in the business registry immediately following a finding or concession that the entity was created or registered without authorization or for fraudulent purposes; A law enforcement agency is allowed to initiate a fraudulent filing complaint regarding a business entity; A business entity that has been delinquent for 5 years or longer can cure its delinquency only after the filing of an affidavit and photographic identification in addition to the already required statement; A business entity that has been dissolved for 2 years or longer can be reinstated only after the filing of an affidavit and photographic identification in addition to the already required articles of reinstatement; and The perjury statement affirmed by all persons when delivering a document to be filed with the secretary of state is simplified. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $464,310 is appropriated from the department of state cash fund to the department of state for use by the business and licensing division and the information technology division for personal services and operating expenses. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state auditor to engage, by October 1, 2024, a third party to conduct an evaluation of the department of corrections' (department) budget practices. The third party is required to provide an update to the joint budget committee and the legislative audit committee by March 1, 2025 and to release a final report to the department, joint budget committee, and legislative audit committee by June 30, 2025. The evaluation must review the department's personnel-related costs, contract staff spending, operational costs driven by caseload, user fees levied, and the cash funds associated with the department. For state fiscal year 2024-25, the act appropriates $400,000 from the general fund to the legislative department for use by the office of the state auditor to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 3, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 3, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Under current law, employers pay an annual support surcharge to fund unemployment administration and to support the solvency of the unemployment insurance trust fund. This surcharge is deposited into several different funds. The act adjusts the deposits as follows: 35% (decreased from 59.46%) to the employment support fund; 19% (increased from 18.92%) to the benefit recovery fund; 32% (increased from 21.62%) to the employment and training technology fund; and 14% to the workforce development fund in the workforce development enterprise (enterprise), which is created in the act. Each of these funds has a limit on the maximum amount of money that can be held in the fund. The act requires the maximum amount to be adjusted for inflation based on the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood consumer price index. The act adjusts these initial caps as follows: Decreases the cap for the employment support fund from $32,000,000 to $7,000,000; Decreases the cap for the employment and training technology fund from $31,000,000 to $13,200,000; and Establishes the cap for the workforce development fund at $6,800,000. The $15,000,000 cap for the benefit recovery fund remains the same. The enterprise is created within the division of employment and training in the department of labor and employment (division) for the business purpose of ensuring Coloradans' access to workforce development services and to Colorado's workforce development centers. The act appropriates $14,003,304 to the department of labor and employment from the workforce development fund for use by the division for workforce center program costs related to the enterprise. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 15, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act facilitates the department of revenue's (department) relocation from the state-owned building at 1881 Pierce Street, in Denver (Pierce Street building), to a vacant facility at the Auraria higher education center. In addition, the act facilitates the potential relocation of the state historical society's (also known as history Colorado) north storage facility, which houses the state's historic collection, to the Pierce Street building if the state historical society determines that the Pierce Street building suits its needs. Specifically, the act: Requires the general assembly to reduce the general fund appropriation to the department in the executive director's office for the purpose of leased space by $400,000 for the 2025-26 state fiscal year and each state fiscal year thereafter through the 2028-29 state fiscal year and requires the general assembly to make a corresponding increase in the general fund appropriation to the department in the executive director's office for the purpose of operating expenses for the same fiscal years; Increases the July 1, 2024, transfer from the general fund to the capital construction fund by $1,933,931; Authorizes history Colorado to use up to $1,600,000 from money in the state museum cash fund in the 2024-25 state fiscal year to provide a zero interest loan to the department to facilitate the department's relocation to the Auraria higher education center; Requires the department to repay any loan made by the state historical society in an amount equal to at least $400,000 per year until the loan is repaid in full and to complete the loan repayments by June 30, 2029; and Beginning July 1, 2027, and continuing through June 30, 2029, allows the state historical society to reduce the required minimum cash fund balance in the state museum cash fund by the amount of the loan the state historical society has made to the department as authorized in the act. In addition, the act appropriates the following for the 2024-25 state fiscal year and specifies that for each appropriation, any money not expended prior to July1, 2025, is further appropriated to the same entity for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 state fiscal years for the same purpose: $2,250,000 from the state museum cash fund to the department of higher education for use by history Colorado for capital construction related to the potential relocation of the history Colorado storage facility to and renovation of the Pierce Street building; $1,600,000 from reappropriated funds received from history Colorado pursuant to the act to the department for capital construction related to consolidation into a vacant facility on the Auraria higher education campus; and $1,933,931 from the capital construction fund to the department for capital construction related to consolidation into a vacant facility on the Auraria higher education campus. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE May 31, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates a refundable income tax credit (credit) that is available for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2025, but prior to January 1, 2029, for a qualifying resident individual (individual) working in the care workforce in the amount of $1,200 for a single filer and $2,400 for 2 joint filers. To be eligible for the credit, an individual must: Have an adjusted gross income of no more than $75,000 as a single filer or $100,000 as a joint filer; and Be employed in the care workforce as a child care worker or a qualified direct care worker. To further the administration of the credit, the act: Requires the department of health care policy and financing, on or before September 30, 2025, and each September 30 thereafter, to provide the department of revenue an electronic report of the name and federal employer identification number of every long-term care employer that employs one or more direct care workers and provides services in Colorado during the calendar year; Requires the department of early childhood, on or before January 31, 2026, and each January 31 thereafter, to provide the department of revenue with an electronic report of child care workers eligible for the credit for the preceding calendar year; and Requires, on or before January 31, 2026, and each January 31 thereafter, every long-term care employer, excluding a consumer-directed care employer for which the department of health care policy and financing is required to file the return, that employed one or more direct care workers to make an information return to the executive director of the department of revenue for the preceding calendar year and requires the information return to be filed electronically. The act imposes a penalty of $500 on long-term care employers who fail to file the return on or before January 31, unless reasonable cause is shown. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $47,193 is appropriated from the general fund to the division of licensing and administration in the department of early childhood for the implementation of the act. APPROVED by Governor May 31, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)